We are so proud to report the outcome of our Client’s assault family violence case in County Court 13 on April 6th, 2015. Specifically, the Case of Guthrie v. State was set for a jury trial, and the Cook & Cook Law Firm announced it was ready to select a jury. Initially, the assistant to the District Attorney’s Office announced ready to go to trial as well. But, the alleged Victim in the case did not appear to court. The State had little choice but dismiss the case, and did so. Congratulations to Mr. Guthrie, as we know you were wrongfully accused of domestic violence, and thus this was the only proper outcome in the case. The post Assault Family Violence Case Dismissed Today! appeared first on Cook & Cook Law Firm, PLLC.
Assault Family Violence Case Dismissed Today!
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Federal Criminal Wire Fraud
Fraud is a type of crime that can take on many different identities. Wire fraud is one such identity and it occurs when a scam takes place over interstate wires such as phone lines, electronic sources such as fax machines, or over the Internet. People who commit wire fraud are typically looking for personal financial information. An example of wire fraud involving a telephone is telemarketing fraud. Another common form of wire fraud, one that we have all seen or heard about, is the Nigerian Prince scam. In this scam, the sender says they have money in a Nigerian bank account and that they need to use the reader’s bank account to keep the money safe until they can move it to a safer location. The hope is that the reader will provide their personal banking information so the scammer can use that information to steal their money. What Constitutes Wire Fraud The federal criminal statute for wire fraud is found at 18 U.S.C. section 1343 which states the following:…
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When Teens Stand Accused: Hire A Criminal Defense Lawyer
Hire A Criminal Defense Lawyer We never like to think that our teenagers are bad, or could become involved in some sort of crime or vandalism. We like to think that our kids are generally well-behaved, law-abiding citizens. But countless young adults find themselves wrapped up in allegations of crime. Sometimes it is a matter of the teen exercising poor judgement, sometimes the teen is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes it is the result of false allegations. Whatever the case may be, if your teenaged son or daughter is facing allegations of wrongdoing, you need to hire a criminal defense lawyer immediately. Being Proactive Is Best Being proactive is the best strategy when it comes to protecting your teen from needing a criminal defense attorney. The following includes some general tips for parents to help their teen stay out of trouble: Have a sit down with your teen to explain basic protections, such as how a teacher or principal can’t…
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Maryland Court Upholds Decision Not to Merge Criminal Sentences
Throughout a criminal case, from an arrest to a possible conviction and sentencing, the person charged with a crime has multiple opportunities to challenge or defend against the charges, conviction, and ultimate sentence. The United States Constitution guarantees citizens certain protections, covering a broad range of rights. One such right protects a person from multiple punishments (sentences) and trials for the same offense. While the Maryland Constitution does not have this “double jeopardy” provision, case law has upheld these protective principles. If you have been arrested or charged with a crime, it is important to contact an experienced criminal defense attorney who fully understands the various laws and defenses applicable to your situation. In a recent Maryland case, a man was convicted of multiple crimes: robbery with a dangerous weapon, second-degree assault, theft of property valued less than $1,000, and representing a “destructive…
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$200,000 Policy Limits Recovery for Serious Head-on Crash
Our client was unfortunately hit head-on in a high speed collision near Perkasie in upper Bucks County. Apparently the other driver fell asleep at the wheel. The damage to the vehicles was so serious our client had to be cut out and then helicoptered to University of Pennsylvania's Trauma Center. Unfortunately, the other driver did not survive the collision.Our client had numerous broken bones throughout her body including a crushed heel. Thankfully the doctors saved her foot from amputation. The Pennsylvania injury lawyers at Saile & Saile LLP conducted a full invesigation into the incident including communications with the rental car company who rented the vehicle to the other driver just hours before the crash and the family of the deceased driver.Saile & Saile LLP was able to swiftly recover full policy limits on our client's behalf prior to litigation.
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BGer 6B_508/2014: Die Einziehung von Vermögenswerten gemäss Art. 70 StGB im Zusammenhang mit gestohlenen Bankdaten
Das Bundesgericht musste die Frage beantworten, ob der Erlös aus dem Verkauf von Bankdaten an deutsche Behörden der Einziehung gemäss Art. 70 StGB unterliegt oder nicht. Der Beschuldigte hat die Daten in Deutschland von einem Mitarbeiter der schweizerischen Bank (der schuldig gesprochen wurde) entgegengenommen und den deutschen Behörden gegen Erlös von € 2.5 Millionen verkauft. Der Beschuldigte starb in Untersuchungshaft, weshalb eine Einstellungsverfügung erging. Seine Eltern wehrten sich als einzige Erben gegen die Einziehung von diversen Vermögenswerten auf verschiedenen Bankkonten.Die Ausgleichseinziehung gem. Art. 70 StGB beruht auf grundlegenden sozialethischen Gedanken, dass sich strafbares Verhalten nicht lohnen darf. Sie setzt voraus, dass die Straftat die wesentliche respektive adäquate Ursache für die Erlangung des Vermögenswerts ist und dass der Vermögenswert typischerweise aus der Straftat herrührt…
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News Scan
Playing Cards Help Solve Cold Cases: After a successful test run, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation are distributing playing cards to inmates containing photos of victims and information on unsolved homicides in the hopes that they can help to resolve some of the state's 1,600 cold cases. Crimesider Staff of CBS News reports that this strategy was employed successfully in Florida, where 14 cases were solved, and South Carolina, where 10 cases were solved. Colorado has already ordered 5,000 decks and plans to order 10,000 more in the next year. Bill Would Make Revenge Porn a Crime: Louisiana state Rep. Julie Stokes has introduced new legislation that would criminalize the act of posting naked photos of someone online without their consent. Jaclyn Kelley of WWL TV reports that offenders would be fined up to $10,000 and could be incarcerated for up to two years. The law would only apply to victims age 17 or older who are easily…
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Would Max Soffar Be on Death Row If Police Had Recorded His Interrogation?
An article published today by the Marshall Project points to the case of Max Soffar as one that may have been prevented had there been mandatory recording of interrogations in place at the time of his arrest. Soffar is currently one of the longest-serving death row inmates in Texas, having spent 33 years on death row and counting. According to the Marshall Project, Soffar’s case has gained more attention lately due to the fact that he is suffering from liver cancer. Normally, an inmate dying on death row might not create a stir amongst the media and the public, but Soffar’s case has gained popular support because he claims he is innocent. Soffar’s claims of innocence have drawn a long list of supporters, including Andrew Horne of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project. According to a CBS report from October, Soffar was convicted of a robbery gone wrong at a Houston…
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Man Charged with DUI at McDonald's Drive-thru in Aurora
An Aurora man was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after allegedly threatening to fight a customer in the McDonald's drive-thru line. Just after midnight on Monday, Aurora police were called to a home after reports that someone was playing music too loudly in a maroon Jeep. When police arrived, they found Daniel Garibay sitting in the vehicle. Police reports indicate that Garibay appeared to be drunk and that officers warned him not to drive. Officers then left the residence and believed the incident to be over. However, about an hour later, a McDonald's employee called police, stating that someone in a maroon Jeep was being disruptive in the drive-thru line. The same officers that had responded to the earlier call arrived at McDonalds and quickly realized that this was the same man they had earlier warned not to drive. Besides threatening to fight another customer, the restaurant manager stated that she believed Garibay to be drunk after he seemed confused…
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The Place of Permits in the Quiver of Administrative Action
Eric Biber & J.B. Ruhl, The Permit Power Revisited: The Theory and Practice of Regulatory Permits in the Administrative State, 64 Duke L.J. 133 (2014). Mark Seidenfeld Those of us who write in administrative law often get stuck in the ruts created by the categories set out in the Administrative Procedures Act—especially rulemaking, adjudication and judicial review. Therefore, it is refreshing and often path breaking when an article appears that delves into an important aspect of administrative action that cuts across those ruts rather than following them. That is all the more true when the article is as well executed as The Permit Power Revisited: The Theory and Practice of Regulatory Permits in the Administrative State by Eric Biber and J.B. Ruhl. Nominally, The Permit Power Revisited is a response to a piece Richard Epstein wrote, almost twenty years ago, lambasting administrative permitting as a “racket” rife with agency abuse.1 But the article does…
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David Aylor, The Other Shooter
It’s so very tempting, especially to a new lawyer seeking to establish his brand. After all, the legal marketing gurus all say that if you don’t get out there and sell yourself, who will? So when Charleston, South Carolina lawyer David Aylor, admitted to practice law in 2006, saw his opening, he went for it. Aylor was tapped to represent then-North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager, who shot and killed Walter Scott. It was, from all known information at the time, a good gig, a cop who had the usual justification for a kill. It would put Aylor in the local Post and Courier, sympathetic to his client, and add to his local brand as the “best law firm in Charleston.” Aylor has quite a few videos on Youtube, reflecting a bit of a penchant for marketing and self-promotion. Of course, these came well before his representation of Slager. Perhaps he got the Slager case because of them. Perhaps if he had known…
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Weisburd on Electronic Monitoring of Juveniles
Kate Weisburd (University of California, Berkeley - School of Law - Youth Defender Clinic, East Bay Community Law Center) has posted Monitoring Youth: The Collision of Rights and Rehabilitation (Iowa Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: A...
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When 99Rise Wanted To Be Heard
At 10:00 a.m., the words ring out: The Honorable, the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable Court! It’s a curious tradition, reflecting the conflicted purpose of a court that was constituted to serve a newborn nation, whose purpose wasn’t entirely clear at first. But traditions are funny things, and so the words are repeated every day the Court is in session, term after term, year after year. When they say “all persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court,” one might hear an invitation. Need redress? They’re here for you, if you take this “admonition” literally, notwithstanding the pomposity of calling themselves…
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The Stories, the Website and Transportation of Obscene Material
After Frank Russell McCoy was convicted, in a bench trial, of “one count of Transportation of Obscene Matters in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 1462”, he appealed. U.S. v. McCoy, 2015 WL 1063050 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit 2015). Section 1462 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code makes it a crime, among other things, tobring[] into the United States . . . or knowingly use[] any express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) (!1) of the Communications Act of 1934), for carriage in interstate or foreign commerce - (a) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, motion-picture film, paper, letter, writing, print, or other matter of indecent character; or (b) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy phonograph recording, electrical transcription, or other article or thing capable of producing sound. . . . Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than…
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Proposition 47 Causes Noticeable Drop in California’s Incarceration Rate
Even though it has only been a few months since Proposition 47 has made its debut, the incarceration rate throughout the state of California has dropped a noticeable degree. As most of you may know, the controversial Proposition 47 (“Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiatives”) made its way onto the ballot via the California ballot initiative process. This means that the proposed law had garnered enough petition signatures to make it onto the ballot. It was then voted on by California voters this past November, and was approved by the majority (59.61%) of the state’s voters. Since it became law, the city of Los Angeles , which houses the country’s largest jail system, saw an inmate population decline from 18,601 to 17,285 by the New Year. As such, studies have shown that it is not jail-time that is actually behind the drop in the nation’s crime rate, but rather factors such as commonsense policy reform. What This…
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Finding a Lawyer to Fight a DUI Ticket in Baltimore
So, you made a bad decision and you drove under the influence (DUI), with a blood alcohol level (BAC) greater than .08% (.02% if you’re under 21). Now, you’re facing a DUI charge and you don’t know where to turn. Hiring a lawyer to represent you in court is your best chance at lowering the penalties associated with the infraction. If you are facing a DUI or DWI ticket in Baltimore Maryland, contact attorney Randolph Rice at 410-288-2900 or email the office to schedule a free consultation. Attorney Randolph Rice is a Super Lawyer – Maryland Rising Star, ranked 10 out of 10 by Avvo and is Lead Counsel Rated. What are the penalties for a DUI ticket in Baltimore? A DUI is a serious offense and the penalties are severe. If this is your first DUI, the penalties can include: 12 points marked on your license, which causes the revocation (suspension) of your driver’s license for a minimum of 6 months A monetary fine of $1,000 ($2,000 for a…
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Emotions again run high at Danby meeting over controversial group home
4-9-15 New York: Danby, N.Y. — Danby officials turned to a facilitator Wednesday night to help bridge the gap between the Unity House and residents angered over the non-profit’s proposed group home for the town. The facilitator started by writing “Our Guidelines” in bright red sharpie on a big yellow note-pad at the front of the room. With feedback from the overflow crowd, the facilitator
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What is a Pond?
According to the Iowa Court of Appeals, a pond is "a body of water," and a contractor's building "a pond that does not hold water," amounted to nothing more than the construction of a dam.Via Kevin Underhill's Lowering The Bar, I learned about this story of a recent Iowa Court of Appeals decision holding that a contractor's agreement to construct a pond left the construction company liable when the pond ultimately failed to hold water due to "a porous layer of shale" on the sides of the pond. Additional coverage of the case is available here. A direct link to download a pdf version of the opinion is available here.The construction company, Reilly, argued that it had abided by the terms of its contract to produce a pond. But the court held that the waterless pond violated Reilly's express warranty of the quality of product it would provide to its customer, Bachelder:Reilly does not quibble with Bachelder’s testimony that…
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Florida’s Motor Vehicle Theft Laws
Police in St. Petersburg have recently warned citizens to lock up their cars and valuables because of a recent rash of car thefts. Police attributed the thefts to students on spring break. In one recent weekend, there were 18 auto thefts and 44 auto burglaries, which is approximately double the numbers of an average weekend. These sorts of crimes are typically committed by juveniles, and students in the county were on spring break that week. In 90 percent of the crimes reported, the cars were unlocked or the keys were left inside, though some of the cars had their windows broken. Florida law does not provide for any specific “grand theft auto” charge. Instead, the statute provides that those who steal automobiles are charged with grand theft, which is a felony offense. Theft In Florida, the criminal offense of theft means knowingly obtaining or using, or attempting to obtain or use, another’s property, whether permanently or temporarily, with the intent to:…
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Ft. Sill Soldier Found Guilty of Sexual Assault
A Fort Sill soldier accused of pinning a fellow soldier to a wall and sexually assaulting her has been convicted of sexual assault, abusive sexual contact and assault consummated by a battery. A military judge found Spc. Jose J. Flores, Jr., guilty in the 2014 incident and stripped him of his rank, ordered him to three years’ confinement, and gave him a dishonorable discharge. The sentence must still be approved by Fort Sill’s commanding general, who has the authority to reduce the sentence. Military crimes are handled by court martial, and the military justice system is different than the local state courts. The crimes of which the soldier was convicted would be considered sexual battery under Oklahoma state law. Sexual battery is unwanted, nonconsensual physical contact for the purpose of sexual gratification. It encompasses all sexual assaults of a person over the age of 16 that fall short of rape or that are not considered child sexual abuse. The Oklahoma…
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