Darren Chaker of Beverly Hills, handled
Chaker v. Crogan, 428 F.3d 1215 C.A.9 (Cal.),2005, Cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1128, 126 S.Ct. 2023, that invalidated Penal Code section 148.6 on First Amendment grounds. While handling this case for seven of ten year life span, Darren overruled the California Supreme Court's unanimous decision in
People v. Stanistreet, 127 Cal.Rptr.2d 633. In short, it is a very rare occasion a minor misdemeanor is taken through the state and federal court system, and even rarer a unanimous state supreme court is overruled on such grounds.
When decided,
Chaker v. Crogan was also used to strike down Nevada's analogous statute forcing the legislature to rewrite the law, and used as the backbone authority in
Gibson v. City of Kirkland, 2009 WL 564703, (W.D.Wash. Mar 03, 2009). The case continues to be cited as a leading case on
viewpoint discrimination.
