There has been an explosion in recent years of personal breathalyzers. These are small, portable devices which — to varying degrees of accuracy — can give you rough readings of the blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of your own breath….and possibly save you from a DUI arrest. But which are the best models for you? New York DUI defense attorney Carl Spector offers a study entitled "The Breathalyzer Breakdown: An Analysis of Breathalyzers on the Market". This informative article analyzes the different personal breathalyzers that are on the market that are both portable and easy to use. With a price range from $40 and up, these are affordable tools that few drivers are using because they don’t have the proper information on them. Spector’s article breaks the flood of products down into the following groups: Top 5 Highest-Rated Breathalyzers. The winner: AlcoMate Revvo TS200. 5 Best Budget-Friendly…
A Consumer Report on…Personal Breathalyzers
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Rick Perry on the cost of an effective criminal defense
How much does it cost to effectively defend oneself against felony charges? According to Rick Perry, upwards of two million dollars, or several thousand times what most Texas counties pay for representation of indigents in non-capital cases.Perry didn't make that assessment in a speech, of course. But actions speak louder than words and according to his Contributions and Expenditures reports, estimated the Dallas News, he's spent more than $2.1 million on legal fees so far defending himself against charges of abuse of official capacity, no doubt with more to come
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Recovery Of Attorney’s Fees In Criminal Cases Attorney Las Vegas
Recovery Attorney’s Fees In Criminal CasesLas Vegas AttorneyIn the past, it has not been possible for a criminal defendant to recover their attorney’s fees upon acquittal or dismissal of the charges. However, in some instances that is about to changed. The Nevada Legislature recently passed a statute allowing for a criminal defendant to recover their attorney’s fees if it is shown that the position of the State (prosecution) was vexatious, frivolous or in bad faith. The amended statute will become effective on October 1, 2015 and is applicable only to criminal actions that are pending on that date or are brought after that date.Under what is called the “American Rule” each party to a legal proceeding is generally expected to pay its own attorney’s fees and litigation expenses regardless of the outcome of the case. Federal Law, however, establishes an exception to the American Rule under the Hyde Amendment, which enables a party…
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{New blog post} Title Issues
Occasionally parties may find themselves worked up when buying a work / commercial truck. After weeks {or maybe months} of waiting for the truck to be delivered, buyers may wonder about the dealer/seller not releasing the actual manufacturer's certificate of origin or certificate of title. Can holding onto to the documents prevent title (ownership) from passing from seller to buyer?Even in cases where dealers have held onto an certificate because the buyer had not paid the full purchase price, title still passed. In another case, transfer of ownership in tanker truck occurred because the had been note signed and the buyer used the truck, even though seller's license plates remained on the truck and the certificate of title had not been transferred.So from a practical standpoint, it's doubtful the dealer will withhold the title documents. Plus, California Vehicle Code section 5753 says,(a) It is unlawful for any person to fail or neglect properly to…
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Criminal Cases in the Supreme Court Term -- Part 1
Here is the first part of my two-part wrapup of the criminal cases in the Supreme Court term from October 2014 to July 2015.The Big CasesOhio v. Clark, June 18, 2015, 9-0 on the judgment, two dissenting votes on the main issue and one hard to classify vote. The question is whether a statement of a very young child to a teacher regarding who abused him is "testimonial" and therefore subject to exclusion under the Confrontation Clause, and whether it makes a different that the teacher is a mandatory reporter under the state's child abuse reporting statute. This opinion goes a very long way toward cutting back the expansive definition of "testimonial" statements - and therefore the range of evidence excluded by the Confrontation Clause - that had been stated in Davis v. Washington (2006). Although the Court does not categorically shield all statements to anyone other than law enforcement officers from exclusion under Crawford, we can see that…
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Boca Raton Man Accused of Mail Fraud in "Investment" Scheme
Mail fraud is a federal crime that's been on the books for well over a century. Basically, the use of the mail system in the perpetuation of any type of scheme, whether it began in the mail, over the telephone or on the internet, constitutes mail fraud. As our Delray Beach and Hollywood criminal defense attorneys know, in other words, in order for federal prosecutors to nab you for mail fraud (which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison and up to $1 million in fines), they only need to demonstrate that you used the mail as part of your scheme. A man in Boca Raton is now accused of engaging in mail fraud while in the midst of an investment scheme in which he solicited investment money from clients and then spent the money on himself, as we will explore in this blog post.
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Crash in Nampa Injures One
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 07/16/15 7:46 PM Please direct questions to the District Office At approximately 2:42 PM today, July 16, 2015, the Idaho State Police investigated an injury crash at Amity Rd. and Robinson Rd. in Nampa. John Laraway, age 58, was travelling south on Robinson Rd. approaching the stop sign at Amity Rd. Laraway was slowing for the stop sign at the intersection when he was struck from behind by Wesley Watts, age 46, of Nampa. After the impact, Watts' vehicle went off the right shoulder of the road, through a fence, over a ditch, across Amity Rd., through another fence, and came to rest in a field. The intersection was blocked for approximately three hours. Laraway was…
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Birckhead & Pryal on Vulnerable Defendants
Tamar R. Birckhead and Katie Rose Guest Pryal (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - School of Law and Independent) have posted Introduction: Symposium 2014: Vulnerable Defendants and the Criminal Justice System (North Carolina Law Review, Vol. 93,...
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Ferndale Man to Go to Trial on Charges of Felony Assault in Alleged Beating of Friend Over Electric Fan
In late June, 56-year-old Mitchell Moore of Ferndale was charged with assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder when he allegedly beat a friend using a wooden table leg after the two became involved in an argument over an electric fan. According to an article at The Oakland Press, the charge against Moore has now been reduced to felony assault. On June 27, police were called to a residence on McDowell when it was suspected Moore had attacked a friend. Moore rents an upstairs apartment in the home, and he and the homeowner had allegedly been drinking the day the attack occurred. One of Moore’s friends, a 53-year-old Hazel park man, stopped by the residence to pick up an electric fan he had let Moore borrow. The fan was the man’s mother’s, and she wanted it back. According to police, when the Hazel Park many went upstairs to Moore’s apartment to retrieve his mother’s fan, an argument erupted. Moore…
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Three Charged in Short Sale Investment Scheme
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Jerome Whittington, 65, La Quinta, California; Patricia Torres Zavala, 42, Benicia, California; and, Kathleen Moore, 68, Olympia, Washington have been charged by a federal grand jury for their roles in a variety of fraudulent schemes, including one involving short sales, that victimized at least 20 investors and caused losses of more than $2 million. The three defendants were charged in […] The post Three Charged in Short Sale Investment Scheme appeared first on Mortgage Fraud Blog.
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Interesting profile of interesting marijuana entrepenuers in Washington
The Seattle Times has this lengthy interesting profile of people who have been attracted to the marijuana industry in the pacific northwest. The piece is headlined "Pot of gold: The new legal marijuana business has created once-in-a-lifetime opportunities." It gets started this way: Welcome to the weird world of legalized...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/raa6IA1oqn0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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Stevenson on The Path to Criminality in Juvenile Jails
Megan Stevenson (Quattrone Center- University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Breaking Bad: Mechanisms of Social Influence and the Path to Criminality in Juvenile Jails on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Using rich data on youths in juvenile correctional facilities,...
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Open Container Districts Now Allowed in Ohio
As of May, open container distracts are officially legal in Ohio. A bill proposing these open container districts was signed into law by Governor John Kasich on April 30th. The new law allows larger Ohio cities and townships to designate districts allowing people to drink alcohol outside of private establishments, so long as the alcohol [...]The post Open Container Districts Now Allowed in Ohio appeared first on Columbus Criminal Attorney.
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The Politicization of Academia
The WSJ has this editorial:Academics claim to revere open debate but often recoil when they see the genuine article. Witness the campaign some scholars--loosely defined--are waging against Heather Mac Donald for challenging university pieties about a recent surge in violent crime.* * *The American Society of Criminology claims to pursue "scholarly, scientific, and professional knowledge," but a better description of its priorities is one-sided inquiry and activist politics. Earlier this year former ASC president Joanne…
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New! Improved! Resources on White-Collar Crime and Cocktails
“There’s a blog about this. Really.” We’ve recently expanded our blogs, links and sources page. Good resources for white-collar crime, cocktails, crime fiction and theology. Sometimes all at once. Have at it.
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Garner Settlement: Good for All Concerned
The family of Eric Garner recently agreed to settle the estate's claims against the City of New York for $5.9 million. What is perhaps most notable about the agreement is that, once again, the deal was brokered on behalf of the City by Comptroller Scott Stringer. Whatever one's thoughts about the dollar amount, it's a good deal for all sides. The biggest beneficiary? Possibly Mayor Bill de Blasio.The entire City of New York needed this case to be resolved quickly. A protracted legal and public relations battle would have been a disaster and could easily have turned into something very, very nasty. It was important that all sides come together and acknowledge what had happened and make a public showing of contrition. That it happened prior to any actual litigation worked out just perfectly for de Blasio, who must have been dreading this lawsuit.In NYC's government, the public fisc is overseen by the Comptroller, who is an independently elected official…
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News Scan
Chattanooga Shooter Traveled to Middle East: The gunman who opened fire at a military recruitment center and a Naval Operations Support Center Thursday, killing four Marines, allegedly took multiple trips to the Middle East, authorities say. Fox News reports that 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abulazeez, a Kuwaiti-born Chattanooga resident, stayed in Jordan for seven months in 2014 and may have also traveled to Yemen. Federal authorities are looking into the possibility that the shooting was an act of terrorism, but have not yet uncovered any evidence that connects Abulazeez directly with Islamic extremists. Abulazeez opened fire from his vehicle at a military recruitment center Thursday morning, then drove to a Naval Operations Support Center, crashed through the gate and gunned down four Marines. He was fatally shot by police. Cops Hunt Sex Offender After Four People Shot in Three Towns: A massive manhunt for a registered sex offender is…
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Feds Dismantle A Global Cybercrime Shop
FBI Intelligence Analyst (image courtesy FBI) On July 12, with the help of my content manager-webmaster (writer-PI Colleen Collins), I posted “Can a Hacker Take Over Your Computer? Short Answer: Yes.” The article covered the true story of a writer whose computer was taken over by hackers who, via an untraceable email, demanded a ransom if she wanted back the files on her hard drive. She thought it was a prank email at first…but when she could not open any of her files, including chapters of a novel-in-progress she was under contract to deliver to her publisher in 6 weeks, she realized the hackers’ threat was real. The article link: “Can a Hacker Take Over Your Computer? Short Answer: Yes.” Operation Shrouded Horizon: Feds Dismantle a Cybercrime Shop On July 15, a few days after I posted the above blog, federal agents in an investigation called Operation Shrouded Horizon, took down an international cybercrime…
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Court Says Kelly Siegler Failed to Disclose Favorable Evidence, Cites Numerous Instances of Prosecutorial Misconduct
Kelly Siegler became a prosecutor in Harris County in 1986. She was mentored by two of the country’s most overzealous and ethically challenged district attorneys, the late Johnny Holmes and Charles “Chuck” Rosenthal. During the nearly three decade reign of the two most reputed “law-and-order” district attorneys in the county’s history, more than 200 people were sent to Texas’s death row—some of whom were innocent and many others convicted because of the in-house policy established and maintained by the two prosecutors that exculpatory, mitigating and/or impeachment evidence did not have to be disclosed if the prosecutor did not believe it was true. Siegler utilized this patently unfair, and now illegal (per the 2013 Michael Morton Act), policy to her advantage. The policy allowed her to pack a professional resume with two hundred jury trials (12 of which were “cold cases”), including 68 murder convictions…
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Findley et al. on Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma
Keith A. Findley , Diana Rugh Johnson , Katherine H. Judson , Melissa L. Staas , Diane L. Redleaf and Charles Joel Hyman (University of Wisconsin Law School , Independent , University of Wisconsin - Madison - UW Madison Law...
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