Anthony Carta, a 53-year-old Detroit resident who formed a religious-based nonprofit and is the founder of Freedom by Faith Ministries, was arrested on Wednesday April 3. Carta allegedly bilked Detroit residents out of $300,000 in a mortgage scam by using faith to entice innocent victims, according to a news article at Mlive.com. More than 100 […]
Mortgage Scam Built Around Religious Faith Leaves ‘Faith Leader’ Facing Substantial Prison Time if Convicted
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Man Sentenced for Opening HELOCs without Homeowner Consent
Kil Seok (Michael) Seo, 49, formerly of Fairfax, Virginia, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for engaging in bank fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a mortgage fraud scheme. Seo also was ordered to pay restitution of $894,600 to several banks that were the victims of Seo’s criminal conduct. Seo was indicted […]
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New Law Review Article: Dogs, Drones, and Defendants: The Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age
Mason C. Clutter, Dogs, Drones, and Defendants: The Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age, 21 Geo. Mason L. Rev. (forthcoming Spring 2014).
Abstract:
=> Read more!
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Are There Any Advantages to Fighting a DWI Charge These Days? Yes, There Often Are
While few people who take the initiative and walk into our law offices ever ask the question, there are many more who may choose not to contact us based on some different answer to that same query. So, really, why should anyone bother trying to fight a drunk driving charge? Don't the police have the upper hand? Isn't it difficult to contest the validity of the prosecution's evidence? And how can the average person know where to start if he or she even entertains the idea of challenging a drunken driving charge?
As experienced New Jersey trial lawyers, we've seen enough DWI and drug DUI cases to know that unless an accused motorists does make that concerted effort to fight for his or her day in court, they will never know what could have been if they hadn't accepted a guilty plea and the penalty consequences that ultimately follow. By not choosing to fight a DWI, drug DUI, or breath test refusal charge, a person essentially places all the power in the hands of the police and the prosecutor's office.
At this point we will add that the consequences don't simply mean the fines and court fees, but they also entail insurance premium increases for years to come and the inevitable license suspension and all of the hassle and aggravation that can create. And let's not forget the ordering of an ignition interlock device to be installed on the accused's vehicle once his or her license is restores; that alone can prove to be embarrassing and inconvenient.
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If it clearly saved thousands of innocent lives on roadways, would most everyone support medical marijuana reforms?
The question in the title of this post is my sincere inquiry, directed particularly to those most concerned about modern marijuana reform movements, as a follow-up to this extended (data-focused) commentary by Jacob Sollum at Forbes headlined "More Pot, Safer...
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Man Charged with Defrauding Homeowners and Mortgage Lenders
William Barry Blythe, 67, Murrieta, California, for carrying out a scheme to defraud homeowners, mortgage lenders, and the U.S. Bankruptcy courts in the Southern and Central Districts of California. He also admitted that he willfully failed to adequately report over $175,000 in taxes owed on his income. According to court documents, Blythe created multiple trusts, […]
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2 Vehicle Rollover Crash on US20
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
DO NOT REPLY
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Idaho State Police
District 6 1540 Foote Dr.
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402-1828
(208) 525-7377 FAX: (208) 525-7294
For Immediate Release: 04/04/14 11:15 p.m.
Please direct questions to the District Office
On Friday, April 4, at approximately 7:48 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a two vehicle injury crash on US Highway 20 at milepost 310, near the exit for Lewisville Highway. Emily Sweeney, 25, of Rexburg, was traveling west on US Highway 20, in a 2008 Ford Fusion, in the left lane. Lisa Claybrook, 54, of Blackfoot, was traveling west on US Highway 20, in a 2009 Blue Bird School Bus, in the right lane. Sweeney swerved into the right lane to take the exit ramp and Claybrook collided with the rear of Sweeney's vehicle. Sweeney's vehicle went off the road, struck a light post, and rolled to a stop on top of a fence.
Sweeney had 2 passengers in her vehicle and the bus was occupied. Paramedics responded to the scene, but no one was transported. Sweeney, her passengers, and Claybrook were all wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash. This crash is under investigation by the Idaho State Police.
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Santa Ana man arrested for Felony Evasion after police pursuit ends in deadly crash
Westminster, CA -- From an evolutionary standpoint the so-called fight or flight response is an advantage, it allows you to escape or overcome danger in order to pass on your genes to the next generation. However, in the modern world...
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TX - Dallas County Schools Unveils the "School Bus of the Future," Complete with "Pedophile Finder"
Original Article
Sounds like they got this hair-brained idea from John Walsh and his pedophile bus surfing (Article, Video)
04/02/2014
By Eric Nicholson
Dallas County Schools - the local school district with no schools or students but lots and lots of school buses - sent word last Friday that it was preparing to unveil the "School Bus of the Future," and that this futuristic vehicle will "will revolutionize school bus transit and exponentially increase the safe passage of students to and...
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Attorney general candidate pitches death penalty for political corruption that endangers lives
4-5-2014 California:
SACRAMENTO, California — A Republican candidate for California attorney general said Friday that state lawmakers who are found guilty of crimes that endanger the lives of others should face the death penalty.
Phil Wyman, who spent 17 years in the state Legislature, said he was motivated by the case of Democratic Sen. Leland Yee. Yee faces federal charges that include an
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UT - Former sex crimes officer (Jeremy Rose) charged with exploitation of minor
Jeremy RoseOriginal Article
04/04/2014
By Pat Reavy
TREMONTON - A former veteran officer with the Tremonton Police Department was charged Thursday with 14 felonies for allegedly spying on a teenage girl and gathering nude photos of her.
Jeremy Rose, 37, an officer with the department for 12 years who was a sex abuse investigator and trained with SWAT, was charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; two counts of voyeurism, a third-degree felony; and...
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IL - Petitioners: Release of sex offenders who lack housing
Original Article
When did homelessness become a crime? The very laws the ignorant politicians have passed is what is causing this. Where is the ACLU on this?
04/03/2014
By Edith Brady-Lunny
SPRINGFIELD - A petition filed with the Illinois Supreme Court by 17 prison reform advocates seeks to end a state policy that has forced more than 1,000 sex offenders to serve their parole in prison because they lack approved housing.
Currently, 1,100 sex offenders are being held in state prisons...
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DC - DHS Official: US Not ‘Routinely’ Notified When Sex Offenders Enter the Country
Original Article
04/04/2014
By Melanie Hunter
(CNSNews.com) - A Homeland Security Department official testified Friday before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security that U.S. authorities are not “routinely” notified when foreign sex offenders enter the United States.
“We can receive information on foreign criminal records, and in fact the NCB (National Central Bureau) is the vehicle through which 190 countries can communicate, and there are … registered sex...
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FL - Westside tent city
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player© 2006-2014, Sex Offender Issues | Facebook | Google+ | Please Donate!
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VA - Underage Virginia ‘sexting’ ring ensnares 100 teens, uncovers 1,000 pictures
Original Article
04/04/2014
By SASHA GOLDSTEIN
A sprawling central Virginian “sexting” ring was busted up by authorities after pictures of naked 14- and 15-year-olds sprang up on Instagram, cops say.
The disturbing investigation revealed more than 1,000 pictures, some videos and more than 100 involved teens through six different counties who may not realize sharing such photos of underage kids can be a felony, police told the Central Virginian.
"Out of those thousand images, there are some...
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Evil In Albuquerque
Most people would be inclined to believe that the training regimen for police officers would be the subject of great oversight. Perhaps a rigorous course of study developed by the best minds so that the public will receive the best service. At the very least, it would be more than one guy’s idea of how a […]
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DA Kathleen Rice: Shooting The Victim In The Head Justified
When Nassau County police officer Nikolas Budimlic decided that the best idea was to individually charge into a house where a gunman was holding people hostage, there were couple of possible outcomes. The first was that he would be a hero, get a medal and have a statue of him erected. The second was that a […]
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NC: Stop and handcuffing for 16 minutes was entitled to qualified immunity without malice being shown
Plaintiff was stopped and handcuffed by the defendant officer under mistaken identity. After 16 minutes, he was released without an apology after his ID was called in. The officer gets immunity for his actions, because there was no showing he acted with malice. Brown v. Town of Chapel Hill, 2014 N.C. App. LEXIS 302 (April 1, 2014).
Defendant was hunting and was approached by a wildlife officer who asked for his hunting license. The officer then asked if defendant was a convicted felon. Asking that question didn’t make the stop unreasonable. “Again, law enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment simply by putting questions to a person who is willing to listen. We conclude defendant was not ‘seized’ in the constitutional sense when Officer Starbuck asked him about his criminal history.” State v. Price, 2014 N.C. App. LEXIS 317 (April 1, 2014).*
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If You Broke It, You Should Pay for It
Dog-bites-man news from the Times: They won't be pardoning Cameron Todd Willingham anytime soon.* What? You thought they would? You thought that Texas would admit that his conviction, death sentence, and execution for a crime that did not occur was a horrible - even if an understandable - mistake? You thought Rick Perry's parole board would acknowledge that he wasn't a minister of justice when he signed off on Willingham's killing while the evidence that there was no crime (and therefore, duh, no criminal) was right in front of him? You thought they'd say that he was just a stone killer? And they were too?Grow up.Which brings me to Joe D'Ambrosio, though it's not the same thing.For one thing, he's still alive. Ohio (that's another difference) wanted to kill him. This time there was in fact a crime (yet a third difference). Anthony Klann was murdered. Eddie Espinoza (the state's key witness against Joe) and Stoney Lewis (the only one with an actual motive) are the ones who slit his throat, then dumped his body.But Joe spent 22 years on death row, not fighting for a life sentence but fighting to be free. Because he didn't kill anyone. Wasn't there. Not him. No way.So how'd it happen? The prosecutors lied and cheated. Hid evidence. Made shit up. They'd done it to other folks. They did it to Joe. I'm not exactly saying that they set out to frame an innocent man. I'd guess that they figured Espinoza was telling something close to the truth when he cut a deal to save himself and blame Joe and Michael Keenan. And then - well, what's the point of taking him to trial if you don't ensure that the evidence will convict him? And if you have to invent some evidence to ensure that, and if you have to hide some other evidence? Well, shit. You're righteous so who gives a fuck about the rules. They're for sissies.Joe's out now. Hell of a guy. We had a few beers a couple of weeks ago, him talking about how fucked up the system is and how hard he fought all those years and how he now travels around talking to folks and trying to get them to understand. And to act.He was also hoping but not optimistic that maybe his lawsuit against the prosecutors and the cops and the government might get some traction in the 6th Circuit after the district judge threw it out. This week the answer came. No. Oh, the circuit's opinion makes clear that Joe was victimized, that the prosecutors lied and cheated, all that stuff. And it makes clear that they're not supposed to do those things. But you know, the law didn't exactly say that. (Radley Balko lays it all out in his blog at the Post, and I'm not going to rehash it here - at least not today.) But like I say, Joe's a fighter. You don't survive as he did, struggle for all those years not just to cheat the hangman but to walk out a free man, without having fight in you. And then there's Arthur Tyler. He's not Willingham and he's not Joe. It was just over 30 years ago March 12, 1983. Someone shot and killed Sander Leach. There were two possible killers. Either Leroy Head or Arthur Tyler. The evidence all points to Head. He confessed. Repeatedly. At least 11 times. He confessed to the police. He confessed to friends. He confessed to his mother for god's sake. He confessed and confessed. He said he acted alone. Then the cops and the prosecutors told him that if he didn't change his story and blame Tyler, he'd end up on death row. So he told them that he didn't do it. Tyler did. Which they believed. Because who wouldn't believe a confessed murderer when, after you threaten him he decides to blame someone else?He's out of prison now. And here's the thing, he still says he did it and Tyler didn't. Or at least, he was still saying it when he wrote and signed an affidavit that was filed with Tyler's post-conviction petition. An affidavit the court promptly lost. (Really, you can't make this shit up, or at least, there's no reason to because it actually happened and happens. Matt Brown and Scott Greenfield have been talking about who doesn't get paid any attention by the courts. The court lost the fucking affidavit! Gimme a break.)Anyhow, lost affidavit or not, Head was all set to testify that what he'd told folks (except the jury) was true - that he was the killer and not Tyler. Until the cops and the prosecutors said again Then you'll be undoing your plea bargain and we'll put you on death row.So once again he . . . .Todd Willingham is dead. Joe D'Ambrosio is out and exonerated (even if not compensated).** Arthur Tyler? They're planning to kill him May 28. For the crime Leroy Head probably committed.Look, it's not that Tyler's a saint. It's just that he probably didn't kill Sander Leach. And no matter how you spin that, it means he shouldn't be on death row.And then there's this. The law at the time said that the sentencing options did not include LWOP. Now, imagine a fair trial. You know, one where Head admits what he says whenever he isn't under threat of death. One where the cops admit that Leach had over $150 cash in his pockets after the killer left, which pretty much gives the lie to Head's claim that he saw Tyler rifling Leach's pockets and stealing whatever was there after he killed the guy. Imagine, that is, a trial where it's clear that whatever Arthur Tyler may have done that day in March 31 years ago it wasn't murder Sander Leach.And imagine that the jury said, OK, makes sense. Tyler didn't kill him. But maybe he was involved. So they convict him of a lesser crime. Or they give him one of the life sentences. Which include possible out dates.It's not just that Arthur Tyler shouldn't be on death row. It's not just that they shouldn't kill him. It's that they shouldn't give him death in prison, which is the usual best you get if the Parole Board and the gov decide to fix things.And really, robbery gone wrong - which is what happened just with Head as, almost certainly, the robber. That's not a death case today. Not in Cuyahoga County. Tim McGinty's the elected Prosecutor now, and he'll likely support a commutation to LWOP. William Gerstenslager, the line prosecutor who put Tyler on the row, who coerced Head, who believes despite the evidence and the logic that Tyler must have done it because he just must have. (Head's credible when he blames Tyler because he says things he could only have known if he was there, Gerstenslager said. Of course, if he killed Sander Leach, he was there.) Yet even Gerstenslager has said he would support a commutation to LWOP.And that is, after all, a win in this business. But for the guy who didn't do it? When the law didn't allow LWOP? When it wouldn't allow LWOP if Tyler were tried today?Anything's possible. The Sun could burn out tomorrow. Malaysia Air Flight 370 might turn up having landed safely on an uncharted island in the Indian Ocean. The Republicans in the House of Representatives might unanimously concede they were mistaken and that the Affordable Care Act is the finest and noblest piece of legislation in American History and that their foolish opposition means they don't deserve the public trust so they're all resigning. It's even possible that Head told the truth when he said that Arthur Tyler killed Sander Leach.So don't cut him loose. But don't kill him. And don't make it LWOP. Give him a chance. Really. It's not too much to ask. It wouldn't be the end of the Republic. Not even the end of the Buckeye State. But it'd be the right thing to do. And then? Give Joe D'Ambrosio a boatload of cash. It won't make up for those years, nothing will. But it'd be a start.And Todd Willingham? Fess up Texas. I have more suggestions, but they'll have to wait for another post. This one's too long. --------------------*The parole board's one-page letter denying the pardon request said he can apply for a formal exoneration again in two years. Because, you know, he'll be more innocent then.**Leroy Head is out, too, having served the time for admitting under threat of death that he didn't kill Sander Leach.
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NV: Officer's citing the wrong statute in making stop doesn't make stop invalid
“Deputy Wendy Jason, the investigating officer, testified that she stopped Cantsee because his cracked windshield violated NRS 484D.435. However, NRS 484D.435 does not prohibit operating a vehicle with a cracked windshield. Although the cracked windshield could violate another statute, the district court concluded that Deputy Jason's incorrect citation constituted a mistake of law that invalidated the investigatory stop under the Fourth Amendment and granted Cantsee's motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the traffic stop. We conclude that a police officer's citation to an incorrect statute is not a mistake of law that invalidates an investigatory traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment if another statute nonetheless prohibits the suspected conduct. Therefore, we reverse the district court's order.” State v. Cantsee, 2014 Nev. LEXIS 32, 130 Nev. Advance Rep. 24 (April 3, 2014). [Note: That's the rule of the ALI Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure.]
It is well established in this state and elsewhere that the smell of a working methamphetamine lab is exigent circumstances. State v. Clayton, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 49 (April 4, 2014).
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