A deadly crash in Lincoln County took the lives of four people and sent six others to the hospital. Three of the people who lost their lives were teenagers from the local community. According to WJTV News Channel 12, this two-car crash happened sometime just before 11:00 p.m. on Friday night. The collision occurred on U.S. 84 at lower Meadville Road near Brookhaven. Very few details have been released about how this crash happened, but we do know that a Dodge Stratus was struck by a pickup truck. Lincoln County Crash Still Under Investigation At least three of the four people who died were in the Dodge Stratus, and at least three people from the pickup truck were transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries. Their injuries were described as moderate to life-threatening, but there's no word on anybody's current condition. This crash remains under investigation with law enforcement officials with the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Leading Cause of Death for…
Fatal Lincoln County Crash
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Two Arrests for Jackson Car Burglary
Two arrests have been made in connection with a car burglary that happened in Jackson on Tuesday, October 28, 2014. According to WJTV News Channel 12, the incident occurred around the 4500 block of I-55 north, near Highland Village. Apparently, the burglary involved a 2007 Chevrolet pickup truck. Shortly after the alleged burglary, one of the suspects was apprehended during a traffic stop, and the second suspect was arrested in connection with a residence search in the 100 block of Dewitt Street. In addition to burglary charges, there were also stolen weapons charges. Law enforcement officials haven't located the third and final suspect associated with the burglary. If you or a loved one is facing any kind of criminal charges, included auto burglary, contact the skilled team at Coxwell & Associates, PLLC for a consultation today.
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RIP Brad Frye
I just learned that Houston criminal-defense lawyer (and frequent Defending People commenter) Charles B. “Brad” Frye died about an hour ago of COPD. RIP, Brad. Take care of yourselves, everyone else. Copyright © 2013 Houston criminal-defense lawyer Mark Bennett. This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, the page you are viewing infringes the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint: 9fddc86334d71f22cfdb4b70fe23bb0e (173.255.254.15) .)
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"Federal judge orders Arizona sheriff to undergo racial profiling training"
From Jurist: A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] on Tuesday ordered Maricopa Country sheriff Joe Arpaio [official profile] to undergo the same training as his deputies to assist in the prevention of...
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One good reason not to drive with a mask on
by Jessica Towne Police need a good reason to pull you over, such as noticing your broken tail light, or watching you fail to stop at a stop sign, or observing you texting while driving. While wearing a mask is perfectly legal in most cases, police could make the argument that wearing one while driving obscures your vision and gives an officer all the reason he needs to pull you over. Once he has you on the side of the road, he'll look into your car with his flashlight. If he observes anything that worries him, such as an empty beer can, or smells alcohol on your breath, you can expect that stop to last a long time. Here is how you should handle a road stop. And remember, even if the cop hasn't told you that anything you say may be held against you, it will be.Here is what you need to know about your Miranda rights.
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People v. Savarese...cont
'The test is not whether the criminal intent is one and the same and inspiring the whole transaction, but whether Separate acts have been committed with the requisite criminal intent.' In this regard, the maverick of the moment has been the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, which has looked to the motivating force of the transaction to determine whether or not separate and distinct acts have been committed. The Fourth Department has looked to the accused's Intent; if two crimes arose out of a single criminal transaction and were 'motivated by a continuing intent', then consecutive sentences are improper. The Second Department, in applying Former Penal Law section 1938 and the test distilled from Maurer to Burglary and Robbery or Larceny charges, has consistently held consecutive sentences to be valid. From the foregoing, the inescapable conclusion is that Burglary and Grand Larceny are two separate and distinct acts for which consecutive punishment…
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DUI Conviction Upheld When Police Fail To Read Warnings
Today, in State v. Pedro Peralta, A-5761-12 (Decided October 31, 2014), the New Jersey Appellate Division issued a published opinion upholding the conviction for Driving under the Influence (DUI), when the police failed to read the required statutory warnings. This decision rejected a prior contrary decision. The three-judge panel upheld the defendant’s conviction for a DUI based on the results of the breathalyzer, with no showing that the police read the required warnings. During the DUI trial, the state did not present any evidence that the police read the required warnings about refusing to provide a breath sample and the defendant did not testify. The police are required to read the New Jersey Attorney General’s Standard Statement for Motor Vehicle Operators to an arrested driver. After the police read this statement, cases have decided that a driver can be charged with a refusal if they provide any response other than an unambiguous…
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN
SCARY HALLOWEEN IMAGESSite Feed
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New reduced federal drug sentencing guidelines about to become official
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PUMPKIN RIOTS YIELD DISORDERLY BEHAVIOR, RIOT POLICE AND ARRESTS
Happy Halloween everybody! Have your plans for tonite all ready? I will be hiding under my bed at my abode in Salem. Whatever your plans, be careful not to take them too far. Law enforcement has a way of being overly-on-hand on nights like this. With good reason, actually. After all, there was that "Great Pumkin Riot" not so long ago. Oh. You did not hear about it? It took place earlier this month in Keene, New Hampshire. When the dust settled, three people were said to be in custody. The three gents were Forest M. Wilkinson, 18, of Spofford N.H., Michael Bulman, 19, of Scituate, Mass., and Tory Knaff, 18, of Groton, Conneticuit. According to reports, Wilkinson was released on $2,500 bail and faces a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief for allegedly tearing a street sign out of the ground. Bulman and Knaff were each charged with one felony count of reckless conduct for allegedly throwing a beers into a crowd. Both were released on $5,000 bail. At last…
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FRE 803 Excited Utterance Exception - Boilerplate Rules
United States v. Zuniga No. 13-1557. On November 2, 2009, Mario Zuniga was at a bar playing pool with friends when Beatrice Suarez, an ex-girlfriend, entered the bar and slapped him across his face. Zuniga immediately took Suarez out the back door of the bar to an area enclosed by a fence. Kente Johnson-Taylor, curious to see what was going on, walked to the rear of the bar, opened the back door, looked into the back fenced-in area, and saw Zuniga holding a gun to Suarez's face. Less than a minute later, Johnson-Taylor closed the door, walked back to his friend, Nicole Mitchell, and whispered to her that Zuniga had a gun and told her to call the police. Then Johnson-Taylor went to the front door, went outside, walked to the back of the building, stood on the outside of the enclosed area, and waited for the police. As the police arrived, Zuniga and Suarez tried to climb the fence behind the bar to get away, but officers prevented their escape. In the process of securing…
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Open Letter to Louisiana’s Sheriffs Regarding Halloween
10-31-2014 Louisiana: NEW ORLEANS — The ACLU of Louisiana delivered an open letter today to all of Louisiana’s parish sheriffs, concerning regulation of the Halloween holiday. The letter reads as follows: Dear Sheriff: It has come to our attention that several parishes and municipalities in Louisiana have adopted rules concerning the scheduling of “trick or treat” hours for Halloween
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Stand Your Ground Expanded In Florida
Stand your ground takes another step up, as the Appellate court holds that a Floridian has no duty to retreat under Stand Your Ground Laws. Whether or not the shooter was engaged in unlawful activity at time of the shooting, does not matter, wherein Stand Your Ground law contains no requirement that the person claiming protection under the statute not be engaged in “unlawful activity.” This body of law arose out of the opinion of State of Florida v. John Dorsey, — So.3d —-, 2014 WL 4996171 (4th DCA Fla2014); a Palm Beach County Case, where trial Judge Charles Burton unlawfully charged the jury, thereby taking away the rights of Mr. Dorsey guaranteed to him by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, of the Florida Constitution and the Florida Legislatures, when the Judge refused to give a jury instruction on Stand Your Ground. In Dorsey, the defendant killed two people in Palm Beach County, Florida. Dorsey killed the…
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Kansas Exoneree Releases Album
Kansas exoneree Eddie James Lowery is poised to release his debut album Can't Touch My Soul tomorrow, November 1. Since his exoneration more than a decade ago, music has been a constant part of Lowery's life and he's proud to have written every track on the album. In the years following his release, he's performed with other exonerees at Innocence Network conferences and benefits, and continues to express his freedom through music. The song "All in the Name of Justice," was inspired by the many wrongful convictions where police or prosecutorial misconduct played a role. In July 1981, Lowery, then 22, was arrested for the attack and rape of an elderly resident of Ogden, Kansas. He was questioned all day without food and was told he did not need a lawyer after requesting one. Investigators supplied Lowery with details of the crime - the house, the entry, the weapon, and specifics about the rape. The details were incorporated into a confession, which…
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News Scan
Oregon High Court Upholds Death Sentence: The Oregon Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a woman convicted of murdering her 15-year-old daughter in 2009. Peter Wong of the Portland Tribune reports that Angela McAnulty starved, abused, and tortured the young girl for several years which ultimately caused her death. McAnulty is only the second woman to be sentenced to death in the state of Oregon. Convicted Killer Denied Parole: A Pennsylvania man convicted of murdering two young children in 1973 will remain behind bars after a judge denied his most recent appeal. Rich Cholodofsky of Trib Live reports that John Veltre Jr. was 16-years-old when he was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing two young children and raping their mother. Veltre was given a retrial in 1978 after a court ruled that his guilty plea was involuntary. Later that year, a judge found him guilty for the second time and sentenced Veltre to two life…
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Two Halloween OVI Checkpoints – Dayton and Middletown!
Two Halloween OVI checkpoints tonight in the Miami Valley – the first is a Dayton OVI checkpoint beginning at 10 p.m. in the 1300 block of Harshman Road. A Middletown OVI checkpoint (Butler County) will take place at Verity Place/St. Rt. 4 near 18th Avenue. Please be aware of the little monsters who will be trolling our neighborhoods tonight looking for candy. Designate a sober driver. Stay ahead of the Halloween OVI checkpoints! If you want to receive updated information [Read the full post. . .]
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The court ultimately sentenced the defendant...cont
New York, like most other jurisdictions, has long accepted the practice of plea bargaining, noting that it "serves important functions for both prosecutors and defendants". Indeed, plea bargaining is predicated on mutuality of advantage. In return for surrendering the right to put the prosecution to its proof at a trial and for giving up the possibility of acquittal, the defendant receives consideration, almost always in the form of a sentence more lenient than might reasonably be expected upon a conviction after trial. In practice, plea bargaining in New York is a process by which the prosecution and the criminal defendant, often with the active participation of the court, negotiate to find a disposition that is both acceptable to the court and prosecution and sufficiently lenient to induce the defendant to relinquish the right to a trial, and all the rights associated with a trial. In contrast, bail status concerns only "the kind and degree of control or…
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"New York Times editorial makes the case for California's Prop 47"
Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy excerpts this editorial about the California proposition that would decrease sentences for several crimes, including simple drug possession.
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In Which Cultures Clash
I recently had a discussion with a lawyer from another culture. One of my clients is a potential witness in one of his cases, and my client got tired of hearing from him. So I sent the lawyer a brief email asking that he not contact my client anymore. I said “please” and “thank you,” but otherwise didn’t mitigate my speech. Because the rule is very simple: in representing a client, a lawyer shall not communicate or cause or encourage another to communicate about the subject of the representation with a person, organization or entity of government the lawyer knows to be represented by another lawyer regarding that subject, unless the lawyer has the consent of the other lawyer or is authorized by law to do so. (Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 4.02). I’ve been on both sides of the situation many times, and there’s never been any drama: you might push the bounds in dealing with someone whom you don’t know to be…
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"What if you use deadly force because the attacker is about to kill you and you hate him?"
Eugene Volokh has this entirely persuasive post at The Volokh Conspiracy on why Idaho and California have this wrong when they answer "no."
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