Tessmer Law Offices

 

 

Welcome to Tessmer Law Offices

When your liberty, livelihood, family or assets are on the line, think of Tessmer Law Offices.  Our philosophy, 'When losing is not an option' really says it all.  We are a small group of highly motivated and skilled lawyers who work with you to get the results you need. Whether the government is trying to take and keep your assets or whether they are trying to put you in jail, we do whatever it takes under our constitution to make sure that doesn't happen. We leave no stone unturned to fight your legal battles. Browse the site to meet the lawyers, hear about some of our battles, and get updates on important legal issues of our time. Or, join the dialogue on Twitter and check out our Facebook page. While no lawyer can guarantee a win in Court a wise person makes sure he has a skilled advocate by his side to ensure the best possible outcome. 

 

Civil Forfeiture Law

This is the newest weapon in the British Columbia government’s arsenal   to take your assets. Even if you don’t get charged with a crime, the police may seize your money, your valuables, and even your house, if they can prove that it was probably used for a criminal purpose. The Civil Forfeiture Act gives wide powers to the ‘Director’ of Civil Forfeiture to commence lawsuits against your property to lead to a forfeiture.

In a recent case where the police tried to seize our client’s home, we were able to get the case dropped because the police violated our client’s rights in the process of executing a search warrant for a marihuana grow operation. The law of civil forfeiture is evolving and in order to protect your assets, you need someone knowledgeable in this area.

If you have a legal issue you want a Civil Forfeiture lawyer to help with, ASK NOW!

 

Criminal Law

Criminal defence is our passion and we defend against charges of all kinds.  If you are facing charges for assault, theft, impaired driving, drug-related offences, driving while prohibited, or any other crime, we can help. 

Our criminal defence practice has successfully defended our client’s at all court levels in Canada including the British Columbia Provincial and Supreme Courts, the British Columbia Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. 

We are at the forefront of “cutting edge” law and our criminal defence lawyers keep apprised of new developments in both statute and the common law.   We are constantly researching new laws and even have our own internal library filled with case precedents and authorities that we will rely on when we defend you. If you have a defence, we will find it and we will get you results. 

We also understand that financing can be a concern for many people facing criminal charges. One thing clients often worry about when deciding whether to get a lawyer is the “hidden costs” that other firms may charge. You can put this concern aside when you come to Tessmer Law Offices as our criminal defence lawyers offer “flat-rate billing”. This means that the amount we quote you at the outset is the amount you’ll pay for our services when we resolve your matter. We also offer three highly capable criminal defence lawyers with varying experience; we surely have a lawyer who can suit your financial constraints and satisfy your legal needs. 

To find out more information from one of our criminal defence lawyers, ASK NOW

 

Enhanced credit for "Dead Time"

The SCC agrees that the 'Truth in Sentencing Act' isn't truthful at all and says offenders collecting "dead time" should received enchanced credit if nothing more than for their loss of statutory remission.  Prior to this Act, people routinely got credit at a ratio of 2:1 to account for the lack of programs available during remand time for prisoners as well as the fact that any time spent in custody prior to sentencing would not be considered by corrections in determining statutory remission and when parole would be granted.  Consequently, the new Act limited the credit people were receiving to 1:1 credit, but this completely disregarded the earlier considerations which originally led to the 2:1 ratio. 
 
As a result, since the Act has been in force over the past couple of years, it has meant that a prisoner who got, for example, a sentence of 1 year in jail but who either made bail or was sentenced right at the outset, then they would receive remission on the full 1 year sentence and would therefore only serve 2/3rd of the sentence for a net total of 8 months in prison.
 
Compare that example to the SAME offender for the SAME offence but was denied bail and did not get convicted until his trial 6 months after the offence occured.  In his case, he would have received 6 months credit for his dead time and would do 2/3rds of the remaining 6 months sentence for a further 4 months, resulting in a net total jail time of 10 months in custody even though it is for the exact same crime! 
 
Does that seem fair to you?  It doesn't to us either.  And thankfully the SCC agreed.
 
If interested, you can read the full judgment here: http://scc-csc.lexum.com/.../scc-csc/en/item/13586/index.dol



Contact Us

 

Tessmer Law Offices
272 Bernard Avenue,
Kelowna, British Columbia
V1Y 6N4

 

tel. 250-762-6747
fax. 250-762-3163

email. [email protected]

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