Fresno Criminal Lawyer
Fresno Criminal Lawyer – Criminal Defense Lawyer Rick Horowitz
At first glance, anyone visiting this website might think, “Wow. This guy hasn’t been doing anything with his site lately. I guess there’s nothing to new to see here.”
They would be wrong. I’ve actually been totally focused on building a better criminal defense resource.
Let me tell you what I’ve been doing.
Building a Better Criminal Defense Resrouce Through Massive Restructuring, Refining, and Creating New Content
As the headline here states, I’ve put in some really hard work — as much as 40 hours a week or more. I mean, there have been at least a couple weekends where I think I put in that much time over the weekend itself!
And that’s in addition to handling the cases with which my clients have entrusted me.
The work includes restructuring, refining, and creating resources that I hope will make my website more helpful, informative, and accessible for anyone seeking criminal defense information.
Criminal Defense Help Center
Much of what I’ll tell you about in this post is being pulled together in a new “Criminal Defense Help Center.”

You can access the Criminal Defense Help Center by going to the Main Menu at the top of almost every Page or Post on this website. (Or clicking the link in the last paragraph, if you’re impatient!)
As I write this, it links to “only” three Pages. But those Pages also link to some of the other new Pages. I did not actually count the new content Pages that I’ve created this month, but it is probably around about a dozen or so pages.
And th-th-th-that’s not all! I also wrote these Pages:
- Understanding Attorney-Client Privilege
- The Shortest Truthful Answer (or, How to Answer Questions in Court)
- And more!
Going forward, I intend to add even more to the Criminal Defense Help Center.
New “Location” Pages, or Geographical Service Areas
My website has two kinds of “Areas”: services I provide, and the geographical areas in which I provide them.
The first type, the “Practice Areas” include things like sex crimes, violent crimes, theft crimes, defense of veterans, juvenile defense, and so on.
The second type, the “Location” Pages talk about the cities and counties and regions in which I provide those services. Specific Location Pages currently talk about Fresno, Madera, Kings (Hanford), and Tulare (mostly Visalia, but also Porterville) criminal courts.
Of course, I also practice in other areas. These include Merced County, Mariposa, and I’ve even taken cases as far away as Los Angeles, and, in the other direction, San Jose.
My Location Pages aim to give you helpful localized information about the criminal injustice systems I fight in these particular areas. And in the future, I plan to carry this even further. I’ll create Location Pages targeting specific Practice Areas in those locations, such as:
- Fresno Sex Crimes Lawyer
- Madera Sex Crimes Lawyer
- Visalia Violent Crimes Lawyer
- Porterville Theft Crimes Lawyer
And so on.
Courthouse Guides
Closely related, but also very different from, the Location Pages are the new Courthouse Guides that I’ve written for each of the primary counties in which I practice.
Again, you can find these under the Criminal Defense Help Center menu in the Main Menu of most Pages and Posts.
Right now, there are just four Courthouse Guides. They include:
- Fresno County Superior Court
- Madera County Superior Court
- Tulare County Superior Court
- Kings County Superior Court
I intend to add more as time goes by. But if you take a look at any of the existing Courthouse Guides, you’ll realize how much work goes into them.
The level of detail in some of these includes things like this bit from the Fresno Courthouse Guide:
If you take the elevator, then on each floor, you’ll turn to the right after getting off to get to the hallway with the courtrooms. If you use the stairs, turn left when you get onto your floor. This will “T” into a long hallway, which is where the courtrooms are located. Once you get there, it will be clear. Just look for the signs above the doors to decide which way to turn. (Generally, courtrooms ending with the number “4” are going to be to the left in that hall; the others are to the right.)
Each of the Courthouse Guides contains information like this, as well as information on the general layout of floors, where to find the best bathrooms, or specific departments. Going even further, if you come from out of town, I talk about the best places to eat, or stay the night, nearby, complete with links.
Each Courthouse Guide also has its own FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions — section.
Nearly all criminal defense lawyers that I know pay someone else to write this type of content for them. I write all my own Pages and Posts on this website myself. Nothing you read here was written by another person.
Simply Amusing Designs — Karen Lewis is Simply Amazing!
As a side note, I do have someone who assists me in the “behind the scenes” work, like specifying how certain “query loops” get created, or how to put the headlines where I want them. However, I even do a lot of that myself. After all, I myself built the original website.
Through the years, I’ve hired different people to help update the tech that runs the website. They do that kind of work full-time and can get it done faster than me. But I actually always go through afterwards and learn how to do what they did for myself. That way, if there are simple modifications, I don’t have to pester the heck out of them.
Or, if I want some new section for the website, I can handle creating it, folding it into the website, changing menus, and more.
My latest wonderful friend I’ve found — sadly, my last web designer has passed on to that Great Website in the Sky — is Karen Lewis, owner of Simply Amusing Designs. I believe she calls her place, now, Amusing Design Studio.
I refer to her as Simply Amazing. She’s always there to help me figure out something that — because Dammit Jim! I’m a Lawyer, Not a Web Designer! — might be behind me. (I need to write a post with that title. Currently, I have “Dammit Jim! I’m a Lawyer, Not a Doctor!” and “Dammit Jim! I’m an Engineer, Which Makes Me a Doctor!”)
Anyway, though I probably drive her nuts with my hands-on approach — I sometimes break things — I could not do without Simply Amazing Karen Lewis.
Criminal Defense FAQs
So I mentioned above that each Courthouse Guide has its own set of FAQs, or Frequently Asked Questions.
There are a few other places you can find FAQs. And the number and type of FAQs will, like everything else, grow over time.
Right now, there’s a specific Page called “Criminal Defense FAQs” that you can find on the Criminal Defense Help Center. Or you go directly to the Criminal Defense FAQs Page.
But there are other places. One spot that has a significant number of FAQs relating to meeting with me, how that works,what it costs (or doesn’t), what to bring with you, and so on, can be found on the Contact Page.
Just use the Table of Contents to click through to the FAQs about Consultations, or use the link just provided. There you’ll find the FAQs broken down into topics like:
- General Information for New Clients,
- Purpose & Structure of the Criminal Defense Consultation,
- After Hours & Emergency Contact Policies,
- Communication from In-Custody Clients or Their Families, and,
- Sending Sensitive Information Ahead of an Appointment.
In time, I intend to add FAQs to the various Practice Areas Pages.
If you have a question you’d like to see show up as an FAQ, use the Contact Form to send me your question!
That’s Not All: Behind the Scenes Fixes & Restructuring
Not everything is as visible to the casual eye as the content additions above. There’s a lot that’s been going on behind the scenes to improve things like how fast Pages and Posts load, or how they interconnect.
Nearly every Page or Post on this website has links to other information. Sometimes, that information is on some other website. Other times, the information is to another Page or Post on my own website.
As I mentioned, my website has been through several “generations” since I first started it back around 2007. In fact, there was even a version of it that existed when I was still a law student; before I was able to have an official “lawyer website.”
Technology and “best practices” have changed a few times over the last nearly-two-decades. Blog Posts didn’t used to have many images. Sometimes none at all. Certainly not like today, where there are “Featured Images” at the top of each Page or Post.
But there were invisible differences, too. The links between Pages and Posts were different. So, over time, rather than hunt down and fix every single link, we started using “redirections” to take an existing (but now technically incorrect) link to where the Page or Post “lives” today.
This can have an impact on page speed. And, of course, other mistakes can creep in.
So I just spent the last 2-3 weeks going through every single Page and Post that I’ve ever written, and fixing every one of those links. Now the link bypasses the “redirect” and goes immediately to the correct Page or Post.
Folks, that’s a lot of links!

And that’s not all I’ve done, but I’ve done it all for you. Dontchaluvme?
Stay Up-to-Date with My Newly-Designed Newsletter
Another thing that has changed is my “newsletter.” Some time back, I started offering the possibility for people to receive my blog Posts via email. This avoided the need to visit my website whenever I wrote a new blog Post.
I Digress, or Digest, or Something
Going back through my old posts, I realize that as long ago as 2008, I was occasionally saying, “but I digress.” Scott Greenfield, about whom more anon, upped the ante with “I digest.” I stole that line a couple times.
Anyway, letting people get an email when I wrote a post was especially important, I thought, because I write irregularly. Back in the day, when I was a younger whippersnapper of a lawyer, I wrote almost every day.
A Bad-Ass Band of Blawgers
In fact, there was a group of “blawgers” as we were called across the Internet. We would sometimes “riff” off each other. One of us would write about something. If it was considered important enough, it could even get all of us writing, and cross-linking to one another.You could get perspectives from different lawyers.
I miss those days. But “real life” got in the way of frequent blogging. Most of those bloggers either no longer blog, or blog irregularly (like me). Only Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice — yes! yes! yes! — still blogs regularly. And I noticed of late that he sometimes misses a day or two. (From recent conversations, I think he’s starting the long wind-down from practicing law. But, that’s my assessment; he didn’t say that was happening.)
My New Newsletter Approach
There was a drawback to my “send people the blog post” approach. It didn’t really hit me until Google recently started using its AI to provide answers at the top of every search, thus virtually destroying websites like mine overnight.
No Reason to Visit the Website? That’s a Problem.
The problem was that nobody had a reason to visit my website. Unless they were looking specifically for a criminal defense lawyer like me. And, as I mentioned, once Google started answering questions at the top of a search, they virtually destroyed the desire for anyone to bother clicking through to a website: they already had their answer with Zero Clicks.
That information, by the way, was stolen from websites like mine by Google.
So, anyway, I realized that I had also reduced my own website “traffic” by sending the posts out.
Plus, my newsletters were just Posts I’d written. (And it still took a lot of work to create the Post on the website, but then also configure the emailer to send it out.)
A New, More Informative, Approach
So now I have a new approach. For the moment, it’s a “once a month” thing. That could change (what do you think about twice a month?) over time.
Each month, the newsletter will have a little blurb, written by me, talking about what’s changed, or what’s happened, or what’s interesting in the world of criminal defense since the last newsletter. And then there will be links to any new posts that have been written, along with a “Blasts from the Past” section. (I got that idea when I was going through all my old posts, as mentioned above, and saw some really cool ones that I loved!)
And more.
Once a Month? Twice a Month? What Say You?
The plan is for that newsletter to go out around the first of each month. And it looks something like this:

If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can sign up either here, or here. Each link provides a different “free gift” just for signing up.
What’s Next?
As I mentioned, there’s a lot more coming. I’ll create more Location Pages. I plan to write sections for the Criminal Defense Help Center about Pretrial Detention, Hearings for Lowering Bail (called Humphrey hearings, if you’ve heard of that), and more “law-centered” information. I’m also thinking of creating a section based upon the Jury Instructions — previously CALJIC, currently CALCRIM — which are read by judges to teach jurors about the law that applies to a particular case.
These are just a few of the more practical resources I plan to give you. Free!
And, again, all written by me. Not some marketing company like other local attorneys use. You’ll get information straight from the horse’s mouth. Or mine.
Probably mine.
Horses don’t make very good lawyers. (Sorry, Mr. Ed!)
How You Can Help, If You Want
My goal is to create useful content. Things people actually want to read. As my friend Scott might say, I want to make people smarter; not dumber. About the law. (There’s only so much I can do, people!)
Here’s how you can get involved:
- Comment. Leave comments on my Pages and Posts that contain Comment Sections. In going back through old posts, I noticed that there used to be very healthy discussions “back in the day” that took place in the comments. People would talk to one another. Some were even famous, like Captain Motion! (And Scott.) I’d like to see those days again.

- Suggest a Guide. Is there a resource or tool you wish you had? Or something you wish you knew more about? Let me know. Maybe I’ll create a Guide for it.
- Sign Up for the Newsletter. Stay informed about what’s happening here, get links to the new content, but also to “Blasts from the Past.” And get it from a criminal mastermind — er, I mean a Criminal Defense Mastermind — me! Not some marketing genie. As I write this, you can sign up here, or here, depending on which of the Free Gifts you want. (I plan to figure out how to create one Landing Page, where you can choose which gift you want. But that’s another future project.)
Closing Thoughts
I really want to thank you all for your continued support as I work to make this site the best resource for anyone facing criminal charges.
It’s a labor of love, and your feedback is invaluable. Together, we can build a platform that empowers and informs.
Let’s make this the best legal resource area in Central California!
The post Building a Better Criminal Defense Resource appeared first on Fresno Criminal Lawyer. It was written by Rick.