Sacramento Criminal & DUI Defense Lawyer
Keith Staten
Whether you're facing a California DMV hearing, a hard-core gang case, a domestic battery case or any other felony or misdemeanor matter, Attorney Keith J. Staten is the guy to call to help weather the storm.
It is without question that Staten is the "go-to guy" for California Department of Motor Vehicle Hearings. After all, he spent over five years as Senior Staff Counsel for the California DMV and headed up the organization's Driver Safety Program. "Staten knows everything there is to know about DMV hearings," says fellow Shouse Law Group Attorney Darrell York.
But Staten's also the go-to guy for other matters. During his 17 years of trial work, the Sacramento-based lawyer has successfully represented defendants in homicide cases, hard-core gang cases, narcotics cases, sex cases, cases involving sex offender registration, administrative hearings and cases involving California's notorious three strikes law.
He's tried over 70 cases to verdict.
And Staten brings something to his practice that not even the most empathetic of other attorneys can...he's actually been there. Before turning his life around, Staten hustled the streets of Oakland and on more than one occasion sat in the defendant's chair in the courtroom.
"There's no client who walks into my office that I can't say: 'I understand.'"
Staten began his life's journey in Mississippi during segregation and recalls how his family had to "pack lunches" when they went on outings, lest they be unable to find an establishment willing to serve them.
His father's air force career took the family to several locations around the country, including Illinois and North Dakota. But even when his family finally settled in Vallejo, California, Staten kept drifting.
"My whole dream and goal was to hang in the streets," Staten recalls. "Or play pro baseball."
But neither hustling nor pro ball worked out for Staten. After a few arrests, time in jail, and losing friends to violence on the streets, Staten found his path to redemption.
He enrolled at community college and excelled on the speech and debate team. He read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. He and another young African-American man became friends with an "old-time trial lawyer" and the three of them spent afternoons shooting hoops and then discussing major issues of the day in the lawyer's Haight-Ashbury apartment.
"He tried to enlighten us to do good in the world," Staten says, "and that became our dream."
Unfortunately, Staten's friend was unable to fulfill this dream. But Staten was. He stopped drifting and made a beeline to Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
Since graduating from law school, Staten's been a deputy public defender, lead trial lawyer for the California DMV, and a criminal defense attorney with his own practice.
Staten's commitment to justice extends beyond the courtroom. He's an active member in numerous bar associations, including the California DUI Lawyers Association, California Public Defenders Association, Sacramento Indigent Defense Panel, and Wiley Manuel Bar Association.
He helped establish, and has served as mock trial coach for, the Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep Charter High School, a law-themed charter school for high school kids.
Name your need and Keith Staten is there to meet it...he speaks at career days, presents at "know your rights" workshops, teaches at California DMV officer trainings, contributes to legal topic email list services, and lets at-risk youth tag along with him to court to see what goes on in there.
Because of hip replacement surgery, Staten has had to tone down his athletic pastimes. But he still likes to bowl. He also writes screenplays and novels, sings in a reggae band and owns a Canadian urban and pop record label with his brother. Staten's musical inspirations include Jimi Hendrix and Simon & Garfunkle.
Staten has found his calling in criminal defense work. Always colorful, he explains his calling by way of a shaker of Morton Salt.
"There's a picture of a little girl holding an umbrella. It's raining all around her."
"I am that umbrella. I can't stop the rain from falling. I can't keep it from storming. You might get wet. But I can keep you from getting soaked."
