In The News
Sentencing Hearing an Explosive Ending to Santa Barbara County's 1st Human Trafficking Trial (Noozhawk)
Defendant Brannon Pitcher was removed from the courtroom for his repeated obscenity-laced outbursts while the Victim's Attorney, J'Aimèe L. Oxton, read an Impact Statement on behalf of the Victim-Survivor, a minor child...
Nearly One Year After Being Arrested, Rapper 'Sad Boy Loko' Pleads Not Guilty To Attempted Murder (SB Independent)
Rap Artist 'Sad Boy Loko', legally known as Mario Hernandez Pacheco, pleaded not guilty to all charges at his June 17th Preliminary Hearing. His attorneys, Adam Pearlman and J'Aimèe L. Oxton, claim there is no digital or physical forensic evidence linking him to the crime...
Domestic Violence Solutions of Santa Barbara County Announces Six New Members Will Join Its Board Of Directors (Noozhawk)
Founded in 1977, Domestic Violence Solutions (DVS) of Santa Barbara County works to end the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence by providing prevention and intervention services and by challenging society’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to effect social change. “As the only full service domestic violence organization serving Santa Barbara County, we are committed to providing a safe and confidential shelter, emotional support, personal advocacy and empowerment to battered women, men, teens and children” said Julie Capritto, Board President. “Our role is to provide the first (highly emotional) emergency step in an integrated community system that aims to restructure the lives of women, men, teens and children who are in desperate situations because of violence” (in the home), Capritto said...
Lost Boys: 'Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind' (Voice of OC)
Santa Barbara Criminal Defense Attorney J'Aimèe L. Oxton, who specializes in Juvenile and Criminal Law, has seen how the youth can be broken down by a system that not only isolates them from their support network at home, school and the community, but also diverts them from any court-ordered rehabilitation they might have underway...
Facing More Than 10 Years In Prison, Woman Sentenced to Probation for DUI Crash That Broke Son’s Neck (SB Independent)
Prosecutors refused to offer any kind of plea deal, instead arguing against probation and in favor of a lengthy prison sentence. However the woman's Criminal Defense Attorney, J'Aimèe L. Oxton, successfully convinced the Judge that probation was a far more appropriate sentence for her client. “I feel this is absolutely the most fair results under the circumstances,” Oxton said, explaining the sentence is sufficiently punitive, while simultaneously providing her client with the treatment and services Oxton believes is necessary to prevent something like this from happening again. “I fell it is my job to look a little deeper" than simply focusing on the events of the DUI crash and her client's arrest, Oxton said. As a Criminal Defense Attorney, my goal is to always find solutions for my clients "that address the underlying cause of their arrest," and she finds that taking a holistic approach "reduces the chances" of reoffending and maximizes public safety upon release from custody...
Convicted Pimp Sentenced To 38 Years To Life (SB Independent)
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Brian Hill said the defendant’s sentence is “commensurate” with his actions. While the Victim’s Attorney, J'Aimèe L. Oxton, read a statement on behalf of the victim, she was interrupted by a barrage of profanity coming from the defendant, who was seated at the table in front of her. He laughed as Defense Attorney Oxton began to read the Victim’s history of an unstable home environment, and he banged on the courtroom table so that Attorney Oxton was nearly inaudible. Judge Hill subsequently ordered defendant Brannon Pitcher removed from the courtroom for the remainder of his sentencing hearing...
Plea Deal Avoids Trial on Attempted-Murder Charge (SB Independent)
Santa Barbara rap artist Sad Boy Loko, legally Mario Hernandez-Pacheco, was sentenced January 15th to three years in prison after pleading no contest to felony assault and street terrorism. Pacheco had been held in Santa Barbara County Jail without bail since his arrest on August 3, 2018. Those 15 months of time served will count toward his prison term, resulting in his release in a few short months. Pacheco, 30, through his Santa Barbara Defense Attorneys, Adam Pearlman and J'Aimèe L. Oxton, were able to strike a plea deal with prosecutors on behalf of their client to avoid trial on the original charges of attempted murder and robbery. Before his arrest, Pacheco was an up-and-coming rapper. He’d gained a large following in his hometown of Santa Barbara and had recently signed with platinum-selling rapper YG's record label 4Hunnid Records...
Rapper Sad Boy Loko on YG Getting Him a Lawyer, Prosecutor Using His Music Against Him
Santa Barbara–born-and-bred rapper 'SadBoy Loko' (legal name Mario Hernandez-Pacheco), an artist who, in 2015, signed to multi-platinum artist YG's record label 4Hunnid Records, was held in Santa Barbara County Jail without bail on charges of Attempted Murder, Robbery, Assault with a Deadly Weapon Likely to Produce Great Bodily Injury, with various gang and penalty enhancements, alleged to have occurred on July 22, 2018, following his arrest on August 3, 2018.
The Santa Barbara Rapper pled not guilty to all charges at his 2018 Arraignment, which, if convicted, could've landed him in State Prison for Life with the possibility of parole. SadBoy Loko's lawyers J’Aimee L. Oxton and Adam Pearlman were adamant from the beginning that there was no digital or physical forensic evidence linking their client to the July 2018 crime.
SadBoy's skilled Santa Barbara Legal Team, local defense lawyers J'Aimèe L. Oxton and Adam Pearlman worked for months gathering substantial new evidence that demonstrated the Rapper's highly probable absence from the crime scene. In a pivotal plea deal orchestrated by Attorneys J'Aimee Oxton and Adam Pearlman in January 2020, the Attempted Murder and Robbery charges were dismissed after the Rapper SadBoy Loko pled no contest to a single count of felony assault, with a three-year state prison sentence. As part of that epic plea deal, the Santa Barbara Rapper was released from custody with credit for time served a few short weeks after his sentencing hearing, marking a significant triumph for the Rapper and his Legal Team.
During earlier court proceedings, criminal defense lawyers J'Aimèe Oxton and Adam Pearlman were able to highlight significant discrepancies in the Prosecution's timeline of events on the night in question. The Rapper's legal team also pointed out serious deficiencies in the physical description provided by the victim, who, under questioning, told police the Speedy Mart video would show his assailants. When law enforcement showed the victim the Speedy Mart video more than a week later, including a still photograph of Santa Barbara Rapper SadBoy Loko, the victim confirmed the three individuals, including SadBoy, were his assailants. The Rapper, as seen in the video, did not match the physical description given by the victim, and he wasn't wearing any of the clothing or apparel the victim had reported the assailant, identified at the time as 'Mario,' had on the night in question.
The video showed the three suspects leaving the Speedy Mart at 11:33 p.m., driving southbound towards the location where the attack reportedly took place. However, according to cell tower data and phone records, SadBoy received a call on his cell phone at 11:55 p.m., which placed the Rapper at or near the Speedy Mart at that time. According to other phone and cell tower data, the Rapper made two more phone calls, at 12:02 a.m. and 12:19 a.m., during the time prosecutors and law enforcement allege the attempted murder was taking place.
Days before the victim was shown the Speedy Mart video, in multiple statements given to law enforcement immediately following the incident, the victim consistently described the attacker whom police and prosecutors alleged was SadBoy Loko, as being a heavy-set, short man, who wore a large blue Dodgers hat and had no visible identifying marks or tattoos. However, in the Speedy Mart video presented by prosecutors, the Rapper isn't wearing any hat, let alone the large blue Dodgers hat the victim reported his attacker had on the night of the incident.
Defense Lawyers J'Aimee Oxton and Adam Pearlman argued that the Rapper's booking records, as well as the video showing the Rapper purchasing a drink and snack the night in question, verified their client didn't at all match the physical description of the short, heavy-set, tattoo-less man described by the victim to law enforcement. Lawyers J'Aimee Oxton and Adam Pearlman argued the Rapper is 5’8″ tall, and at the time of his arrest weighed 140 pounds, and had numerous large, hard-to-miss tattoos on his head, neck, and tattoo "sleeves" on his arms.
The Rapper's defense team also emphasized that their client cooperated with law enforcement at the time of his August 2018 arrest by voluntarily providing the passcodes to both of his phones, as well as keys to his vehicle, and to his Santa Barbara residence. According to Lawyers J'Aimee Oxton and Adam Pearlman, nothing on the Rapper's cell phones, inside his vehicle, or seized from his residence linked their client to the crime.
Before his arrest, SadBoy Loko had gained a substantial following in his hometown of Santa Barbara and had signed with platinum-selling rapper YG's record label 4Hunnid Records.