Meet Our Team

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

Success in defending criminal charges frequently depends on teamwork. Rarely if ever, is a case favorable resolved without the involvement of many working together. Just like the prosecution which uses both law enforcement and prosecutors, an thoughtfully assembled defense team is essential.  Here are some proven members of my team with whom I have worked for years:  

Randy Petee

worked his way through the ranks of a career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Mr. Petee has attended the Field Officer Training School (Rio Hondo Community College) [1985‑86], the Advanced Officer Training Program (CSU-Los Angeles) [1982-85] and the DEA Narcotics Task Force Investigator Training (Quantico, VA) [1990]. Considering his proficiency as an undercover operative during special drug-related assignments, Mr. Petee became a sworn agent of the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency at the culmination of his training exercise at FBI Headquarters in Quantico, VA.    After retiring from the Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Petee began his private investigative career as a partner and the Director of Operations in an established investigation firm. In 2000, Mr. Petee created Petee Associates, Inc., a California-licensed private investigation firm, specializing in civil litigation support, comprehensive individual and corporate background assessments, surveillances and asset searches, as well as locating hard-to-find subjects throughout the United States.  Based on the number of former federal, state and local law enforcement professionals with whom Mr. Petee regularly networks, he has had the opportunity to conduct investigations requiring travel to Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador and Colombia. Mr. Petee is a member of the Professional Investigators of California (PICA) and the Los Angeles County Criminal Defense Investigators Association (LACCDIA) as well as a feature investigator on the Los Angeles County Superior Court Private Investigators Panel.  Mr. Petee has testified hundreds of times and participated in over five hundred investigations.

Gary Steiner

retired in 2008 after 30 years with the Santa Monica  Police Department  where he rose to Sergeant and Supervisor  of the Tactical Patrol  Rifle  Team. Along the way he gathered 11 years of investigative experience as a detective in Robbery/Homicide which included , including:  Homicides, Robbery, Kidnapping, Felony Assault, Missing Persons, Suspicious Deaths and Officer Involved Shootings. . Gary was ranked #1 in interagency LAPD courses in both Criminal & Homicide Investigations.  He has also taken an investigation course from the California  Department  of Justice and the National Law Enforcement Institute. In light of training and his being lead investigator, Mr. Steiner has developed both an understanding of how cases are prepared as well as relationships with law enforcement and prosecutors

As a result of more than over 100 hours of training by  law enforcement agencies including the FBI  and over 3000 Interrogations and Interviews, Gary has become an expert in the topic . He has taught in Interrogations and Interviews technique  to over five hundred officers from numerous police departments and hundreds of attorneys and is a regular lecturer on criminal investigations at Pepperdine Law School. Gary has testified hundreds of times and has qualified as an expert in Investigations, Confessions, Interrogations and Police procedures.  

Zora Colacovic 

has worked on hundreds of  federal and state cases including widely known capital and RICO cases involving conspiracy and violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR): murder, torture, human rights violations, and distribution of controlled substances and gang-related criminal enterprises.  Additional cases involve possession and distribution of child pornography(with Jonathan) armed bank robbery, wire and securities fraud, insider trading, health care fraud, identity theft, counterfeit distribution, extortion, bribery, money laundering, tax evasion, national security violations, and international financial crime. She has had success in USA v. Slocum (Aryan Brotherhood multiple murders, RICO), USA v. Martinez (Mexican Mafia-related prison murder, conspiracy) USA v. Torres (multiple murders, RICO, public corruption), and almost singlehandedly pursuing a  missing person investigation for a family in California, resolved with the recovery of the daughter’s body and arrest and conviction of her father for special circumstance murder.  Her invaluable work  helped Jonathan win two recent murder cases:  CA v. Ritchie(3 hour not guilty)  and CA. v. Rincon (three hung juries.)

Zora has had several weeks of intensive training with the Institute for International Criminal Investigations at The Hague where she developed knowledge of international criminal law, tribunal and court procedures, and skills in the investigation of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. She is currently assisting in investigative research for the defense in Yugoslav Tribunal (ICTY) case, The Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadzic, with multiple charges of violations of international criminal law. Zora was selected as Subject Matter Expert by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services for development of the updated California Private Investigator examination. She has served as a criminal defense expert for the South Korean Police delegation to the United States. Zora was  admitted to the List of Qualified Investigators for the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon.  She has international experience in over 60 countries and in total spent approximately 5 years in such locations as Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.

OTHER EXPERTS WITH WHOM JONATHAN HAS WORKED

ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION:  Mortimer Moore Phd and Josef Maatuk

ADDICTION & DRUG MEDICINE: Terry McGee MD

ALCOHOL: Dwayne Beckner; Terry Mc Gee MD; Henry Greenberg; Leo Summerhays

AUDIO & VIDEO ENHANCEMENTS: Greg Stutchman and Hank Waring

ARSON: Tom Fee

BALLISTICS; Larry Baggett ; Patricia Fant and  Jimmy Trahin

COMPUTER FORENSICS:  Robert Radus

CONFESSIONS: Dr. Mark Costanzo; Dr. Richard Leo and Gary Steiner

CRIME SCENE RECONSTRUCTION: Ken Moses

DNA: Drs. Simon Cole and Mark Taylor.

EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION : Drs. Mitch Eisen; Scott Frazier; Elizabeth Loftus;  Kathy Pezdek; and Robert Shomer

FINGERPRINT: Dell Freeman; Kurt Kuhn and Ken Moses

FORENSIC PSYCHIATRISTS: Drs. Rebecca Crandall;  Mark Jaffe; Kory Knapke; Gordon Plotkin;  Sanjay Sahgal and Kausal Sharma

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS:  Drs. Andrea Bernhard Terry Gock; Barry Hirsch; Suzanne Dupee  and Nancy Kaser-Boyd

GANGS: Alex Alonso ;Greg Estavene; Martin Flores;   Blinky Rodrique; Aqeela Sherrills; 

NEUROLOGY: Drs. Kyle Boone; Michael Gold; and Arthur Kowell

PATHOLOGIST: Drs. Paul Herrman; Marvin Pietruszka,  Barry Silverman and Griffith Thomas

POLICE PRACTICES : Timothy Williams

PTSD: Drs. Suzanne Dupee and Mindy Mechanic 

QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS: Kurt Kuhn

SEX CRIMES: Drs. Brian Abbott;  Fred Berlin; Ted Donaldson;  Earl Fuller; Steven Grabaeff;  Hy Malinek; Ryan O’Connor ; Amy Phenix and Allison Clark Stewart

Meet Jonathan Mandel

Former Prosecutor, Former Public Defender, Analyst, Lecturer and Criminal Law Specialist

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