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International Students facing Los Angeles Criminal Offenses

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Many of our clients are students who have traveled internationally to study in the United States. Unfortunately, while they are here they often find themselves in legal trouble. A criminal offense can be stressful and a hassle by itself, but when there are immigration issues, it can have additional unforeseen consequences. An international student is often here on a visa, and there may be complications to that visa when they are convicted of a DUI or other criminal charge. Obtaining the best possible legal representation can help avoid immigration issues. It can help reduce or dismiss the charges against you so that your immigration status remains untouched. In order to better understand how a Los Angeles Criminal Offense lawyer can be useful, let’s consider an example. Dimitri is an international student studying at a university in California. After finals, he and his friends go out to celebrate. Dimitri has quite a few drinks and is walking down the street with his…

Can I Fight a Los Angeles DUI Charge?

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If you have been arrested for a DUI, it is nothing more than a charge against you. Oftentimes, an arrest alone does not manifest into a charge. You may appear in Court on the date assigned, and find that no charges had yet been filed. However, that is not always the case. A charge alone does not lead to a conviction.  You can only be convicted in one of two ways; 1) you enter a plea of guilty, or 2) you are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in trial. There are ways to prepare your case so that you give yourself the best possible chance of getting your case dismissed, or in the very least reduced. There are many different ways you can fight a Los Angeles DUI Offense. Continue reading

Another unanimous SCOTUS win for feds in bank fraud case

What to do if I'm Charged with a Drug Crime?

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If you have been charged with a crime of possession of drugs, there may be programs available to you to help reduce your sentence or resolve the case more favorably. Let's look at the state side first. If you have been charged with a serious drug crime and you are facing jail time, depending on what your addiction issues are (if you have them), you may be eligible for the drug court program. The drug court program here in the state of Maine is an intensive, supervised outcome. You sign a contract where you have either a good outcome or a bad outcome. The good outcome is after a year if you have done everything you are supposed to do, successfully completed the drug treatment program for drug court, stayed clean, and done what you needed to do, that outcome could be a dismissal of charges, reduction of charges, or something as simple as not going back to jail. The bad outcome is you could be sentenced to the maximum sentence allowed by law. On the federal side, if you are…

Youth Pastor Sentenced to Two Years for Sexually Assaulting Four Different Church Goers

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A man who had been working as a youth pastor at Grace Community Church in Lake Forest, Orange County has just been sentenced to two years in state prison and lifetime sex registration, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s website. He plead guilty to two felony counts of sexual battery by restraint and two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery. The assaults are alleged to have occurred last year and involved four separate female victims. Some of the assaults occurred on the Orange County church property. The victims spoke to the man during his sentencing in court, describing their suffering in a “victim impact statement.” Under California’s Marsy’s Law, every adjudged victim is given this right to confront her perpetrator. If you or a loved one are charged with sexual battery or are the victim of sexual battery seeking help with a victim impact statement, please contact Orange County criminal defense attorney Staycie R. Sena at (949)…

Remembering Eighth Circuit Judge Myron Bright, a first-ballot "Sentencing Hall of Famer"

Keeping Track Of Trump's Multi-Faceted Perfidy

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Every morning, before I leave for work, I do a quick check whether I have my wallet, keys, phone, chapstick and hanky.  It is a habit that has become second nature.  In girding for the Trump Administration, it seems to me we need a similar kind of system so that we can keep track of -- and not neglect -- every offensive and horrifying aspect of his presidency.  This also should become second nature.But it won't be easy.  Trump's strategy seems to be to bombard us with so much craziness that it is virtually impossible to focus on any one thing.  Governing by whack-a-mole.  As soon as the public zeroes in on one outrage, he moves on to another and then another, so that the first one is forgotten.   Case in point:  when was the last time you heard politicians or pundits evince concern over Trump's selection of Steve Bannon, a white nationalist, as his chief advisor.  That was so…

Last Four Months of DOJ’s FCPA Pilot Program Could Provide Important Signals

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Last April, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice launched a one-year pilot program in the Fraud Section’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) Unit.  The pilot program, self-described as “building” on the Yates memorandum, provides structured incentives for companies to self-disclose, cooperate, and remediate with respect to FCPA violations.  The remaining four months of the program before it expires promise to provide valuable information on several fronts. Pursuant to the pilot program, to date DOJ has issued a total of five declination letters.   Three of these were in June 2016, and two were in September 2016.  All five involved conduct in China.  In all five, DOJ pointed to six common factors for its reasons to decline prosecution: 1) timely self-disclosure, 2) thorough investigation, 3) fulsome cooperation (including identifying responsible individuals), 4) a promise to cooperate in the…

Federal Prosecutors May Go Forward with Death Penalty in Vermont

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The federal district court in Vermont has denied a defense motion to strike the US Attorney's Office's Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty.  The court's 57-page Memorandum Opinion is here.The court essentially agreed with the defendant that the death penalty as presently administered falls short of constitutional standards, but held that, "Institutional authority to change this body of law is reserved to the Supreme Court."This is a reminder of why it was so important to prevent President Obama from filling Justice Scalia's seat with a jurist who would be (relatively) more open to abolitionist arguments, and even more important to defeat Sec. Clinton with a candidate whose robust support for the death penalty is not in doubt.  

Insurance Company Storm Claim Handling Nightmares (Part 1)

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We were recently contacted by two homeowners whose home was hit by strong winds and hail.  The homeowners contacted their large, nationwide insurance company and filed a claim.  The insurer sent an adjuster out to the home and notified the homeowners that their storm damage was caused by debris from neighboring homes and was therefore not covered.  The adjuster for the large insurance company also told the homeowners that while he was not a roofing expert, he was sure that the roof was not damaged by the winds and hail.  The homeowners were frustrated but felt that they were helpless to do anything else.  Several months went by and another large rain and hail storm hit their house.  This time the roof completely failed.  A deluge of water poured into the home from roof sky lights and around the edges of the roof where the roof was damaged from the previous storm.   Devastated, the homeowners called the large insurance carrier and…

New Expungement Procedure for Certain Non-Indictable Offenses

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There is increasing concern over the efficiency of our State’s court system.  Everyone seems to want the system to work more efficiently.  The most obvious examples of this desire is the soon-to-be-implemented criminal justice reform package (bail reform and speedy trial), which was the subject of prior blog posts.  But other procedures are being implemented that will hopefully make the Courts run more smoothly, including the new expedited expungement procedure for certain non-indictable offenses.  Municipal court defendants with eligible offenses should take immediate advantage of this procedure. An expungement allows someone convicted of an offense to, in effect, hide the fact of that conviction from certain individuals and entities.  The primary benefit seems to be in the area of background checks by prospective employers.  The expungement procedure for an indictable (felony) conviction appears in the New Jersey criminal code.  Anyone…

Sohoni on Crackdowns

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Mila Sohoni (University of San Diego School of Law) has posted Crackdowns (Virginia Law Review, Vol. 102, 2017, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The crackdown is the executive decision to intensify the severity of enforcement of existing laws...

The Tennessee Legislature and Criminal Law

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The Tennessee State Legislature has a habit of enacting new criminal laws on an isolated incident that occurred in someone's legislative district. The practice creates terrible laws. I read a great quote recently from an outgoing U.S Senator. " Legislatures should govern not campaign." Tennessee State Legislator Jeremy Faison tweeted that the death penalty should apply for innocent people killed by arson. We can all agree the intentional setting of forest fires is unconscionable. It should be punished. However, Tennessee already has death penalty laws , arson laws, and laws defining murder charges. Clearly, Representative Faison's tweet was merely a campaign ploy. Every legislative session some law is passed to address an issue that rarely occurs. The legislator goes home and claims a public relations victory. Last week , I posted my commentary on the various criminal laws that could impact the case. I saw a campaign pledge during the recent…

15 Meat Factory Workers Charged With Food Stamp Fraud

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As a result of a food stamp fraud program ran by three sheriffs in Butler county, Ohio, 15 employees of two meat distributing companies were indicted in September for charges of illegally trading food stamp benefits for cash and narcotics, while many more also potentially face penalties. The 15 employees of US Beef Cincinnati LLC and Butcher Shop Food Distributors LLC face charges of wire fraud, food stamp benefits fraud, theft of U.S. government property, money laundering and possession with intent to distribute and actual distribution of controlled substances. The owners of US Beef, 45-year old Scott Traum and 43-year old Joey Traum, pleaded guilty in federal court last week to charges arising from their involvement in food stamp fraud. Both will be sentenced April 12. Continue reading →

Drumbl on The Kapo on Film and in Criminal Law

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Mark A. Drumbl (Washington and Lee University - School of Law) have posted The Kapo on Film: Tragic Perpetrators and Imperfect Victims on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Nazis compelled, enlisted, and ‘promoted’ detainees into the administration of the...

Crash on I15 Near Blackfoot.

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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police District 5 5205 South 5th Ave. Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299 (208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068 For Immediate Release: 12/13/16 5:15 p.m. The Idaho State Police is currently investigation a single vehicle crash northbound Interstate 15 near milepost 96, near Blackfoot. More information will be released as it becomes available. Please direct questions to the District Office The Idaho State Police JS / JDS -------------

CA10: USDA officers committing a break-in without exigency to conduct an inspection violated 4A

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USDA inspectors breaking into plaintiff’s wildlife preserve to check on animals that the previous day the preserve said would go to the veterinarian the next day stated a Fourth Amendment claim under Bivens. At the time of the entry, the … Continue reading →

Simonson on Bail Nullification

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Jocelyn Simonson (Brooklyn Law School) has posted Bail Nullification (Michigan Law Review, Vol. 115, 2017, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The longstanding scholarly debate over the ability of community members to engage in nullification has been confined to...

Is the War on Drugs a Failure?

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Academia, the Left, and libertarians relentlessly tell us that the War on Drugs is a failure.I just came across this article, which begins:According to a recent report released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), today's teens are actually better behaved than the generations which preceded them, relatively speaking.According to the annual Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) fewer teens are having sex and using drugs or alcohol. In fact, today's teenagers actually have the lowest rates of ecstasy, heroin, and meth use on record.I don't know the extent to which the criminalization of these dangerous drugs has contributed to the decrease in their use by young people, but I do know two things. First, attaching costs and risks to the use of X will reduce the use of X; and second, the law is a teacher as well as an instrument, and its lesson that drug use is bad is one we should preserve.

D.Kan.: Rule 41(g) requires there be no adequate remedy at law; here there is one, so denied

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The government didn’t seize $15,000 at issue here: It allegedly told counsel to hold on to it, and that’s in the District of Kansas. This is the wrong forum and there’s an adequate remedy at law, so the Rule 41(g) … Continue reading →
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