About Dennise Henderson

Ms. Henderson has been representing clients in criminal and juvenile cases since 1997. Her clients have been found not guilty on all counts in over half of her trials. The focus is always to understand the personal needs of the client (obtaining employment in the future, licensing, how the case impacts the client personally, professionally, legally and emotionally.) Often times success is gauged in reducing time,protecting the client's record for the future (avoiding strikes, priors, prison) and looking at alternative sentences.

The approach to criminal defendants in most counties in California is very impersonal and often times unbending. The legislature has limited many of the protections that were once afforded people accused of a crime. They allowed themselves to be influenced by fear and a corrections model. Many of our clients today pled guilty to a strike, either as a very young person or when they were juveniles not knowing the affect it would have in the future. Those strikes are alleged on most complaints to encourage you to plead,increase the penalty, and require a prison sentence. One way to avoid this is to educate yourself and others about their legal rights so that they do not make the same mistakes the previous generation has made.

If bail is a possibility let your attorney know. In Sacramento a two day notice for bail or release on OR must be given to the District Attorney. Decisions that an attorney can make for you are whether requesting a reduction in bail will risk it being raised significantly and whether the judge that you are in front of is one who will listen fairly to the facts. Clients are often much better off out of custody so that they can access services through their own resources to show the court that the allegations are either not true or an anomaly.

The Sacramento jail has been the subject of numerous law suits and suicides in the past several years and is not a place where you or anyone you care about should stay for any length of time. Ms. Henderson's concern for the medical, mental health care and conditions in the juvenile halls and jails has led her to involvement in civil rights cases against the Sacramento County jail.

Ms. Henderson represents clients in Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, Marysville, Placer, El Dorado, San Joaquin counties, Alameda, Contra Costa County. Recall petitions from the California Youth Authority/DJJ are handled all across the state.