The Texas Senate has passed SB 398 by Charles Schwertner which clarifies that DPS does not have authority to take all ten fingerprints from drivers when they obtain or renew their licenses. Grits approves of the bill (see here and here), but it's worth mentioning that the proposal arose in reaction to DPS overreach, aiming to scale back fingerprint collection to where it was earlier - thumbprints only.What hasn't been debated is whether we really need two thumbprints for the limited purpose - driver license verification - for which DPS is authorized to gather the biometrics. Grits fails to see why the state needs more than one, at most, to achieve that goal.So yes, let's snub DPS' overreach on fingerprint collection in its tracks. But rather than automatically revert to the the prior rule, the House should take this opportunity to narrow biometric collection even further to match as closely as possible the stated purpose for which DPS is gathering it. Excess…
House should narrow DPS thumbprint collection even further than laudable Senate bill
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How New York Traffic Tickets Affect A Taxi & Limousine (TLC) License
The rules are surrounding how to calculate points from New York traffic tickets are complicated. However, for those with Taxi & Limousine Licenses, a whole different set of rules exist making the calculations even more difficult. With that said, as you will read below, some of the rules of the Taxi & Limousine Commission (“TLC”) are more favorable to the driver than those imposed by the Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) on a regular license. Pursuant to TLC Rules §54-27, a TLC license will be suspended for 30 days if, within a 15-month period, a driver accumulates between 6 and 9 points on his or her driver’s license (whether issued by New York or another state). If, within a 15-month period, a driver accumulates 10 or more points on his or her driver’s license (whether issued by New York or another state), the Commission will revoke the driver’s TLC license. These rules differ significantly…
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Are compounding pharmacies likely to cut off drug dealing to states for executions?
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Criminal law/procedure cert grant
Issue summary is from ScotusBlog, which also links to papers, for this Monday cert grant: Montgomery v. Louisiana: Whether Miller v. Alabama adopts a new substantive rule that applies retroactively on collateral review to people condemned as juveniles to die...
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A Civil Day at SCOTUS
Today is all civil cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. The oral argument calendar is three consolidated EPA cases. The two decisions announced today were in civil cases. Still waiting on Elonis.The most controversial case, by far, will be the racial gerrymandering case, Alabama Black Legislative Caucus v. Alabama. Part IV of the opinion deals with when race is the "predominant motivating factor," an issue that comes up in Batson cases. Not sure if there will be any spillover.In dissent, the ever-entertaining Justice Scalia takes aim at the way the majority bends over backwards to allow the plaintiffs to change their theory of the case after they were losing.However, rather than holding appellants to the misguided legal theory they presented to the District Court, it allows them to take a mulligan, remanding the case with orders that the District Court consider whether some (all?) of Alabama's 35 majority-minority districts result…
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Alleged NYC Craigslist Adderall Seller Avoids Felony Conviction for PL 220.31 & Receives No Jail & No Probation
Selling adderall online on sites such as Craigslist is an extremely serious drug felony in New York. For that matter, selling adderall or other controlled substances to an undercover cop or any other buyer online or in person is criminally devastating. It is of no consequence whether or not you have a prescription for these “study aids” or not. At its core, an illegal drug sale is an illegal drug sale. If you are arrested in New York for selling “Pep Pills,” “Beans,” “Uppers” or any amphetamine or dextroamphetamine, you certainly will receive a boost in clarity coming from your jail cell, a prosecutor, the judge and even your criminal defense lawyer. What will be clear, however, is not the upper you get from ingesting adderall, but the reality that you now face one to two and a half ( 1 to 2.5 ) years in prison followed by one year post release supervision as a individual without any criminal history at all. Broken down to…
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Pardo & Patterson on Minds, Brains, and Law
Michael S. Pardo and Dennis Patterson (University of Alabama School of Law and European University Institute) have posted Symposium on Minds, Brains, and Law: A Reply (Jurisprudence, 2015, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay, forthcoming in a...
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Former Mayor Sent to Prison for Multi-Million Dollar Mortgage Scam
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Marie Lucie Tondreau, a/k/a Lucie Tondreau, 54, North Miami, Florida, the former North Miami Mayor, was sentenced by United States District Judge Robert N. Scola for her participation in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Following a federal jury trial, the defendant was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. As shown at trial, between December 2005 and May 2008, Tondreau and her co-defendants Karl Oreste, 56, Miramar, Florida, and Okechukwu Josiah Odunna, a/k/a O.J. Odunna, 49, Lauderdale, Florida orchestrated a mortgage fraud scheme. Oreste, president of KMC Mortgage Corporation of Florida (KMC Mortgage), a mortgage lending business in North Miami Beach, identified residential properties in South Florida that were for sale. Oreste and Tondreau, who at the time was a community activist, hosted several radio show programs in the South Florida area in which they advertised the…
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Michigan Driver's License Restoration - Always hire the Best
In just about any situation where you're going to hire someone for anything, whether it's for a home remodeling job, a new tattoo, or a lawyer, you should always make sure you come away with a satisfactory answer to the question, "Why should I hire you?" As a Michigan driver's license restoration lawyer, this article will focus on my answer to that question. Once in a while, I'll get an email from someone inquiring about how much I charge for a license appeal and just by their asking that very question, I know they haven't read very much of what I've published. Whatever else, I do not compete, or even think about "competing" with anyone in the license reinstatement field on the basis of price. For as much as I can say about my practice, the simple truth is that to be the best, you have continually work hard to be the best. You have to be more valuable to a client than anyone else, but you also have be much more than just…
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Police Suspend Rape Investigation at University of Virginia
In the explosive wake of a Rolling Stone article in November 2014, police in Charlottesville, Virginia, have announced that they are suspending the rape investigation discussed at length in the Rolling Stone article. The article was about a woman who claimed to have been gang raped at a fraternity party at the University of Virginia; […] The post Police Suspend Rape Investigation at University of Virginia appeared first on Salt Lake Criminal Defense.
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Is My NCAA Bracket Pool = Illegal Gambling?
Spring time heralds cherry blossoms, spring break, and most important: March Madness. And what do NCAA basketball tournaments bring? Excitement, surprises and bracket pools. More money is bet on NCAA brackets and bracket pools than on the Super Bowl! Interest is at all-time high this year because Kentucky is on its way to a perfect season — the last time any NCAA had a perfect season was in 1976. Many offices, families, neighborhood bars, and fantasy leagues have bracket pools. Sometimes the winners leave the bracket contests with upwards of 300 to 500 dollars. Recently, a client asked me if he could participate legally in one of these bracket pools. Here’s my answer: If the bracket pool is incidental to a “bonafide social relationship” where no bookie is involved, then participating in a bracket pool is legal under Colorado statute 18-10-102(2)(d) CRS. Keep in mind that even a person who engages in illegal, professionally driven gambling (meaning,…
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District Attorney Criticizes Colorado Law After Denver Man Racks Up 16 DUI Convictions
Late last year, a grand jury in Arapahoe County, Colorado, indicted Denny Lovem on several charges related to a DUI incident. That kind of judicial action wouldn’t normally attract a great deal of attention unless the accused was a politician or a celebrity, but this story received extensive coverage in the state. The reason for Lovem’s notoriety? The 57-year-old has been arrested 20 times on DUI charges but has never been faced felony charges because of the provisions of Colorado’s DUI law. (It’s not like that in California, where anyone arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles or elsewhere in the state could face be looking at felony charges if the DUI incident results in someone’s death or injury.) A local district attorney in Colorado, George Brauchler, expressed his frustration with the Colorado statutes, which don’t allow judges to sentence repeat DUI offenders to more than a year in jail. So Brauchler sought more prison time for Lovem in a…
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Vehicle Destroyed, But Police Officer Charged with DUI Survives Train Wreck
A police officer in southern Texas may be recalling the old saying about people who live in glass houses never throwing stones. We don’t know if Devon Brittany New, a member of the Nixon, Texas, police force, ever arrested anyone for driving under the influence. But after her own recent arrest, New may be a little more sympathetic towards anyone accused of DUI in Los Angeles, in Texas, or in any other jurisdiction. An article on the San Antonio Express-News’ website said that Officer New was suspended from duty for a week following her DUI arrest on March 9th. She had a narrow escape; after running a red light at 1 a.m., she stalled her vehicle on nearby railroad tracks. Fortunately, she was sober enough to get out of her 2015 Dodge Challenger, because a freight train coming down the track hit her vehicle and totaled it. Although New is back at work until her April 9th court date, it’s not clear if she’ll be able to remain on the job if she’s found…
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No Sanctions for Attorney Who Submitted Incomprehensible Certiorari Petition
From the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:The Supreme Court on Monday declined to sanction a Washington, D.C., patent attorney who faced a rare high court sanction over a petition he submitted that was written in almost indecipherable jargon. As Law Blog reported earlier, the justices raised eyebrows in December when they demanded that Foley & Lardner LLP partner Howard N. Shipley show cause as to “why he should not be sanctioned for his conduct as a member of the Bar.” Supreme Court observers said they couldn’t recall the last time the nation’s highest court singled out a corporate attorney for possible punishment.I blogged about this petition earlier, and noted that even though patent law can be complicated, the brief -- due to its awkward structure and use of symbols -- is virtually impossible to understand.Shipley's attorneys described the brief in friendlier terms, characterizing it as "an unorthodox petition that clearly…
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Two Vehicle Crash Near Shelley Sends Two to Hospital
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police District 6 1540 Foote Dr. Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402-1828 (208) 525-7377 FAX: (208) 525-7294 For Immediate Release 3-26-2015 00:26 Please direct questions to the District Office On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, at 4:50 pm, Idaho State Police investigated a two vehicle crash north on Interstate 15 at milepost 108, near Shelley,ID. Tamara Robertson, 25 of Idaho Falls, was northbound in a 2013 Ford Edge. Michael Peterson, 63 of Rexburg, was also northbound, behind Robertson, in a 2013 Toyota Scion. Robertson slowed down to allow another car to merge into the right lane in front of her, when Peterson ran into the back of her vehicle. Both vehicles came to a stop, blocking the right lane of travel . Michael Peterson, and his passenger Lois Peterson, were transported by ground ambulance to Eastern…
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The Vandalia Municipal Court License Intervention Program
As a Vandalia OVI attorney, we are often confronted with the reality that current law makes managing your Ohio operator's license a mess. We spend a great deal of time and effort fixing any issues that you may have had in the past and get you driving privileges. Luckily, the Vandalia Municipal Court offers a License Intervention Program that is accessible to all. The License Intervention Program (LIP) is managed through the Probation Department. This program assists individuals in obtaining a valid Ohio operator's license or driving privileges. The individual must meet the criteria as set by the Court. You can reach the Vandalia Municipal Court Probation Department at (937) 415-2228, or the Probation Office Fax at (937) 415-2367. The Probation Department is located on the second floor of the Vandalia Justice Center, 245 James E. Bohanan Memorial Drive, P.O. Box 429, Vandalia, OH 45377-2393. If you need a Vandalia DUI attorney to help with…
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Choi on Reunifying Fourth and Fifth Amendment Jurisprudence
Bryan H. Choi (New York Law School) has posted For Whom the Data Tolls: A Reunified Theory of Fourth and Fifth Amendment Jurisprudence on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Data privacy demands a reunified theory of the Fourth and Fifth...
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It Was Murder
The most shocking news this morning is reported by the Wall Street Journal:The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 appears to have deliberately crashed the plane after he was left alone in the cockpit, according to a French prosecutor.The captain was intentionally locked outside minutes before the A320 crashed into an alpine mountain ridge, French Prosecutor Brice Robin said Thursday. Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, a 28-year-old German national, was silent throughout the plane's descent and was alive at the point of impact, according to the prosecutor.Mr. Robin's conclusions are drawn from the plane's cockpit voice recorder, recovered at the crash site in the French Alps late Tuesday and analyzed by French accident investigators on Wednesday.The recording contains screams believed to be from passengers, once they recognized the plane was crashing.As with ISIS's burning to death a caged Jordanian pilot, the mind-bending horror of a mass murder undertaken like this…
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Solo Practitioners Don’t Have A Jackie Frankfurt
We had a tremendous support network at the public defender’s office in Philadelphia. There were social workers and mental health professionals. There were administrative staff focusing on probation, parole, and the expungement of criminal records. If you had a question about a particular point of law or opinion, there was a whole group of appellate lawyers at your disposal. And if there was ever a new development in the law, we were all provided with a handy-dandy fact sheet with tips on how to incorporate this new development into your practice. I remember the “paid lawyers” looking at me with envy every time I pulled something like that out in the courtroom. The lack of this support network is, I have found, one of the greatest challenges to solo practitioners doing criminal defense: We are out there all alone. At least that’s the way it can sometimes feel. In some respects, this is liberating. My first career was with the federal…
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Serving with "Honor and Distinction," Part II
The WSJ discusses the prosecution of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, illustrating why the pardon I predict (at a politically convenient moment for the Commander-in-Chief) will be a betrayal of duty and honor by the President even more stunning than Bergdahl's embrace of Jihad:[T]he bigger story [in the Bergdahl case] is the extravagant price the U.S. has paid because President Obama wanted to score political points.Readers will recall that then-Private First Class Bergdahl went missing from his post in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009. Fellow soldiers suspected desertion, though the Army conducted a risky manhunt to recover him...The Associated Press has reported that an internal Pentagon investigation in 2010 found "incontrovertible" evidence that he had walked away from his post. Journalists also uncovered an exchange of letters in which the soldier wrote to his father "the title of U.S. soldier is just the lie of fools," that he was…
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