7-14-2013 National:
This story is a followup to What does the death of Google Reader mean to sex offender advocacy? so folks know we are still searching for a replacement for the Google Reader...
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Now Google Alerts affect sex offender advocacy
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State Police Introduce DUI Task Force
The Maryland State Police officially launched its DUI prevention taskforce at a press conference in Jessup last week. The taskforce is nicknamed SPIDRE for State Police Impaired Driving Effort, and consists of seven specially trained troopers. These troopers will move throughout the state with the goal of impacting every legal jurisdiction. For now though, the taskforce will concentrate its efforts in areas that law enforcement officials have identified as DUI hotspots. These areas, which are documented to have the most alcohol related crashes and citations, include Prince George's County, Baltimore County, Howard County, Ocean City, and Hagerstown. The taskforce first deployed in PG County back in May and conducted over 1,300 traffic stops. The trooper team made 254 DUI arrests and 53 criminal arrests, and issued over 3,500 traffic citations and repair orders. Clearly the task force is not shy when it comes it issuing tickets, as they averaged almost 3 per traffic stop.
The taskforce will require funding of about $1.5 million, which the Motor Vehicle Administration's Maryland Highway Safety Office is shelling out in response to the large number of alcohol related crashes on state roads. Last year there were 158 people killing in these crashes and over 3,000 injured. Although theses numbers do not indicate an increase over the yearly average, this is still an extremely high number for a state with such a small total population. Nearly one third of all motor vehicle accidents are in some way caused or related to alcohol and drug consumption. Whether the SPIDRE task force ends up being successful depends on exactly how you define success. DUI suppression initiatives such as task forces, specially trained teams, and checkpoints will always result in more arrests. The state spends millions and the resources and manpower do end up putting people behind bars. But the ultimate goal of these programs should never be about arrests, but rather about prevention and mitigation. The real question should be whether SPIDRE actually makes our roads safer.
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Avoid the Area of Northbound I 15 Milepost 62
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
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Idaho State Police
District 5 5205 South 5th Ave.
Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299
(208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068
For Immediate Release: 07/14/2013 at 4:00 p.m.
Please direct questions to the District Office
Idaho State Police is currently investigating a crash in the northbound lanes of Interstate 15, near milepost 62. This is north of the Inkom Port of Entry, and south of The Gap. There is road blockage. Motorists are being asked to avoid this area.
Traffic updates can be obtained by calling 511 or by checking the Idaho Transportation Department website at www.511.idaho.gov.
A complete media release will follow when details are available.
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Single count of larceny is charged
On 13 February 2008, the criminal defendant was convicted of grand larceny in the fourth degree, upon a jury verdict. The defendant appealed. The appeal brought up for review the denial, after a hearing, of that branch of the defendant's...
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Grand Jury was incompetent
The criminal defendant man was indicted for the crimes of robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree and grand larceny in the second degree. On August 10, 1978 the defendant moved for a dismissal of the indictment on the ground that he was not given an opportunity to testify before the grand jury, although timely notice to that effect was served upon the district attorney. On August 25, 1978 the accused man’s motion was heard. The complainant conceded that the defendant man was not notified to appear as a witness before the grand jury, but would not consent to a dismissal on that ground. The complainant moved that, instead, the indictment be dismissed in the interests of justice. The defendant joined in the complainant's motion and the indictment was dismissed on that ground.
Thereafter, on August 28, 1978, the complainant's instant application for leave to resubmit was argued. The complainant alleged that through inadvertence, leave to submit the charges to another grand jury and to make the dismissal conditional upon the defendant testifying under a waiver of immunity was not requested. Credit card fraud was not involved.
The defendant man contends that since the indictment was dismissed in the interests of justice on the complainant's own motion, the court is without the authority to grant leave at this time. Furthermore, he argues that an application for leave to resubmit the charges after dismissal of an indictment may be made only at the time the motion to dismiss was heard and granted. Since the complainant failed to ask for leave to submit the charges at that time whether inadvertently or otherwise, they are estopped from seeking that relief. The complainant on the other hand urged that upon all of the attendant circumstances the court may properly grant the application, although such relief was not applied for upon the dismissal of the indictment. Bribery was not involved.
The law is clear that a grand jury proceeding is defective when the defendant is not accorded an opportunity to appear and to testify before the grand jury in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). A defendant has a right to appear before the grand jury hearing if the charges of which is he is accused, upon the service of a notice of request to the district attorney and execution of a waiver of immunity. Upon receiving such notice, the district attorney must notify the grand jury foreman and serve the defendant with a notice of the date he is to appear. If the defendant is not accorded of his right to appear and to testify before the grand jury, the proceedings are defective and the indictment should be dismissed. An indictment may also be dismissed in the interests of justice. A motion to dismiss on this ground may be brought by the complainant, by the court or by the defendant.
The fact that the indictment was dismissed in the interests of justice rather than because of defective grand jury proceedings is immaterial. Criminal Procedure Law permits resubmission of charges on both grounds.
The intent of the Legislature was to permit a resubmission of the charges under court order upon dismissal in those cases where the defect should not result in foreclosure of further prosecution, but prohibits resubmission where the impediment is of an inherently fatal nature. It is obvious that the Legislature did not deem a defective grand jury proceeding as an impediment of an inherently fatal nature. In those cases where a defendant has immunity; or the prosecution is barred by reason of a prohibition against prosecution; or the prosecution is untimely; or the defendant has been denied a speedy trial, the court may not grant leave to resubmit the charges upon the dismissal of an indictment. The statute permits a resubmission where the dismissal was based upon a defective grand jury proceeding or in the interests of justice, so that further prosecution would not be foreclosed.
The defendant raises another issue which appears to be of first impression in the State of New York. He contends that CPL permits the court to authorize resubmission of a case when the application to do so is made by the complainant upon the dismissal of an indictment. He claims that the word “upon” as used in the statute means the precise moment the indictment is dismissed. Therefore, since the application in the case was made three days later, the court should not grant the relief sought in the proceeding.
Research revealed one case that discussed the word "upon" as a point of time. The court, applying the dictionary definition of "upon" as "with little or no interval after" (Webster's New International Dictionary, 1950), held that these delays invalidated the seizures. It stated that a delay of a period of days or short weeks at most would be permissible under the statute. Although the court did not resolve the question of how long a delay might not be too long, it held that the delays in that case were too long.
Two cases relied on by the complainant appear to sustain their position that the failure to apply for leave to resubmit at the time the indictment was dismissed does not bar an application for that relief thereafter. In one of the two cases, the court stated that after the County Court dismissed an indictment following the granting of a motion to suppress physical evidence upon which the indictment was based, the available remedies to the complainant for possible reinstatement of the indictment was either by appeal under the then section 518 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or by applying to the County Court under the then section 327 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for leave to resubmit the matter to the same or another grand jury. The complainant was granted leave to apply to the County Court to submit the charges to another grand jury.
In the second case, the court held that the dismissal of the indictment without the authorization to submit or resubmit the charges to the same or another grand jury barred further prosecution of the charges. However, the court pointed out the fact that the dismissals did not grant the complainant the authorization to resubmit the charges to a Kings County Grand Jury does not bar them from seeking such authorization.
The indictment in the instant case was dismissed on August 25, 1978 and the complainant brought this proceeding by way of order to show cause on August 28, 1978, a delay of three days. The statute, it will be recalled, used the word "upon dismissal". It does not state contemporaneously with or immediately upon. A delay of three days was but a short interval of time and within the meaning of Criminal Procedure Law. The delay was not so inordinately long as to violate the mandate of the statute that leave be sought upon dismissal. The application for leave to submit the charges to another grand jury (the grand jury which found the instant indictment is no longer in session) is granted. However, that aspect of the application which seeks to amend the order of dismissal so as to make it conditional upon the defendant appearing and testifying as a witness after waiving immunity is denied.
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UPDATE - All Lanes Open - Northbound I 15 Milepost 62
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
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Idaho State Police
District 5 5205 South 5th Ave.
Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299
(208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPSATE***
For Immediate Release: 07/14/2013 at 5:15 p.m.
Please direct questions to the District Office
All traffic lanes are now open on Interstate 15 at Milepost 62. A full release will be issued this evening.
***END OF UPDATE***END OF UPDATE***END OF UPDATE***
For Immediate Release: 07/14/2013 at 4:00 p.m.
Please direct questions to the District Office
Idaho State Police is currently investigating a crash in the northbound lanes of Interstate 15, near milepost 62. This is north of the Inkom Port of Entry, and south of The Gap. There is road blockage. Motorists are being asked to avoid this area.
Traffic updates can be obtained by calling 511 or by checking the Idaho Transportation Department website at www.511.idaho.gov.
A complete media release will follow when details are available.
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Thoughts of Attorney Russell Babcock on Zimmerman Acquittal
Predictably, our country, which remains divided on so many issues, is polarized regarding the acquittal of George Zimmerman. For those police officers and volunteers who face danger every day, many feel triumph. And for those with young children and who are members of a racial minority, many feel that there has been a failure of [...]
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The legislature accordingly considered that a minimum of 16 members of the grand jury would preside
A grand jury heard evidence concerning an incident occurred. After the deliberation, they voted an indictment charging a man with the crime of criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree. Subsequently, the district attorney re-opened the criminal proceeding....
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Why George Zimmerman Was Acquitted
Isn’t it slightly odd that while hundreds of young black men have been killed in Chicago this year with barely a headline, America has been transfixed by the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot in a Sanford, Florida townhouse complex by 29-year old neighbourhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, acting in self-defence, according to […]![]()
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New Real Estate Scam Identified
A new real estate scam involves real estate that is posted via classified advertisement websites. The scammer duplicates postings from legitimate real estate websites and reposts these ads, after altering them. Often, the scammers use the broker’s real name to create a fake e-mail, which gives the fraud more legitimacy. When the victim sends an [...]
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FLORIDA V. GEORGE ZIMMERMAN AND RACE POLITICS IN AMERICA
The George Zimmerman trial has ended with not guilty verdicts on 2d degree murder and the lesser-included charge of manslaughter. What does it mean? What broader message should we draw from this verdict? My take on it: the State of Florida placed George Zimmerman on trial for murder, a jury heard evidence over a 3-week [...]The post FLORIDA V. GEORGE ZIMMERMAN AND RACE POLITICS IN AMERICA appeared first on Ed Folsom.
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I Have an Idaho Arrest Warrant, but Live Out of State, What Can I Do?
A common dilemma I get called about frequently is what to do when an arrest warrant has issued for you in Idaho, but you do not live in Idaho. This occurs under a couple different scenarios. Some Defendant’s get placed on probation in Idaho, and receive a probation violation either before or after leaving Idaho. [...]
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Woman Admits Facilitating Escrow Fraud Scheme
Rhonda Scott, 52, Oxon Hill, Maryland, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with two separate mortgage fraud schemes that resulted in losses of over $2,500,000. According to her plea, beginning in 2008, Scott agreed to participate in several fraudulent real estate transactions that settled [...]
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13th Floor "Sexual Abuse" (Spoken Word)
Video Description:
When you enter the elevator of a high rise building you will seldom find the button for the 13th floor. It is because of fear, superstition, or ignorance, that we pretend it doesn't exist. The "13th floor" issues of abortion, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and the sanctity of human life have become a widely unrecognized reality, accompanied by a basic fear of people, to honestly address these issues.
© 2006-2013 | Sex Offender Issues (Facebook)
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Injury Crash Near Montpelier, ID
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
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Idaho State Police
District 5 5205 South 5th Ave.
Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299
(208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068
For Immediate Release: 7/14/2013 at 10:00 p.m.
Please direct questions to the District Office
On July 14, 2013, at approximately 7:55 p.m., Idaho State Police investigated a one vehicle rollover crash on US 89 near milepost 33, east of Montpelier, in Bear Lake County, ID.
Jake J. Tervort, 17, of Lake Shore, UT., was driving south on US 89. Tervort drove off of the roadway, lost control of the vehicle, hit a guard rail, and rolled.
Tervort was wearing a seatbelt. He was transported by ground ambulance to Bear Lake Memorial Hospital in Montpelier, ID.
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//blawgsearch75.rssing.com/chan-6519914/article3276-live.html
United States v. Botello-Rosales, No. 12-30074 (per curiam; Pregerson, Wardlaw, and M. Smith on panel) The Ninth Circuit reversed a denial of a motion to suppress statements made to police based on defects in the Spanish-language Miranda warnings. The issue is entirely one of translation of the word "free" -- Spanish has one word for "free" as in free beer and another for "free" as in free speech. The Miranda warnings require the first sense, but the cop used the word for the second sense. This didn't accurately convey the substance of the Miranda warnings, see California v. Prysock, 453 U.S. 355 (1981), and it didn't matter that the English warnings were OK.The decision is here:http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/07/15/12-30074.pdfUnited States v. Morgan, No. 12-10056 (Nguyen, author, with Fisher and Callahan) [Ed. note: This appeal was handled by the Arizona FPD office.]The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress statements made after the defendand was given Miranda warnings and invoked her right to counsel because it concluded that the Border Patrol agent's actions here did not amount to the functional equivalent of interrogation. The defendant was stopped at an informal border crossing that is staffed by Border Patrol. The agents found drugs in her car and arrested her. They gave her the Miranda warnings, and she initially agreed to talk but then invoked her right to counsel. The agents terminated the interview.Then the defendant was taken to a Border Patrol stationhouse approximately two and a half hours' drive from the informal crossing. While she was being processed, the agents photographed her standing behind the drugs she allegedly smuggled. They also reread her the Miranda warnings (but nothing relating to the waiver of those rights) using a standard Border Patrol form; this was standard policy, according to the arresting cop, even when the suspect had already received the warnings and invoked the right to counsel. Having been reread the warnings and possibly also photographed standing next to the drugs, the defendant said she wanted to waive her right to counsel. During the subsequent interview, the defendant admitted to smuggling marijuana.First, the Ninth Circuit held that simply rereading the Miranda warnings, without attempting to question the defendant or secure a further waiver of her rights, did not amount to a resumption of questioning that would be forbidden under Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291 (1980). These instead were simply part of normal booking procedures. Second, the court held that re-advising her of her rights, coupled with photographing her standing next to the drugs she allegedly smuggled, was not the "functional equivalent" of interrogation. None of the cops' actions were reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect; even the photograph was arguably part of the booking procedure and nothing more. The decision is here:http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/07/15/12-10056.pdf
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Zimmmerman Juror B-37 Seeks Book Deal
Updated to reflect the original article has been edited to make clear B-37 signed with a literary agent who is seeking a deal for her book, but she doesn't actually have a book deal yet.
Zimmerman juror B-37 and her husband have a literary agent...
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Slander is a part of sex crime
This action was commenced as the result of an incident which occurred between the plaintiff and the criminal defendant culminating in the plaintiff being arrested and accused of sodomy and rape but six months after, the charges were dropped. The...
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Court Was Correct to Enhance Child Pornography Sentence With Prior Statutory Rape Conviction – U.S. v. Barker
In all parts of criminal law, having a prior conviction is bad news if you are facing a new criminal charge. In child pornography possession cases, a prior conviction can cause a dramatic change in the defendant’s likely prison time. There is no mandatory minimum for child pornography possession alone, but a prior conviction for any of several offenses bumps the mandatory minimum up to 10 years. It also doubles the statutory maximum to 20 years. And because it’s almost inevitable that possessors will also be eligible for a receipt charge or a sentence enhancement for using a computer, the sentence often gets even longer. The mandatory minimum came into play in U.S. v. Barker, in which Richard Barker of Vermont challenged the use of a prior statutory rape conviction to enhance his child pornography possession sentence. He was unsuccessful.
Barker’s prior conviction was in 2002 in Vermont state court, for statutory rape of a minor under the age of 16. Barker was 56 when convicted on that charge, and remained on probation when indicted for possession and distribution of child pornography. Details of that offense weren’t included in the opinion. Barker ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of possession. Prosecutors calculated his sentence range by including the statutory rape charge as a prior offense, but Barker argued against this, saying Vermont’s statute was not for “abusive sexual conduct” because it didn’t require a significant age disparity. Based on a 2012 Second Circuit case, the district court used a modified categorical approach to conclude that Barker was wrong, because there had been a significant age disparity in his prior case. It imposed the mandatory 10-year minimum.
The Second Circuit upheld the sentence, though it ruled that the district court should have used a categorical approach to determining whether the Vermont law triggered the mandatory minimum. To get the sentence enhancement, the offender must have been convicted of an offense “relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual contact involving a minor.” By applying the modified categorical approach, the district court used the charging document in Barker’s prior case. But the Second Circuit had ruled shortly after Barker’s sentencing hat courts should use a categorical approach in his situation, and the U.S. Supreme Court later affirmed this approach. However, Barker fared no better under the categorical approach, the Second ruled. Considering the offense generically, without the details of Barker’s case, it concluded that the law relates to sexual abuse of a minor. This is adequate to trigger the mandatory minimum, the court said; contradictory federal laws do not apply.
Mandatory minimums don’t just apply to cyber crimes or sex crimes, but they’re particularly devastating in child porn cases, because the sentences for child pornography possession and related crimes are already very high. Congress has repeatedly raised them over the past two decades, which triggered a recent report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission suggesting significant modifications. It has also triggered disobedience from a few federal judges who have declined to issue long sentences in cases of simple possession. Though the sentencing guidelines are advisory, they retain so much influence on the courts that I believe a revision is vital to make child porn sentencing fair and consistent.
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Former Hazelton Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting Two Children
BOISE – Michael Brian Clair, 33, formerly of Hazelton, Idaho and Parker, Arizona, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Boise to sexual exploitation of children by production of sexually explicit images of minors, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arrested Clair at a home near Hazelton on February 22, 2013. He had been residing there for approximately two months.According to his plea agreement, Clair came to the attention of law enforcement on October 28, 2012, when he responded to an advertisement posted on the Internet by an HSI Agent in New Orleans. While conversing via email with the agent, Clair made several statements about having inappropriate sexual contact with a 4-year-old female and discussed trading sexually explicit images. During today’s plea hearing, Clair admitted that between July 2012 and January 2013, he coerced two prepubescent minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct, for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct, and transported those images from Arizona to Idaho in late December. Clair also admitted distributing child pornography to others via the Internet, including to a sex offender in Queensland, Australia.The charge of sexual exploitation of children by producing sexually explicit images of minors is punishable by from 15 to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a minimum term of five years up to lifetime supervised release. The government is seeking forfeiture of the computer equipment used in the offense.Sentencing is set is set for October 7, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Boise.“Those who victimize children by producing and distributing images of children being sexually abused will be identified, investigated and prosecuted,” said Olson. “Today’s guilty plea sends the strong message that local, state and federal agencies will work together in an efficient and coordinated manner to bring these predators to justice.”“It wasn’t enough for Clair to abuse two children, he shared his exploitation with predators around the world,” said Brad Bench, special agent in charge of HSI Seattle, who oversees Idaho investigations. “HSI places a high priority on combating this despicable crime, not only to identify and rescue child victims, but to stop their re-victimization by individuals who view and distribute Internet child pornography.”U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents from Idaho, Louisiana, Washington, and Arizona investigated the case, with assistance from the Boise Police Department, Idaho State Police, Jerome County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
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