Attention family members of someone who’s been recently arrested for a Los Angeles DUI: avoid falling victim to the following horrendous type of scam. A woman in Mechanicsburg, PA nearly lost $10,000 in a bailout scam that took place on February 18th. The alleged scammer called Ryan Gosnell’s aunt and told her that her nephew had been arrested for a DUI after taking cough syrup for a cold. A second caller, using the name of a real public defender, claimed he needed $10,000 to bail her nephew out of jail. Gosnell’s aunt made multiple calls to her nephew, and she became alarmed when he did not answer. Gosnell was unable to reply because he was in a work meeting. After several tries, his aunt called Gosnell’s parents and alerted them. Luckily, his parents searched the name of the public defender and called the office. They quickly found out the bail request was a scam, and they did not wire the money. How Bail Scammers Work Bail scams prey on the…
Bailout Scam Targets Families of “DUI Offenders”
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Need to hire a criminal defense lawyer? Here are ten tips on how to make your decision
If you find yourself in need of a criminal defense lawyer, your first inclination might be to hire a lawyer that makes you feel the best and who makes promises or assurances of a particular result or outcome. THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO GO ABOUT SELECTING A LAWYER. In the increasingly competitive legal market, some lawyers will exaggerate their experience or expertise, will make promises, or guarantee results in order to get your money. The most important thing to remember is that any lawyer who makes a guarantee about the outcome of a criminal case is stupid, lying, or both. When you meet with potential lawyers, ask yourself these questions: Does the lawyer make me feel comfortable or does he or she intimidate me? Does the lawyer listen to what I am telling them or are they doing most of the talking? Does the lawyer ask questions that get to the heart of the matter? Is the lawyer taking notes while I am laying out the facts of my case? Does the lawyer seem to have a familiarity…
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"Rape in the American Prison"
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Va. House backs state subpoenas to combat child porn
2-25-15 Virginia: By a 97-1 vote, the House of Delegates on Wednesday passed a Senate measure allowing the state to issue administrative subpoenas - which may be sealed if necessary - to obtain records from computer service service providers as part of child pornography, abduction and prostitution crime investigations. "We've prosecuted or investigated hundreds of these cases and nearly all of
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More on Yates: Fish and Overcriminalization
Co-blogger Solomon Wisenberg's post on today's Supreme Court decision in Yates v. United States highlights the plurality opinion that focuses on a straight statutory interpretation analysis. But there is an interesting and important note in the dissent that is worth...
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Indonesia: The Coffins Have Arrived, Widodo Holds Firm
Today it was announced ten coffins have arrived on Nusakambangan island, Indonesia's island of death. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has refused to budge on the imminent executions of drug offenders, which by all accounts will proceed as... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Vanilla Ice Arrested on Burglary Charges in South Florida
Vanilla Ice, legally named Robert Van Winkle, was arrested in south Florida and charged with burglary and grand theft after police found items allegedly stolen from a foreclosed home at Van Winkle’s residence. The home of the alleged burglary was adjacent to a house the former rapper was renovating as part of his television show for DIY Network called “The Vanilla Ice Project.” Lantana police claim that after conducting an investigation into possible squatting, they found that several items including furniture, a pool heater, bicycles and pieces of art were taken from the home of a recently deceased man. When officers spoke to Vanilla Ice at the property, they allege that he told them he had purchased it. Reports indicate that he had no contract or down payment, and was only filming renovations of the home next door. Police then obtained a warrant to search Ice’s Palm Beach home where they claim they found the missing items. Ice was arrested and booked…
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News Scan
Suit demanding CA adopt an execution process brought by ex-NFL Star Kermit AlexanderTracy Connor of NBC News reports on the murders of Kermit Alexander's family, profiling his story and his continued wait for justice. Earlier this month, after filing a suit demanding CDCR adopt regulations for lethal injection, the Superior Court agreed that Mr. Alexander has standing to bring the action, giving him hope to move forward after decades of waiting. The story is available here.Kermit Alexander will be on KFI Radio after 4:30 p.m. today.
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BIG TROUBLE: DRIVING ON A REVOKED LICENSE IN ILLINOIS
Illinois is serious about enforcing its laws about driving on a revoked license when the underlying offense involves drugs or alcohol. Recently, a DuPage County judge sentenced a defendant to 8 ½ years in prison for two counts of driving on a revoked license. The man’s license had been revoked after a 2001 DUI accident involving the death of a young woman. (See 8 ½ Years for Driver With Long Record) Illinois may soon be stiffening its penalties for these offenses. Currently, the sentence for a first-time driving on a revoked is 30 days community service or 10 days imprisonment. Under the proposed law, a driver could no longer get community service and must serve jail time. Jail time would also be mandatory for driving on a statutory summary suspension (the nearly automatic suspension imposed by the secretary of state after a DUI) if any alcohol or illegal drugs are found in your system. If you are charged with this or a similar offense, contact an…
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Alagood on Parole Release Hearings
R. Kyle Alagood has posted Parole Release Hearings: The Fallacy of Discretion (Thurgood Marshall School of Law Journal on Gender, Race & Justice, Vol. 5, 2015, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Despite nearly every U.S. state having created...
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Utah Wrongful Death Statutes Allow Woman to Sue Self
It may sound like the plot to the newest movie to be considered for an award for “Best Comedy,” but the Utah case of Bagley v. Bagley, wherein Barbara Bagley is suing herself is very real. The case was dismissed in January of 2014 in district court, but it was taken to the Utah Court […] The post Utah Wrongful Death Statutes Allow Woman to Sue Self appeared first on Salt Lake Criminal Defense.
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Bennardo on Intertwined Cooperation and Plea Agreements
Kevin Bennardo (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law) has posted United States v. Erwin and the Folly of Intertwined Cooperation and Plea Agreements (71 Washington and Lee Law Review Online 160 (2014)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...
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Passage of Smarter Sentencing Act is reportedly "very important" to Prez Obama
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Plea Bargains; It’s Your Life, It’s Your Call
By Caryn J. Adams Partner and AttorneyThe Gasper Law Group, PLLC I often tell those who come to see me that a good criminal defense attorney plays two principal roles. On the one hand, a defense attorney does in court everything that you would expect a defense attorney to do: negotiate with the district attorney, argue your case to the jury, present you in the best light possible to the judge, file applicable legal motions (to suppress evidence, to preserve evidence, to reconsider a judicial ruling, etc). This is usually how people think of attorneys, and it’s often how attorneys think of themselves. When attorneys get together, the conversation often turns to the last trial won or last motion successfully argued in court. However, the courtroom is only half the job. A good defense attorney plays a different role in the privacy of the conference room or the office when talking with her client. Outside of the court room, a good defense attorney is responsible for providing…
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Twitter vs. ISIS
I really wish Twitter would stop deleting ISIS accounts. In the last three hours, 20 accounts I've been following are gone. This has been going on for weeks. I don't like one-sided news. ISIS accounts are a source of information. Following... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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One Killing that Didn't Happen and One Killing that Won't
First to Georgia where the Board of Pardons and Paroles said it reviewed the record and the pleas from lawyers and 21 witnesses. And then offered Kelly Gissendaner the finger.Die, bitch! Fuck you!Which would seem to have ended things since the courts were out of it by then and the governor has no clemency power. And so at 7 this evening, Kelly would be killed.Except what the Governor can't and the Pardon & Parole folk won't . . . .It seems there's snow in the Peach Tree State. AP explains the problemJackson [where the killin's to happen] is on the southern fringe of an area that forecasters predicted would get up to 2 inches of snow on Wednesday. However, the forecast for Gissendaner’s hometown was for heavier snowfall, which would have made it difficult for prosecutors, witnesses and supporters to make the trip.To which the Board of P & P might well have told Mother Nature to go fuck herself.Instead, they put off killing…
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Encouraging recidivism realities after three-strikes reform in California
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Horwitz on Domestic Violence Holds
Daniel A. Horwitz has posted Twelve Angry Hours: Improving Domestic Violence Holds in Tennessee Without Risk of Violating the Constitution (Tennessee Journal of Law & Policy, Spring 2015, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Tennessee law currently provides that...
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Your Right to Remain Silent...cont
The Court held that the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the exclusion of respondent's initial statement and the gun because of Officer Kraft's failure to read respondent his Miranda rights before attempting to locate the weapon. Accordingly, it also erred in affirming the exclusion of respondent's subsequent statements as illegal fruits of the Miranda violation. This case presents a situation where concern for public safety must be paramount to adherence to the literal language of the prophylactic rules enunciated in Miranda. Although criminal respondent was in police custody when he made his statements and the facts come within the ambit of Miranda, nevertheless on these facts there is a "public safety" exception to the requirement that Miranda warnings be given before a suspect's answers may be admitted into evidence, and the availability of that exception does not depend upon the motivation of the individual officers involved. The…
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California v. National Crime Rates
Here is an update on California versus overall United States crime rates. The table below shows the rates per 100,000 population for the FBI's violent crime index and property crime index for 2011, nine months of which predates the Realignment program, and 2013, the most recent year with full data available. The data are from the downloaded files on the FBI's Crime in the United States reports for the respective years.The nation as a whole had a 6% drop in property crime over the two-year period, while California had a 3% increase, a difference of 9%.
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