Quantcast
Channel: Recent Criminal Law posts - Justia BlawgSearch.com
Viewing all 71824 articles
Browse latest View live

The Brief and Perpetual Lifespan of Fatherhood

0
0
When the nurse put my daughter into my arms moments after her birth. I had no clue. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to feel. The wise nurse told me to sing her a song, so I did. To this day, my family makes fun of me for my song choice, and I can’t explain it. It just happened. No moment changed my life more. Up to then, I lived for myself. My lovely wife too, but really myself, and she was just an adjunct to my life, as I was to hers. But this was different. For the first time in my existence, there was someone more important to me than me. The first decade was one of emerging joys. Sure, a million problems, but they came with the turf.  The smile, the hug, the kiss, made the problems disappear. I was one of those dads who chose to spend time with my kids, who went out of his way to find reasons to be with them.  They needed me, and that gave me purpose. The oddity was that until my own children existed, I had no particular feelings…

"Judicial Participation in Plea Bargaining: A Dispute Resolution Perspective"

New Hampshire Ratifies June 21, 1788 and Constitution Becomes Effective

0
0
On June 21, 1788. New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution. Pursuant to the Constitution’s Article VII New Hampshire’s ratification put the Constitution officially in effect. Although New Hampshire ratified, the delegates to its ratification convention clearly had reservations. The ratification message included a dozen suggestions for constitutional amendments pursuant to Article […]

Great new USSC report (with some not-so-great data) on "Alternative Sentencing in the Federal Criminal Justice System"

On race, there are no neutral observers

0
0
"the President carries his own background into race and he's not seen as a neutral observer" wtf does that mean? pic.twitter.com/zIllINELz3— Ms. Kim (@KimBrownTalks) June 21, 2015 On Meet the Press, this morning, the Washington bureau... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Connecticut struggling to get doctors involved with its nascent medical marijuana program

0
0
This lengthy new local article, headlined "State seeks more medical marijuana doctors," highlights how the modern history (and the federal ferocity) of marijuana prohibition presents distinct challenges for states like Connecticut seeking to establish and administer effective medical marijuana programs. Here are excerpts from an interesting article: With only a...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/hLuHt2KYAPE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

Using Access Devices: the Sentencing Challenge

0
0
The Sixth Circuit has twice rejected challenges to the Government’s proof of usability of an unauthorized access device at sentencing (determined under U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1). In both cases, defendants, relying on United States v. Onyesoh, 674 F.3d 1157 (9th Cir. 2013), argued that the Government must establish the “usability” of an access device when calculating loss. In Onyesoh, the Ninth Circuit held that the usability of some access devices may not be readily apparent. There, the Government conceded that “credit card numbers that had expired 35 years ago and were useless . . . would not be covered under the statute.” Id. at 1160. Given that concession and after searching the record, the Ninth Circuit found no evidence to support the usability of certain credit card numbers that “had been expired for some three years” and “no showing Defendant ever took steps or attempted to use the expired numbers.” Id.In United States…

What are Unsecured and Secured Loans?

0
0
Every week our office receives multiple phone calls from Georgian families and residents who have fallen on hard times due to the recent economic recession.  For these people, sometimes filing for bankruptcy is the best option they have to get themselves above water.  Bankruptcy allows families and individuals to wipe out much of their outstanding debt and move forward with a clean financial slate. Before filing for bankruptcy, it is very important to understand all parts of the process.  This post explains a critical portion of bankruptcy, specifically the difference between the two categories of loans that you will need to disclose in your bankruptcy paperwork. Category 1 – Secured Loans In general, secured loans are those debts that are “secured” by collateral.  If a person does not make the payments on the secured loans then the holder of the loan may take possession of the collateral in order to sell it and recoup as much of the owed…

How NOT to find a Lawyer for a Michigan Criminal, DUI or Driver's License Restoration Case

0
0
I write extensively about Michigan DUI, driver's license restoration and criminal cases. Occasionally, one of the topics I take up is how to find a lawyer. Contrary to what you might expect, I don't bend or twist my articles into some kind a long-winded excuse to just say, "Call me!" Of course, I am in business to make money, and although my driver's license practice is truly global (I handle Michigan clearance and restoration issues for people all across the country and beyond. One client, a U.S. Army Serviceman, came to see me on leave from Korea, and the week this article was written, I was hired by a former Michigander now living in Hawaii), I limit my DUI and criminal practice to the Greater-Detroit area (Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties). Thus, I realize that plenty of people who will never call or hire me still look for some guidance in my articles. In this installment, I want to warn the reader about a huge mistake I see people make all…

The Single most Important part of Michigan DUI Cases

0
0
It is very easy to get caught up in legal and/or technical examinations of Michigan DUI charges. After all, everyone arrested for a drunk driving charge hopes that a sharp lawyer can find some problem with the evidence and get the whole case dismissed. And while that certainly can happen, such an outcome has always been the exception, and not the rule. In fact, the cold, hard facts, as verified in the Michigan State Police Annual Drunk Driving Audit, shows that in 2013, the last year for which numbers are available, only 511 regular DUI cases were thrown out of court, compared to a total of 32,752 convictions for those same offenses. If you do the math, you'll see that a mere 1.56 percent of people charged with OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) and OWVI (Operating While Visible Impaired) were lucky enough to have their cases dismissed. Here's the thing: It is always important to exhaust every possibility to get your case thrown out, but as these numbers clearly…

How much will get spent on (merely symbolic?) death penalty referendum efforts in Nebraska?

A Conspiracy of Neglect: How the World is Failing Syrian Refugees

0
0
Since 2011, more than half of the Syrian population has been on the run, fleeing their homes to escape war crimes and human rights abuses by both the Assad regime and armed opposition groups such as the Islamic State. But the more than 4 million Syrian refugees can no longer escape the threat from another source: the neglect of world leaders that is condemning them to a life of misery and danger. With humanitarian aid falling far short of both what is needed and what has been pledged, Syrian refugees in Lebanon are living on an average of $19 a month. Countries around the world have shut their doors or thrown up obstacles to resettlement, placing additional pressures on the five countries that now house 95 percent of the Syrian refugees. The refugees themselves are left with no good options. There’s Samir, a 41-year-old Syrian refugee living in an informal refugee tent community in Lebanon. Samir fled Lebanon after the death of his brother. Two other siblings are believed…

Do Juveniles Admit to Crimes They Didn’t Commit?

0
0
False confessions are a serious problem in our criminal justice system, particularly for young people under 18 years old. According to The Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully accused individuals, between 2.3% and 5% of individuals in prison are actually innocent of the crime they were convicted of, and one-third of those people were between 14 and 22 years old when they were arrested.1 One of the main reasons for wrongful convictions is making a false confession or incriminating statement. In fact, 1 out of every 4 people who are wrongfully convicted and later exonerated falsely confessed to a crime they did not commit.2 Falsely incriminating yourself can have devastating effects on the outcome of your case, and false confessions make up 16% of all known wrongful convictions. Studies show that the younger you are, the more likely you are to admit to a crime you are innocent of.3 Why are Juveniles More Likely to Falsely Admit to a Crime?…

Don't Evade Police When you are Drunk or Don't Have a License

0
0
Don't Evade Police Even When you are Drunk or Don't Have a License I hear a lot of similar stories when it comes to clients being arrested for evading law enforcement. Why didn't you stop? I was scared because my license was suspended or I was scared because I had been drinking are the most common answers that I hear. One of my favorite stories was several years ago from a client who was riding his motorcycle southbound on the 101 Freeway from Santa Barbara to Long Beach. CHP cars and a helicopter started following him shortly after he entered Ventura County. They clocked him at over 140 miles per hour and it took the cops a bit of time to catch up to my client and ultimately he pulled over. This was not before lengthy pursuit at very high speeds. When my client finally pulled over the cops knocked him off his motorcycle and to the ground and cuffed him up after roughing him up a bit. The cops asked my client where he was going and he told them he was late for…

Cherry Picking with the BCA

0
0
For a driver with a breath alcohol content (BrAC) that straddles one of the statutory cutoffs (0.04, 0.08, 0.16), measurement uncertainty is reasonable doubt -- reasonable doubt that the BCA refuses to report. Consider this scenario adapted from the National Academy of Sciences' Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (2009): A driver gives three breath samples. The device calculates three results: 0.08, 0.09, and 0.10. The different test results arise from a number of factors: the internal components of the test device, calibration, and environmental characteristics, to name a few. Without accounting for these factors--by presenting the average of the three samples, 0.09, as an actual BrAC--the prosecution is able to argue that there is no reasonable doubt. That is not science. It is scientifically impossible to achieve 100% accurate results. In this scenario, the variation between the three breath sample results clearly indicates…

Southern California Runway DUI – Yikes

0
0
While police have arrested drivers on a lot of different roads for a DUI in Los Angeles, it’s doubtful that they have often gone to the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport. But cops in San Diego had to head to their own city’s airport when they needed to make a DUI arrest one day last April. According to NBC 7, James Stewart, employed at San Diego International Airport, may have had a couple of beers before he went on the job one evening. The problem was that his work involved driving a big truck—a 10,000-gallon jet fuel tanker. Uh oh. Stewart took the truck out on the tarmac, then stepped out of the vehicle to begin the fueling process. He allegedly staggered a bit when he walked and then fell down, waving his legs in the air before struggling up once again. At that point, other ground workers contacted Stewart’s boss, who checked out his employee and then alerted police. The police came out and found that Steward had bloodshot eyes and smelled…

Don't Steel Watches Equipped with GPS Tracking Devices

0
0
Don't Steel Watches Equipped With GPS Tracking Devices Ten men were arrested yesterday after what police describe as a movie-like robbery in the Korea Town area of Los Angeles. The men stormed into a jewelry store armed with guns and sledge hammers. They men quickly and methodically shattered the glass display cases and stole what was described as hundreds of expensive watches. Unfortunately for the robbers, at least one of the watches was equipped with a GPS tracking device. I'm not sure if the GPS tracking is to prevent theft or catch cheating spouses, but it worked out for the store owner in this case. Police followed the tracking device and found two men suspected of committing the crime along with several hundred designer watches, sledgehammers and guns which were allegedly used in the robbery. The sledgehammer robbers are now looking at some really hard time. This is not simply a large theft it is a robbery which is a much more serious crime. Robbery involves…

Report Ranks which States are Toughest on Drunk Drivers

0
0
Wallethub.com, a financial services website, has attempted to rank states based on how tough and lenient their laws are on DUI offenders. Wallethub cited a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistic that 31 percent of motor vehicle fatalities in 2012 involved alcohol impairment. This number, however, has dropped significantly since 1980 when states began taking a serious stance on drunk driving. The reason for the decline, according to Wallethub, is the tough laws and penalties that states have enacted to combat and punish drunk driving. Using a point system, states were ranked depending on if and how that state imposed a certain DUI laws. For example, states were given 10 points if the law required at least 10 days in jail for a first offense, eight points for eight to nine days in jail, six points for six to seven days in jail, four points for four to five days in jail, two points for two to three days in jail, and zero points for zero to one day in jail. …

California’s DUI Laws: Not As Tough As Many

0
0
People picked up for a DUI in Los Angeles may be luckier than they think. If they were arrested in other states, the penalties could be much higher, especially for repeat offenders. The website WalletHub.com recently released the results of its study on the strictest and most lenient states for DUI punishment. California ranks in the bottom half for the harshness of its penalties, coming in at 31st. The study looked at 15 key metrics, such as minimum jail time for first and subsequent offenses, minimum fines, the number of DUI offenses it takes before a defendant is charged with a felony and whether or not there are more severe penalties imposed if a defendant’s blood alcohol content is very high. WalletHub gave Arizona the nod as being the strictest when it comes to DUI enforcement. The Grand Canyon State has a minimum sentence of 10 days in jail and requires a mandatory ignition interlock for a first offense. Second-time offenders must serve 90 days, and third-time…

Goldman on Prejudicial Character Evidence

0
0
Hannah Goldman has posted Prejudicial Character Evidence: How the Circuits Apply Old Chief to Federal Rule of Evidence 403 (Fordham Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It is a fundamental principle of the American justice system that...
Viewing all 71824 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images