[00:00:05] Speaker A: The Michael Hatfield REMAX team presents Real Estate and More. Bay Area real estate is different than all of America and why? What's up with home buyers? What's on sellers minds, how is the market? And much, much more.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Now here's your host, Michael Hatfield. Welcome back to the Real Estate and More show. And we are talking today about a very powerful discuss. We have a well known lawyer back on the show whose expertise has helped shape public understanding of our criminal and civil law for decades. Mr. Michael Cardoza, renowned trial attorney, legal analyst and a person that you have to like. If you meet him, you see him often on national television commenting and sharing his thoughts on high profile homicide and tough criminal trials. A man with a strong passion for justice and fortunately for us, a talent for demystifying the law. Talent for talking with people as well. Welcome back to the show, Mr. Michael Cordoza.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Thank you, Michael. It's pleasure to be here.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: You know, a lot of people, you know, started their careers by either grabbing onto something in district attorney's office, but you went to three different occupations in three different attorneys. Offices of the district attorney. What's that about?
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Some people think I couldn't hold a job, but that's not exactly true.
When I was in college, the Vietnam War was going on and they were drafting people as you know, back then. And about my junior year I decided that the war was not a place I wanted to be. And I did have a friend that was killed there. So that amplified my feelings certainly about what was going on. So I decided then, finally, almost the first time in my life, gee, maybe I should study and not have quite this much fun in college.
So I did study. I did get into law school. And while I was in law school, I had an evidence professor that was a trial attorney. And I used to love to hear his stories, the way he taught, the stories he told. And at times the discussions we would have, I laugh because he would certainly bury me in those discussions. But I thought, whoa, that's what I want to be. I want to be a trial attorney. And somehow that passion lit up at that time. And ever since then that's what I focused on.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Well, why Los Angeles? You started in the LA District Attorney's office down there with Harry Bosch.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Well, I'm not sure Harry was a thing back then, but, but my father at the time, I grew up in San Francisco. My dad was president of the police commission in San Francisco. That's way back. And I know a lot of older people will remember Joe Aliotto, the mayor, and he was quite A good mayor. And he appointed my dad to the police commission, and my father then became president. And when I graduated law school, I knew I wanted to do trial work, but I also knew I didn't want to do it in the city because I didn't want it to look nepotistic. I wanted to know, am I any good at this? I don't want people blowing smoke at me because of who my dad is or was. Then he since passed, but.
And I thought, okay, well, where can I go? And I thought, okay, la.
And I went down there, took the civil service test. And down in Los Angeles at the time, the way it worked is you were graded on the civil service test. And when your number came up, you would have a choice of three jobs, either city attorney, public defender or district attorney. And when your number was called, you go in, they say, okay, the DA's job is open. Do you want it? If you said no, then you went to the bottom of the list, the way I understood it. So the first job that they told me about when my number came up was da. And I went, I'll take it, I'll take it. I need a job. And I went to work and I started working out in East Los Angeles. And I knew nothing about gangs, because up here in Northern California, and it was in the 70s, there were no gangs. You didn't hear of gangs. It was honestly the first time, because I worked in east la, that someone told me that Mexican Americans were a minority. And I went, what? What do you mean they're a minority? Because in San Francisco and being around the Mission District and playing baseball through grammar school, high school, college, semi pro ball, I played with a lot of Mexican Americans. And it never occurred to me they were a minority. First time in east la, we're a minority. And I'm like, you're. Whoa, wait a minute. And that's the first time I heard about gangs. You know, the gangs in east la, the gangs in Los Angeles. As I said, there were no gangs in Northern California. I remember one of the first preliminary hearings I ever did was a murder preliminary hearing. Of course, there were another DA with me as I put that preliminary hearing in, and it was Joe Morgan. Joe Morgan was one of the founders of the Mexican Mafia. And I'm thinking, well, he's not a Mexican guy. I mean, Joe Morgan. And I put that PX in, and Joe had a wooden leg, and in that leg he would carry guns and drugs and weapons, other weapons of choice. I mean, here's. I'm out six months of law school or not law school, but away from the bar. And I'm doing a murder PX against the. If not the head, one or two down in the Mexican mafia. I couldn't tell you how exciting that was. And that even lit my fire even more to do cases like that.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: Yeah, isn't it amazing a success somewhere that you have leads you to be so much more motivated and so much more willing to try something even more if you have that success. So successes tend to be built on successes. And now look at you, you know.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Well, I'm not sure that's true, Mike. I mean, I agree with you to a point. But at least for me, a lot of my success was built on failures because I would fail at certain things where I wouldn't do so well. And I learned from that. Instead of getting down on myself too much. Of course you get down on yourself. But I thought, okay, what did I learn from that? What did I learn from that preliminary hearing? What did I learn in that trial that I'm not going to repeat again? You know, that type of faux pas in a courtroom and sometimes it's embarrassing. I'll tell you a story.
When I was doing a preliminary hearing, and it was one of my first. One of my first, and I had a public defender, and thank God he was a kind guy, because I'm there, and a lady, her home was burglarized, and I asked the question something, how did you know that your house was burglarized? He objected. Conclusion, you know, legal conclusion. I went, what? Uh, oh, well, shouldn't that. So I tried to ask it again, different way. Tried to ask it a different way. And honest to God, by the time I got to the end, and I'll tell you why, I finally got the question right, I think I sweated through my suit. I'm going, oh my God, I can't even ask, you know, one of the first five questions here. And he finally leaned over, he goes, come here. And I said, what? He goes, ask if anything was missing when she got home. And I'm like, oh, thank you, thank God. And I turned and got by that question. But that's how I learned. And I've had, luckily, a lot of mentors in my life, a lot of trial attorneys that mentored me through it. And for that I'm ever thankful. And that's why I love to mentor aspiring trial attorneys.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: You know, an interesting thing is, you know, you got a good point there, is that you learn to land a 350,000 pound jet by doing it not so well, but safely. So yes, you learn from the downsides, but boy, once you get something good like you did and now you're in this FOX News legal analyst thing that you do regularly and very successfully and very seriously for some of the biggest trials in the nation. And you couldn't have got there if you wouldn't have had overall some really great successes back in the day.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: REMAX.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: The Real estate minute with ReMax expert Michael Hatfield. Bay Area housing markets are always changing. What should we think of that, Michael?
[00:09:29] Speaker D: You know, Mark Twain said, I seldom saw an opportunity until it ceased to be one. We live in the greatest housing market in the nation. But careful thought should be given each time one buys or sells a home. A good agent can help you grasp a great opportunity.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: Tell us about discount agents, Michael.
[00:09:47] Speaker D: Discount agents can list your home, but without telling my secrets, they're unlikely to do all we do for clients. It's an unnecessary risk to save a few thousand by hiring a junior agent and lose tens of thousands through a poorly done transaction. You don't know what you don't know. It's wise to hire someone who does.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: If you or someone you know is interested in buying or selling a home, call the Michael Hatfield Re Max team at 925-322-7775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com when your real estate needs are beyond the standard and you demand more than the status quo, look no further than the Michael Hatfield REMAX Accord team with offices in Danville and nine more Bay Area locations. Here's Michael Hatfield to tell us more.
[00:10:31] Speaker D: Do you have a housing problem such.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: As you live in a three bedroom.
[00:10:34] Speaker D: Home with three children and need one more bedroom. You want better schools or your kids grown up, moved out and your home is just too large? Our team is a five star agent who serves our clients housing needs as.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Our number one priority.
[00:10:47] Speaker D: Call us for a free buyer consultation to start working on your housing problem.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Now let us help you to solve.
[00:10:53] Speaker D: Your housing issue, whatever your need.
[00:10:56] Speaker C: Maybe call 925-322-7775 to partner buyer or seller needs with the Michael Hatfield Re Max Accord team. That's 9253-2277-7592-5322-7775. Come discover a new level of excellence in real estate with the Michael Hatfield ReMax.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: You know Michael, one of the things I heard the other day you were on FOX News and it was talking about some case and Then you say, when a DA takes on a case, not only do you have to do justice, but you have to give the appearance of justice as well. Can you say a word on that, on that concept? I believe that had to be with a prosecution where they'd put together some misdemeanors and that it caused a, some felony to happen. Do you recall that one?
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Well, what it was when I was, and keep in mind, I was a DA in LA for about a year and a half, then I moved to San Francisco. I was there about two, two and a half years before I went to Alameda County. In Alameda county, there was a district attorney by the name of Lowell Jensen. And he was an unbelievable district attorney, well respected trial attorney. He understood the job and he always told us on the trial staff, your job is not to convict everybody. Your job is to do justice. So if you do a case or you're handling a case where you personally don't believe it beyond, and I mean beyond a reasonable doubt, then come and talk to your superiors, let's talk it through to see if this case should or should not be prosecuted. And that's where I also heard him say, you not only have to do justice, but the appearance of justice. And that's why I like to explain to people, here's the underlying facts in the case. Especially when I do TV or radio, either on Fox or Cron in the city, I like to explain to people, here are the facts. Because a lot of people take a little snippet of facts and go, well, that's not fair. What do you mean? You're doing it for this reason, you're prosecuting them for this reason or for that reason. And you think, wait a minute, you don't know all the facts, so why don't you learn all the facts and then come to a conclusion? Because when people know more about the case, more in depth facts about the case, then they go, oh, I get why you're prosecuting them. It's not for those reasons. It's because in fact, he did it. Oh, my Lord.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: By the way, folks, should you find yourself in need of top tier legal representation, Michael is on the defense side. He's been doing this for a long time. You can contact him and reach him at the Cardoza Law firm by calling 925-274-2900. So that's, that's pretty interesting. I, I, I believe to be a trial attorney is where most, most really movers and shakers would want to go in the field of legal Expertise. But one of the things that comes to mind to me is when you get set up to hold a trial or have a trial, you have to. If you're a da, you as well as a defense attorney, you have to find the best jurors. What kind of a task is that?
[00:14:32] Speaker A: I laugh because picking a jury is an art. It's not a science.
And the way I learned was, just keep doing it. Get in as many trials as you can. I've been in well over 200 jury trials in my life. I've been doing it over 40 plus years. Way over 40 plus. And you just keep doing it. And you learn from that, and you learn. First of all, jurors are very uncomfortable when they come in. And I explained that to them a lot. I said, I'm as uncomfortable as you are, actually, because I've got to delve into you and find out what you're thinking, whether you're going to be a good juror. I was going to say fair. And I hear that in court all the time. Judges and DAs and defense attorneys go, they ask jurors, can you be fair? And that little voice in my head goes, wait a minute, can you be fair? Fair to me is a whole lot different than what's fair to you. And it depends what kind of baggage you bring into the courtroom. What has been your experience? Were you raised in Piedmont or were you raised in East Oakland? I mean, those are two different experiences.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Two different experiences.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: And what's fair to someone in East Oakland is not quite what's fair to someone that was raised in the hills and vice versa. So when I hear you, can you be fair? What are you going to say if you're a jury? No, I can't be fair. Who the heck thinks they can't be fair? Yeah, with my thinking, with the parameters I have about what's fair, yeah, I can be fair. And a lot of times I'm thinking, yeah, they'll find you not guilty. I think it's fair because, you know, for whatever reason, I think he's not guilty or I think he's guilty. So it's an art in drawing out from people and letting them talk. You and I were talking earlier about listening, and I used to always tell my kids, listen when you talk. You don't learn anything when you listen. You learn a lot at times.
And there are a lot of attorneys that go in and just blather on without letting the juror talk. They ask a lot of closed end questions. Yes or no, can you be fair? Yes, have you ever been on a jury? Yes or no. And I'm going no. Let them talk. Tell me about you, Michael. You tell me about you. You're on my jury. Have you ever sat on a jury? What are your thoughts about the criminal justice? And listen to them, what they're saying. And you can often glean a bias or a prejudice from them at times. And so picking a jury is an art that you learn from doing. And are you right all the time? Heck no, you're not right. But you do the best you can.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: Wow, it's amazing. Well, you had some short stories that you wanted to talk with. One had to do with a fatal crash in Pittsburgh.
You want to talk about that one a little bit?
[00:17:35] Speaker A: That's, you know, a lot of people in the last one, I don't know how many years went. Michael. 5, 10 years when you know, we had the George Floyd, okay, George Floyd killing was God awful. And that officer should have been convicted and should be in prison for what he did.
But where we have taken that to me is like, wait a minute, what do you mean? Defund the police? Yeah. And my question right now is, hey guys, how's it all working? You know, because when you say things like that and you take policemen off the street, you're not going to have good law enforcement. You're not going to have people obey the rules, the laws. And the way we've had it now, I think we're coming back and realizing, wait a minute, I mean, how many of you that are listening out in our freeways have watched people drive by you at well over 90, weaving in and out because we don't have enough chippies or highway patrol on the street. We don't have enough policemen on our streets and people drive like crazy. Well, out in Pittsburgh, Antioch area, about two months ago, there was a guy driving, weaving in and out, going over 100 miles an hour. The CHP lit him up, turned their lights on as they were getting off. I think it was railroad.
And he makes, I believe a left hand turn there, runs right through a light and hits a car and kills the passenger. The driver was injured, he was from what I understand. And he went to high school at De La Salle, was quite a football player there and was a coach and had a young fiance and she dies.
And what's the first thing people start talking about? The police chasing and well, it's the police fault. And, and I did say when I was on television, I said wait a minute, let's go back to the get go. Who was driving 100 who blew through the red light. You mean it was because the cops let him up, that's why. Or do you think he would have done it anyway? But everybody's knee jerk. Not everybody, but some. Oh, let's blame the police for that. And I go, no, no, no, no, no. The guy that's driving, is it fault here? Let's look at that and then from there decide about when should or shouldn't a police officer do a chase. But in that situation, I think they chased him for a block or two and that was it before the accident. So I don't know all the answers, but I do know we need police. We need a lot more of them and we need them better trained and we need high quality, quality people out on the street. You remember when we were growing up, you're not quite my age, but you're close.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: I'm pretty ancient.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Well, remember that. I mean, I grew up in the city and I remember people in high school and in college going, yeah, I gotta be a policeman. My dad was, my grandfather was. And it was a family tradition and people were proud to be police officers. Now people walk away and go, I love new need this kind of stuff. And people that are. What might go into it are saying, you know, if I go into it and I'm on the street and I make a decision, I'm going to get sued and maybe lose my livelihood and my, you know, why, why, why do I want to do this? So at times you lose really high quality people because they go, I'm not putting up with this. Why should I be scrutinized that way now, should they be trained? Should they be sensitized to what goes on? Absolutely.
But to say, let's defund them, let's lessen. I just don't get it. I really don't. Maybe that's because of my age that I look at this and go, nah, you're doing it all wrong. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
[00:21:36] Speaker D: There's a shortage of bay area homes for sale, and you've been watching home prices rise year after year. And new now your home is worth a great deal more. And you're thinking, time for something new. Why not sell before interest rates and market conditions change everything? You'd like experts who can help you get the best deal possible, Negotiate on your behalf and work hard to ensure a smooth transition. List your home with us. If you're buying or selling a home, call us now.
[00:22:02] Speaker E: Working with Michael and Nancy, I was a first time home buyer and I was very nervous about the process. I didn't really know what to expect. Michael and Nancy were able to take that fear away from me and answered all of my questions. They were right by my side the entire time. And they really helped me find the perfect home for me. And I'm so thankful for excellence in real estate.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: Call the Michael Hatfield ReMax team at 925-322-7775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com now back to our show.
[00:22:36] Speaker B: Yeah, you said earlier that listening has a lot of value.
If I'm talking, I only know what I know.
If I'm listening, I know what I know and I know what you know about that situation. And I think as we gain vintage, we get a little more.
I think we get better at looking at situations and saying, well, that's because of this. It's not because of that. And that's, that's really, I think what happens there.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Well, also, I'm sorry to interrupt. A lot of times, too, people talk over each other. Yeah. You know, it's like, well, I know what I want to say and hurry up, finish what you want to say so I can say what I want to say. And it's like, no, listen. And that's part of the problem with what goes on in our society, in my opinion, that we don't listen to each other. We don't listen and we don't take a step in that other person shoot and say, okay, explain to me why you think X. Tell me, and then listen. Okay, well, here's why I think we shouldn't do X. I don't think we should do that. And you have a conversation. I have a friend in San Jose that's a brilliant guy. He works in technology and courtrooms, and he and I are politically polar opposites.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:23:52] Speaker A: But we like each other. We love each other as friends, and we talk to each other. That's my friend Drew. And we talk and I listen and he listens to me. And we can walk away going, hey, man, I love you. I don't agree with you, but I love you. Okay, got it. And we don't get at each other, you know, and that's how it should be. And there are times he'll change my mind about things. I'll go, you know, Drew, I never thought of that. Oh, my God, that's a great. And people don't do that. Here's what I want to say.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: And I don't care what you are saying. Yeah, Things have changed in that regard. I have a friend of mine, I've known him for almost 40 years, and he's an Italian. He grew up in Italy. And so we went over on a vacation more than once, and we would go down to the coffee shop in the morning. We'd sit there for three and four hours talking to the local guys and ladies. And you learn so much by working inside of a group of people that have great things to say. You know, they have experience, they have knowledge, they have education. It's just a really amazing thing. Well, where do you go nowadays and have a four hour dinner? You know, three hours is, is still a long one. Most people drop in, they have a dinner, they're out of there in an hour and 15 minutes. If they're served quickly.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Yeah, people don't talk anymore. I mean, look at. When I was raising. I had four kids when I was raising the kids and phones became a thing. It was like, no, no, no, no, no. Especially when you go out there, don't bring your phone in. In the restaurant, you know, I'm going to take it. Don't do that. Sit and talk. I mean, I remember the first time I learned that. I'm at dinner with two of my kids and they're both on their phones. What are you doing?
We're texting each other. I go, whoa, you're doing what? Well, I'm texting him. And she. I'm going, you can't talk. I go, give me those phones. But that's the craziness of it, you.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: Know, it really is. Well, I can't believe it, Michael. But we've talked almost out of time.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: You know, I'm not.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: We didn't even get to the other stores. We're gonna have to do something about that. But if you want to leave our audience with a really great thought today, what would that be?
[00:26:14] Speaker A: You know, I'm for kids. It would be when you decide either in high school or college what you think you want to be. Like, I want to be an architect. Okay, fair enough. Or I want to be a trial lawyer. Fair enough.
Go shadow somebody that does that job. Try your best to get into an architectural firm or a law office. A lot of them will take you as long as they don't have to pay. You do it for free. You're investing in your future. Go do that. You want to be a real estate agent? Go follow a real estate agent around and tell them, listen, I'll clean up, I'll do it all for free for you. But just Let me follow you for a week or two during vacation, see if you like it. Because you go through college and you get, for example, an architectural degree or a law degree in law school, then you go out and you start doing it. You go, God, I hate this. This is not what I thought it was. Find out what it's about. I mean, that's a lot of what I told my kids.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: And make the decision early.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Well, you don't have to make the decision, but if you like it, then you can make. Yeah, this is what I want to do.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Sooner the better.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Yeah, but know what you're getting yourself into.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: I think it's a very good point.
I think that's a very, very good point. Well, from his courtroom stories to the reflections on our legal system, it's clear why he is a trusted voice in law and in television and radio media. His insight, his passion and taking the time to give us a deeper understanding of issues in regards to our justice system. It's valuable and is much appreciated. A big thank you, Mr. Michael Cordoza, for being so generous and sharing your insights with us today.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: My pleasure, Michael. Thank you so much.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Absolutely. If you find yourself in need of top tier legal representation, you can reach Michael Cardoza, Esq. At the Cardoza Law Firm by calling 925-274-2900. We deeply appreciate your time, your expertise, and the wealth of knowledge you brought to our conversation today. Thank you, sir.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: You're welcome.
[00:28:22] Speaker D: Please remember to go to our new YouTube handle, my real Talk Show. That's My real talk
[email protected] and touch that subscribe button. You can also find past air shows at our handle, myrealtalkshow on YouTube.com.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Sa.
