What is the Penalty for Extortion in California?

Extortion, or blackmail, is a property crime involving fear or force to willingly compel others to surrender their assets or consideration. Also, you can face the count if your use of threat or force causes a public servant to engage in or neglect an official duty. You will be subject to enhanced penalties if the victim of your crime is a senior citizen or an individual with a disability.

Blackmail victims are compelled to comply with demands because of threats or force. The offense is filed as a felony and attracts severe penalties, including a prison sentence of four years or $100,000 in monetary court fines. Due to these harsh penalties, you should talk to a local defense attorney whenever you are charged with extortion. An experienced attorney will evaluate your case to devise solid legal defenses to help you avoid the penalties or obtain a positive outcome.

Extortion at a Glance

In California PEN 518, extortion entails using force or fear to compel someone else to surrender their belongings or consideration or engage in a criminal act. Also, the offense occurs when using fear or force causes an official to engage in an official mandate or when a public servant compels another to carry out a duty arguing they have a right to do so. 

Consideration under this statute means anything valuable, including sexual behavior or a picture of a private body part. Several unlawful behaviors amount to extortion or blackmail. Instances when a violation of PEN 518 occurs include:

• Threatening to reveal an affair of a high-ranking official unless they vote in a particular way on a proposal or give you $100,000
• Threatening to alert the authorities and record a crime statement unless you are paid a particular figure
• Breaking into an inhabited structure and stealing jewelry after threatening to injure or kill the owner
• Obtaining payment from a vehicle holder after threatening to steal their car

From these examples, it is easy to confuse robbery with extortion. Nonetheless, these two offenses are different. In a robbery, you take a valuable item from the immediate vicinity or the owner's presence without permission. In extortion, the victim gives consent for you to take their assets or consideration, including sexual conduct induced by fear or threats. Again, in blackmail, the property does not need to be within the victim’s immediate presence.

Extortion Elements

Extortion is severely punished. However, before you face these harsh penalties, the prosecutor should demonstrate all the elements of the violation to earn a conviction. They must establish beyond a reasonable certainty that you threatened to:

• Unlawfully harm the victim, their assets, or a thirty party
• Accuse an individual of a crime
• Reveal the secret of the victim or their immediate family, or link them with crime or corruption.

Furthermore, the prosecutor must show that you had the specific intent of using fear or threats to obtain the victim’s real property or consideration, including an image of their intimate parts, or perform an official responsibility.

Similarly, the prosecutor should prove that the victim surrendered their property, a picture of their private parts, or performed an official obligation because of your threats.

The last aspect of the case that must be proven in court is that your victim parted with their property, agreed to sexual conduct, or performed an official mandate.

Blackmail is a specific intent offense. Therefore, you must be willing to commit the crime along with the wish to obtain a particular outcome. The prosecutor should show all these aspects of the case to secure a sentence.

If this is your first time being charged with extortion, you are probably wondering what some of the words used in the legal definition of extortion mean. Let us discuss these phrases further for a better understanding of the offense:

Meaning of Threaten

You are guilty of extortion even if you did not cause any harm to the alleged victim, use force, or reveal their secret. The primary focus of the prosecutor is the threats to engage in illegal conduct. You must have used threats to demand compensation, or you must have used specific threatening or suggestive phrases instead. Based on your situation, the threats could be implied or conveyed.

You will be convicted of a PEN 518 violation even if you threaten to carry out a lawful act or reasonably believe that you have an official right over the assets or consideration you demand through extortion.

For example, you are visiting a friend and discover they have hidden narcotics in their apartment. You threaten to expose them to their authorities unless they give you a cut of the drug sale proceeds. Under the circumstances, even if reporting the friend to the police is a lawful duty, you will still be guilty of extortion because of the threats.

Injury Meaning

Under PEN 518, an injury refers to criminal damage. You cannot threaten someone to engage in an activity you are authorized to do. Nevertheless, you will be sentenced for extortion if you threaten an individual, a third party, or property, which you have no right to do under the law.

For example, if someone owes you money and you threaten to beat them up if they do not pay, you will face extortion charges even if the money you are demanding is yours. You have no legal right to injure the party that owes you money, meaning you can face blackmail charges.

Revealing a Secret

A secret is information not known to the public or to an individual interested in discovering it. It can harm the victim's reputation or credibility to the point where they are willing to compensate with money or property to conceal it.

Official Act

The phrase "official act" means the public official performs an act they could otherwise perform in their official capacity. The duty or obligation is outlined in their professional description. Therefore, you could face extortion charges when you use threats or fear to compel an official to engage in an official mandate.

Public officials who are likely to fall prey to extortion are congressmen because they are usually voting on all manner of laws. During voting on a matter, an activist can blackmail a congress member by threatening to expose their involvement in a scandal unless they vote for or against a particular law. In this situation, the activist could face blackmail charges.

Consent Meaning

"Consent" means acting willingly or freely. However, under PEN 518, consent is obtained through coercion or threats. The alleged victim usually reluctantly agrees to compensate or perform an official mandate out of fear of force or threats. Usually, you obtain consent from the victim by making a threat and then accompanying it with fear, compelling the victim to unwillingly consent to part with their real property or perform an act they are mandated to in their official capacity.

It would help if you understood that under the extortion offense, a victim gives consent out of coercion, meaning they should have surrendered their real property or consideration or performed a job mandate. Blackmail occurs when they part with or surrender anything of value. Nevertheless, extortion is not complete if the victim refuses to compensate with property or money or to carry out an official duty. In that situation, you will face charges for attempted extortion.

Extortion by a Threatening Letter

Using threats or force is not the only way to commit extortion. California PEN 523 criminalizes the act of extortion using a threatening letter. Per the statute, it is illegal to deliver or send a letter, electronic message, or written text to others, make threats, and in the written document threaten to do any of the following:

• Harm the individual, their immediate family, or property unlawfully
• Link them, their family, or property with criminal allegations
• Expose a secret not privy to the general public that could link them to corruption or scandal
• At the time of sending the letter, you had the specific intent of utilizing it as a threat to illegally obtain money or force the hand of a civil servant to carry out a legal duty.

PEN 513 and 523 violations are the same because they are achieved through force or threats. Nonetheless, the two differ before being charged with blackmail by an intimidating letter. The threat must be written as a message, electronic message, or another document. Additionally, the alleged victim does not need to have agreed to part with their assets or carry out an official mandate to be convicted.

For instance, Mary has an online affair with a married man. They arrange to meet, and after the first sexual encounter, she begins to send messages, letters, and emails to the man, threatening to share all the information about their encounter with the man’s wife if he does not send her $20,000. If the man refuses to pay the compensation and reports Mary to law enforcement, she will be charged with extortion even if the alleged victim never sent the money.

Extorting Signature

California PEN 522 prohibits individuals from committing blackmail by obtaining a signature. The prosecutor will charge you with obtaining a signature by extortion if you threaten to:

• Illegally harm the victim, their assets, or a third party
• Accuse them or a third party of a crime
• Expose secret information about the victim or a third party and link them with a crime

When making these threats, the district attorney must show that you planned for the person to affix their signature to specific paperwork or a check reassigning property to you. And due to the coercions, the victim appends their signature to a document or check to transfer cash or property.

Extortion Penalties

A PEN 518 violation is a felony punishable by the following:

• Jail incarceration for 24, 36, or 48 months
• A monetary court fine of no more than $10,000
• Felony probation in place or alongside fines payment

When the victim of the blackmail is psychologically or physically disabled and relies on others for survival or a senior citizen, the sentence is enhanced. The prosecutor will present these aggravating circumstances before the judge to convince them to increase your sentence.

Similarly, the penalties for engaging in extortion in furtherance or benefit of a criminal gang can result in an additional strike on your record under the Three Strikes Law.

     1. Attempted Blackmail Penalties

Even if you do not benefit from the extortion, you still face charges for attempted extortion. The property crime is a wobbler, allowing the prosecutor to file it as a felony or misdemeanor. The consequences for a felony sentence are:

• Jail incarceration for 16, 24, or 36 months
• Court-imposed monetary fines not exceeding $10,000
• A formal probation sentence instead of or with jail incarceration

As a misdemeanor, attempted blackmail attracts at most twelve months in jail, court fines amounting to $1,000, or summary probation in place of or alongside the fine.

     2. Misdemeanor Extortion

Generally, extortion is a felony. However, the offense can be filed as a misdemeanor under certain circumstances. These situations are:

• Delivering or using someone else to deliver a false document pretending it is an official document signed by the court and
• The deed is intended to transfer money or property from the said victim by blackmail

Furthermore, producing, printing, sharing, or selling a false document is misdemeanor extortion punishable by half a year in jail or a court fine of at most $1,000.

     3. Immigration Consequences 

An extortion sentence can have adverse immigration repercussions upon sentencing. Offenses that can lead to inadmissibility or removal are called "moral turpitude" offenses. A court in California indicated that extortion or blackmail is an offense of moral turpitude, meaning it could lead to immigration consequences. Nevertheless, the case referred to was an attorney disbarment matter, not an alien's removal.

     4. Adverse Effects on Firearm Rights

Extortion is a felony. Therefore, a conviction for the crime will lead to the suspension of your firearm rights. The law is clear that people convicted of a felony offense are not allowed to possess, own, or buy a firearm.

Civil Extortion

In addition to the criminal penalties, a victim of extortion can file a tort claim against you in a civil court to seek reimbursement for their losses. For the tort to be successful, the plaintiff must prove that:

• You threatened them to acquire property, cash, or service
• You were aware the threats or application of force was illegal
• The plaintiff was compelled by your threats to surrender their property, consideration or an official act demanded

However, victims of your blackmail cannot sue for compensation if they never offered compensation or consideration because of the threats. While you can still face charges for attempted blackmail, it is not enough to file a civil tort because the victim never consented to your demands.

When the victim proves their claim and obtains a favorable result, you will be ordered to pay them for the value of the property, consideration, or service you obtained from them through threats. The plaintiff can even pursue punitive damages to punish you for the blackmail and deter others from participating in the same acts.

You must understand that the civil extortion tort filed by the victim is separate from your criminal proceeding. The victim files a civil tort claim against you, while the state files criminal charges against you.

Legal Defenses for Extortion

The penalties for a blackmail sentence are harsh. Even more devastating, you cannot expunge the conviction after completing your sentence. The crime will haunt you for the rest of your life, denying you job opportunities, promotions, or admission to the military or college. Therefore, you should hire an experienced criminal lawyer to help you fight the charges.

One of the defense strategies your lawyer can use to contest the charges is asserting that your threats were not the controlling reason why the victim agreed to your demands. If they consented to provide the service or part with money for controlling reasons other than your threats, you are not guilty of blackmail.

Another assertion your lawyer can make for a favorable outcome is claiming that the victim did not consent to your demands. And because you can only be guilty of extortion if the victim gave you money, consideration, or a service, you can use this defense to avoid conviction. Nevertheless, you will still be guilty of attempted extortion even if they do not agree to your demands.

Similarly, you can claim, through your legal representative, that you did not threaten or apply force against the alleged victim. You can claim that you did not threaten but instead demanded service or money.

Also, a person can transfer money or property to you only to later change their mind and demand their property back. If your charges originate from these circumstances, you can argue that the victim falsely accuses you of blackmail. Nonetheless, your lawyer must furnish the court with proof that you never used fear or force and that they willingly gave you money or services.

Find an Experienced San Jose Criminal Lawyer Near Me

The crime of extortion attracts severe penalties. As a result, allegations, let alone a conviction, can be devastating. Therefore, when faced with these charges in San Jose, call the California Criminal Lawyer Group immediately. Our experienced lawyers will evaluate your charges and develop effective defense strategies for a favorable result. Reach out to us at 408-622-0204 for a no-obligation consultation.