IMMIGRATION CONSEQUENCES OF A DUI Soon-to-be president Trump has stated that he intends to enforce deportation of certain immigrants. Might a DUI threaten the immigration status or residency of an immigrant in this country? The answer is yes. Under current law, even a person residing in this country legally but who is not a citizen can be deported for certain DUI offenses. That these laws will be more vigorously enforced than they are now is likely. While the laws governing immigration are very complicated, a DUI can affect a person’s immigration status in the U.S. The key term the courts use to determine whether an offense such as a DUI is a deportable offense is whether it is a “crime of moral turpitude.” Among the categories of deportable offenses are these so-called crimes of moral turpitude. This is a catch-all phrase, which is not defined by statute but rather left to the courts to interpret. The courts have found that multiple DUIs, a DUI on a suspended…
What Are The Immigration Consequences Of A DUI
↧
↧
DUI Fatalities And The Consequences In California
THERE’S A KILLER ON THE ROAD Here’s an unfortunate statistic you don’t want to brag about: California has the top four of the top ten U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest DUI fatality rate per capita. Those areas: #1 San Bernardino, #2 Riverside, #3 Fresno, and #4 Sacramento have the highest rate of DUI fatalities in the entire country. San Bernardino’s rate is six times higher than the national rate! It’s neighbor, Riverside, has a rate that is three times higher. The Department of Transportation estimates that approximately one-third of all traffic fatalities involve a drunk driver and that approximately 30% of all drivers in California who died in a car crash were over the legal limit of .08%. The overwhelming number of these fatalities were individuals between the ages of 21 to 34. Continue reading →
↧
PROP 57 ENDS “DIRECT FILE” IN JUVENILE CRIMINAL CASES
Until the passage of Proposition 57 on November 8th, minors over the age of 14 charged with a criminal offense would often find themselves directly charged in adult court rather than juvenile court. The two courts are very distinct because the focus of court in a juvenile criminal matter is rehabilitation and education whereas a juvenile who faces charges in criminal court will be treated as an adult and faces the same punishments an adult would on the same charges. Prior to the passage of Prop 57, prosecutors could, and were often mandated to, directly file charges against a juvenile age 14-17 in adult court. In those cases where the juvenile 14 years or older, direct file was mandatory under the law for certain serious felonies such as murder and many sex crimes. For other crimes, the prosecution could file the charges against a child as young as 14 directly in adult court under what was known as discretionary direct file. Many of the laws regarding direct file were a result…
↧
PROPOSITION 57 GIVES EARLY PAROLE TO CERTAIN NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS
On November 8, 2016, California voters passed Proposition 57, The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 201, by an overwhelming majority of 64%. This proposition contained two key provisions: 1) It makes certain non-violent felons eligible for immediate parole and 2) It requires a court hearing before a juvenile can be tried in adult court. Continue reading →
↧
The Media Needs To Wake The Fuck Up
Now is the time to counter lies with facts, repeatedly and unflaggingly, while also proclaiming the greatest truths: of our equal humanity, of decency, of compassion. Every precious ideal must be reiterated, every obvious argument must be made, because an ugly idea left unchallenged begins to turn the color of normal. It does not have to be like this. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The New Yorker, Dec. 2, 2016.The frustration, grief and horror that gnaw at me incessantly since the election is exacerbated by the sense that, as a Trump surrogate said, “there’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts.” We are, indeed, traveling to another dimension, folks, one that, as Rod Serling would put it, is "a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind." But the media is failing to grasp that we are in a dangerous twilight zone between light and shadow. Alarmingly, it is normalizing what…
↧
↧
Cashing In on Pablo Escobar's Death
It was 23 years ago today that Pablo Escobar was assassinated on a rooftop in Medellin, Colombia. Ex-DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, who served as consultants to the series Narcos, are still cashing in, now embarking on a world tour. ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
↧
The Incredible, Edible ACLU Chimes In
In the “early days*” of body cams, there were mostly voices proclaiming how they would be the magic bullet that changes everything. After all, seeing is believing, and we would now be able to see what really happened rather than rely upon the police version. The defendant, assuming he survived to tell his side, was never credible, because “why would a cop lie”? The body cam showed that they do. Asking “why” is a fool’s errand, though so many people fixate on it to “understand” how their belief system could be so badly screwed up. No matter. The “why” can launch a thousand law review articles. In the courtroom, we worry about the “what,” and video showed us what really happened. Except a few of us didn’t stop at screaming “yay” at the magic bullet that would change everything, realizing that there were issues, problems, that would come of this. Radley Balko was one of the wet blankets…
↧
Girl, 13, Allegedly Caught With Loaded Gun At School
A 13-year-old girl has been arrested after police claim she brought a loaded gun to school in Miami Gardens. Miami-Dade Schools spokeswoman told local media that the girl brandished the gun at two classmates Wednesday morning before classes started at Carol City Middle School. A school staff member confiscated the weapon. The student now faces four weapons charges. An adult who lives at the student’s home, was arrested and charged with failing to secure a weapon from a minor. Weapons charges are taken very seriously by state prosecutors, which is why these charges must be dealt with accordingly. There is much as stake when it comes to the consequences attached to these charges, especially when the person charged is a minor. Juvenile courts tend to sentence minors who are charged with weapons-related offenses in a manner that promotes rehabilitation rather than punishment. Most juvenile courts choose to penalize minors through community service and probation. However, in…
↧
M.D.Pa.: Def can have limited discovery about the search but not a prior draft of the affidavit
Defendant’s discovery request relating to the execution of search warrants on his property is granted in part and denied in part. Essentially, he gets that which is really relevant like a video of execution of the warrant, chain of custody … Continue reading →
↧
↧
CA2: Child prostitution exigency for warrantless cell phone ping
Defendant’s phone was pinged at the request of law enforcement to find him after they developed strong reason to believe he took a 16 year old girl from Maryland to NYC to work her as a prostitute. This type of … Continue reading →
↧
President Obama: Halt the Dakota Access Pipeline & Respect the Rights of Indigenous People
CANNON BALL, ND – DECEMBER 01: Night falls on Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 1, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) I’ve been on all four of Amnesty International’s human rights observer missions to Standing Rock. What I’ve seen there and on video has deeply concerned me. Non-violent Indigenous People opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline have been met with over-militarized policing and excessive, disproportionate and unnecessary military force. People exercising their human rights to assemble, pray and speak out have been brutally arrested, shot with rubber bullets, drenched in tear gas, and sprayed with water in freezing temperatures. The situation could deteriorate this weekend after the Governor of North Dakota and the Army Corps of Engineers have ordered people to leave the Oceti Sakowin Camp. Under international law, the government is obligated to respect and…
↧
Exercise Your Right to Remain Silent
Time and again, in movies and on television shows, you see characters being told they have the right to remain silent. The reality is this represents one of the most important rights you possess if you have been arrested for a crime in Las Vegas. You need to take your right to remain silence very seriously. Do Not Answer Questions without a Lawyer Odds are that you will be told you will make the whole process go easier for you if you cooperate with law enforcement officials. If you answer questions, you will end up with a more favorable resolution of your case. Law enforcement officials, and crime investigators, time and again pressure people in the criminal justice system to answer questions and make statements before these individuals have a chance to retain legal counsel. oftentimes, police officers and others even cross the line of what legally is permissible in these situations. The stark reality is that you do not do yourself any favors by responding to questions from law…
↧
Con mis nietos igualdad
Mientras personas bien pagadas usen la tribuna de medios con éxito relativo en la información para hablar de la homosexualidad y recortar para sus intereses -muy oscuros en mi concepto- la igualdad entre mujercitas y varones, nunca dejaré de opinar. Hoy, en el siguiente enlace http://peru21.pe/opinion/maria-luisa-rio-mis-hijos-igualdad-2263956 una señora, de apellido Del Río se despacha contra los que no compartimos que en las escuelas se enseñen los meandros de la homosexualidad por la sencilla, lógica, de sentido común e irrebatible reflexión de ¿cómo contestamos los porqué en las preguntas de los niños sin estar induciéndolos a "probar"? que he expuesto al comentar el artículo de la señora Patricia del Río en el decano de la prensa nacional. Acierta la señora Del Río cuando aludiendo al censo (no sabemos cuando,…
↧
↧
Racism and Human Indifference Leads to Unnecessary Jail Deaths
Sandra Bland was arrested for a minor traffic violation by a Texas state trooper in Waller County in July 2015. She was placed in the county jail. Three days later she was found hanging in her jail cell. This past summer Waller County officials reached a $1.9 million wrongful death settlement with the Bland family. Unfortunately, Ms. Bland’s tragic death was not unique in our criminal justice system. The nation’s jail system is plagued with violence, corruption, abuse, and death. There is no worse place or worse way to die than alone in a jail cell. In the wake of Sandra Bland’s tragic, and quite senseless, death, the Huffington Post gathered the names, causes of death, dates of arrest and other information about the more than 800 people who died in jails and lockups across the country in the year following Ms. Bland’s death. Thousand Die in Texas Jails, Nationwide The Atlantic reported this past July that between 2005…
↧
DE: Consent to search can’t be proved by “entirely upon hearsay”
Hearsay that defendant consented, in testimony from an officer who was not present, was insufficient to show consent. Even if it could, the hearsay didn’t satisfy the standards of showing voluntariness. Then, the search of his person being invalid, the … Continue reading →
↧
techdirt: ACLU Suggests Jury Instructions Might Be A Fix For ‘Missing’ Police Body Camera Recordings
techdirt: ACLU Suggests Jury Instructions Might Be A Fix For ‘Missing’ Police Body Camera Recordings by Tim Cushing: We’ve written plenty of posts about police body cameras — how useful they can be and how useless they often are. What … Continue reading →
↧
The Made-for-TV Legal Battle over Sofia Vergara’s Fertilized Embryos
While I’ve never litigated a Connecticut child custody case (I leave that to the top Westport & Greenwich Connecticut divorce lawyers), every once in a while a national family law case catches my eye…like the current court battle over Sofia Vergara’s frozen, fertilized embryos. It’s a case that has the heads spinning of even the best divorce / family lawyers in Fairfield County Connecticut. The Issue – Who Has the Right to the Fertilized Embryos??? Vergara and her ex-boyfriend are currently in the throes of a first-of-its-kind legal battle over fertilized eggs. According to reports, the couple decided to freeze and bank the embryos in 2013, but did not want to incubate the embryos to “term” (that is, to a live birth through in vitro fertilization of Vergara, or alternatively, surrogacy) until the couple was ready to have the child. As the couple was not yet married, it is reported that they both signed a written pre-fertilization…
↧
↧
New Sheriff in Town Declares Bail System Unconstitutional
This past September the Texas Fair Defense Project, the law firm of Susan Godfrey (Houston), and the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, Equal Justice Under Law, filed a class action civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Houston challenging the bail policies of Harris County. The lawsuit essentially charged that the county’s “wealth-based pretrial detention violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.” The lawsuit named all 16 judges misdemeanor court judges and former Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman as defendants. Pre-Trial Detention of Poor Challenged as Unconstitutional The Sheriff’s Department was named in the lawsuit because Harris County policy permits the department to accept money bail determined by a fixed bail schedule. This is significant because, as the lawsuit alleged, the department is responsible for 27 percent of all arrests in Harris County and has the…
↧
Cell Phones, The Fourth Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment
Yesterday, I spoke at a continuing legal education conference for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The topic was searches of cell phones incident to arrest. I also discussed the Application of the fifth amendment protection against self-incrimination when a suspect is compelled to provide a passcode to unlock a cell phone or to decrypt hard drive data. The video qualify is not the greatest, but you can access my SlideDeck to follow along if you would like. Please contact me if you have questions or comments. Or you may comment here. Cell Phone Searches, the Fourth Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment from Scott Key The post Cell Phones, The Fourth Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment appeared first on Georgia Criminal Appellate Law Blog.
↧
Court Orders Maintenance Enforcement Program to Pay Dad for Abusive Collection Efforts
Some of the worst complaints about the British Columbia family law justice system arise from litigants dealing with the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (“FMEP”), called the Family Responsibility Office in Ontario. Support enforcement programs permit parents and spouses who have court orders or agreements providing for child or spousal support payments to register their orders or agreements with the enforcement program in their province, at no cost to the registrant. The protocol is that once an agreement or order is registered, the payee parent or spouse must pay support to FMEP, no longer directly to the recipient. FMEP ensures that the recipient parent or spouse receives the payment monthly, and in cases where a payee fails to pay, they take steps to enforce the payment of the support. Interestingly, a payee does not have to be in arrears of support to be monitored by FMEP. I remember years ago when a client of mine agreed to pay support…
↧
More Pages to Explore .....
