Although the law is relatively unknown to the general public, MN Statute 609.913 actually makes the execution of April Fools Day pranks (as well as pranks practiced during the rest of the year) illegal under a certain set of circumstances. Every April, thousands of Minnesotans are unknowingly breaking the law and risking imprisonment for up [...]The post MN Statute Outlawing Pranks is Unconstitutional appeared first on The Appelman Law Firm Law Blog
MN Statute Outlawing Pranks is Unconstitutional
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Democracy Now Examines Duane Buck Case
"Prosecutor Seeks Stay of Execution for Texas Prisoner Duane Buck, Sentenced to Death for Being Black," is the Democracy Now report with Amy Goodman. There is audio at the link. Although Duane Buck’s guilt is not in question for the...
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High Bail Set For Massachusetts Woman Charged With Motor Vehicle Homicide
Kathleen Allen, a twenty three year old Middleboro, Massachusetts woman was held on one hundred thousand dollars bail after her arraignment in the Wareham District Court. It is alleged that Allen was high on Heroin and Operating Under the Influence...
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Monday Open Thread
I'll be busy at work the rest of the day. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.
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Anaheim Man Arrested for Irvine Gun and Drug Crimes
Irvine, Orange County - An Anaheim man was arrested for gun crimes and drug charges in Irvine on Friday. Following a three month in investigation police say Anthony Risberg, 37, was arrested on suspicion of drug sales and illegal weapon...
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International Innocence Round-up: April 1, 2013
A BBC article on the problems of using informants focuses on US practice, but has implications for other countries. This includes Singapore, where those who are facing drug trafficking charges can escape the death penalty by providing police with information. Phil Locke, science and technology advisor to the Ohio Innocence Project and Duke Wrongful Convictions Clinic, blogs about the phenomenon of "trial by website" in the Amanda Knox case. The Innocence Network UK held their spring conference on March 22 in London. Scientific and legal experts gave presentations on innocence-related topics while representatives from Innocence Projects from around the UK gave updates on their cases. Miscarriages of Justice UK launched a website to highlight wrongful convictions in the United Kingdom.
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Unanimous SCOTUS summary reversal of Ninth Circuit on right-of-appoint-counsel
A long day of meetings has meant it has taken me nearly all day to note today's notable Sixth Amendment ruling from the Supreme Court in Marshall v. Rodgers, No. 12-382 (S. Ct. Apr. 1, 2013) (available here). The Rodgers...
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Rapper “Too Short” Will Not Face Meth Charges
Rapper Todd Anthony “Too Short” Shaw was arrested in Los Angeles for driving under the influence and for possessing meth. According to a Fox News report, Los Angeles prosecutors have dropped the possession charges related to the March 20 incident. The Los Angeles District Attorney dropped the meth charge against the West Coast rapper but has sent the drunk driving charge for review to the city attorney. The rapper's agent told CNN that any trace of meth on Shaw must have come from the "dirty patrol car" which he was forced to travel in.
Shaw could still face charges for drunk driving as he allegedly had a blood alcohol content level of .09, which is slightly over the legal limit. Under California law, anyone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level or higher will face DUI penalties.
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Watch: Arizona Arson Case Featured on 60 Minutes
Sunday night's episode of CBS' 60 Minutes featured a segment on Louis Taylor, a man who was wrongfully convicted of setting the 1970 Pioneer Hotel fire in Tucson, Arizona which took the lives of 29 people. Taylor, who is represented by the Arizona Justice Project, has maintained his innocence for more than 40 years. On the night of the fire, 16-year-old Taylor arrived at the hotel to attend a Christmas party. He was arrested shortly after by police who claimed he had set the fire as a distraction so he could burglarize hotel rooms. The fire science that was used by investigators in 1970 that led them to label the fire as arson has changed significantly. The Arizona Justice Project continues to focus on the flawed fire science at the heart of the case. In the episode, fire science expert John Lentini explains the limitations of fire investigation to 60 Minutes.
"It has been very common for people to start with the proposition that the fire is set. If they can't find an innocent cause for it, they say, well somebody must have set it. That presumes that we're good enough fire investigators that we can find the cause of every fire and that's simply not true."
Watch the full episode.
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California figures out GPS tracking won't work if GPS trackers don't work
The silly tilte to this post is prompted by this notable lengthy story from the Los Angeles Times, which carries the following headline and sub-heading: "Tests found major flaws in parolee GPS monitoring devices: One company's devices were deemed so...
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Opinion rejecting Ninth Circuit's approach to requests for counsel after waiver
The per curiam opinion in Marshall v. Rodgers concludes that the Ninth Circuit misapplied AEDPA by finding "clearly established Federal law" by examining Circuit precedent rather than Supreme Court authorities.
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Supreme Court: Warrant needed for drug dog used on private property
Police officers in Miami, Florida, got a tip in December 2006 that a person was likely engaged in a marijuana growing operation in his home. An officer and a trained police dog went up to the resident's front door, where...
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St. Louis Judge Throws Out Speeding Camera Ticket
In an important ruling that could possibly spell the end for Missouri speeding cameras, a judge in St. Louis County ruled that the speed camera tickets issued by Moline Acres conflict with state law. The judge's ruling could be important because it could sway other judges who are presented with the question of ruling on the validity of a speed camera ticket.
Experts believe the case, involving a speeding ticket for local radio host Charlie Brennan, may be the first of its kind. Brennan was ticketed for going 56 miles per hour in a 40 miles per hour zone while driving along Highway 367. Brennan's attorney appealed the ticket, arguing that Moline Acres lacked the necessary authority to dispense such tickets for an offense that has already been prohibited by state law.
While other challenges have been brought regarding red light camera tickets, this may be the first to challenge the speeding cameras. Some think the ruling indicates that speed cameras could be on shaky legal ground and might become significantly easier to challenge in the future.
St. Louis County Associate Circuit Judge Mary Bruntrager Schroeder sided with Brennan and his attorney in the dispute, writing that speed cameras are different than red light cameras which have been allowed under certain circumstances. Those circumstances include only those cases where red light cameras issue tickets that are treated as civil offenses, not criminal acts. For instance, a city that cites a vehicle for driving through a red light, not the driver, avoids making the offense a moving violation, which is already governed by state law.
Judge Schroeder pointed out the flaw in trying to have speed cameras follow the same path: by virtue of the act itself, speeding citations involve moving violations. Judge Schroeder wrote that, "It would seem impossible and a violation of the laws of physics to have speed without motion."
The decision is an important one because at least 13 cities in St. Louis County currently use speed cameras. Though the ruling does not have enough force to automatically invalidate that usage, it does leave many wondering what kind of justification those municipalities will come up with to avoid having their speed camera tickets thrown out of court in the future.
If you've had a run in with the law and find yourself in need of a Missouri criminal defense lawyer capable of aggressively protecting your interests, contact our St. Louis criminal defense law firm today at (314) 863-0500.
Source: "St. Louis County Judge Throws Out Speeding Camera Ticket," by Allison Blood, published at StLouis.CBSLocal.com.
See Our Related Blog Posts:Metal Scrap Theft Ring Targeting St. Louis Trash BinsTwo UMSL Students Arrested for Library Book Theft
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The House I Live In | Documentary about America's War on Drugs | Independent Lens | PBS
The House I Live In | Documentary about America's War on Drugs | Independent Lens | PBS
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Interesting split Fourth Circuit finds police lies made subsequent plea involuntary
The Fourth Circuit today has a very interesting split panel opinion that might be seen as an example, at least by the defense bar, of bad facts making for good plea agreement law. Here is how the majority opinion in...
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"James Holmes' Victims Applaud Death Penalty Plan: 'I Want Him Dead'"
The title of this post is the notable headline of this ABC News report on the (not-very-surprising) decision today by Colorado prosecutors to seek the death penalty for mass murderer James Holmes. Here are excerpts: Friends of Aurora shooting victims...
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Macy's Employee At SouthPark Mall Charged With Embezzlement :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer
Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: "What is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony?"
An employee of Macy's in Charlotte's SouthPark Mall was charged yesterday with embezzling more than $2,000 from the department store. The woman, Shamika Freeman, 27, was arrested over the weekend and later released from Mecklenburg jail on a $3,000 bond.
The woman was a cashier at Macy's and was questioned by company officials after they uncovered a series of suspicious transactions on her terminal. Managers at the store decided to inform policy after failing to resolve the situation and called Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Saturday afternoon.
The woman admitted to Macy's management that she had made 17 fake refund transactions since last September. The cashier told her bosses that she knew in each case that the items that were being returned had never actually been paid for. The cashier then returned the items and placed the money on store gift cards and gave the gift cards to a currently unknown person.
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Embezzlement is a kind of property crime. It happens when a person, who has been entrusted to manage or monitor someone else's money or property, steals all or part of that money or property for their own personal gain. The key to charging someone with embezzlement is that the person had legal access to another's money or property, but not legal ownership of it.
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Embezzlement is a kind of property crime. It happens when a person, who has been entrusted to manage or monitor someone else's money or property, steals all or part of that money or property for their own personal gain. The key to charging someone with embezzlement is that the person had legal access to another's money or property, but not legal ownership of it.
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California Court Funding
The court system has suffered profound funding losses in the past several years. Year after year the legislature cuts the court's funding until now it has reached crisis proportions. Layoffs of court personnel have caused delays in access to the court by the public. Delays will soon turn into denial of services. Entire courthouses have been shuttered in an effort to live within the funds allowed. Civil trials have been postponed to allow the waiting criminal trials to take precedence in the few available courtrooms.
Funding the court system isn't very popular with politicians. After all, when politicians overstep their authority where does the public go to put a stop to excess? The courts are the answer to many societal problems. Where does a civil society settle their individual grievances? It's the court system that is the glue which holds a civilized society together. The failure to adequately fund the court system won't just deny criminal defendants their Constitutional Rights but will add to the breakdown of society. What will people do when they don't have access to a forum to solve their problems?
The California State Legislature must find the money to fund the system adequately. That means in their eyes, the court system needs to be a priority, not just a necessary evil. We will all be very much poorer if the recent trend of cutting the court's funding continues.
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Yo Ho Yo Ho The Pirate’s Life For Me
In a recent discussion amongst criminal-defense lawyers about the murder of the Kaufman County District Attorney, and whether we would represent the person charged with the murder (assuming that anyone ever is—my bet is that the murderers will never get caught, though a patsy may be), one of the brethren predicted that whoever took the [...]
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Traffic Infractions Most LIkely To Get You Pulled Over
According to a study by Edmonds.com, in which they polled three police agencies, there are several traffic violations which police departments specifically look to issue tickets for. So if you are trying to avoid being pulled over on a traffic infraction, this article is for you.
Speeding
The police are always focused on stopping drivers who are speeding due to the safety of the drivers, their passengers, and the occupants of other cars on the road. According to Edmonds, for every one hundred additional speeding tickets issued per month, there are 14.3 fewer accidents and 5.6 fewer injuries. Fines are frequently heavy on speeding infractions, particularly in school zones, in active construction areas and on infractions for more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. Annually, thirty four million tickets are issued for excessive speed, so it would be wise to slow down. In New York, under the Vehicle & Traffic Law, drivers who are convicted of going between 1 and 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit receive 3 points on their license, and for drivers driving between 11 and 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, that is a four point ticket. Driving 21-30 m.p.h. over the limit is a 6 point infraction, and 31-40 over is an 8 point infraction. Keep in mind that any driver with 11 points on their license will have their license suspended by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Distracted Driving
Distracted driving includes driving on a hand held cell phone, texting while driving, sending or receiving emails while driving, personal grooming while driving, drowsy driving and attending to young children in the back seat. Texting while driving is obviously a huge societal problem, but it appears to be most significant among younger drivers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 40% of teens admit that they were in a car being operated by a driver either texting or using a smart phone. A conviction or plea of guilty to texting while driving, sending or receiving emails while driving or using a hand held cell phone will also lead to 3 points on your driver’s license.
Following Too Closely and Unsafe Lane Changes
The Edmonds study found that these two traffic infractions were of equal importance to police departments than many other traffic violations. However, under the New York State Vehicle & Traffic Law, an operator convicted of following too closely receives 4 points on their license, and an unsafe lane change conviction leads to 3 points on their driver’s license. Unsafe lane changes that the police look for, according to Edmonds, include cutting another driver off, veering into another lane, and moving into another lane without looking.
Equipment Violations
Equipment violations are easy tickets for officers to issue because there is no judgment involved. Younger drivers should be aware that excessive window tint is an obvious violation that the police are looking for and will not overlook. From an officer’s perspective, too much window tint creates a safety issue in that the officer cannot see what is happening inside the vehicle. Other equipment violations which are easy marks are broken tail lights, broken windshields and expired inspection stickers.
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