This is the final part of a three part series on DC gun laws. In the first part, I discussed the current state of DC gun laws and how its important to challenge current gun charges on the basis of the law’s unconstitutionality. The second part discussed the process for attempting to withdraw a guilty plea on a gun conviction under the District’s old law and weighed the pros and cons of trying to withdraw a guilty plea. This final part discusses the class action lawsuit filed by Scrofano Law PC and the Law Office of William Claiborne. In Smith et al v. District of Columbia, we argue that after Palmer was decided, the District government should not have continued to prosecute gun offenses. We argue that the government’s prosecution of unconstitutional gun laws violated plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights. In addition, we argue that the seizure of guns violated the plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment rights. As previously…
DC Gun Laws Part III: Class Action Lawsuit
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Neue Entwicklung i.S. Negativzinsen
Das Steueramt des Kantons Zürich hat anfangs November 2015 mitgeteilt, dass es Negativzinsen auf Einlagen steuerlich zum Abzug zulassen wird. Begründet wird dies damit, dass Negativzinsen auf Einlagen bei Banken oder Sparkassen zwar nach wie vor nicht als Schuldzinsen betrachtet werden, jedoch als im Privatvermögen abzugsfähige Vermögensverwaltungskosten gelten. Die Abzugsfähigkeit wird gemäss Mitteilung klar auf Einlagen bei Banken und Sparkassen beschränkt. Allfällige Negativzinsen auf Staatsanleihen dürften im Privatvermögen nach wie vor steuerlich nicht abzugsfähig sein. So äusserte sich jedenfalls der schweizerische Bundesrates bzw. die Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung (ESTV) im Jahr 2012 im Rahmen eines parlamentarischen Vorstosses (vgl. Lawblogswitzerland.ch vom 5. März 2015). Dass Negativzinsen auf Guthaben steuerlich abzugsfähig sind, scheint auch für die Bundessteuern zu gelten. In der…
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HIPAA Audit - Learn From Recent $750,000 Settlement Between Medical Practice and HHS and OCR on Deficiencies in HIPAA Compliance After Data Breach
In our practice, we conduct HIPPA and HiTECH compliance audits for health care clients and business associates (companies that service health care companies). We also represent them when a HIPAA complaint has been filed or reported. We do this as a law firm since our communications are protected by the attorney-client privilege unlike regular consultants. Most small and mid-sized practices are not fully compliant and have not had audits. We go in, evaluate all existing policies and documents, create or revise a HIPAA compliance plan and employee handbook, document updated employee training, and peform a HIPAA HITECH initial audit which is confidential. We work on a flat fee that gets spread out over the year and includes phone calls, emails and meetings to avoid high hourly charges and encourages efficiencies. We help make sure that HIPAA is integrated into the culture.Some companies or practices have staff to implement changes and other times we perform them.…
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Brussels on Lockdown, Imminent and Specific Terror Threat
Brussels looks like a militarized war zone. It's on lockdown, the Metro has been closed. Authorities say there is a specific and immediate threat of a "Paris Style" attack. The still-at-large alleged Paris bomber, Saleh Abdeslam, 26.... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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DUI Manslaughter Defendant Fights for Third Trial in Two Appeals
A battle over blood evidence is one of just two fronts on which a polo club founder is fighting his conviction for DUI manslaughter, following a second trial over a fatal accident in Wellington that killed a 23-year-old recent engineering graduate. Defense attorneys for 52-year-old John Goodman, heir to a heating-and-cooling company and founder of the polo club magnate, argued recently before Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal that the blood evidence against him is not reliable. Because prosecutors leaned heavily on it during his second trial, they argue a new trial should be granted. He is also appealing his retrial conviction on other technicality grounds. Further, he is asking the state to give him “credit for time served” for the 368 days he spent on house arrest while his second trial was pending. Prosecutors are fighting back on each of these appeals. https://www.ansaralaw.com/dui.html Goodman was initially arrested and tried on charges of both DUI…
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What is a Probation Revocation Hearing?
If you are currently on probation in Las Vegas, Nevada, you probably know that any number of things can put you in violation. Committing another crime will surely do it. So will missing a date with your probation officer, refusing to submit to a compulsory drug test or failing to pay a court-ordered fine. Although the specifics of every case will vary, the consequences are always the same. The Aftermath of a Violation If you defy the terms of your probation, you’ll soon find yourself standing before a judge. Notice of this mandated appearance can arrive via a summons in your mailbox or a bench warrant for your arrest. If criminal activity has played a role, a member of law enforcement might hasten the process by taking you into custody. In any case, the magistrate before whom you appear will schedule a hearing to determine whether you have in fact violated your probation. While awaiting your revocation hearing, you must make a serious effort to honor your…
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Crash Being Investigated Just North of the Main Ramp to I15 from Blackfoot
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police District 5 5205 South 5th Ave. Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299 (208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068 For Immediate Release: November 21, 2015 at 1:25 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office Idaho State Police is currently investigating a crash on Interstate 15, near milepost 93, just north of the main Blackfoot exits. All lanes of travel are open at this time, however crews are working in the median, and vehicle recovery will take place soon. Further information will be released when it is available. do / jc -------------
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Charge of not registering as sex offender tossed against son of Iwo Jima flag-raising sculptor
11-21-15 Rhode Island: PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Prosecutors in Rhode Island have dropped a charge against the son of the sculptor who designed the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising sculpture. Byron de Weldon is a third-level sex offender with a history of child molestation charges. He was jailed in October because authorities believed he had failed to register as a sex offender as required. But
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Court Clarifies Confusion In Ohio Felony DUI/OVI Sentencing
Interpreting Ohio’s DUI/OVI sentencing law can be complicated. The sentencing statutes take up many pages in the Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.), and appellate courts have issued many decisions interpreting those statutes. One issue which has led to confusion is how a court is supposed to sentence a defendant convicted of felony OVI and a ‘repeat offender specification’. This issue is complicated enough that different appellate courts in different districts of Ohio have reached different conclusions. The Ohio Supreme Court recently acknowledged the conflict among the appellate courts and issued a decision which resolves the conflict and establishes one rule for the entire state. In State v. South, the defendant was convicted of third-degree felony OVI and was also convicted of the repeat offender specification. The trial court sentenced the defendant to five years in prison for the felony OVI and three years in prison for the repeat offender specification. The…
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Crash North of the Main Ramp to I15 from Blackfoot Sends One to Hospital
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police District 5 5205 South 5th Ave. Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299 (208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068 ***FINAL UPDATE***FINAL UPDATE***FINAL UPDATE*** For Immediate Release: November 21, 2015 at 3:50 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On November 21, 2015, at approximately 12:55 p.m., Idaho State Police investigated a one-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 15, near milepost 93, in Blackfoot, ID. Audrey L. Long, 22, of Round Rock, TX was driving southbound on Interstate 15 in a 2006 Kia. Long drove off the left shoulder of the road, came back onto the roadway and overcorrected, and again drove off the left shoulder, into the median. The vehicle rolled, then came to rest in the median, on its top. Long was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. She was transported by ground…
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Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard released as rare federal offender with parole conditions to challenge
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Saunders et al. on Psychological Indicators of Support for Stop-and-Frisk
Ben Saunders , Noah Paul Cohen , Elspeth Kelly and Christopher Guarino (Long Island University - Brooklyn , Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , Long Island University and Long Island University) on Right-Wing Authoritatianism and Social Dominance Orientation...
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Latest BJS official data show reduction of offenders on probation and parole
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Selbstleseverfahren, Band 137
Immer wieder sonntags: Unsere Lesetipps der vergangenen Woche im Selbstleseverfahren Foto: PlaceIt.net Das soll Recht sein? Die letzten Romantiker unter den Juristen Die zweifelhafte Strategie des neuen Zschäpe-Verteidigers „Man kann jeden Rückfall eines Straftäters verhindern“ Versuchter Mord am Steuer Staatsanwalt auf der Anklagebank Kriminologe Pfeiffer: Computerspiele möglicherweise für Pariser Attentate verantwortlich Drogenbrief landet beim Anwalt Strafvereitelung durch den Verteidiger wegen verspäteter Aktenrückgabe? Abzocke hinter Gittern? Und dann war da noch dieses Video, bei dem ich mich frage, ob das ernst gemeint sein soll: --- Hinweis: Wir haben unsere Feed-Adresse aktualisiert: http://www.strafakte.de/feed/ Bitte aktualisieren Sie die Adresse demnächst in Ihrem Feed-Reader, um sicherzustellen, dass Sie auch weiterhin den Feed erhalten. © Strafakte.de: Twitter - Facebook…
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Orleans Parish Public Defender Says “No More”
The conundrum is one that no public defender wants to admit exists. Not that they don’t know it exists, but they just don’t want to admit it, because it’s contrary to every sense of duty the pulses through their being. They are there to help the indigent, to be their protectors, and the very idea of turning a poor defendant away is anathema. But, as is clear from a cold, detached perspective, there is no other choice when society doesn’t carry its responsibility, and shifts it onto the public defenders. When there is no good option, their duty is to select the bad option. Claiming that its staff is too undermanned and overworked to provide constitutionally adequate legal defense to indigent clients, the Orleans Parish Public Defenders office on Friday (Nov. 20) asked a judge to stop appointing new criminal cases to its lawyers “as soon as possible.” Deputy District Defender Jee Park made the bombshell request before Judge…
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Affirmative Action In Execution
Trigger Warning: Facts ahead that will traumatize people who can’t stand facts that don’t comport with their emotional beliefs. The numbers don’t lie. The black-white gap is 15 points when measured on the Wechsler tests, 18 on the Stanford-Binet. Both tests are, of course, normed so as to produce an average of 100, but the white average is a bit higher. On the Wechsler metric, whites and blacks average 102 and 87, respectively. On both tests, the gap between the races is almost exactly 1 SD (standard deviation). The gap of 1 SD has been observed since the earliest days of intelligence testing. This gap is uncontestable. The value of its message, and the causes for the gap, are an entirely different matter, and one that has been the subject of huge debate since Charles Murray wrote The Bell Curve. It will not be debated here. Then why raise it? Because, my dear SJWs, your response to these numbers is coming around to bite you in…
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NIJ on 'Sentinel Event Reviews'
Grits' new contributing writer Jennifer Laurin recently informed readers about "sentinel event" research, which aims to discover the source of system errors, in the context of Texas' Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission. So I was pleased to learn from The Crime Report that earlier this month, "the [National Institute of Justice] Sentinel Event Initiative Team released Paving the Way: Lessons Learned in Sentinel Event Reviews, a report on the lessons learned by three pioneering 'beta sites.'" The document focuses not on the policy lessons learned in those jurisdictions but the structures and processes they engaged in to analyze them. See an earlier NIJ report on sentinel review.Several prominent people have praised Prof. Laurin's earlier post to me, incidentally; it's gotten a lot of folks thinking, so I wanted to at least put the NIJ links in front of readers. The next meeting of Texas exoneration commission is on December…
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Fem Faux Failure And The Rape Tape
That the judge’s order was understandable. If the prosecution had the video, the defense was entitled to it as well. It was, without question, Giglio material, evidence that could be used to challenge the credibility of a prosecution witness. And it did, without question, “re-victimize” Lara McLeod, assuming she was victimized in the first place. A Virginia court ruled this week that a four-year-old videotape depicting what a woman says is her rape will be handed over to the defense team in an upcoming capital murder trial, even though the woman says the video was recorded without her consent. Lara McLeod, now 24, is not a witness and will not testify in the trial, which is slated for January 2016. The video was evidence in a case that was expunged two years ago. Under Virginia law, it’s illegal to record someone having sex without their consent. But a judge ruled on Wednesday that the defense team had the right to view the video…
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Senior Judge Admonished for Facebook Posts
Hard to believe that a Senior Judge in Minnesota would post frank comments about cases he was hearing on his Facebook page, even though he believed only his 80 “Friends”, made up of family and close associates, would see them. However, the posts were available for all the world to see and Judge Edward W. Bearse, who has an exemplary record, was formally reprimanded this month by the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards, the Board noting that even to disseminate his private views to his family and friends was unacceptable. In the evening, after the first day of trial in a case alleging the accused had engaged in sex trafficking, Judge Bearse wrote: “Some things I guess will never change. I just love doing the stress of jury trials. In a Felony trial now State prosecuting a pimp. Cases are always difficult because the women (as in this case also) will not cooperate. We will see what the 12 citizens in the jury box do.” Three days later the accused was…
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Fighting Your Connecticut Threatening Arrest with the First Amendment
Has political correctness finally taken over the Connecticut criminal court system? It seems like the moment someone posts or says something just a little bit offensive, a social media cycle of condemnation, criticism and contempt immediately follows. This PC bandwagon mentality has spilled over into Connecticut law enforcement where Stamford, Greenwich, Westport and Darien police are quick to make arrests for Threatening in the Second Degree whenever an exchange of harsh or aggressive words are spoken, written, posted, texted or emailed. I’m not talking about language like “I’m going to murder you and your family tomorrow with my gun.” I’m talking about equivocal language, hyperbolic language, and offensive and inappropriate joking around. As the best Stamford and Greenwich Connecticut lawyers will tell you, there was a time when the First Amendment protected people from arrests in Connecticut. Not anymore. Now it’s…
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