Original Article
12/15/2013
By LEVI PULKKINEN
“My family would lose everything.”
That’s the argument made by a King County sex offender terrified his name will be publicized if the State Patrol releases the sex offender registry it maintains.
A married father of two convicted of sex crimes in 2009, the man is one of two low-level sex offenders brought forward by the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the state from releasing the names of 21,000 registered sex...
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WA - Washington sex offenders, ACLU sue to hide low-level offenders' identities
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Hessick on the Commission's Recommendation to Strengthen the Guidelines System
Carissa Byrne Hessick (University of Utah - S.J. Quinney College of Law) has posted A Critical View of the Sentencing Commission's Recent Recommendations to 'Strengthen the Guidelines System' (Houston Law Review, Vol. 51, No. 5, 2014) on SSRN. Here is...
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21 Idaho Peace Officers Graduate POST Patrol Academy Class
MERIDIAN - Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) is proud to announce that Patrol Basic Academy #177 graduated during a ceremony Friday at the POST Academy in Meridian. The 21 graduates represent law enforcement agencies from throughout the state. All peace officers in Idaho are required to complete a ten week basic academy in order to be certified. The strenuous curriculum focuses on the foundation of knowledge and practical skills necessary for patrol duties.
Members of POST Class #177 and their law enforcement agencies are:
Adam S. Arnold - Ada County Sheriff's Office
Eduardo J. Ballesteros - Blackfoot Police Department
Brandon R. Bish - Mountain Home Police Department
Austin R. Budge - Montpelier Police Department
Stephen A. Burnett - Elmore County Sheriff's Office
Jeremy L. Canterbury - Butte County Sheriff's Office
Neil E. Daigle - Ada County Sheriff's Office
Patrick C. Dupea - Nez Perce County Sheriff's Office
Howard N. Egan - Twin Falls Police Department
Dennis Estrada - Ada County Sheriff's Office
Cody L. Frailey - Canyon County Sheriff's Office
Steven R. Hansen - Blaine County Sheriff's Office
Chadwick B. Hessing - Ada County Sheriff's Office
Jason C. House - Moscow Police Department - Class Vice-President
Terisa M. Howell - Ada County Sheriff's Office - Class President
Timothy M. Sokolowski - Idaho County Sheriff's Office
Irina A. Svetlichnaya - Pocatello Police Department
Juanita J. Toll - Fruitland Police Department
Michael R. Topp - Lewiston Police Department
Brandon R. Vannatter - Benewah County Sheriff's Office
Jason B. Woodcook - Ada County Sheriff's Office
During the 10 week POST Basic Patrol Academy students, or recruits, are trained to assume responsibilities of a peace officer in the State of Idaho which include, but are not limited to:
- Physical requirements
- Law and courtroom procedure
- Firearms and defensive weapons
- Emergency vehicle operation
- Communication techniques
- Ethics
During the ceremony the graduates were addressed by Rory Olsen, POST Deputy Division Administrator, Gary Raney, Post Council Chair and Ada County Sheriff, Terisa M. Howell, Class President, guest speaker Sergeant Patrick Calley, Ada County Sheriff's Office, Tim Braseth, POST Training Specialist and the Honorable Thomas Watkins, 4th District Judge, who administered the code of ethics to the recruits. Class member Neil Daigle gave the benediction.
Other highlights of the ceremony included the presentation of several awards for marksmanship, physical fitness, driving and written exams which include:
Top Student Award - Chadwick B. Hessing, Ada County Sheriff's Office
Tactical Edge Award - Student chosen by classmates whom they would most want by their side as a partner in the field - Steven R. Hansen, Blaine County Sheriff's Office
Top Shooter Award - Student with the highest score on the firearms range - Chadwick B. Hessing, Ada County Sheriff's Office
Top Driver Award - Student with the highest score in the driving course - Timothy M. Sokolowski, Idaho County Sheriff's Office
Upon graduation the graduates will be required to complete additional training depending on the law enforcement agency that they are employed with. This may include further course work, as well as, further field training in an "on the job" setting.
Other awards presented to the class were:
Firearms Possible (Shot 100% on the range)
Patrick C. Dupea
Jason B. Woodcook
Sharpshooter (Shot 98%- 99.9% on the range)
Adam S. Arnold
Eduardo J. Ballesteros
Austin R. Budge
Jeremy L. Canterbury
Neil E. Daigle
Dennis Estrada
Steven R. Hansen
Chadwick B. Hessing
Jason C. House
Michael R. Topp
Brandon R. Vannatter
Marksman (Shot 96%- 97.9% on the range)
Stephen A. Burnett
Howard N. Egan
Terisa M. Howell
Fitness Excellence (Scored 95%+ on one fitness readiness test)
Neil E. Daigle
About POST: Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) ensure "Professionalism Through Training" of all Idaho criminal justice professionals including patrol, dispatch, adult and juvenile corrections, detention, and probation and parole officers. All Idaho peace officers are certified through POST and currently POST certifies approximately 1,800 Idaho criminal justice professionals each year. The POST Academy was established in 1970 and is located in Meridian, Idaho.
Anyone interested in learning more about the POST Academy, its courses or becoming a peace officer in Idaho should visit their website at www.post.idaho.gov.
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Steinberg Presses Jury Instructions as Insider Trading Trial Nears Conclusion
As the government's criminal insider trading case against SAC portfolio manager Michael Steinberg draws to a close, Judge Richard Sullivan of the Southern District of New York has provided the parties with his proposed jury charge, and defense counsel has made another attempt to convince the court to instruct the jury differently on several issues.
Writing to chambers on Sunday, Steinberg’s lawyers argued, among other things, that the factual record does not support a conscious avoidance charge, otherwise known as an “ostrich instruction.” The conscious avoidance doctrine relieves the government from establishing a defendant’s “actual knowledge” of wrongdoing; instead, it allows the court to instruct the jury that the government can prove “knowledge” by showing that a defendant avoided learning a fact. Although the defense has tried to show that Steinberg did not know that the information he received from his analyst-turned-cooperating-witness, Jon Horvath, was obtained illegally, Steinberg's counsel argues that a conscious avoidance instruction requires evidence that the defendant took "intentional, conscious steps to avoid confirming" the suspected fact. According to defense counsel, there is no evidence "from which the jury could reasonably conclude that Mr. Steinberg buried his head in the sand by deliberately refusing to learn if the information Mr. Horvath was providing him had been obtained illegally." A conscious avoidance charge, therefore, would be improper.
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Due Process Clauses ....cont
The People note that the criminal defendant was given proper notice and, thereafter, a full hearing to determine the level of classification he should be subjected to. Therefore, they conclude, he has been afforded all the process he is...
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Connecticut Injury Lawyer Gives Tips on Driving on Icy Roads
Connecticut residents will soon be inundated with cold and snowy weather resulting in poor driving conditions, many times, as a result of snow and ice. In an effort to reduce the number of accidents that occur on CT roadways, is best to follow some simple advice while operating a motor vehicle on roads that contain […]
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Supreme Court agreed with the offender...cont
Subsequently, the Supreme Court agreed with the offender and dismissed the indictment. The court also held that another legal toll that applies if an offender's whereabouts are continuously unknown and continuously unascertainable by the exercise of reasonable diligence was...
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What Is The Difference Between Felonious Assault and Assault?
Assault is a first degree misdemeanor. As such, the maximum penalty is 6 months jail time and a $1000 fine. A person can be charged with Assault if they knowingly or recklessly cause harm to another person. Felonious Assault is a second degree felony with a penalty of up to 2-8 years in prison and […]
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What Is The Penalty For Felonious Assault?
Felonious Assault is a second degree felony with a penalty ranging from probation to 2-8 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Anytime a person is convicted of a first or second degree felony, the likelihood of going to prison is high. However, no jail time and probation on a Felonious Assault case is possible […]
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Why Did I Get Charged With Domestic Violence AND Assault?
A person can be charged with Assault if they knowingly or recklessly cause harm to another person. AND…. a person can be charged with Domestic Violence if they knowingly or recklessly cause harm to a family member or household member. Therefore, if a person is charged with Domestic Violence, they usually qualify to be charged […]
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Can I Lose My Car For Possessing Cocaine?
Ohio law permits forfeitures of property used in the commission of a crime. If a vehicle is used in any way while possessing or trafficking drugs, the State will file a forfeiture case to try and convince the Court that the vehicle should be forfeited without any compensation to the defendant. Forfeiture cases can be […]
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Death Penalty Engenders Fierce Debate
Canada’s death penalty was discarded in 1976, some 34 years ago, but it was a slow journey to abolition. Up until 1961 all murders in Canada were punishable by hanging. It was only in 1954 that rape was eliminated as a death penalty offence. Every year between 1954 and 1963 a private member’s bill was […]
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Second Circuit Reverses Conviction of Three GE Executives on Statute of Limitations
Two weeks after swiftly reversing the convictions of three GE executives for conspiring to defraud municipal bond issuers and the IRS through a bid-rigging scheme following oral argument, a divided panel of the Second Circuit has explained the reasoning behind its decision to overturn the convictions in U.S. v. Grimm on statute of limitations grounds.
The case centered on defendants’ conduct in winning guaranteed investment contracts (“GICs”) for their employers, including GE. When municipalities receive proceeds of tax-exempt bond issues, they usually do not expend them all immediately. Instead, some issuers invest those proceeds in GICs to generate additional funds until they need the money. To prevent the abuse of municipal bonds for pure arbitrage, the Second Circuit explains that the IRS and Treasury Department require a municipality to rebate to the Treasury any excess over the municipal bond rate. To guarantee a market rate of interest on these investments, municipalities are required to use competitive bidding. According to the government, the defendants paid kickbacks to brokers between August 1999 and May 2004 to rig the GIC bidding process. As a result, once the GIC providers – which were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case – won the bids, they paid lower interest rates to the issuers than they otherwise would have had the bidding process been fair.
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Utah Man May Face Child Abuse Charges After Nephews Get Drunk
A Utah man has been arrested and may be charged with child abuse after he allegedly gave his underage nephews beer and they became excessively drunk. Have a Beer? Joseph Sabey was arrested for investigation of child abuse and several other crimes after police were called and discovered his 10-year-old nephew passed out in the […]
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What Is The Penalty for Possession of Cocaine?
The penalty for Possession of Cocaine ranges anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison, and a $20,000 fine for each count. But the penalty depends on the amount of cocaine in your possession. For example, 1 gram of cocaine is a fifth degree felony, subject to probation or 6-12 months in prison. However, 25 […]
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Federal Court Grants Injunction Against NSA Bulk Telephony Metadata Program
A federal judge in the District of Columbia has granted a request for a preliminary injunction against the NSA preventing them from bulk collecting and querying of telephone record metadata, finding it likely violates the Fourth Amendment.
The...
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County Catch 22: Pay for lawyers or pay for incarceration
For a county paying through the nose to house jail inmates they can't afford, this seems like an odd and counter-productive choice; from the Waco Tribune-Herald (Dec. 14): An ongoing McLennan County Sheriff’s Office investigation into indigent defense fraud resulted in an arrest Friday. James Tyrone Johnson, 40, was arrested just after 1 p.m. on charges of falsifying or tampering with a government document, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Cawthon said. The McLennan County Commissioner’s Court this year approved the creation of a new position to investigate false claims of indigence, because the county must provide an attorney for any defendant who cannot afford a lawyer.Cawthon said this is just the first arrest and he expects the investigation, which has been led by Detective Eric Carrizales since early November, to uncover how much money the county is losing on false indigence claims.I've not heard of other counties employing someone full-time to verify indigence applications - much less prosecuting people over false claims of indigence - but given that the McLennan County Commissioners Court has been chomping at the bit to reduce jail costs from pretrial detention, it's hard to see how this makes financial sense. They may save money on attorneys for the indigent but if those folks wait in jail longer while their relatives scrape together money for lawyers, or don't, it's going to cost a lot more than it saves: Almost the definition of penny wise and pound foolish. Grits would bet that county commissioners end up scratching the new position once it begins to rack up extra jail costs.
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NSA case: Klayman v. Obama; "James Madison ... would be aghast"
NSA case: Klayman v. Obama, 13-0851 RJL (D. D.C. December 16, 2013), finding the third party doctrine inapplicable:
[...] Read more!
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Glendale DUI Debacle: Did DUI Firefighter Nearly Kill a Motorcyclist?
Picture in your mind someone who’s been charged with driving under the influence in Glendale. Odds are, you’ll conjure up a stereotype, like:
• A recidivist alcoholic;
• A college student at UCLA or USC who got busted after a night of partying;
• A debouched celebrity who’s been in and out of rehab.
Odds are, you did not picture a firefighter on a rescue mission.
But disturbing new reports from the San Francisco Chronicle suggest that DUI driving may actually be common among Bay Area firefighters.
Two fire chiefs and a battalion chief may be on the verge of suspension, after a firefighter drove DUI in a fire truck and slammed into a motorcyclist at the intersection of Howard Street and 5th Street. Michael Quinn, a lower level firefighter, allegedly had been drinking at a bar before he hopped into his truck to respond to what turned out to be a false alarm.
During the rescue mission, the fire truck smashed into motorcyclist, Jack Frazier, and catapulted him into a fire hydrant. Frazier broke many bones and suffered a collapsed lung. Amazingly (and fortunately) he survived the crash, but he's still struggling and in pain from his injuries.
After the crash, the firefighter's blood alcohol concentration level was measured; it came back at 0.13 percent. That’s just 0.03% percent shy of double the California (and Glendale DUI) limit of 0.08%. Other firefighters involved in the crash tested negative for DUI and drug consumption.
Frazier’s attorney pointed out that, while the firefighter “made an incredible … egregious mistake,” the problem of firefighter DUI driving appears to be “systematic.”
What can we take away from all this?
1. First of all, if you’ve been arrested for driving DUI in Glendale, appreciate that you're not the only "ordinarily upstanding citizen" who’s ever been charged with a similar crime.
2. Secondly, use the incident as a wake up call. Strive to understand what’s going in your life that may have motivated you to act carelessly (if you did indeed act carelessly).
3. Third, if you have not already done so, take time to connect with a DUI defense attorney to construct your defense. Mr. Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group is an experienced, respected Glendale DUI defense lawyer; he and his team can help you put together a sound, results-focused case.
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"Vermont's Chief Justice Is Speaking Out Against the Drug War: Is Anyone Listening?"
The title of this post is the headline of this lengthy and notable article I just came across from a Vermont independent paper, Seven Days. Here are excerpts: In recent weeks, Vermont Chief Justice Paul Reiber has gone public with...
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