First of all, welcome to the new Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog. As time moves forward you will see a return to daily posting as well as other changes hopefully later this week. Consider it Attorney Sam's Take Volume II In the meantime, we turn to the skies. We have discussed many times the vague and over-extending of the Massachusetts misdemeanor known as "disorderly conduct". Basically, if you're conduct is considered offensive to a police officer, you can be charged. Generally, it is not the heaviest crime in the world...just enough to go on your record, cost you thousands of dollars and greatly effect your future for the negative. That, of course, is regardless of how the case comes out. Unless you are a celebrity or well-known, the. case is not likely to get too much media attention. All that can change, though, depending on the location of your disturbing the proverbial peace. For example, if you become a "problem" on federal property,…
“WHY AM I FACING FEDERAL CRIMINAL CHARGES INSTEAD OF BEING SIMPLY CHARGED WITH MASSACHUSETTS DISORDERLY CONDUCT?"
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Criminalizing the American Company – The Economist
The Economist has an excellent article examining the criminalizing of American companies. The piece, entitled “A Mammoth Guilt Trip,” covers a lot of ground, including many of the most pressing issues in the field of corporate criminal liability today. The...
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Muchas sentencias federales de drogas pueden ser cortadas con hasta en dos años!
La Comisión de Sentencias de Estados Unidos ha propuesto cambios en las pautas federales de sentencia, que permitirá a muchas personas que están en la cárcel tener reducidas sus condenas. La comisión recomendó una disminución de dos puntos en el margen de las pautas por delitos de drogas. La mejor noticia es que este cambio será retroactivo, lo que significa que los que ya están condenados y en la cárcel podrán solicitar al tribunal la liberación. Este cambio entrará en vigencia el 01 de noviembre 2014 si el Congreso no se opone a dicho cambio en la ley. Las reducciones de condena no se harán de forma automática y los individuos, en la mayoría de los casos, no se les dara un abogado para presentar una petición al tribunal. Lo que esto significa es que las personas elegibles que quieren esta reducción debe contratar inmediatamente a un…
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Quién es elegible para las reducciones de sentencia federal de drogas y narcóticos?
Aproximadamente 46.000 presos, los reclusos condenados por delitos de drogas federales y que están programados para estar todavía en la cárcel hasta noviembre son elegibles para una reducción de sentencia. Las reducciones pueden ser 24 meses para los reclusos que cumplen condenas largas. El rango de castigo por casi todos los delitos de drogas se está reduciendo .. Esta es una oportunidad para tener una sentencia penal muy reducida. En necesario actuar ahora, llama a la firma de abogados que cuenta con más de un cuarto de siglo defendiendo delitos federales de drogas.
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Burns on Kafka and American Criminal Justice
Robert P. Burns (Northwestern University - School of Law) has posted Preface for: Kafka's Law: 'The Trial' and American Criminal Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Justice Kennedy famously claimed that Kafka's great work,...
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Voy automáticamente reduciendo mi sentencia federal de drogas?
El 1 de noviembre de 2014, las reducciones más completas de sentencias por delitos federales de drogas están programadas para entrar en vigor, si no son derogadas por el Congreso. La Comisión de Sentencias de Estados Unidos ha dejado claro que el acusado debe presentar una petición al tribunal para obtener esta reducción de la pena, no se le dará automáticamente. Es importante contar con abogados que sean expertos en la ley federal para que manejen su petición porque es discrecional y probablemente sólo tendrán una oportunidad de presentarla. Podrá ser impugnada por la policía y la Oficina del Fiscal de los Estados Unidos. En la oficina legal de Russell Babcock somos los expertos en la obtención de reducciones de sentencias federales. Hemos estado manejando delitos de narcóticos y drogas en una corte federal por más de veinticinco años, y Russell Babcock…
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Utah Man Arrested on Warrant for Animal Cruelty
Photo: Rikki’s Refuge On Friday, September 5, a Salt Lake City man was arrested on a warrant for animal cruelty after allegedly slamming a dog repeatedly to the ground. The injuries to the animal were severe enough that its leg was almost amputated. Signs of a Troubled Individual According to Salt Lake Justice Court records, on June 9, 2013, Ernaldo Javier Guzman-Lopez. 31, of Salt Lake City, was attempting to put a leash on his mother’s dog, “Tiny.” When the dog got excited and started running around to avoid the leash, Lopez allegedly grabbed Tiny and slammed him down. According to the charges filed against Lopez, his mother tried to stop him, but “Lopez just kept slamming Tiny to the ground.” Court records state that the veterinarian found a shattered left hind tibia with “bone splinters throughout the tibial area.” The vet’s recommendation was for amputation of the leg, but the family chose reconstructive surgery. After…
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"Indiana woman missing for two months found alive, arrests made"
From Reuters: Joelle Lockwood, 30, went missing on July 9 and was apparently held in a residence in Indiana's Posey County, the Evansville Police Department said in a statement. Lockwood had last been seen in Evansville before disappearing. She was...
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Juvenile OUI Charges in Maine
For a juvenile under the age of 18, their first driver’s license is their first big step into adulthood. When a juvenile is charged with Drunk Driving OUI, it is often their first serious brush with the law. In Maine, juvenile drunk driving, is a juvenile charge. Notwithstanding that juvenile OUI is a juvenile charge, […] The post Juvenile OUI Charges in Maine appeared first on The Nielsen Group.
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Declare Your Solidarity with Belgrade Pride 2014!
By Andy Graan, Amnesty International USA Country Specialist for Serbia, Macedonia, and Western Europe LGBT activists and supporters in Serbia have been working tirelessly to prepare for Belgrade Pride, scheduled for September 28. Despite annual efforts to celebrate Belgrade Pride, the 2014 parade, if held successfully, will mark only the third time in more than a decade that the event has actually occurred. Amnesty International USA stands with Belgrade Pride organizers exercising their fundamental rights of freedom of expression and assembly. We ask for your expressions of solidarity to support our courageous peers in Serbia as they seek to celebrate a safe, successful, and joyous Pride. To voice your solidarity, please post supportive messages and images (such as the one below) to the Belgrade Pride Facebook page or Twitter, tagging those messages to Amnesty with “#AmnestyPride”. You can also share solidarity messages from Amnesty via…
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Keeping DUI Arrest Quite Allows For Careless Plea for Oakland County Deputy Executive
A top Oakland County Executive able to get DUI dismissed because his lawyers were able to keep the case quite. In June of 2013 the top Deputy to Oakland County Executive to L. Brooks Paterson was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving in Petoskey, Michigan. Matthew Alan Gibb reportedly had a bodily alcohol content of .135 grams per 210 milliliters of breath, well in excess of the legal limit of .08. Normally a public figure being arrested for a DUI would definitely make the front page no matter where the offense occurred. In this case, no one from Oakland County heard about it. Because it was not publicized, Gibb was able to get a great deal and a plea to the civil infraction to careless driving. Getting a careless driving deal and dismissing a drunk driving is not uncommon when you have a good attorney. What is uncommon is that no one knew about it. When a public figure gets in trouble and everyone knows about it, prosecutors do not want to give good deals because they are…
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Injury Crash WB SH53 @ 2.1, Pleasant View Rd (District One)
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police Regional Communication Center - North 615 W Wilbur Ave Suite A Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83815 Please direct questions to the appropriate District Offices District 1 (208) 209-8620 Fax (208) 209- 8618 District 2 (208) 799-5150 PRESS RELEASE FOR DISTRICT ONE CASE # C14001988 --------------------- PRESS RELEASE ----------------------------- DATE: September 8, 2014 TIME: 1:58 pm LOCATION: Westbound State Highway 53 at the intersection of Pleasant View Rd, milepost 2.1, near Post Falls ASSISTING AGENCIES: VEHICLE #1 ------------- DRIVER Reginald R Harris AGE 42 ADDRESS Greenacres, WA INJURIES? - No HOSPITAL/LOCATION TAKEN ? Kootenai Health VEHICLE YEAR 2010 VEHICLE MAKE Peterbilt VEHICLE MODEL Semi Tractor SEATBELTS…
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NewMedia Reports on ID of Foley and Sotloff Executioner(s)
According to the British press, authorities are very close to publicly revealing the identification of the masked executioner in the James Foley and Steven Sotloff videos. Listening to CNN on the car radio earlier today, I heard Senator Chambliss... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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NYPD Chief Bratton Outlines New Police Training
NYC Police Commissioner William Bratton today appeared before the City Council and outlined changes for the city's police force: On Monday, Mr. Bratton, surrounded by much of his top leadership, delved into the details of his plan. Every... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Declares Mandatory Minimum Statutes Unconstitutional
The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently sent shockwaves throughout the criminal justice system by declaring the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing statutes unconstitutional. The court declared that a 5 year mandatory sentence imposed for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, where a firearm was in the vicinity, was unconstitutional. The sentencing law only required the Commonwealth to prove that a gun was in “close proximity” to the drug sales, to a judge at sentencing by a preponderance of the evidence, rather than to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The Montgomery County case involved a defendant who was observed making numerous drug transactions out of his apartment. Police obtained a search warrant and after executing that warrant, the police seized drug paraphernalia, a firearm and over 60 grams of crack cocaine. The court imposed the mandatory minimum under 42 Pa.C.S. 9712, and a state incarceration sentence of 5 to 15 years. The…
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Court reasoned that indecent assault is a federal felony...cont
"(1) that the accused assaulted a certain person not the spouse of the accused in a certain manner; "(2) that the acts were done with the intent to gratify the lust or sexual desires of the accused; and "(3) that, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces." The Appellate Division held that the military crime of indecent assault satisfies the requirements in Criminal Correction Law § 168-a (2)(d) (ii) (mandating registration for those convicted of "a felony in any other jurisdiction for which the offender is required to register as a sex offender in the jurisdiction in which the conviction occurred"). Even though military law does not classify offenses as felonies or misdemeanors, the Criminal Court reasoned that indecent assault is a federal felony and that defendant was required to register as a sex offender with naval authorities. We granted defendant leave to…
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News Scan
Missouri and Texas Prepare to Execute Convicted Killers: Two men, one from Missouri and the other from Texas, are scheduled to be executed Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. after more than decades on death row. Jim Salter and Michael Graczyk of the Associated Press report that Earl Ringo Jr. from Missouri was sentenced to death in 1998 for murdering two people during a robbery attempt. Texas inmate Willie Trottie, also a convicted double-murderer, was sentenced to die more than 20 years ago. The executions will be the eighth in each state so far in 2014. Realignment Costing Counties Millions: California counties have been left to deal with millions of dollars worth of health care costs for inmates under Governor Brown's Realignment plan, which shifted thousands of inmates from state prisons to county jails in 2011. Tim Lantz of KFBF reports that the state's 10 largest counties reportedly spent $560 million for medical and psychological care…
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When the cops arrested me, they used excessive force by slamming my head into the ground, injuring me. Can I sue them in federal court for this?
Answer: Yes, you can. When the police use gratuitous and excessive force against a suspect of a crime who is under control, (this usually means handcuffed) not resisting and obeying commands, it is a violation of their Fourth Amendments rights and the police are liable for the damages they cause. In Sanders v. Duke, decided by the 11th. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 8, 2014, just such an allegation was made. The court held that Mr. Saunders, who alleged that his head was slammed against the pavement with extreme force after he had been handcuffed and was lying prone on the ground , stated a valid Fourth Amendment claim for excessive force against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orlando Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. The court further held that the police were not entitled to qualified immunity, which is what the police always claim after they’ve injured someone during an arrest. Mr. Saunders met with a…
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Parkes on the Punishment Agenda
Debra L. Parkes (University of Manitoba - Faculty of Law) has posted The Punishment Agenda in the Courts (Supreme Court Law Review, 2014, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper critically examines the potential of prisoner litigation in...
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OPEN & GROSS LEWDNESS CONTINUED & DISMISSED
On October 8, 2013 PD, a 58 year old engineer, drove to the Loop Shopping Center in Methuen during the lunch hour. He parked his car in the parking lot in front of Marshall's. A woman shopper came out of Marshall's and proceeded to walk toward her car, which was parked behind and to the side of PD's car. As she walked by PD's car she looked over into his car through the open window and observed that PD was masturbating. She stated to the police that she saw his penis in plain sight and that PD was masturbating. She got into her car and called 911. There were police in the parking lot and they responded immediately. The police pulled up (2 cruisers) by PD's car and got out and went over to PD's car; his pants were unbuttoned, unzipped, and open and he was putting his penis back into his pants. The police arrested PD and charged him with Open & Gross Lewdness. Open & Gross Lewdness is a Felony in Massachusetts and two convictions require…
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