A driver running through a red light triggered a traffic stop that now has him facing several decades behind bars on felony drug charges. Once police stopped the car, the officer said the driver struggled to get his license and the driver was sweating profusely, according to a report on First Coast News. Police ended up finding large quantities of a variety of drugs in the car, including marijuana, cocaine, LSD and illegal mushrooms, the television station reported. The man is now charged with trafficking in LSD, possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet or a school or church, possession of a hallucinogen within 1,000 feet of a school or church, possession of marijuana with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a school or church, possession of marijuana for the manufacture or delivery of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. Jacksonville Drug Crimes Charges are based on two main factors: the type of drug the person is accused of having in his or her…
Police find a variety of drugs on traffic stop near Jacksonville, man arrested on several felony charges
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"Is Halloween Really More Dangerous for Kids?: A lack of evidence doesn’t stop cities from rounding up sexual offenders on the holiday."
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Might California get two completing capital punishment propositions to consider in 2016?
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So Much for the FBI's Independence
As Kent and I have noted, FBI Director Jim Comey has said that a "chill wind" of acerbic and visceral criticism of the police has very likely been a factor in less aggressive police work, coincident (to say the least) with a spike in murder and other violent crime over the last several months.The White House, which is indebted up to its ears to Al Sharpton's and similar liberal get-out-the-vote organizations, was having none of it. Mr. Comey is not toeing the party line. This will not do. Thus, as the New York Times reports, in a little noticed item (emphasis added):White House officials were irritated as they saw it as an effort to undermine their criminal justice reform efforts. They later said publicly that there was no evidence to back up Mr. Comey's claim about the rise in violence. On Thursday, the president met with Mr. Comey in the Oval Office to discuss his views. The White House declined to describe the conversation.Just as liberals used to…
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Holidays in Two-Home Families
Whether it be because of divorce, children being born outside of marriage, or other non-traditional family structures, we have many clients with children whose parents and/or guardians are living in more than one home. This can be difficult for kids and families on typical days, but is especially difficult on holidays and other special occasions. Here we provide a few ideas for how to make the holidays a little better (and less stressful) for kids living in two-home families. Find another way to celebrate. If you don’t have your children for residential time on a holiday, find another way to celebrate the holiday. Sometimes that means cooking a Thanksgiving turkey on the Sunday preceding or following Thanksgiving Thursday. Sometimes it means, watching a (age appropriate) Halloween movie with your little one instead of getting to trick-or-treat with them. This can make your kids (that might otherwise feel like they lose out on having…
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We Should Tell Juries the Truth
Our government is supposed to be transparent. We have the federal Freedom of Information Act, and in Florida, we have Sunshine Laws. These laws provide citizens the ability to force our government to hand over information that they may not, otherwise, publish. If it wasn’t for FOIA requests, our world would have far fewer UFO and conspiracy books. Jesse Ventura wrote an entire book analyzing FOIA documents, and given our government’s shady ways, we should expect even more tantalizing documents in the years to come. Unfortunately, freedom of information is nonexistent in the criminal courtroom. Florida juries are not permitted to know the most basic truth of a case—the potential sentence. Kind of crazy, right? Citizens are not allowed to know the sentence that will result from their verdict out of fear that such information would sway the jury’s conscience toward not guilty (God forbid a jury…
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Next week's criminal law/procedure arguments
Issue summaries are from ScotusBlog, which also links to papers: Monday Foster v. Chatman: Whether the Georgia courts erred in failing to recognize race discrimination under Batson v. Kentucky in the extraordinary circumstances of this death penalty case. Tuesday Torres...
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Law Enforcement All Stars Gather for Connecticut Human Trafficking Summit at New Canaan’s Grace Farms
I can’t recall a legal seminar with so much legal horse power than this week’s upcoming summit on Human Trafficking and Child Trafficking sponsored by New Canaan’s Grace Farms Foundation’s Justice Initiative. If you’re from Fairfield County and you haven’t heard about what’s happening at Grace Farms, then you need to check it out. It’s a picturesque back-country sanctuary that offers a dynamic syllabus of social, educational and cultural programming. As for the lineup at this week’s Grace Farms Connecticut Human Trafficking seminar, it’s a who’s who of past and present state and federal law enforcement’s top attorneys, agents and officers who will be discussing the growing problem of Child/ Human Sex Trafficking in Connecticut and the United States. At this rare gathering, Connecticut state’s attorneys, United States attorneys, and chiefs of police will be convening at Grace Farms to share their…
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Drug Use, the Victimless Crime -- So Let's Have Softer Sentences!
The Washington Post supports a currently pending bill that would go easier or heroin pushers, but has the honesty to publish this story showing in heartbreaking detail the human damage these people bring about.Let's assume arguendo that pot sentences can sometimes be too harsh. What is the earthly excuse for voting to go easier on heroin dealers? Do our senators and representatives have no clue about the ongoing, deadly heroin epidemic? Or the ravages this drug causes even when it doesn't kill you? Or is it that they don't care? As long as those billionaire-funded political contributions keep coming in, hey, look, stuff happens.Read the story and decide for yourself whether now is the time to go soft on heroin dealers. It begins: When the judge entered the wood-paneled courtroom to begin the sentencing hearing this fall, 19-year-old Morgan Brittain was the only one who didn't stand. She remained seated in her wheelchair…
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Crash Westbound I-84 at the US-93 Junction
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 4 Patrol 218 West Yakima, Jerome, ID 83338-5904 (208) 324-6000 Fax (208) 324-7897 For Immediate Release: 11/01/15 9:18 AM Please direct questions to the District Office Idaho State Police is currently investigating a crash westbound I-84 at mile marker 173, near the US-93 and I-84 junction, in Jerome County. The right lane is blocked at this time. More information will be released as it becomes available. NG / JW -------------
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Use of Whistleblowers, Corporate Snitches, on the Rise, Says Department of Justice
The Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission, along with other federal regulatory agencies, are following the lead of traditional law enforcement agencies like FBI and DEA in the use of paid informants, also known as “whistle blowers.” Whistleblowers Paid Billions Whistle blowers have their place in encouraging corporate responsibility. However, the increased reliance on information provided by whistle blowers is concerning, given that not all individuals in the corporate world who report wrong doing do so with clean hands or pure motive. In fact, many whistleblowers are paid handsome fortunes, not to mention immunity from prosecution, for revealing their inside information, causing questions about their truthfulness and reliability. Lawmakers Pay Tribute to Whistleblowers Bipartisan lawmakers in Congress don’t see it that way. This past July in the Senate’s Kennedy Caucus Room, lawmakers staged a…
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Texas wouldn't comply with the 'Mandela Rules' on solitary - should it?
Grits this morning learned that last month new United Nations standards on solitary confinement and treatment of prisoners dubbed "the Mandela Rules" were adopted by the General Assembly. See here, here, here, and here.Here are the rules themselves. Though non-binding (and a lucky thing, since Texas doesn't come close to complying), they prohibit indefinite solitary confinement, like Texas uses for gang members, as well as "prolonged" solitary confinement, defined as more than 15 days. (Texas has been known to utilize solitary for a bit longer than that.) The new standards insist that solitary "shall be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review."Readers may recall that the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee has an interim charge related to reentry following solitary confinement (which in Texas is called administrative segregation). They're supposed to study…
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Sunday Open Thread
Russia now says the plane that crashed in Egypt broke apart high in the air. A bomb on board? ISIS still maintains it caused the plane to crash but it hasn't said how. The plane was in good shape. Metrojet Deputy Director Alexander Smirnov,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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How Much Does it Cost to File Bankruptcy?
It probably seems counter-intuitive that it costs money to file for bankruptcy. After all, don’t you file for bankruptcy when you have serious financial problems? While the answer to that questions is yes, there are still costs associated with filing for bankruptcy, a fact that surprises many Georgians when they try to complete this process on their own. Read on to learn more about the costs and fees for filing bankruptcy and how working with an experience attorney can help save you money during this process. Cost Consideration #1: The Bankruptcy Filing Fee As of November 1, 2015, it costs $335 to file a Chapter 7 case and $310 to file a Chapter 13 case. However, since the U.S. bankruptcy court could decide to increase or decrease these fees at any time, it is helpful to work with an attorney who can advise you on the current fee and make sure your case isn’t rejected because you provided the wrong fee. How Can My Attorney Help Me With This Fee? Your attorney can…
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2015.86: Texas First Amendment Update
In Ex Parte Fournier, the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected an actual-innocence claim from a guy who had gone to prison for violating Section 33.021(b). I hadn’t had a lot of hope for the actual-innocence claim—I figured the state would find a way to wire around the damage done to it by Ex Parte Lo so that it wouldn’t have to pay millions in civil claims. Judge Yeary dissented, joined by Judge Keller; they would hesitate to give Ex Parte Lo retroactive effect on the theory that there may have been some constitutional applications of the unconstitutional statute—some of the speech punished under Section 33.021(b) was not constitutionally protected. And indeed some of the speech punished under Section 33.021(b) was not constitutionally protected; that speech was forbidden under other statutes as well. The state chose to prosecute that speech under the easy-to-prove-and-unconstitutional Section 33.021(b) rather than under a…
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Petition for Return of a Firearm in Tampa and Hillsborough County, Florida
The requirements for a petition a motion for return of a firearm(s) in Hillsborough County, Florida, are set out in an administrative order. The Administrative Order S-2015-042, was signed by Chief Judge Ronald N. Ficarrotta on August 5, 2015. The order became effective on August 10, 2015.These requirements only apply if the firearm was seized pursuant to section 933.14(3), Florida Statutes, where no arrest was made and no case has been established in the court system related to the seizure of the firearm. Florida Statute Section 933.14 Return of property taken under search warrant.—(3) No pistol or firearm taken by any officer with a search warrant or without a search warrant upon a view by the officer of a breach of the peace shall be returned except pursuant to an order of a trial court judge.Law enforcement agencies often site this provision after they illegal seize a firearm even when no “breach of the peace” occurred. In many of these cases,…
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SCOTUS back in action with week full of criminal law arguments
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How Can I Avoid a Lewd Conduct Conviction in Los Angeles?
California Penal Code §647 lays out the many different scenarios in which a person can be charged for lewd conduct under the Penal Code. Under this code section, the most common charge an be found under CP §647(f), which reads in pertinent part as follows: “Who is found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any drug, controlled substance, toluene, or any combination of any intoxicating liquor, drug, controlled substance, or toluene, in a condition that he or she is unable to exercise care for his or her own safety or the safety of others, or by reason of his or her being under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any drug, controlled substance, toluene, or any combination of any intoxicating liquor, drug, or toluene, interferes with or obstructs or prevents the free use of any street, sidewalk, or other public way” There are some very important components to this charge. The following must be present: They must not be able to…
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UPDATE Crash Westbound I-84 at the US-93 Junction
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 4 Patrol 218 West Yakima, Jerome, ID 83338-5904 (208) 324-6000 Fax (208) 324-7897 For Immediate Release: 11/01/15 2:25 PM Please direct questions to the District Office ***** UPDATE ***** On Sunday, November 1, 2015, at approximately 8:47 AM, Idaho State Police investigated a property damage crash westbound I-84 near mile marker 173, near the US-93 and I-84 junction, in Jerome County. Ramon Diaz Sierra, 47, of Boise, was driving a 2016 Freightliner semi hauling one trailer. Diaz Sierra slowed for merging traffic; the trailer fish-tailed and went off the road. Diaz Sierra came back on the road, overcorrected, the vehicle over turned onto its side coming to rest in the right lane of travel. Diaz Sierra was wearing a seatbelt. The westbound right lane of travel is currently…
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Shucha on Sex Trafficking
Bonnie J. Shucha (University of Wisconsin Law School) has posted White Slavery in the Northwoods: Early U.S. Anti-Sex Trafficking and Its Continuing Relevance to Trafficking Reform (William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law, Vol. 23, Forthcoming) on SSRN....
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