When it comes to drunk driving cases, judges and prosecutors are very sensitive to political realities: if you want to get re-elected, don't go against cops and don't look "soft on drunk drivers" — even if it means having to occasionally ignore the facts…. Officer Testimony Overrules Video Evidence The Newspaper, April 2 — Videotape […]
Supreme Court: Cop’s Version Trumps Filmed Proof
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Is there any likely sentencing or (private) prison reform aspect to big SCOTUS political speech ruling?
The big SCOTUS news this morning is the split 5-4 First Amendment ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC (available here). This press report on the ruling from the Los Angeles Times provides the basics: The Supreme Court on Wednesday freed wealthy...
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"Two church leaders urge Senate to pass Smarter Sentencing Act"
The title of this post is the headline of this article from what appears to be a prominent Catholic newspaper. Here are excerpts: Two Catholic leaders called on the U.S. Senate to pass the Smarter Sentencing Act, which would reform...
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19 YEAR OLD WARRANTS IN TWO COURTS CLEARED: 10 CHARGES DISMISSED
CN, a 40 year old female refugee from Cambodia living in Lowell, has lived in the shadows for the last 18 years because she had warrants outstanding in Lawrence District Court and Roxbury Municipal Court. In March of 1995 she was arrested in Boston and charged with Receiving Stolen Property and Possession of Cocaine. In July of 1986 she was arrested again, this time in Lawrence, and charged with 4 counts of B & E into A Motor Vehicle, 1 Count of Possession of Burglar's Tools, and 3 counts of Larceny. Terrified that she would be sent to jail she defaulted in both Courts and "lived in the shadows" for 18 years. On February 27, 2014 CN had an office consult with Attorney Robert Lewin and retained him. Attorney Lewin essentially told her she did not have much to worry about given the ages of the cases. The next day Attorney Lewin brought CN into Lawrence District Court: the Defaults were removed, the warrants recalled, and the cases were continued to March 27, 2014 for pre-trial hearing. Attorney Lewin was successful in getting the Judge in Lawrence not to order CN held for Roxbury Court, but rather released her to go to Roxbury with Attorney Lewin that same day at 2:00 PM. Attorney Lewin and CN then went to Roxbury where the Judge removed the defaults, recalled the warrants, and continued the case to April 1, 2014 for pre-trial hearing. Attorney Lewin then met with the DAs in both Lawrence District Court and Roxbury Municipal Court. The principal witness in the case in Lawrence would have been 107 years old but had passed away many years earlier and most of the police involved in the Lawrence Court case were retired. With the case in Roxbury neither the police report nor the drugs could be found. On March 27, 2014 CN and Attorney Lewin appeared in Lawrence District Court: all 8 charges were DISMISSED. On April 1, 2014 CN and Attorney Lewin appeared in Roxbury Municipal Court: the 2 charges there were DISMISSED. CN was so excited and thrilled that these cases - which had hung over her head for years and had been a shadow on her life - were gone. The Judges in both Lawrence and Roxbury allowed CN to be released because they knew and trusted Attorney Lewin to show up in Court with CN on the next court dates. That kind of trust has been built up by Attorney Lewin over the 43 years he has been a lawyer and appearing in Court.
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New Jersey Law Enforcement's Pursuit of Drunken Drivers Unlikely to Abate
We see it quite frequently; the various anti-drunk driving campaigns accompanied by enhanced enforcement, such as saturation patrols during major holidays and late-night sobriety roadblocks on the weekends. In short, the apparent war on intoxicated motorists continues at a fairly regular and deliberate pace here in the Garden State. As New Jersey DWI and drug DUI defense attorneys, we know from experience that local police and state patrol officers take their roles very seriously when it comes to pursuing those drivers who may be inebriated behind the wheel.
Some drivers find themselves pulled over in the middle of traffic simply because they appeared to be wandering in their lane, when the reason could have been a minor distraction in the vehicle. Others might end up being flagged off the road at one of the many random roadside DWI checkpoints that seem to pop up at the most inopportune times. Regardless of the circumstances, however, if an office suspects a motorist to be even a slight bit drunk or otherwise impaired by alcohol or prescription drugs -- never mind illegal substances like marijuana or cocaine -- the gloves will come off an a much more intensive investigation will typically commence.
Of course, sometimes the police have reason to be suspicious of a driver's condition, much less his motivation to avoid being picked up by officers for whatever kind of offense. Considering the reputation that New Jersey's police have when drunk driving or drug DUI is involved, some people with a lot to lose will test the will of those law enforcement officers. Take the story of a Hamilton, NJ, driver who attempted to run from police following an alleged drunken driving accident along a portion of Interstate 95 last December.
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The King’s Terms
There is a scene in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart where the British and Scottish armies mass at a battlefield, ready to wage war. Before the actual battle ensues, the head of the British army speaks with an underling who urges his … Continue reading →
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Money Talks
By 4-1-4 vote, the Supreme Court held that campaign finance limitations were an unconstitutional restraint on the 1st Amendment in McCutcheon v. FEC. The inevitable ensued. The TL;dr version of the opinion reads: The right to participate in democracy through political contributions is protected by the First Amendment, but that right is not absolute.Congress may […]
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Information About A Miamisburg OVI Charge
If you need information about a Miamisburg OVI charge, you can visit the Miamisburg Municipal Court Public Information (case look-up) site – HERE. The jurisdiction of the Miamisburg Municipal Court includes any arrest for misdemeanor DUI in Miamisburg, West Carrollton,Germantown, German Township or Miami Township. The Miamisburg Municipal Court, located at 10 N. First Street, Miamisburg, Ohio 45342, serves a population of over 80,000 and handles in excess of 15,000 cases per year. The [Read the full post. . .]
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But What's In It for Me?
It was the confluence of things.I got a note from one Laura McPherson telling me that I'd made her list of the top 50 criminal law blogs (at lucky number 13, no less). Zowie! And she thought it would be just peachy if I advertised that with a link to her list. Doug Berman, who took first place, promptly did. I didn't then, and if you'll notice, I'm not doing it now, though it's not that hard to find if you're curious, and I'm sure Doug isn't the only one who bit.Then I got a repeat request from marketer Viviana Shafrin who figures that her last e-mail must have gone into my spam folder because I didn't just jump at using (and linking to) the infographic her folks have made about whatever it was.And then I got a request to link to someone on LinkedIn. Now, I have a LinkedIn account complete with secret decoder ring. I keep the information on it pretty much up-to-date because I'd prefer there not be a lot of false information that I'm responsible for on the web (can't help the false info I'm not responsible for). It's the same reason I keep the stuff on AVVO up to date (I'm a Superior 10.0 if you've been wondering). I signed up with those folks for their free accounts when I went back into private practice after my gig as ACLU of Ohio Legal Director. I figured they'd be good for business and I wouldn't do the pay versions so what the hell. (An aside - they proved themselves absolutely worthless, at least for the kind of business I was interested in.)Anyhow, keeping the data roughly up-to-date is essentially all I do with those sites. But with LinkedIn, at least, there's always more. Because there are all these requests to link to so and so. And my policy has always been something like, What the hell? If I can figure out who you are, and I don't hate you, what do I care if we're somehow linked? Except I got this Link-to-Me request from Guy Barone, who I actually know, and would have, were it two days ago, accepted. But it wasn't two days ago. Because there'd just been these e-mails from Viviana and from Laura. And this very strange letter telling me how wonderful a presentation a colleague and I had given was, which is lovely and I appreciated it no end. Except that we hadn't done it. Not individually. Not as a team. Nope. Not us.And I thought, I don't have a clue why anyone would want me to accept their links. I mean, I don't have jobs to offer. (And Guy Barone doesn't need one anyhow.) And finally I realized (I think I'm slow; if I were on facebook or I twitted I'd probably have understood this years ago) that these requests are just like the ones from the marketers - in fact most of them are probably generated by the marketers. They don't care about anything except the link.If I agree to be linked to Guy, he gets to add another to the whatever number of folks he's linked to. And he can say (he wouldn't, but someone on his behalf might), Hey, Gamso and me. Which if he were stupid enough to think so (he's not, but his people or audience might be) might be supposed to provide some cachet.So, sorry Guy. As of today, no more accepting link requests from decent folks I happen to know (like you) or people I can just sort-of identify and don't hate. But here, Guy, because it's not anything against you, is a link to your LinkedIn profile.Best of luck.
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Mentoring
Mentoring, both formally and informally, has always been an important component of the legal profession. Good legal skills cannot be learned merely by attending law school. During my long career, I have been fortunate to have an excellent mentors who have become my friends. In order to "pay it forward," and at the request of one of my informal mentors, I am now participating in the John M [...]
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Bellin on New York City "Stop and Frisk"
Jeffrey Bellin (William & Mary Law School) has posted The Inverse Relationship between the Constitutionality and Effectiveness of New York City 'Stop and Frisk' (Boston University Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: New York City sits at...
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And They Care Why?
On the surface, it probably wouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that there are law enforcement groups that are trying to subvert bipartisan support for the Smarter Sentencing Act. Sure, the hardcore and lazy federal prosecutors have come out against it, as it could make them have to work for the notches on their guns, but […]
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“Craigslist Killer” Barbour Appears in Sunbury, Pennsylvania Court
Craigslist is a virtual Mecca for buyers, sellers, job-hunters, and lonely hearts around the world. Whether you want to dispose of unwanted furniture, argue about politics, post your résumé, or find a puppy, Craigslist has you covered. With more than 50 billion page views per month and a presence in 70 countries around the world, […]
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Negligent Homicide in Maryland
In a recent case a Maryland appellate court considered a case in which a defendant was convicted of criminally negligent manslaughter, reckless driving and more. The defendant was a commercial tractor-trailer driver who got lost on the freeway. He called another driver with the same company for directions with his hands-free headset. They talked for twenty […]
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73-year-old Jackson Man Charged with Sexual Abuse of Three Young Girls
On Monday March 31, Jackson County District Judge Michael Klaeren found that there was probable cause to send the case of a 73-year-old Jackson man accused of sexually abusing three young girls to circuit court. Dwight Edward Rupert has been charged with four counts each of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct in a case […]
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'Major use of force' up at TDCJ prisons
The Texas Tribune's new criminal-justice beat reporter Terri Langford has an item today titled "Force against Texas inmates on the rise." Here's a notable excerpt:Despite a decrease in the prison population from 2005 to 2013, the number of “major use of force" incidents grew some 17 percent, according to statistics kept by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.While TDCJ officials say the fluctuations are random and can’t be tied to any one factor, other experts say the increase in reported use of force is a symptom of an inexperienced officer corps and an often overheated environment.The number of “major use of force" incidents rose to 7,151 in 2013 from 6,071 incidents in 2005, according to TDCJ statistics. Jason Clark, a TDCJ spokesman said there was a change in the way the incidents were reported in 2012, which could account for some of the increased incident reporting. But he could not say how much that would have changed the numbers.Lance Lowry, president of the Texas correctional employees union, said that most of the time force is used in confrontational situations where inmates refuse to cooperate with orders. With many veteran correctional officers retiring, the state prison system is relying more on rookie staff members, including some who may lack the skills to “de-escalate” a confrontation before deciding to use some sort of force, Lowry said.The UT LBJ School's Michele Deitch expressed concern over the use of chemical agents like pepper spray on inmates “where they won’t comply with an order,” but “There’s no particular indication that there’s an immediate danger of any kind.”As a followup, it'd be interesting to know how many of those use-of-force and pepper spray incidents involved mentally ill inmates, an issue that arose in California prisons last fall. The Trib's Brandi Grissom reported last fall that use-of-force rates were highest at TDCJ's psychiatric facilities and units housing large numbers of mentally ill inmates. One also wonders how many disciplinary actions against employees resulted from these thousands of force incidents, or if TDCJ considered them all justified.
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Woman Violates DUI Probation, Brags on Facebook
Michigan Woman Violates Terms of DUI Probation but Caught after Bragging on Facebook A Michigan woman has been arrested after violating the terms of her probation for a 2012 DUI after bragging about drinking on St. Patrick’s Day on Facebook. Colleen Cudney, 22, was arrested on her first DUI charges in 2012. She was convicted, but sentenced to probation, […]
The post Woman Violates DUI Probation, Brags on Facebook appeared first on South Carolina DUI Defense Lawyers | Strom Law Firm, L.L.C..
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Move Along, No Preferential Treatment Here
Last Thursday, we faxed a motion to continue trial to Mesa Municipal Court at 10:02 a.m. We sent the state a copy too, of course, though we’d also told the assigned prosecutor what we were going to do the day before.
The court called us at 2:25 p.m. and left a message about getting our position on the state’s motion to continue trial. That’s right, the state’s motion. Not ours. The motion the state didn’t bother faxing us until 3:45 p.m.
I called the court back sometime shortly before 5:00 p.m. and spoke with a very pleasant lady. She wanted to know my position on the state’s motion. I told her we didn’t oppose it and had in fact filed our own motion. She asked for me to wait a moment and came back a bit later.
“Oh my goodness, so you did!”
Ever wonder why it ...
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Three-Time Felon Charged with Gun Possession Loses Second Amendment Argument
This week, the court of appeals decided State v. Price, an interesting gun rights and Fourth Amendment case. Facts. The defendant was standing in a forest, near a deer stand, holding a rifle, in full camouflage, when a wildlife officer approached him. The officer asked the defendant for his hunting license, under the license check […]
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Better Business Bureau – “A” Rated!
I am happy to announce that my firm is now identified as a Better Business Bureau Accredited Business. Our team has joined an elite group of businesses that meet the BBB’s 16-factor accreditation standard for business conduct and ethics. What does this mean for my clients and potential clients? It means that I will continue […]
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