It is possible to expunge some past criminal convictions in New Jersey, but the details will make a difference. In order to expunge an eligible criminal conviction, you first must meet all the terms of your sentence, including serving all jail time, parole, and probation, and paying all fines, fees, and restitution costs. Read MoreThe post Can You Help Me Expunge An Old Criminal Conviction In New Jersey? appeared first on New Jersey Criminal Defense Attorney - Matthew Reisig.
Can You Help Me Expunge An Old Criminal Conviction In New Jersey?
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*UPDATE* High-speed pursuit, US95 south of Lewiston
*****UPDATE******UPDATE*****UPDATE****** Suspect has been located and is in custody. *****UPDATE*****UPDATE******UPDATE****** On July 2, 2015, at about 9:43 a.m., the Idaho State Police initiated an enforcement contact on a 2002 Ford pickup on US-95 at MP 286, for speeding. It was determined the vehicle was stolen out of Gooding County, Idaho. The male driver fled the scene northbound and was pursued by ISP. The driver of the Ford operated the vehicle at high speeds and in a reckless manner. Assistance with the pursuit was provided by the Nez Perce Tribal Police. Two unsuccessful attempts were made to stop the Ford utilizing spike strips. At MP 305 on US-95, the Ford began traveling recklessly northbound in the southbound lane almost striking a patrol vehicle and the motoring public at a high rate of speed. At MP 308 on US-95, ISP utilized a pit maneuver to stop the Ford. The Ford lost control and rolled. The Ford stopped momentarily and as Troopers approached on foot, the…
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Jefferson-Jones on Rebiography
Jamila Jefferson-Jones (University of Missouri at Kansas City - School of Law) has posted A Second Chance: Rebiography as Just Compensation (West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 1, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Once upon a time,...
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San Diego Fourth of July and DUI - Protect Your Liberty and Don't Drink And Drive
The Fourth of July is the pinnacle United States holiday. On Independence Day we, as Americans, celebrate our independence by taking a day off, and enjoying a three day weekend. Typically, that involves BBQs, pool parties, picnics, the Daytona 500, baseball and fireworks. And, like most celebratory holidays it also involves alcohol. There is nothing quite like a cold beer on a hot day. Sometimes more than one, which may turn into more as day turns into night and we prepare for fireworks. San Diego also has plenty of events going on, such as the San Diego County Fair, which will have an entire day of events, including the Frog X Parachute Jump team with a 1,100 square foot flag. And a pie eating contest, if you are so interested. The Hornblower is having a special 4th of July Firework cruise as well. Boating is very popular as well, and if anchored in the proper location, you can use this map, from the Times of San Diego…
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SE Idaho Law Enforcment to Ride the Rails to Stop Rail Crossing Violations
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 7/2/15 6:08 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office WHAT: "Officer on the Train" program designed to identify motorists who attempt to beat the train and violate Idaho grade crossing laws. WHEN: Monday July 6, 2015 6:45-7:00 am. - Press Briefing WHERE: 300 S. Harrison Ave Pocatello, ID 83204 WHO: The "Officer on the Train" program is sponsored by Union Pacific Railroad and Idaho Operation Lifesaver, Idaho State Police, Pocatello City Police Department, Bannock, Bonneville and Bingham County Sheriff Department's as well as city agencies in those areas. The briefing will include: Travis Campbell, State Director for Operation Lifesaver…
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Clemente on Execution of "Idiots"
Michael A. Clemente has posted A Reassessment of Common Law Protections for 'Idiots' (Yale Law Journal, Vol. 124, No. 8, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: When the Eighth Amendment was ratified, common law protections categorically prohibited the execution...
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"Court rules NSA may temporarily resume metadata collection"
The story is at Jurist: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [official website]ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that the National Security Agency(NSA) [official website] may temporarily resume its program of systematically collecting Americans' phone data in bulk. The program lapsed on June...
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End Massachusetts Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing for Nonviolent Defendants – Part Two of Two
In my previous post on this subject, last week, I discussed how unjust, wasteful and counterproductive Massachusetts mandatory minimum drug sentences are. In today's post I'll provide some examples: If you bought or sold a little over an ounce of pot from a friend, or anyone, were charged under the relevant Massachusetts statute and found guilty, a judge had no choice but to sentence you to a minimum jail sentence – as though you were the head of a Colombian drug cartel. If you are charged and found guilty of possession of drugs with intent to distribute within 300 feet of a designated school zone, you face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 2 years – even if the transaction had absolutely nothing to do with kids attending the school. As a Boston and Wrentham, Massachusetts drug charges lawyer, I can assure you that all that mandatory minimum sentences have done is swell our already overcrowded prison system. With nonviolent drug offenders - at…
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Best of Brand New: Sufjan Stevens "Should Have Known Better"
I'm not as smitten with the entire "Carrie and Lowell" album as the rest of the world is, but this song is worth the price of admission alone.
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Recently Elected—and Soon Forced to Resign? [DUI Consequences!]
People in big cities have grown fairly accustomed to the shenanigans of their elected officials. A politician’s arrest for a Los Angeles DUI might make the headlines one day, but the story would soon disappear to the back page. But the same may not be true in smaller jurisdictions around the country. In the Village of Mundelein, a northern suburb of Chicago, DUI charges filed against one elected representative have caused a great deal of controversy, and the story isn’t going away. Dakotah Norton, age 25, took office as one of the Village’s Trustees last April. (A trustee is the equivalent of a council member in other jurisdictions.) Two months later, a police officer patrolling in a neighboring jurisdiction noticed a car that had only one working taillight. It was Norton’s. The officer followed the car and observed the driver straddling the road’s center line. When Norton came to a red light, he allegedly failed to stop and instead immediately…
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If you want to go on gorging on Glossip gossip...
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Unlicensed Jacksonville driver pleads no contest in hit-and-run death of scooter driver, gets 20 years in prison
A Jacksonville man who did not have a driver’s license when he hit and killed a man on a scooter chose not to fight the charges and was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison. The man pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of an accident causing death and driving without a license causing death or serious bodily injury, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. Leaving the scene of an accident causing death is a first-degree felony with a maximum penalty of 30 years in state prison and a minimum mandatory sentence of four years in state prison. The charge of driving without a license causing death or serious bodily injury is a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years in state prison. The man is accused of hitting the scooter driver from behind about 12:35 a.m. one early morning in November, the newspaper reported. The driver did not stop at the scene, but did call police later that day and was subsequently arrested, the newspaper…
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Can I Be Charged for the Same Crime Twice in Different States?
This blog seeks to explain two basic concepts in criminal law which tends to lead to significant confusion: double jeopardy, and dual sovereignty. Double jeopardy is a constitutional principle that comes from the double jeopardy clause in the Constitution’s 5th Amendment. It means that you may not be charged or prosecuted for the same crime twice. For example, if you were charged with the murder of Mr. Smith, went to trial, and were found innocent, you may not later be charged again with the murder of Mr. Smith if new evidence surfaces against you for the crime. You may be charged for other crimes, such as robbing and assaulting Mr. Smith, or conspiring to kill Mr. Smith, but not murdering Mr. Smith. The Exception: Dual Sovereignty There is an exception to the double jeopardy doctrine. While you cannot be charged twice in one state for a crime that you were acquitted or convicted of, you may be charged twice in different states for the same crime.…
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Independence Township Man Charged with First-Degree Murder of Wife to Undergo Psychological Testing
On May 29, 32-year-old Joseph Mauti of Independence Township was taken into custody for allegedly killing his wife, 3-year-old Lindsey Mauti, with a baseball bat. According to news reports at The Oakland Press, Mauti beat his wife and dog in front of the couple’s two young children, a 6-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl. Mauti was scheduled to undergo psychological testing approximately three weeks ago, as ordered by a district court judge. Judge Kelley Kostin referred Mauti to take criminal responsibility and competency exams during a probable cause conference, setting the murder case for potential review on August 13. Mauti is charged with animal cruelty and first-degree premeditated murder. Lindsey Mauti died of blunt force trauma to the head and other injuries, according to the medical examiner. She was a teacher’s aide at Clarkston schools. Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Mauti’s home after a caller informed authorities that…
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Texas Prosecutors Behaving Badly
As criminal defense lawyers we know all too well that there are prosecutors who daily walk right up to the line of professional misconduct. It is infuriating to witness prosecutors derive pleasure from winning at all cost, forgetting their sworn duty to see, not just that people are convicted, but that justice is done. They have forgotten, or don’t care, that justice is to be afforded to all involved in a criminal case, including the defendants. In March 2012, Brandi Grissom published a piece in the Texas Tribune about prosecutorial misconduct going unpunished by the State Bar of Texas. The article cited 91 cases, dating back to 2004, in which courts had found some form of misconduct committed by the prosecutors. The Tribune report was based on a study conducted by the Northern California Innocence Project that chronicled prosecutorial misconduct in Texas and other states. The study, which was released on March 29, 2012, found that none of these Texas prosecutors had ever…
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Fort Lauderdale DUI Arrests Spike on July 4th Holiday
This Independence Day, travel experts estimate some 35 million people are going to travel by car to BBQs, pools, beaches, parades and firework shows. Many people celebrate these occasions with booze. In fact, authorities say in 2013, Americans cracked open some 68 million cases of beer over the July 4th holiday. That's more than on any other holiday of the year, including New Year's Eve and St. Patrick's Day. So long as those imbibing are adults and those driving are sober, there's really no issue. But problems arise when people get behind the wheel after drinking. Every year, it's estimated some 200 people in the U.S. are killed in drunk driving crashes every July 4th. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports 40 percent of all highway deaths over the course of the holiday weekend are attributed to impaired driving.
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Friday Open Thread
Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Supreme Court Steps in to Protect Privacy Rights
Anyone who has ever watched a television or movie crime drama has watched a scene where law enforcement officers go to a hotel or motel and find a critical piece of information by checking the establishment’s records. This is an investigative method used in real life too. A Los Angeles ordinance that sought to make it very easy for law enforcement to obtain these records was overturned, in part, this week by the US Supreme Court in Los Angeles v. Patel. The Ordinance The ordinance at issue, § 41.49 of the LA Municipal Code, contained two provisions designed to aid law enforcement investigations. It required that innkeepers obtain certain information from their guests including their name, address, rates charged, dates of stay, and method of payment and keep that information in the form specified in the ordinance. The more disconcerting aspect of the ordinance required that these records “made available to any officer of the Los Angeles Police Department for…
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Recent Supreme Court Decision in Johnson v. United States Should Prompt Changes Beyond the ACCA
The federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) provides for an enhanced penalty, a mandatory minimum 15 year sentence, for felons possessing firearms who have previously been convicted of a combination of three serious drug offenses or “violent felonies.” Congress defined “violent felonies” in three ways: 1: crimes which have as an element use of force or the threat or attempt to use force against another; 2: arson, burglary, extortion or any crime that involves the use of explosives; and 3: any crime that “otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of injury to another.” 81 U.S.C. § 924(c)(2). The last definition is known as the “residual clause” and it has been the subject of five Supreme Court decisions since 2007. In the most recent, Johnson v. United States, decided last week, the Court finally threw in the towel on attempting to construe this provision and held that it was unconstitutionally vague.…
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PROPOSED ILLINOIS LAW TAKES MARIJUANA OUT OF THE DUI TRACE LAW
A proposed Illinois law would resolve some of the conflict between liberalized marijuana laws and their impact on DUI. Under a current Illinois law, known as the “trace law,” you may be convicted of DUI if you have any unlawful substance in your system, even if your driving was not impaired. The trace law makes it easy for prosecutors since they need not prove that a drug influenced your driving. The fact a drug is in your system is enough to convict you of DUI. Because marijuana can remain in your system for up to 30 days, the trace law has led to extremely harsh penalties for actually unimpaired drivers. If you have a lawful prescription, the prosecution must still prove you were under the influence of the drug. However, a recent Illinois Appellate court held that the push to liberalize marijuana laws did not impact the trace law. People v Rennie. Marijuana is still illegal in Illinois, the court said, and even when marijuana is legal, you are barred from…
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