Sacramento Violent Crimes Attorney

Not Guilty Illegal Discharge of a Firearm

Client was charged with multiple felony assaults and unlawful discharge of a firearm with gang enhancements and looking at life in prison. Mr. Donato was able to get a full acquittal.

Not Guilty Sexual Assault

With a client facing life in prison on sexual assault charges, our office decided to take this case to trial. After fighting to expose the holes in the Prosecution's case, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on all counts.  Our client was released from custody the same day.

Case Dismissed Possession of Methamphetamine for Sale

Our client was one of several defendants charged with possession of methamphetamine for sale. The defendants were found at an alleged "crack-house" surrounded by various illegal narcotics, and even firearms. After threatening to go to trial, Mr. Donato had the entire case against our client dismissed by day two in court.

Case Dismissed Felony Marijuana Charges

Dismissed Client was charged with multiple felony marijuana related charges. Our investigation showed that client was not involved in the operation although she was present during execution of the search warrant. The case was dismissed as to our client, whereas the co-defendants were convicted.

Dismissed Felony child abuse

Private Retained Counsel in Sacramento County; client was charged with felony child abuse and the DA offered prison time for plea bargan, Mr. Donato obtained the opinion of a child abuse expert and was able to get the DA to dismiss the case in the interest of justice.

Dismissed Embezzlement

Client was a military veteran that was accused of embezzlement from his employer. Mr. Donato was able to get the employer and DA to drop all charges and dismissed the case.

Dismissed 1st Degree Murder

Appointed Indigent Defense Counsel in San Joaquin County; Client was charged with 1st Degree Murder looking at 75 years to Life in prison: upon case discovery review, Mr. Donato was able to present evidence to the DA and get the entire case dismissed in the interest of justice.

Case Dismissed Drug Charge

Our client's drug case was dismissed after Mr. Donato proved to a judge that the officer's only basis for conducting a probation search in this case was for harassment purposes in violation of his client's 4th Amendment Rights.

Acquittal Attempted Murder

Client was facing life in prison for attempted murder after a shooting on a bus where the jury found the client acted in self-defense.

Case Dismissed Assault with a Deadly Weapon

After an intense road rage incident, our client was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly ramming another car with her own. After diligent investigation and negotiations with the Prosecutors in this case, Mr. Donato persuaded the government to dismiss the case in its entirety.

Case Dismissed DUI

Our cient's DUI was dismissed after we obtained the officer's in car camera video which revealed the officer had fabricated major portions of the report.  Thanks in part to Mr. Donato's discoveries, the officer in this case was arrested and eventually plead guilty to numerous counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.  The officer was ultimately sentenced to prison.

Case Dismissed Possessing Marijuana for Sale

Even before trial, our office had this case dismissed by presenting evidence that our client, who faced felony charges of possessing marijuana for sale, qualified as a legal caregiver and was protected from prosecution under the California medical marijuana laws.

Suspension Waived DMV Administrative Per Se Hearing

At this DMV Administrative Per Se hearing, Mr. Donato argued that the Campus Police Officers did not have lawful authority to conduct a traffic stop away from campus. The Hearing Officer agreed and set aside our client's Campus license suspension.

Full Acquittal DUI

Our office took this case to jury trial and received a full acquittal on all charges including DUI and refusing to take a chemical test.  This would have been Mr. Sanchez's second DUI and would have resulted in a year long license revocation.

Penalty Reduced Domestic Violence with Great Bodily Injury

People v. Carter Reduced (Probation) Client was a professional athlete and broke his girlfriend’s elbow during a domestic incident. Original offer was five years in prison. Our investigation showed the conflicts and changes in the victim’s story, and we effectively negotiated the case down to house arrest and probation.

Full Acquittal DUI

Mr. Donato won a full acquittal at trial by showing that the DA could not prove Mr. Brown was under the influence of alcohol at the time he was driving.  The jury concluded the case was too speculative, and Mr. Brown walked on all DUI charges against him.

Not Guilty Possession of Methamphetamine for Sale

With a client facing charges for possession of methamphetamine for sale in addition to firearm enhancements, even the judge questioned Mr. Donato as to why he was taking the case to trial. In the end, however, the jury had very few questions to ask, as it took them less than an hour to return their not guilty verdicts for Mr. Donato's client.

Not Guilty Attempted Murder

Client was charged with several felonies including attempted murder and was acquitted of this charge by means of self-defense.

Case Dismissed Domestic Violence

Client was arrested for domestic violence after boyfriend called the police and lied about a fight he in fact started. We showed the prosecution our client’s medical records documenting her significant injuries in contrast to her boyfriend’s minor injuries and the prosecution dismissed against our client to pursue charges against her boyfriend.

Case Dismissed Robbery

Client was facing robbery charges and our investigation showed the witness was not likely to show up for trial. We pushed to get this case before a jury, and when the prosecution was unable to produce evidence against our client the case was dismissed.