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Scottsdale DUI Lawyer

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The Law Office of Aaron Black just launched its new website scottsdaleduidefenselawyer.com. Not only does Aaron represent Phoenix DUI cases, but he handles numerous DUI and criminal cases in the Scottsdale area. If you have been charged with a DUI in Scottsdale call Aaron Black for a free case evaluation. Aaron Black is a distinguished and highly respected Criminal and DUI Defense Lawyer. The 2012 and 2013 Southwest Super Lawyer Magazine named Aaron a Rising Star in Criminal: DUI Defense. Super Lawyer Rising Stars are nominated by their peers, and consist of no more than the top 2.5% of lawyers in their field of law under the age of 40 in Arizona and New Mexico. North Valley Magazine rated Aaron as one of the Top Valley DUI Lawyers in 2012 and 2013. AVVO.com rates Aaron as a Superb 10.0 lawyer and he is rated by Martindale-Hubbel as an AV - Preeminent Lawyer; the highest level of professional excellence.   

County Supreme Court

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A detective and a police officer, both wearing plain clothes, were patrolling a neighborhood of Queens in an unmarked vehicle. The area was known for gang activity. At some point during the patrol, the detective and the officer observed the...

"Thermal Imaging Gets More Common But The Courts Haven't Caught Up"

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From NPR: Thermal imaging devices have been available for sale online, relatively cheaply, for at least a couple of years. But now, an iPhone attachment will let you carry a thermal imaging camera in your pocket. FLIR Systems, a specialized...

"Seeking a (much?) broader perspective on the modern marijuana reform movement"

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Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy has this post excerpting and discussing an article in the New York Times. Berman's take: I do not disagree with the general view that 2014 is a "watershed year" concerning discussion and debate...

Suing For Wrongful Convictions in New York State

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Martin Tankleff was arrested for the murder of his parents in the fall of 1988, just when he was to begin his senior year in high school, and was subsequently convicted in 1990. His conviction was overturned in 2007, but by then he had served 17 years in jail for a double murder he swore he did not commit. Tankleff has now settled one of his lawsuits for a little over $3 million. He has another lawsuit pending. The details of his fascinating (and infamous) criminal prosecution are for another post; our concern here is how he came to have multiple civil cases in different forums stemming from one wrongful conviction.As an initial matter, it is important to recognize the distinction between being wrongfully convicted and wrongly prosecuted. Imagine an innocent person arrested and prosecuted, and jailed for months or years while the prosecution is pending. Now assume that the jury is persuaded by lies told by witnesses at trial, or misled because they did not learn of evidence of the defendant's innocence, and they convicted the defendant. Following his conviction, the defendant successfully convinces the court that he is innocent. Under a New York law designed to provide compensation to innocent persons who were wrongly convicted, he may be entitled to money to offset his injuries. But, if he successfully defends himself at trial, despite the false testimony or the withholding of important evidence, he may actually have a much harder time recovering money damages. That is because the state law offers a remedy to the wrongly convicted, not the wrongly charged or the wrongly prosecuted.The state law in question offers the wrongly convicted the right to sue the State of New York (but not any individual people involved in the arrest or prosecution) and requires that the action be brought in the New York Court of Claims. This court hears only cases brought against the State of New York and operates without a jury. The court's primary focus in these cases is on the actual innocence of the convicted, rather than on the conduct of the police or prosecution.However, for the wrongly prosecuted, one's actual innocence is almost irrelevant. People prosecuted improperly (meaning, based on lies, fabricated statements or evidence, or through the withholding of evidence favorable to the accused) can sue for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and the denial of a fair trial. In New York, one can pursue claims under either or both state or federal law, and do so in either state or federal court. However, these lawsuits must ordinarily target police officers or private individuals, and can only be brought directly against municipalities themselves when one is asserting state law claims, or a claim that the misconduct was part of a policy or practice endorsed in some way by the city.Put more simply, if you are prosecuted unfairly (but not convicted) and you want to recover money for your injuries, proving your actual innocence will not do the trick. You will have to show deliberate misconduct by the police officers involved in your arrest and prosecution, such as lying to prosecutors, or withholding important information from prosecutors. If your prosecution flowed from a misidentification by a private citizen which the police reasonably relied on, recovering damages may well be impossible.Tankleff has reached a settlement with the State of New York. He still has a lawsuit pending against the lead detective, K. James McCready, for deliberately violating his constitutional rights. It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit, which is highly similar, yet meaningfully different from the action against New York State, plays out.If you or someone you know has been wrongly arrested, and has been or is now being wrongly prosecuted, it is critically important that you consult with a civil rights attorney who understands this complex area of law, as well as the relevant areas of criminal law. There are a wide variety of competing deadlines by which you must act, and steps you must take before filing an action, if you want to successfully preserve your rights and be able to sue for compensation. We are available to discuss any questions you may have about your case or the rights of a friend or loved one. Click here to contact us.A recent New York Times article on Tankleff's current lawsuit can be found here.

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

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With that Biblical phrase, President Obama launched his latest, none-too-subtle effort to whip up white guilt and portray imprisoned black young men as mere vessels of adverse social forces  --  forces driven, at one level or another, by racism. Obama...

LA Times & Andrew Cohen on Hall v. Florida

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Today's Los Angeles Times publishes the editorial, "Should a death row inmate's life hinge on an IQ test?" Florida, along with several other states, sets its threshold at an IQ test score of 70, though the professional consensus suggests a...

Bad Closing Argument Gets Felony Conviction Reversed

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Have you tried watching a cable news channel recently? I can't do it. There's always two to four talking heads arguing, and you can't even understand the point they're trying to make because they're talking over each other (at least "Around the Horn" on ESPN utilizes a MUTE button, very effective). Good luck trying to glean any sort of useful analysis from a cable news program. But, if you've never checkout out a real life debate, you should. Debates are organized, and often informative. The structure of a debate facilitates the digestion of difficult material in a short period of time (assuming, of course, that the debate organizers have selected the proper panel). One of my favorite sites for debates is Intelligence Squared. Most of these debates are well organized, and both sides are well represented. Our criminal justice system has similar rules to these debates. Even though we criminal defense lawyers waive the Constitution every chance we get, our First Amendment right to free speech doesn't apply when a jury is listening. Under Florida's evidence code, a jury may only be told certain things regarding the evidence, certain things regarding the potential sentence (death penalty, for example), and certain things regarding the rules governing the jury's decision (reasonable doubt, weighing witness testimony, etc.). We criminal lawyers don't get to say what we want to a jury. We don't get to tell the truth. We don't get to tell the jury that our client will go to prison for a minimum of three years for possessing $100 worth of pills. No free speech whatsoever. But, leave it to some prosecutors to attempt to circumvent the rules of evidence, and try to sneak a few lies in the back door. And, telling the jury lies is exactly what today's case study involves (ok, maybe the term "lie" is too strong of a word, read on, and you decide). In Mitchell v. State, the defendant was convicted of animal cruelty. 118 So. 3d 295 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013). You're not going to like the facts of this case, but that's never stopped me from laying it out there. Mitchell and a few friends were eating some steaks, drinking some beer. So far, so good. One friend fed Mitchell's dog a piece of steak. Mitchell freaked out, and attempted to grab the steak back from the dog. Good luck with that, right? Right. The dog bit Mitchell--after all, we're talking about steak here, how did you expect the dog to react?

Koenig on When Attorneys Must Investigate Their Clients' Brains

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Ellen Koenig has posted A Fair Trial: When the Constitution Requires Attorneys to Investigate Their Clients' Brains (Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol. 41, No. 177, 2013) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The U.S. Constitution guarantees every criminal defendant the...

New Evidence Emerges in Texas Wrongful Execution Case

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The Innocence Project has filed new documents with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in its posthumous pardon petition for Cameron Todd Willingham, pointing to new evidence that strongly suggests that a jail house informant involved in the case received a deal from the then-Navarro County District Attorney John Jackson in exchange for his testimony. This new evidence also suggests that Jackson, who had since become a district court judge, deceived the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Navarro County District Attorney's Office about the existence of the deal. Willingham's life would have almost certainly have been spared had the board and district attorney's office known about it. In 1992, Willingham was convicted of intentionally setting fire to his Texas home, killing his three young daughters. He was found guilty and sentenced to death based on the testimony of two fire examiners who said that there was evidence that the fire had been intentionally set, and on the testimony of a jailhouse informant, Johnny Webb, who claimed that Willingham had confessed to committing crime. Webb recanted prior to Willingham's execution, stating that he had been forced by John Jackson, the then-district attorney, to provide false testimony in exchange for favorable treatment in the form of a reduced robbery charge in his own criminal case. Willingham's lawyer was never told of Webb's recantation. Willingham was executed on February 17, 2004. Subsequent to the trial, Jackson made repeated representations that Webb did not receive any favorable treatment in exchange for his testimony, but the Innocence Project recently found a handwritten note on the cover of the district attorney's file on the robbery charges pending against Webb that stated that the charge should be reduced to the lesser offense of robbery in the second degree "based on coop in Willingham." Evidence also shows that Jackson wrote to the Board of Pardons and Paroles on two occasions urging the board to grant Webb early parole. In the weeks leading up to Willingham's execution, his lawyers sought a 90-day reprieve from the Board of Pardons and Paroles to investigate whether Webb testified against Willingham in exchange for favorable treatment. Jackson, a district court judge at this point, wrote the board a letter on his judicial letterhead, opposing the reprieve. Again, he insisted that he didn't offer Webb any special consideration for his cooperation. Webb's false testimony followed Willingham to his death. Just days before Willingham was executed, his attorneys sent Governor Rick Perry and the court a report from Gerald Hurst, a nationally recognized arson expert, saying that Willingham's conviction was based on erroneous forensic analysis. Responding to this last minute request for a stay, Bill Price, with the Navarro County District Attorney's office, dismissed this report, claiming that it was irrelevant given the testimony of Webb, who received no deal in exchange for his testimony. "It's astonishing that 10 years after Todd Willingham was executed, we are still uncovering evidence showing what a grave injustice this case represents," said Co-Director of the Innocence Project Barry Scheck."The Texas clemency system is severely broken and must be fixed. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles can begin that process by conducting a thorough investigation into how the state allowed this execution to go forward in the face of so much evidence pointing to Mr. Willingham's innocence." Read the press release.

Police Officer’s act of reaching into the automobile and recovering the gun was unlawful ...cont

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The issue in this case is whether the Supreme Court erred in denying those branches of his omnibus motion which were to suppress the gun and the statement made in the precinct house. The court disagrees. The information obtained...

Georgia record restriction / expungement

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By Jessica Towne Since July 1, 2013, anyone arrested for a drug violation automatically qualifies for an expungement after successfully completing probation under the provisions of Conditional Discharge. This is different than First Offender Act, which is available to any crime. CD is only applicable when you enter a guilty plea to drugs, misdemeanor or felony. However, I get calls each month from people who thought that a background check would not turn up an older case resolved using a CD plea. In this case, you need to take the extra step to fill out an expungement application. Expungement is not automatic, you have to request it. I've seen very rare instances where a prosecutor has objected to expungement.

PoliceOne.com on Plumhoff v. Rickard: Why SCOTUS' 'qualified immunity' decision is huge for cops

MA: Disavowing ownership and possession of cell phone means no privacy interest in it

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Defendant who placed a cell phone on a window sill expressly disavowing ownership and any desire for further possession of it had no reasonable expectation of privacy in its contents. Commonwealth v. Martin, 2014 Mass. LEXIS 32 (February 26, 2014). There was a corporate entity of defendant involved in defendant's alleged tax fraud scheme, and it was the target of a search. The court doubts his standing to challenge the search, but finds the warrant and its execution reasonable in any event. United States v. Sotolongo, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25336 (M.D. Fla. February 26, 2014).* 2255 petitioner had a full and fair opportunity to litigate his Fourth Amendment claim in the main proceeding so he can’t on post-conviction. United States v. Punzalan, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24203 (D. Guam February 24, 2014).*

Lamparello & MacLean on Cell Phone Searches

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Adam Lamparello and Charles E. MacLean (Indiana Tech -- Law School and Indiana Tech Law School) have posted Back to the Future: The Constitution Requires Reasonableness and Particularity — Introducing the 'Seize But Don't Search' Doctrine on SSRN. Here is...

Three vehicle crash WB I-84 at 38

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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 02/28/14 4:46 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office The Idaho State Police are on scene with a three-vehicle rollover crash westbound I-84 at milepost 37. There is lane blockage at this time. Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area if possible. More information will be released as it becomes available. -------------

***Update***Three vehicle crash WB I-84 at 38

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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 02/28/14 4:46 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office *****UPDATE***** All lanes are now open. *****END OF UPDATE***** The Idaho State Police are on scene with a three-vehicle rollover crash westbound I-84 at milepost 37. There is lane blockage at this time. Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area if possible. More information will be released as it becomes available. -------------

County Supreme Court ...cont

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As the defendant argues, and as the People correctly concede, the defendant's presentence report and the sentence and commitment sheet incorrectly reflect that the defendant was convicted, under count one of the indictment, of criminal possession of a weapon...

The facts are essentially undisputed.

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The court is called upon on this appeal to determine the constitutional validity of a seizure of physical evidence subsequent to a warrantless entry by police into a defendant's furnished room based upon the homeowner's representation that the defendant had...

The Court concluded that the defendant has failed to demonstrate that he cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial

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This is a criminal case where a Motion was filed by the defendant for a change of venue of his trial from Queens County to another county to be designated by the court. A Queens County Gun Crime attorney said...
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