Jail for a probation violation? Seriously? With a probation violation the judge has that option. Being incarcerated is no place for anyone to be. Losing your job, losing a place to live, having to start over from scratch – life is hard enough without all this stress. But maybe the Judge made things impossible. You worry about work, worry about family, paying bills, and on top of that the Court is having you drug test, go to support meetings, hours and hours of community service. It seems like maybe the Court does not want you to be successful. You try your best and you still receive a letter in the mail for probation violation. Your heart is racing. Stress, anxiety, fear take over. What should I do? These are 12 proven and effective strategies that give you the best chance of avoiding jail. This advice is from a seasoned lawyer with years of experience both inside and outside the courtroom. Continue…
Probation Violation? -12 Proven and Effective Strategies to Reduce Jail Possibility (100% Legal)
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The State’s Arguments for Revenge-Porn Criminalization
Revenge porn is not speech. Revenge porn criminalization is not a content-based restriction. “Essentially intolerable invasions of privacy” are a recognized category of historically unprotected speech. Revenge porn falls into some hitherto unrecognized category of historically unprotected speech. Revenge porn criminalization is directed at secondary effects of revenge porn. Revenge porn should be treated like commercial speech, subject to intermediate scrutiny. Revenge porn is very harmful low-value speech, not worthy of full First Amendment protection. (These are all bad arguments. Explaining why will give me seven easy blog posts. What arguments am I missing?)
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The State’s Revenge-Porn Arguments, Part 1: Is it Speech?
Here is section 21.16(b) of the Texas Penal Code: A person commits an offense if: (1) without the effective consent of the depicted person, the person intentionally discloses visual material depicting another person with the person’s intimate parts exposed or engaged in sexual conduct; (2) the visual material was obtained by the person or created under circumstances in which the depicted person had a reasonable expectation that the visual material would remain private; (3) the disclosure of the visual material causes harm to the depicted person; and (4) the disclosure of the visual material reveals the identity of the depicted person in any manner, including through: (A) any accompanying or subsequent information or material related to the visual material; or (B) information or material provided by a third party in response to the disclosure of the visual material. The State likes to argue that this does not restrict speech, but only conduct. They want to argue this…
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Impaired Driver Thought Drive-Thru at Bank was Taco Bell
A man was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he was driving under the influence of narcotics when he passed out in the drive-thru lane at a bank believing that he was at a Taco Bell. 28-year-old Douglas Francisco pulled into the drive-up teller lane at a Hernando County branch of Bank of America and reportedly lost consciousness behind the wheel. When Martin Claussen, the bank manager, saw a blue Hyundai sitting idle for an extended period of time he decided to approach the vehicle and inspect the situation. He came across Francisco blacked out in the driver’s seat, and he began pounding on the window to try to rouse him. After a while Francisco awakened, and he asked Claussen for a burrito. The bank manager informed him that he was not in fact at Taco Bell, and Francisco then allegedly drove away. Continue reading →
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PA: Second officer arriving at scene knew enough for collective knowledge to apply; full (and unnecessary) discussion of vertical v. horizontal collective knowledge if you’re interested
Pennsylvania adheres to the vertical approach of collective knowledge. Here, another officer got involved and made the decision to arrest, but he knew what the first officer knew, and that was enough. This was still collective knowledge. (There is a … Continue reading →
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D.S.D.: General description of a handyman’s tools as “miscellaneous tools” did not make the inventory “defective”
General description of a handyman’s tools as “miscellaneous tools” did not make the inventory “defective.” United States v. Bruce, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7387 (D.S.D. Jan 17, 2018). “Although the affidavit in the instant case could have provided more information … Continue reading →
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No Interlock Allowed for Out-of-State Drivers – Will it Change?
Under current Maryland law, if a driver is arrested for a DUI, he or she will be asked to submit to a breath test for alcohol. If the result is 0.08 or more but less than 0.15, the person faces a driving license or privilege suspension of 180 days. If at a hearing challenging the suspension, the suspension is sustained, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) holding the hearing has discretion to allow the driver to drive to and from or during the course of employment, alcohol education, education, and for medical purposes for the driver or family members. If the driver blows .15 or more, the suspension is also 180 days for a first offense and 270 days for a subsequent offense, but the only option for the ALJ is to allow the driver to drive only with an ignition interlock in the car for one year. Similarly, if the driver refuses to take a test, the penalty on a first offense is 270 days or two years for a subsequent offense, and the ALJ can only allow…
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Ayo and Iken Recap
Ayo and Iken Recap Things have been very busy recently at the law office of Ayo & Iken as our attorneys have been tackling some tough issues. Our attorneys dealt with serious child custody issues, advocated for a client at trial, and had victory in a parental rights case that is very rare in Florida. Also, one of our attorneys has achieved the honor of also teaching at a local college and we welcomed a new legal mind to the firm with decades of experience practicing law. Here is a look at what we have been up to: A Trial: It proved to be a very busy week for Ayo & Iken Attorney Jeana Vogel who advocated for her client during a two-day trial at the Tampa courthouse. Vogel’s case of her client seeking alimony from her ex-husband led to a complex trial during which she entered dozens of financial records into evidence and battled the opposition, who fought tooth-and-nail objecting to keep many of them out of the record. A judge will be ruling on…
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The Last Logon
In the early 1990s, AOL disks were ubiquitous. They had two huge virtues. They were free and they were the internet. AOL owned it. Its competitors, Compuserve, Prodigy and Netscape, couldn’t touch it. The reason was simple. AOL was where the people were. To get online, one opened the AOL desktop program by typing aol.exe at the C:/ prompt (yes, it was DOS-based back then, before Windows 95 ruined everything) and dialed it in, listening to the painful tones of modems connecting in the hope that you would find an access line that wasn’t overwhelmed. And if so, boom, you were part of the internet. Last night, just after 9 p.m., my AOL desktop died. About a month ago, a popup announced it would be end-of-lifed, but it didn’t hit home until last night, when a message announced that the AOL desktop was no longer supported, and automatically signed off. Forever. It’s not that AOL desktop was good anymore. It had been barely functional for years, using an…
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Cato: For the Purposes of the Fourth Amendment, Does it Matter Where Your Email Is Stored?
Cato: For the Purposes of the Fourth Amendment, Does it Matter Where Your Email Is Stored? by Ilya Shapiro, Trevor Burrus, and Reilly Stephens, re Cato’s amicus brief in United States v. Microsoft.
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Volokh Conspiracy: The Challenge of Fourth Amendment Originalism and the Positive Law Test
Volokh Conspiracy: The Challenge of Fourth Amendment Originalism and the Positive Law Test by Orin Kerr: If the Positive Law test is originalist, then what isn’t? A close look at Fourth Amendment history and some recent scholarship. My friend and … Continue reading →
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BBC: Apple health data used in murder trial
BBC: Apple health data used in murder trial: Health data has provided crucial evidence at a trial in Germany, in which a refugee is accused of rape and murder. Apple’s Health App accurately records steps and has been pre-installed on … Continue reading →
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Ian Christensen: Alt-Legal In The Weeds
Try it. Screw the old lawyers who harp on things like law and ethics to keep young lawyers down. It’s a new world, and the only thing that matters is your passion. So Ian James Christensen decided to follow his dreams. [I]n 2013, less than three months after being admitted to The Florida Bar, Respondent founded IJC Law Group, P.A., and began offering legal services and advice to clients. At the time, Respondent had no training in the area of medical marijuana. Six months later, Respondent formed Health Law Services (HLS), and five months after that, incorporated Cannabinoid Therapy Institute (CTI). Respondent listed IJC Law Group, P.A., as CTI’s registered agent and nonlawyer Christopher Ralph—a self-professed expert in the medical marijuana industry— represented himself as CTI’s director. Ralph was also the “Legal Administrator and Consultant” for HLS. Weed lawyer. Create a medical marijuana…
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LA2: No REP in text messages in another person’s cell phone.
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages in another person’s cell phone. State v. Young, 2018 La. App. LEXIS 110 (La. App. 2 Cir. Jan. 18, 2018). Defendant was on parole and his parole agreement required he … Continue reading →
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ID: Where probation agreement searches occur “at the request of” PO, searching without request was fatal
Defendant’s probation agreement said that he’d submit to probation searches “at the request of” the probation officer. Searching without a prior request was fatal. State v. Jaskowski, 2018 Ida. LEXIS 19 (Jan 18, 2018). “The Franks challenge to paragraph three … Continue reading →
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AND.....WE'RE DOWN
Government Shut Down ClockCountupThe great Trump/Republican government shutdown of 2018 has begun. The Democrats blame Trump, Russia , China, Ayn Rand, Trump, Twitter, Global Warming, George Bush, The federalist Society and Justice Gorsuch. The Republicans blame Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Jimmy Carter, Chuck Schumer, Barak Obama, North Korea, Chaing Kai-Shek, Julia Child, legalized Marijuana, and Mister Rogers. We are not affected, for the moment, by the shutdown and will continue to heroically blog through it all. Here are the official positions of each party:The Republicans aver that the Democrats, sensing weakness, refused to approve a reasonable spending bill until the Republicans and Trump agreed to 1) Let all Mexicans who have criminal records into the United States with fast access to becoming citizens. Mexicans with sex crime priors should receive special treatment; 2) Agreed to a constitutional amendment making Sharia law the…
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How Long Does a Will Remain Valid?
A will is generally valid until you either revoke it or modify it by adding a codicil. Whether your will was made last week or several decades ago, it continues to be a legally binding document if you haven’t take the necessary steps to revoke it. Whether a will is still appropriate for your current situation is an entirely separate question. There are also some changed circumstances that won’t revoke a will, but may alter certain provisions of the will. Life Events That Impact Your Will The following events could result in a modification to your will after it is created under North Carolina state law: Divorce after the will. If you divorce after creating your will, the will still remains valid, but the provisions benefiting your former spouse are revoked. Children born after the will. Children born after the creation of a will generally have a right to share in the estate’s property to the same extent they would under North Carolina’s intestacy laws.…
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When Employers Lie About Workers' Compensation
Adversaries of workers’ compensation laws in Illinois cite fraudulent employee claims as a reason for reform. While fraud does exist, the number of workers who make fraudulent claims is miniscule. Instead, it is employers who are more likely to engage in deceptive practices. Employers want to save money on the workers’ compensation insurance they are required to provide. As a result, some try to cut corners while lying to their workers. When employers commit workers’ compensation fraud, they can leave their injured employees responsible for covering their own medical expenses. Fake Compliance Illinois law mandates that all employers carry workers’ compensation insurance in the event of an employee being injured on the job. Intentionally failing to provide the insurance is a felony that can result in heavy penalties, including: Daily fines until compliance; Possible prison sentences; and A stop-work order imposed by the Illinois Workers’…
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What is the Criminal Charge of DUI in Illinois?
In our previous post we explained that there are two main parts of Illinois DUI law: the Illinois Statutory Summary Suspension and the criminal charge of DUI. This post addresses the basics of the second part of a DUI case, the criminal charge for Driving Under the Influence. For more information on the Summary Suspension law, please visit our previous post. The criminal portion of an Illinois DUI case is the DUI charge itself. Generally, if a person has submitted to, and failed testing, there will be 2 tickets (or counts) issued for DUI; one based on the test failure and the other based on the officer’s observations of the person. If testing was refused, there will typically only be one count, based on the officer’s observations of the person. DUI is most commonly charged as a misdemeanor, but in certain situations the offense can be charged as a felony. If charged as a misdemeanor, DUI carries a maximum sentence of up to 12-months in jail and a fine of up to…
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ANOTHER DOMESTIC ASSAULT & BATTERY CASE DISMISSED
On November 30, 2017, SO, a 32 year old pipe-fitter from Methuen, MA, got into an argument with his live-in girlfriend. She began to break things in their apartment and then she attacked him. HE called 911 and asked that she be removed from the apartment. The Methuen police responded quickly to the apartment. According to the police report she told the police that SO had grabbed her by the throat and dragged her out of one room and into the kitchen where he proceeded to hold her down on the floor. When he finally let her up, the police report continues, he blocked her way in the apartment. SO told the police that she had smashed a picture frame and he denied ever grabbing her or holding her down. The police arrested SO and charged him with one count of Domestic Assault & Battery. On December 1, 2017 SO was arraigned in Lawrence District Court and his case was continued to January 19, 2018 for a pre-trial hearing. SO met with and retained Attorney Robert Lewin from North…
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