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State Supreme Court Issues Significant Rulings on HGN Evidence and Blood Draws in DWI Cases

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Two of last week’s opinions from the North Carolina Supreme Court address significant legal issues arising in impaired driving cases. In State v. Godwin, the supreme court reversed the court of appeals, holding that the trial court was not required to explicitly recognize a law enforcement officer as an expert witness before the officer could testify to the results of a Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test.  In State v. Romano, the supreme court upheld the court of appeals’ determination that the withdrawal of blood from an unconscious impaired driving defendant violated the Fourth Amendment, notwithstanding a state statute authorizing this practice. State v. Godwin. The defendant in Godwin was stopped for speeding and was subsequently charged with driving while impaired. At trial, the State elicited testimony from the law enforcement officer who arrested the defendant about the defendant’s performance on an HGN test.The defendant objected to this…

Roach & Sossin on Independent Police Review

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Kent Roach and Lorne Sossin (University of Toronto - Faculty of Law and York University - Osgoode Hall Law School) have posted Renovating Independent Police Review ((2017) 64 Criminal Law Quarterly (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article...

Is DUI a Felony in Utah?

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DUI is typically a misdemeanor crime in Utah. However, there are also a few scenarios where driving under the influence can lead to felony charges. Salt Lake City criminal defense lawyer Darwin Overson explains when intoxicated driving is a felony in Utah, with an added look at penalties for felony DUI and some recent drunk driving arrest statistics. Utah DUI Arrest Statistics Every year, more than 100,000 people get arrested in Utah. In 2013, a total of 133,310 people were arrested. In 2014, just over 117,000 people were arrested. In 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, 116,763 people were arrested. Driving under the influence (DUI) accounted for a significant number of these arrests, as you can see by looking at the chart below. 2013 2014 2015 Adult DUI Arrests 9,098 7,888 8,702 Underage DUI Arrests 81 152 148 Total DUI Arrests 9,179 8,040 8,850 Total Arrests Overall 133,310 117,050 116,763 DUI Percent of Total Arrests 6.9% 6.9% 7.6% In 2013 and 2014,…

The Problem with International Comparison of Murder Rates

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Hat tip to Prof. David Bernstein of Antonin Scalia Law School for pointing out this article, a long but illuminating study about why it's misleading to compare murder rates in the United States with those in other "developed countries."  It starts:Much of the political thinking about violence in the United States comes from unfavorable comparisons between the United States and a series of cherry-picked countries with lower murder rates and with fewer guns per capita. We've all seen it many times. The United States, with a murder rate of approximately 5 per 100,000 is compared to a variety of Western and Central European countries (also sometimes Japan) with murder rates often below 1 per 100,000. This is, in turn, supposed to fill Americans with a sense of shame and illustrate that the United States should be regarded as some sort of pariah nation because of its murder rate.Note, however, that these comparisons always employ a carefully selected list of…

Asset Forfeiture and How Ron S. Chapman Can Help You

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Asset Forfeiture   Asset forfeiture is a confiscation of assets by the state. It can be civil or criminal. It typically applies to alleged proceeds of crime. This can apply to terrorist activity, drug crimes, and other offenses.… The post Asset Forfeiture and How Ron S. Chapman Can Help You appeared first on Chapman Criminal Defense Firm.

Tonry on Deterrence

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Michael Tonry (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - School of Law) has posted An Honest Politician's Guide to Deterrence: Certainty, Severity, Celerity, and Parsimony (Deterrence, Choice, and Crime: Contemporary Perspectives (Daniel S. Nagin, Francis Cullen & Cheryl Lero Jonson,...

The Midnight Massacre: A Date Which Will Live In Infamy

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"There is actually a good argument that Tom Seaver should be regarded as the greatest pitcher of all time ... Seaver pitched for eight losing teams, several of them really terrible, and four other teams which had losing records except when Seaver was on the mound."  —Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, 2001On June 15, 1977, the New York Mets traded Tom Seaver.  It has been 40 years, but remains a painful memory for Met fans of a certain generation who treasured each and every time "The Franchise" took the mound.  It was a wakeup call for those of us who, until then, refused to think of baseball as a cold-hearted business.Only 32 years old at the time of the trade, Seaver was the greatest player the Mets ever had and one of the greatest pitchers in Major League history.  His pitching form was a thing of beauty -- both powerful and graceful.  He was called…

"Support Grows for Civil Commitment of Opioid Users"


State v. Rosario – New Search and Seizure Decision on Field Inquiries and Investigative Detentions

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The New Jersey Supreme Court decided State v. Rosario on June 6, 2017.  The case is important because, among other things, it discusses and distinguishes between the two most common types of police-citizen encounters, which are field inquiries and investigative detentions. The facts are uncomplicated.  Police received an anonymous tip that defendant was selling illegal drugs from her home in a residential development, as well as from her vehicle.  One night, an officer patrolling the development noticed a moving silhouette in a parked car, which turned out to be the defendant’s vehicle, and decided to investigate further.  He pulled his patrol car up behind, and perpendicular to, the defendant’s car in such a way that the latter was blocked in.  The officer then activated his rooftop alley light which was aimed at the defendant’s car, but did not activate the siren or emergency lights.  The alley light enabled him to see a woman,…

Domestic Violence E Book, Part Three

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Difference Between Assault, Battery, And Domestic Violence Domestic violence can be assault or battery; domestic violence is just an act that is done against a spouse, a former spouse, an adult related by blood or marriage or even somebody who has a child in common. An assault is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to another coupled with the ability to do so, creating fear that violence is imminent. For example, if somebody shows their fist and says, “I’m going to hit you” and take a swing at them, even if they miss, that is assault. Continue reading The post Domestic Violence E Book, Part Three appeared first on Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog.

Next Time, We'll Steal Something Else

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On a day when a little humor could come in handy, take a look at this story.It is an only in Silicon Valley kind of story, as police say high-tech thieves were caught stealing thousands of dollars worth of GPS tracking devices from a Santa Clara tech company."These devices kind of look like cell phone chargers, so they probably thought they had some kind of street value," Roambee Corporation Co-Founder Vidya Subramanian....."The moment we realized they had a box of trackers, we went into recovery mode," Subramanian said. "We notified the police and equipped them to track the devices, and in about 5 or 6 hours, it was done."Before making off with about $18,000 worth of the devices, the thieves grabbed a beer out of the fridge and cut themselves in the process, leaving fingerprints and blood evidence.

News Scan

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CA Probationer Arrested With Multiple Felonies: Jaime Benjamin Garcia of Moreno Valley was arrested May 31 after officials found illegal substances in the vehicle. Trevor Montgomery of Valley News reports that Garcia was booked on suspicion of seven felonies related to weapons and narcotics possession, possession of a controlled substance, including being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and multiple prior state prison enhancements. Sergeant Morovich discovered that Garcia is on PRCS probation for auto theft. After searching his car, deputies seized a loaded .375 Smith & Wesson revolver, additional ammunition and over 8 grams of methamphetamine.  Justice Delayed: Sentenced to die in 1984 for the murder of Mary Jane Stout, John Stumpf may finally face the consequences in November 2018.   Andrew Welsh-Huggins of the AP reports that the victim's husband 87-year-old Norman Stout has been waiting over three decades for the execution of his…

WaPo: Third party rights and the Carpenter cell-site case

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WaPo: Third party rights and the Carpenter cell-site case by Orin Kerr: In Carpenter v. United States, the Supreme Court will decide whether a warrant is required for the government to obtain historical cell-site records from a customer’s account. This … Continue reading →

Court Allows Probation Condition that Waives Fourth Amendment Rights

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One of the greatest protections guaranteed to you by the Fourth Amendment is your freedom from warrantless searches unless they fit within a handful of exceptions. However, prosecutors and law enforcement continually try to squeeze everything they can into those exceptions, and judges don't want to seem “soft on crime,” so they allow it to happen. An excellent example of this in action comes from a recent case from upstate New York, where an appeals court just rubber stamped a juvenile's agreement to let police search him, as a part of his probation. Teen's Probation Included Agreement to Consent to Searches In New York v. King, a 16-year-old with a history of drug and alcohol abuse pled guilty to a charge of attempted sexual abuse. Importantly, the charge he pled guilty to included allegations that he'd exposed his 10-year-old victim to pornography and drugs. During the sentencing phase of his trial, the defendant agreed to conditions attached…

Nelson on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Corporate Crime

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J.S. Nelson (Villanova Law School) has posted 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Corporate Crime on SSRN. Here is the abstract: As illustrated by the 2015-17 Volkswagen emissions scandal and other large-scale corporate wrongdoing, we have created a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’...

Westminster Man who Downloaded More Child Pornography While on Bond is Sentenced

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Peter Herz, a 61-year old Westminster resident, pleaded guilty to a possession of child pornography charge in February. This offense is among many that are eligible for lifetime sex-offender registration. Before his arrest and incarceration, Herz reportedly had a job as a pianist and musical director for Laguna Beach’s “Pageant of the Masters.” Sources say he was also an accompanist at Cal State Fullerton’s Theater Department. Herz was targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) “Operation Predator,” an initiative designed to protect children from sexual predators and to identify and rescue victims of child exploitation. While Herz was out on bond and waiting for trial, he allegedly obtained new electronic devices and obtained new images of child pornography on them. In total, Herz was reportedly in possession of more than half a million images and roughly 400 videos of child…

Adding the Appellate Guy

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Robert Mueller recently made a serious move. He brought in an appellate guy. Michael Dreeben has argued 100 cases in the United States Supreme Court and has been with the Solicitor General’s office since 1988. The move indicated, even to the people at Fox News, that things are about to get serious. This investigation now has an Oceans 11 feel to it. No matter what your politics might be, there is a lesson to be learned here. If you are serious about your upcoming trial, adding an appellate person to your team indicates that things are about to get real. It will help you preserve a record for appeal. And a solid motions practice often creates better plea offers. The post Adding the Appellate Guy appeared first on Georgia Criminal Appellate Law Blog.

Bipartisan group introduces new version of CARERS Act to reform federal marijuana prohibition

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As reported in this new Roll Call article, a "bipartisan group of senators and representatives have reintroduced legislation that would enable states to set their own medical marijuana policies." Here are the basics: Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., joined by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., made the announcement...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/x_ya5vvdhwo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

SORNA Tier Chart

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Over two years ago I said I would someday try to sort North Carolina’s reportable sex crimes into the tiers set out in the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Today’s the day. The chart is available here. I’ve written about why SORNA offense tiering matters in many previous posts. Here is the short summary. A superior court judge cannot grant a sex offender’s petition to terminate registration if doing so would violate “the provisions of the federal Jacob Wetterling Act, as amended, and any other federal standards applicable to the termination of a registration requirement or required to be met as a condition for the receipt of federal funds by the State.” G.S. 14-208.12A(a1)(2). The most important federal standard that a judge must consider when hearing a petition to terminate registration is the length of registration that would be required for the offense under SORNA. Federal law sorts crimes into three…

Collateral Consequences Resource Center creates Compilation of Federal Collateral Consequences

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