Most people who aren’t securities lawyers—other lawyers included—don’t have opinions on what SEC regulations say. Most people who aren’t probate lawyers—other lawyers included—don’t have opinions on the best way to write a will. Yet everybody—other lawyers included—has opinions about what … Continue reading →
Pop Law
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Mortgage Brokers Indicted for Fraud Involving Bridge Loans
Diane Cobb, 56, and Paul Sloane Davis, 74, have been charged with fifteen counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud, and Diane Cobb has also been charged with five counts of aggravated identity theft. Cobb and Davis were indicted by a federal grand jury on October 31, 2013. According to the Indictment, Cobb and […]
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Jury Convicts Loan Officer of Participating in a Large-Scale Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Ging—Hwang “Felicia” Tsoa, 59, Broadlands, Virginia, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and two counts of bank fraud in connection with her role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme. Tsoa was indicted on April 4, 2013, by a federal grand jury, and faces a maximum penalty of 30 years […]
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Social Media Experiment - Careful what you post!
Video Description:
Using the power of Social Media, I FREAKED PEOPLE OUT by making them think I knew personal information about them!
© 2006-2013 | Sex Offender Issues (Facebook)
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Cities and Towns with the Most Registered Sex Offenders in RI
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Virginia Attorney General Joins Defense Lawyers in Effort to Clear Man's Name
A year after Jonathan Montgomery received a conditional pardon from the Virginia governor in a 2008 alleged molestation case, the state's attorney general joins Montgomery's lawyers on Tuesday to ask the appeals court to clear his name. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be making one of his first public appearances since losing the governor's race earlier this month when he appears before the Virginia Court of Appeals to ask that Montgomery be declared innocent. The alleged victim, Elizabeth Paige Coast, claimed to have been molested in 2000 when she was 10 years old and Montgomery, who was her neighbor, was 14. Montgomery was convicted of aggravated sexual battery in 2008 and served four years before she recanted and admitted that she made the story up. According to Coast, she fabricated the story of molestation after her parents caught her looking at pornographic websites as a teenager, so she created a tale of prior sexual abuse to explain her behavior. She was convicted of perjury in May and sentenced to two months in jail and ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution. Papers filed by Cuccinelli's office report that there has never been a case in which a recanting victim has been convicted of perjury. If Montgomery is cleared, this will be the first time the Court of Appeals has granted a writ of actual innocence on the basis of a recantation. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "Brian Gottstein, a Cuccinelli spokesman said the attorney general will ask the court to award a writ. 'The attorney general wants to bring any influence the office can to the table to help plead for Montgomery's innocence and clear his name,' he said. 'The hope is that the weight of the attorney general's office arguing for his innocence is a substantial influence to bring, because the office usually argues to keep people in jail; it doesn't argue to get people out,' Gottstein added." Cuccinelli has a long history of supporting actual innocence claims, advocating for the exonerations of Thomas Haynesworth and Calvin Cunningham, both in 2011, and Bennett Barbour in 2012. Read the full article.
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Compliance Testing
From Channel 5 in Dallas/Fort Worth: Some drivers along a busy North Fort Worth street on Friday were stopped at police roadblock and directed into a parking lot, where they were asked by federal contractors for samples of their breath, … Continue reading →
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Prostitution/law enforcement follies
A couple of stories about law enforcement in Texas allegedly protecting prostitution lately caught Grits eye: First, a major prostitution bust in San Antonio in 2007 "fizzled amid allegations from some who alleged the FBI interfered with the SAPD probe, and that [the main target Samuel] Flores was protected because he cooperated with the FBI on unrelated investigations," the SA Express-News' Guillermo Contreras reported last week. Mr. Flores "was nabbed [last] week in Austin on an indictment alleging he was dealing methamphetamine in San Antonio. He was denied bond during a hearing in Austin on Thursday, and ordered transferred to San Antonio for trial. "Wrote Contreras, "The FBI and U.S. attorney's office denied the allegations, but nonetheless, the matter bruised feelings between the FBI and SAPD and resulted in an internal affairs investigation by the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility," the results of which were never released.Meanwhile, in Dallas vice squad Detective Jose Luis Bedoy has been indicted on federal charges for tipping off a prostitute with whom he was engaged in intimate relations about upcoming Dallas PD stings, giving her tips on how to avoid arrest, Tanya Eiserer at the Dallas News reported. “Authorities allege that the relationship lasted for years and during the entire time Bedoy provided 'law enforcement-sensitive information to her about DPD Vice Unit prostitution raids and other enforcement actions.'”Both stories hint at larger, big-picture issues. The latter reminds me of a study out of Chicago that found 3% of tricks by prostitutes operating without pimps were "freebies given to police" in exchange for protection. The former reminds us of the pitfalls of police reliance on criminals as confidential informants, who frequently go on to commit as many crimes as they help police solve, but under the de facto protection of law enforcement.In an era when HBO has turned a legal Nevada brothel into a popular reality TV series, Grits has to wonder whether, when it comes to keeping the "oldest profession" illegal, the juice really is worth the squeeze. Many of the worst negative consequences - including human trafficking, exploitation by pimps, and law enforcement corruption - are primarily consequences of delivering services through a black market.
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Virginia state Senator Creigh Deeds stabbed; son suffers fatal gunshot
Written by Staff Writer of Price Benowitz LLP
Earlier this morning a 911 call was placed to the Virginia State Police reporting an assault that had taken place at the residence of Virginia state senator Creigh Deeds in Bath County. Upon arrival at the scene, law enforcement personnel found that the senator had sustained multiple stab wounds to both the head and torso, while his twenty-four year old son, Gus Deeds, suffered a fatal gunshot wound. The senator was subsequently airlifted to the University of Virginia Health System Hospital in Charlottesville, where he is currently in critical condition.
It has been confirmed that the senator spoke with law enforcement and investigators upon his arrival at the hospital, despite his injuries. At present the authorities have been resilient to disclose any further details pertaining to the assault. Looming questions that the public and concerned individuals are likely pondering include what the motive was for the assault, whether or not any individuals were also present at the senator's residence, who placed the 911 call, and the series of events leading up to the incident.
Interestingly, the police are not actively looking for any suspects connected to the assault, which seems to insinuate that this was an isolated incident that manifested exclusively between the senator and his son. Thus at this point, one can only speculate as to what happened at the senator's house this morning.
One possible explanation is that the senator and his son got into some kind of altercation, in which the son turned violent, stabbed his father, and the senator proceeded to act in self-defense, resulting in the fatal gunshot wound sustained by his son.
A second scenario could be that the son acted in self-defense, but was ultimately unable to preserve his own life because his father was in possession of a firearm. Alternatively, a third-party may have been involved who contributed to the death of the senator's son or the stab wounds suffered by the senator. However, this scenario is improbable due to the fact that law enforcement personnel are not searching for any other suspects.
While this is unequivocally a tragic incident, it nonetheless raises various issues with respect to criminal law in the Commonwealth. For instance, what are the grounds for self-defense in Virginia? Self-defense, generally defined, is the right to protect oneself from bodily harm by exercising a proportional degree of force.
The meaning of self-defense has developed in the common law in Virginia. With respect to exercising lethal force, self-defense is considered an affirmative defense against murder, whereby a "defendant implicitly admits the killing was intentional," but exercised lethal force due to "some overt act indicative of imminent danger at the time" (see Commonwealth v. Sands (2001).) Moreover, there needs to be a fear of serious bodily harm and an imminent danger that that an act will be carried out to inflict such harm (see Byrd v. Commonwealth (1893).)
Whether or not the circumstances of the altercation that occurred this morning at the residence of Virginia state senator Creigh Deeds warranted the use of violent force is unclear. Situations like these are incredibly fact dependent, and at the moment, there is very little information to speculate on, let alone enough to draw definitive conclusions. More statements should be expected in the coming days and weeks from the Virginia State Police, and for now, the media's attention will likely be focused on developments surround Creigh Deeds' critical condition.
This blog post should not be construed as legal advice. If you are in need of legal representation or have questions about the law in Virginia, contact an attorney.
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Shoplifting and loss prevention officers – possible defense to shoplifting cases
Can the conduct of the loss prevention personnel from the store be a defense in your case? In any theft case, you absolutely must have an attorney representing you. Although initial punishment may not be severe for a first time offense, the long-term consequences can be quite harsh. Avoiding a conviction if at all possible [...]
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Fissell on Abstract Risk
Brenner M. Fissell has posted Abstract Risk and the Politics of the Criminal Law (American Criminal Law Review, 2014 Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Much of the criminal law contains what theorists call “abstract endangerment” statutes — crimes...
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Dallas DA's derivatives litigation crumbles under its own weight
A huge proportion of those prosecuted in the criminal justice system are poor folks represented by underpaid, appointed counsel. That may explain why, when it comes to white-collar crime, Texas prosecutors generally find themselves out-gunned, lacking the expertise or political will to aggressively pursue cases. And when they try, it frequently doesn't end well. The Dallas News has a story about a white-collar criminal prosecution that backfired after Dallas DA Craig Watkins out-sourced the case to politically connected attorneys. The article by Kevin Krause in today's paper opened:A settlement in a complicated lawsuit in which Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins retained high-powered outside lawyers in an attempt to recover tens of millions of taxpayer dollars has died because those lawyers and the county couldn’t agree on legal fees.After county commissioners kept delaying a vote on the proposed settlement, mostly because of the fee dispute, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor threw out the bulk of the lawsuit earlier this month. Now the attorneys — most of whom are allies of Watkins or the Democratic Party — and the county both are empty-handed. The only satisfied party is the suit’s defendant, Mortgage Electronic Registration System.“We are very pleased with this development,” said Janis Smith, Merscorp’s vice president for corporate communications. “The scope of this case has been substantially narrowed.” Merscorp is the parent company of MERS. ...The suit alleges that MERS — which was founded by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several large U.S. banks in 1995 — was a conduit for buying and selling mortgages by lenders. The suit said MERS avoided paying recording fees to the county when mortgages changed hands, as required by law.The county was seeking to recoup years of lost revenue from those recording fees. Other counties across the nation also filed similar suits against the company. MERS has won many of those cases.To be fair, if the feds had aggressively pursued white-collar offenses after the derivatives fiasco nearly brought down the US economy several years ago, local prosecutors wouldn't be stuck trying to go after these complicated cases piecemeal. But the episode suffers from bad optics - particularly the selection of politically connected attorneys to spearhead the case - and demonstrates why white-collar offenses tend to go un-prosecuted and un-punished while poor folks fill up the jails and prisons for much smaller-scale matters.Similar litigation has been greenlighted in Nueces County. Too bad Dallas couldn't get its act together.
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Due Process Clause,,,,, cont
Recognizing there is no constitutional jury trial right for a "petty" offense does not, however, resolve all the constitutional issues raised by the use of CPL 400.40 in this case. To complete the analysis, an assessment of recent Supreme...
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Murfreesboro , Tennessee DUI Alert
I really don't know what a blog really is supposed to look like. I comment on issues that interest me as well as things that come up in my law practice. Today , I thought I would report on how DUI cases are being handled in Murfreesboro, Tn. In 2012 , the Tennessee Legislature passed a law which enabled some criminal offenses to be expunged from your criminal record.
In 2012 , the Tennessee Legislature passed a law which enabled a person to expunge certain criminal charges from their record. Some of those charges that can be expunged can be found here . The reason this is important is in Murfreesboro , Tn. is certain DUI cases may be reduced to a reckless endangerment charge. Under the expungement law , a reckless endangerment case may be expunged at a later date .
In current plea bargaining agreements , a defendant is required to sign a waiver that a defendant will not seek an expungement of a reduced DUI charge . An execution of a waiver is a new wrinkle in the DUI process in Rutherford County. It appears this new policy is on orders from the District Attorney. What will the end result be with this new policy ? Probably more trials are in the forecast.
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Eastern Idaho Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug Charge
POCATELLO – Sammy Joe Aguirre, 26, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.According to the plea agreement, on March 21, 2013, law enforcement officers observed Aguirre traveling from Idaho Falls to Rupert, Idaho, where he obtained approximately one pound of methamphetamine. While transporting the methamphetamine back to eastern Idaho, Aguirre’s vehicle was stopped, he was arrested and law enforcement seized the methamphetamine. Aguirre admitted in court that he obtained the methamphetamine with the intention of distributing it to others.Aguirre is scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, 2014, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.Aguirre’s co-defendant, Emilio Martinez, 31, of Rigby, Idaho, pleaded guilty on October 16, 2013, to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. According to the plea agreement, on February 26, 2013, during execution of a search warrant at a residence in Bonneville County, officers found Martinez in possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 3, 2014.Aguirre and Martinez face up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1 million, and at least three years of supervised release.The case is the result of a joint investigation of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), led by the Idaho State Police, with assistance from the Idaho Falls Police Department and Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. Other federal agencies participating in the OCEDTF program include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Marshals Service.The OCDETF program is a federal, multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.
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Meet Scarecrow’s Mother
Via Free-Range Kids: My son is only 4, and I have pretty much put the fear of God in him about strangers! It’s a constant conversation (especially lately) that is not at all sugar coated! He knows that there are … Continue reading →
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GPS Tracking Equals a Police Search
In January 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled that when law enforcement uses GPS tracking they are doing a police search. The ruling by the Court didn’t specifically determine whether this type of search requires a search warrant. Appeals Court Decision The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court recently went one step further and ruled that […]
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HuffPo: Florida Rep. Trey Radel, Busted On Cocaine Charge, Voted For Drug Testing Food Stamp Recipients
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”
--Jesus Christ, in John 8:7
HuffPo: Florida Rep. Trey Radel, Busted On Cocaine Charge, Voted For Drug Testing Food Stamp Recipients by Arthur Delaney:
[...] Read more!
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Missouri Execution Stayed
The Stay of Execution Order issued by a federal district court is available in Adobe .pdf format. "Federal judge grants stay of execution in Missouri," is the AP report filed by Jim Salter. It's via the Kansas City Star. A...
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Judge: Alzheimers-Stricken Attorney Unfit to Face Ponzi Scheme Charges
A federal judge ruled that a 78-year old Pennsylvania attorney suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease is not competent to stand trial on charges that he masterminded a $6 million Ponzi scheme. Anthony J. Lupas, a once-prominent local attorney, was facing mail fraud charges after he was accused of swindling millions of dollars from clients who thought they were investing in tax-free trusts. After holding a competency hearing in August, U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani issued an order siding with Lupas's attorneys and agreeing that Lupas had "lost his perception of reality".
Lupas is alleged to have offered clients the ability to earn a steady 5% return through an investment in tax-free trusts. This continued for years, until Lupas suffered injuries in a 2011 fall that allegedly diminished his mental faculties. After his injuries prevented him from maintaining scheduled investor payments, his son, a state court judge, allegedly discovered the scheme and alerted authorities. After an investigation, the elder Lupas was arrested and charged with 29 counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Last month, a Pennsylvania state fund supported by attorney registration fees announced it would pay $3.25 million to Lupas's victims in what Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille remarked was
one of the most egregious cases of attorney theft of clients' escrow funds that I have seen in the 20 years that I have been on the Supreme Court..."
In his order declaring Lupas unfit to stand trial, Judge Mariani made a point to clarify that Lupas had not "evaded the justice system by any means," and that his condition would be re-evaluated after he had spent several months in a local treatment facility.
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