Child Abuse and How Ronald S. Chapman Can Help What Constitutes a Child Abuse Charge? Child abuse is defined as a willful or threatened act resulting in physical, mental or sexual injury causing or likely to… The post Child Abuse and How Ronald S. Chapman Can Help appeared first on Chapman Criminal Defense Firm.
Child Abuse and How Ronald S. Chapman Can Help
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Mockingbird Days
flitting aboutfrom place to placefrom chore to chorefrom book to bookfrom song to songeatingyellow plumsred cherriesblue berrieswingsbeatingathighspeedevenwhilestayinginoneplace
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Bail Bond Changes Coming Soon
The purpose of a bail in Florida criminal proceedings is to ensure the appearance of the criminal defendant at subsequent proceedings and to protect the community against unreasonable danger from the criminal defendant. Under Florida law, when determining whether to release the defendant on bail or other conditions and what the amount of bail should be, the court must consider numerous statutorily delineated criteria. They are: (1) the type of offense charged; (2) the extent of evidence of guilt; (3) the defendant’s ties to the community; (4) the defendant’s criminal history, if any, and any previous incidents of flight or failure to appear; (5) any danger to the community posed by defendant’s release; (6) whether defendant’s offered bond funds are derived from unlawful activities; (7) whether defendant is already on release pending resolution of another criminal proceeding or completion of a sentence; (8) the street value of any drug…
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"How legalization caused the price of marijuana to collapse: Pot has never been so cheap."
The title of this post is the headline of this new Wonkblog analysis authored by Keith Humphreys at The Washington Post. Here is how it starts and ends: All the diverse effects of legalizing recreational marijuana may not be clear for a number of years, but one consequence has become...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/zMbXpqoqRHY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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Getting DUI Charges Reduced to Reckless Driving in Nevada
When a Las Vegas DUI defense lawyer is working on a client’s case, they have several possible outcomes in mind. One relates to having DUI charges reduced to reckless driving. Pleading guilty to these lesser charges still has penalties, but also it has several benefits. Reckless driving in Nevada is defined under NRS 484B.653. Reducing DUI charges to this lesser crime is not an easy task, but it is one that an experienced DUI lawyer in Las Vegas is accustomed to taking on. It may be possible for the defense attorney to negotiate with the prosecutor to obtain this outcome for a client. This is especially true in cases where there may be some irregularity or doubt. For instance, the attorney may be able to cast doubt on the legality of the traffic stop or on the methods through which the field sobriety tests were administered. Defense attorneys similarly may question whether or not breath or blood testing equipment was operating correctly or investigate prescription…
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Black-box DNA mixture analysis method used in NYC turned out to be flawed
Today the New York Times and ProPublica published a joint investigation by Lauren Kirchner into the use of DNA mixture evidence in New York titled "Thousands of Criminal Cases in New York Relied on Disputed DNA Testing Techniques."The story covered some of the same ground as did a recent segment in Just Liberty's Reasonably Suspicious podcast discussing a DNA mixture case out of the Tyler 12th Court of Appeals here in Texas.The big news out of the ProPublica story: After years of keeping its DNA-mixture analysis algorithms secret, the New York City lab finally had to reveal its source code (aka, the "FST code") to the defense and it didn't pass muster:Again, the government refused to hand it over on the grounds that it was a “proprietary and copyrighted” statistical tool owned by the City of New York. The federal judge granted the defense access to the FST code in June 2016 under an order that bars wider disclosure. (The medical…
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Viral Video Shows Police Trying to Perform Illegal Search
A recent viral video from Utah shows a detective unjustifiably trying to perform a blood alcohol content (BAC) test on an unconscious driver and arresting the nurse that stood up for that drivers rights. The situation highlights the cavalier attitude that many cops take to enforcing laws dealing...
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Cooper on Drug Treatment Courts and Their Progeny
Caroline Cooper has posted Drug Treatment Courts and Their Progeny in the U.S.: Overcoming Their Winding Trajectory to Make the Concept Work for the Long Term (International Journal for Court Administration, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2017) on SSRN. Here is...
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What it Means to Be a Registered Sex Offender in Michigan
Some offenders who are convicted of sex crimes truly do commit horrendous acts; others may be found guilty regardless of whether they committed the crime based on testimony or weak evidence rather than scientific or “concrete” evidence. Even more, some may commit an offense that compared to others is relatively minor, such as indecent exposure. Unfortunately, the majority of residents in Michigan and other states think of those who are on the sex offender registry as “predators,” monsters who prey on others for sexual purposes at every opportunity. There are three tiers on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry which essentially categorizes those convicted of sex crimes into those who were convicted of less serious crimes to those convicted of the most severe sex offenses. Tier I is the least serious, with Tier III reserved for the most violent or serious offenders. Depending on the severity of the crime, a person may be classified a Tier II offender, which…
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Florida Police Officer Has Murder Case Dismissed Based on Stand Your Ground Law
Most people are aware of the Florida Stand Your Ground law as it received a lot of notoriety during the George Zimmerman case and other cases in Florida since then. Essentially, the law says that people in Florida are not required to retreat and can use deadly force if he/she reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent the other person from committing an imminent act that is likely to cause death or serious injury to him/herself or another person. It is basically a self defense law that allows a person to use deadly force if the person legitimately thinks the other person is going to do something very bad to him/her. The law provides some procedural benefits to a defendant who can utilize the Stand Your Ground law. One question is whether police officers can use the Stand Your Ground law like regular people can. In a recent murder case near Jacksonville, Florida, a police officer was charged with murder after shooting someone he claimed he thought had a…
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The Slow Killing of DACA
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the end of #DACA today. Here is what that means (based on info we have now):If you have never filed for DACA, it's too late, as of today. You'll have to find another way to stay. There may be options depending on your particular history, so seek counsel.If you are filing for renewal of DACA, you have until Oct 5 to get your application in. You can only renew if your DACA expires on/before Mar 5, 2018. If your DACA expires after that, you will not be able to renew.There is a new standard: even DACA renewals accepted by USCIS will be adjudicated on a "case by case" basis. I expect this to mean more arbitrary denials. Just because you file it correctly doesn't mean you'll get the renewal.If granted, renewals will be for the full 2 year period.No more advance parole for DACA holders. This closes the ability to travel, reenter, and apply for a green card (for those familiar: no more…
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New York Criminal Jury Trials – Anything Can Happen at a Criminal Trial
As experienced New York Criminal Trial lawyers we understand the risks and potential hazards of going to trial as well as the uncertainty associated with any criminal trial. However, in a recent felony trial that we conducted in Westchester County Court charging six counts of felony assault, some evidence surprised even the most seasoned people in the courthouse and the verdict, finding the client not guilty on the four most serious assault charges and only guilty on two less serious charges, also surprised many. The Felony Assault charges included two counts each of Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer, Assault in the First Degree and Assault on a Police Officer and all stemmed from an incident where the motorist as he was stopped at a type of roadblock put the car in reverse and dragged a police officer for some distance and struck another police officer standing near the car. It was undisputed that both police officers were very seriously injured and it is also…
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Cop Arrests Sober Drivers on Hunch they are Stoned
This past week, I came across a video on Facebook of a news report on a Georgia police officer who had been arresting sober drivers on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana. After posting the video to my own Facebook page, I decided to do some research. Apparently, Cobb County, Georgia police officer Tracy Carroll made headlines in May of this year when a number of his DUI of marijuana cases were dismissed after it was discovered that those he arrested were stone-cold sober. The video of Carroll’s arrest of Katelyn Ebner can be seen here: http://interactive.tegna-media.com/video/embed/embed.html?id=2594976&type=video&title=RAW%20-%20Katelyn%20Ebner%20dashcam&site=85&playerid=6918249996581&dfpid=32805352&dfpposition=Video_prestream_external%C2%A7ion=home Ebner not only spent the night in jail, but spent thousands of dollars trying to prove that she was innocent even though a blood test revealed that she did not have any illegal…
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THE MENTAL HEALTH COURT SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL LAW: HOW THE MENTAL HEALTH COURT SYSTEM WORKS –Introduction Many people by now are pretty familiar with how the criminal court system works in California. But many are not aware of what happens when someone who is mentally ill lands in the criminal justice system. Many people who are mentally ill are often overlooked or turned away by the mental health system and end up in the criminal justice system as a result. Unfortunately, this is not surprising, and is happening at increased frequency. In response to this, Mental Health Courts were created to deal with this problem. Mental health courts straddle the two worlds of criminal law and mental health, requiring collaboration and consideration from practitioners in both fields. They typically involve judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and other court personnel who have an interest in or possess the necessary particular mental health expertise. Congress…
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North Carolina Court of Appeals Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Alienation of Affections and Criminal Conversation Causes of Action
From the Washington Post:A jilted husband’s lawsuit against a doctor accused of stealing his wife’s love can proceed after a North Carolina appeals court ruled Tuesday that the husband can continue suing the spouse’s lover, seeking damages.The state Court of Appeals decision resurrects a lawsuit that a trial judge had thrown out in Forsyth County, whose seat is Winston-Salem. The judge ruled that state law violates a person’s constitutional free speech and free expression rights to engage in intimate sexual activity and expression with other consenting adults.North Carolina is one of only about a half-dozen states that still allow lawsuits accusing a cheating spouse’s lover of alienation of affection and criminal conversation.The Court of Appeals' opinion is here. From the introduction to the opinion:This case concerns two common law causes of action—alienation of affection and criminal conversation—that permit litigants to sue the…
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Some Pre-Trial Diversion Programs Are Convictions for Immigration
Will Diversions Lead to Deportation? Pre-trial diversion programs are often used as a tool to avoid a criminal conviction. Whether or not something is a “conviction” depends entirely on the context in which it is asked. For instance, deferred adjudication is generally not a conviction for most purposes under state law, but it can be considered a conviction under federal law or for immigration purposes. A decision handed down on Sept. 5 by the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Board of Immigration Appeals serves as a cautionary tale for criminal defense attorneys and individuals charged with offenses under Texas law. The Board in In re Mohamed held that admission into pretrial diversion in Texas is a conviction for immigration purposes if the accused admitted sufficient facts to support a finding of guilt and there was some form of restraint on the person’s liberty. (The decision can be found at the end of this article.) What is a…
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Some Pre-Trial Diversion Programs Are Convictions for Immigration
Will Diversions Lead to Deportation? Pre-trial diversion programs are often used as a tool to avoid a criminal conviction. Whether or not something is a “conviction” depends entirely on the context in which it is asked. For instance, deferred adjudication is generally not a conviction for most purposes under state law, but it can be considered a conviction under federal law or for immigration purposes. A decision handed down on Sept. 5 by the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Board of Immigration Appeals serves as a cautionary tale for criminal defense attorneys and individuals charged with offenses under Texas law. The Board in In re Mohamed held that admission into pretrial diversion in Texas is a conviction for immigration purposes if the accused admitted sufficient facts to support a finding of guilt and there was some form of restraint on the person’s liberty. (The decision can be found at the end of this article.) What is a…
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What Can Happen if You Leave the Scene of an Accident?
I just got into a car accident and struck a person. I’m nervous and I don’t know what to do. What can happen to me if I just drive away? What will happen if I stop? This scenario can have serious consequences if you make the wrong decision. Under Florida Statute 316.027, a driver involved in an accident must stop their vehicle at the scene of the crash, or as close to the scene of the crash as safely possible. When stopping, you should avoid obstructing the flow of traffic and stay off the roadway as much as possible to avoid any further accidents or injuries caused by moving traffic near the scene. If the accident resulted in bodily injury or property damage, you are required by Florida law to provide your name, address, and the registration number of your vehicle to the other party involved. You are also required to contact 911 for emergency medical services if someone is injured and unable to call for themselves. Once an accident happens, you are faced with two…
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New Cases on the Constitutionality of Long Sentences for Juveniles: The Graham Saga Continues
In Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court barred the sentence of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) for crimes committed by anyone under eighteen years of age. Grounded in the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment, the Court’s holding recognized only one exception: juvenile LWOP might be permissible in cases involving homicide. Despite its seemingly straightforward character, the Graham holding has spawned considerable litigation in the lower courts over its scope and application. Two interesting appellate decisions from last month highlight some of the difficulties. In the first, U.S. v. Mathurin, the Eleventh Circuit had to consider whether a 685-month prison term should be treated as the functional equivalent of an LWOP sentence for Eighth Amendment purposes. Mathurin was convicted of committing multiple armed robberies and carjackings while he was still seventeen. By its terms,…
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MN: Dog sniff at apartment door violates 4A and state const.
A dog sniff at an apartment door violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Minnesota Constitution, considering it under the “privacy rights” analysis of Jardines’s concurrence (also accepted by CA7). Whether it is a house or an apartment, it’s still … Continue reading →
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