Brian M. Worthington

Brian M. Worthington is a Certified Specialist in Criminal Law and has been practicing Criminal Defense exclusively since 2009.

Mr. Worthington is an experienced trial attorney handling complex cases all over Northern California in both adult and juvenile courts. His trial experience includes jury trials for major crimes like murder with gang enhancements, robbery, rape, child sexual assault, and domestic violence, to more minor offenses like driving under the influence, possession of narcotics, and resisting arrest. He has also had the privilege of trying a unique and complex jury trial involving embezzlement of public funds and perjury. Mr. Worthington’s trial experience also includes jurisdictional hearings (the version of a trial conducted in juvenile court) for attempted murder with gang enhancements, and robbery with gang enhancements.

Mr. Worthington’s practice routinely requires representation of non-citizen defendants, with a successful track record of avoiding deportation. He has handled over 100 cases involving sexual assault—whether adult or child—with multiple not guilty verdicts, the dismissal of cases, resolutions avoiding mandatory sex offender registration, reduction of felonies to misdemeanors, and resolutions securing probation where prison sentences were mandated by law. He has represented clients from all walks of life, including multiple prison guards, a former Chief of Police, fellow attorneys, and a VP of a Fortune 500 company.

Mr. Worthington has broad experience handling cases with complex psychological, mental health, or behavioral health issues, which has allowed him to amass a team of experts with whom he routinely works to provide the best possible defenses for his clients. That experience includes:

• Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy;
• The Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome;
• Rape Trauma Syndrome;
• The Myth of Repressed Memory;
• Intimate Partner Battering and Its Effects (otherwise known as Battered Woman’s Syndrome);
• Pedophilia;
• Kleptomania;
• Psychopathy;
• Anti-Social Personality Disorder;
• First-Break Schizophrenia;
• Schizoaffective Disorder;
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder;
• Poly Substance Abuse;
• Temporal Lobe Epilepsy;
• Neurocognitive Brain Dysfunction;
• Internet Pornography Addiction; and
• Eyewitness Identification.

You can see a complete list of Brian M. Worthington’s notable cases here.

AREAS OF PRACTICE:
Criminal Trial Practice
Felony & Misdemeanor Cases (White Collar & Non-White Collar Crimes)

BAR ADMISSIONS:
State Bar of California
Admitted to practice law in:

• California trial courts
• California Court of Appeal-Sixth District
• California Supreme Court
• United States District Court – Northern District of California
• United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit
• Monterey County Bar

EDUCATION:
Juris Doctorate, University of San Francisco, School of Law, San Francisco, CA

Bachelor of Arts in Modern Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

HONORS AND AWARDS:
Selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars

Selected for inclusion in The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS:

• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ)
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
• California Public Defender’s Association (CPDA)
• Pacific Juvenile Defender Conference

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS:

• Council member of the Hartnell College Arts Council