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New Jersey Criminal Defense Attorney For Unlawful Taking Of Means Of Conveyance (N.J.S.A. 2C:20-10)

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Charges of stealing a vehicle can be extremely serious, and in New Jersey they will often be prosecuted under the Unlawful Taking of Means of Conveyance (N.J.S.A. 2C:20-10) statute. Under the law, it is a crime to take or operate another person’s vehicle without their consent and with intent to temporarily withhold it from them, or to enter or ride in a vehicle you know has been taken unlawfully. When the vehicle is not a motor vehicle, the charge is a disorderly persons offense with a maximum sentence of six months. When the vehicle is a motor vehicle, the charge becomes a crime of the fourth degree, with a maximum sentence of eighteen months. It is also a crime of the fourth degree to enter or ride in a vehicle that you know has been unlawfully taken. If an unlawfully taken vehicle is operated in a manner that creates a risk to another person, you will be charged at the third degree level, with a maximum sentence of three to five years. The dangers of conviction…

Edwin Wesley of West Palm Beach, Florida Charged With Sexual Battery on a Teenage Boy

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Edwin Wesley of West Palm Beach, Florida is accused and charged with sexually battery on a 17-year-old boy. The former youth counselor is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail. News reports did not specify a lawyer for Wesley. According to news sources, Wesley, 53, allegedly lured a teenage boy to his West Palm Beach apartment by telling him he needed to take urine drug test. The police report says the teen didn’t think the request was unusual because he was sometimes required to give urine tests after a court appearance. Police deputies handling the case said that once the teen was in the apartment, Wesley allegedly led him to his bedroom where he purportedly forced himself on him and performed oral sex without the teen’s consent. Wesley denies all the allegations and told police that it was the teen who initiated the sexual contact between them. Before his arrest, Wesley was an employee at the Gulfstream Goodwill Industries, where he…

The Use of “Confidential Informants” in Michigan

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In their attempt to apprehend wrongdoers, police will sometimes employ the use of confidential informants, or “CIs” as they are often called. Confidential informants are, by definition, anonymous. They are citizens who choose to help police by giving them information about either recent events or upcoming events. Of course, since they are confidential and cannot be brought into court, the veracity, or truthfulness, of the information confidential informants provide is always a concern. Confidential informants are used by police in a number of different ways. In some cases, a police officer will develop a relationship with someone they encounter while conducting surveillance of a neighborhood or investigating a crime. Other times, an officer will arrest someone, and that person will make a deal to provide the officer with information in exchange for leniency. The information a confidential informant provides is viewed with skepticism by the…

Field Sobriety Tests Are Voluntary in Maine

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If a police officer suspects that you're operating under the influence (OUI), they'll pull you over and try to get evidence to build a case against you. In the events leading up to the traffic stop, and during the traffic stop itself, everything that the officer does is for the singular purpose of justifying an arrest. Two key tools that police officers have at their disposal to arrest you for OUI, are field sobriety tests and a breathalyzer test. By asking you to perform either of these tests, the police officer can get crucial evidence that you've been drinking and more importantly, driving under the influence. However, there's one important difference between a breathalyzer test and field sobriety tests: Breath tests are mandatory, with consequences if you refuse to take one, while field sobriety tests (at least in Maine) are voluntary. Field Sobriety Tests Are Voluntary Field sobriety tests are voluntary because, according to Maine law, “if there…

'No Place for Old Men': Incarcerating the elderly

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The rising number of elderly prisoners, the associated escalating health care costs, and the strange disconnect between incarcerating the elderly and the ostensible public safety goal of prison, are issues about which professionals in the field have long been aware but the public, for the most part, simply isn't aware. At the Texas Observer, Dick Reavis has a story titled "No Place for Old Men," which included this notable excerpt:The state of Texas operates 109 prisons holding about 148,000 inmates. Some 27,000 of them are, like Alonzo, over the age of 50. They account for about 18 percent of the prison population, and are the fastest-growing demographic group among prisoners. By most estimates, they are also the most expensive to keep under lock and key. According to TDCJ spokesman Robert Hurst, the average cost of housing Texas inmates is about $20,000 a year, but medical and end-of-life expenses hike that figure to some $30,000 for elderly inmates. In…

Under-the-Influence Mom Makes Underage Daughter Drive

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Underage drinking and driving often go hand-in-hand in Los Angeles DUI cases. But what if the driver is underage and the person who has been drinking is the one who ordered her to drive? A 911 caller in Polk County, Wisconsin, alerted police to a car moving erratically along a local road. Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Hahn caught up with the vehicle at a public boat launch and went over to the car, probably expecting to find a driver operating the vehicle under the influence. What he found instead was a 9-year-old girl at the wheel; she had apparently driven the car for miles. Her mother, Amanda Eggert, and the mother’s boyfriend, Jason Roth, were reportedly sitting in the car intoxicated. The girl’s 11-month-old sibling sat strapped into a car seat. That wasn’t the end of the story, however. The deputy had gotten the woman and children out of the car when Jason Roth turned the vehicle off but neglected to put it into park. The vehicle started backwards down…

Case o' The Week: Guidelines "Steer" Ninth's Decision - Cruz-Mendez and "Captain / Pilot" Enhancement

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Michael, row your boat ashore.   Hallelujah.Base offense plus two more.  Hallelujah.United States v. Cruz-Mendez, 2016 WL 360723 (9thCir. Jan. 27, 2016), decision available here.  Players:Decision by visiting District Judge Michael Posner, joined by Judges Rawlinson and Nguyen. Hard-fought appeal by Ass’t Fed. Defender Sara Weinman, Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. Facts: From the air Custom and Border agents saw a panga off of Ensenada, heading north towards the States. Id. at *1. They saw bales of “suspected narcotics” in the open hull – the panga was stopped and searched and agents found thirty-one bales of marijuana. Id. Cruz-Mendez was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, on a vessel. Id.Cruz-Mendez was on supervised release for transporting undocumented aliens on a vessel. Id. He pleaded guilty, and there was a consolidated sentencing hearing for the marijuana charge and the…

Should States Lower the BAC Limit for DUI Charges?

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In 2004, Delaware became the last state to set 0.08 as the blood alcohol limit for DUI charges. (California was a decade ahead of the pack; police could arrest anyone with a BAC of 0.08 for a DUI in Los Angeles beginning in 1990.) But the National Transportation Board is saying that limit isn’t low enough. Included on its “Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements in 2016” is its desire to “end substance impairment in transportation.” That includes adopting a 0.05 BAC as the national standard for DUI. The NTSB points out that one-third of all highway deaths in the last 15 years involve an alcohol-impaired driver. It says that, “When it comes to alcohol use, we know that impairment begins before a person’s BAC reaches 0.08 percent, the current legal limit in the United States. In fact, by the time it reaches that level, the risk of a fatal crash has more than doubled. That is why states should lower BAC levels to 0.05—…

Can I be Charged for Hindering an Apprehension?

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Unless you’re being charged with it yourself, the expression “hindering an apprehension” may be unfamiliar to you. This crime deals entirely with impeding the ability of law enforcement to capture a criminal. The charge is more common than many people think, and it is the reason Tonya Couch, mother of the so-called affluenza teen, ultimately found herself behind bars. What Hindering Apprehension Really Means Depending on the specifics of the case, hindering an apprehension can occur in one of two ways. The first has to do with destroying or suppressing evidence to cover up a crime. If you have any information that would assist law enforcement in apprehending an alleged criminal, you will commit a crime yourself if you try to conceal it by twisting or altering the facts in any way. Examples include efforts to: Provide false information. Influence a potential informant. Tamper with a witness. Hide or destroy incriminating evidence. The second form of hindering…

Rosenbloom on Policing Sex, Policing Immigrants

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Rachel E. Rosenbloom (Northeastern University - School of Law) has posted Policing Sex, Policing Immigrants: What Crimmigration's Past Can Tell Us About Its Present and Its Future (California Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The flow of...

Auto-Brewery Syndrome as a Defense to DUI Charges

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Defense to DUI Charges Every so often on the news there will be a report about a person beating drunk driving charges due to unusual medical conditions. One such condition is known as auto-brewery syndrome, where the gut holds an unusual amount of yeast, which can cause the gut to act like a fermentor. A woman in New England recently used a diagnosis of this rare medical condition as a defense to DUI charges according to an article in the ABA Journal. Woman With Auto-Brewery Syndrome had BAC Four Times Legal Limit The woman in question was pulled over by police after another driver reported her as weaving in and out of traffic. She submitted to a Breathalyzer test and blew a 0.33 blood alcohol concentration (BAC), which is more than four times the legal limit. With a BAC that is four times the legal limit, you might think the woman would be incapacitated. However, because the onset of this particular condition is slow, the person with the condition builds up a tolerance to high…

Florida Police Officer Did Not Have a Right to Search Vehicle of Suspect on Probation

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In Florida, a person who is on probation for a crime does lose some of his/her constitutional rights. For instance, any other person has the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in his/her home. This means that a police officer or other agent of the state cannot normally enter a person's home without valid consent from the owner or a search warrant. When a person commits a crime and goes on probation, his/her constitutional rights are often compromised. For instance, a condition of probation may be that the defendant's probation officer is allowed to show up to the defendant's house unannounced and come inside to search. The idea is that a probation officer is allowed to take steps to make sure a person on probation is following the conditions of probation, and a person who commits a crime and goes on probation forfeits some of his/her rights to privacy during the probationary period. However, this does not extend to all of a…

DUI in Minnesota – What You Can Expect During Booking

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Being arrested and taken to the police station can be a nerve-racking experience, especially if it is your first time in handcuffs. The vast majority of people don’t know what to expect in the wake of a DUI offense, but a new video from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety walks viewers through what happens after you’ve been arrested for drinking and driving. Check out the video below, or read the abbreviated summary of events underneath the video. What to Expect After a DUI As shown in the video, here’s what you can expect to happen after you’ve been arrested for driving under the influence in Minnesota. 1. The video starts by showing the offender being brought to the police department in the back of a squad car. 2. After the suspect arrives, they are searched by a police officer for drugs, weapons or any other objects. 3. The suspect is then read the Implied Consent law, and the suspect if given the opportunity to contact legal representation.…

The Wages of Early Release Is Death

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The beat goes on for sentencing "reform," which, for the umpteenth time, actually means sentencing reduction and early release for hard drug traffickers.  We saw recently in the Wendell Callahan child murders what early release actually means.  Just to be clear, what it means is this: The powerful --  the legislators, lawyers and judges who make early release possible  --  go to congratulatory dinners at their posh clubs, while the powerless  --  little children who get in the way of the traffickers released early  --  go to the morgue.Since this is an inconvenient story to the powerful and their friends running the press, it gets deep-sixed.  There has yet to be a single story in the national media about the Wendell Callahan triple murder scandal.  Imagine, if you will, what the press explosion would have been if, when Callahan was slitting throats, he had been a policeman rather than an early-released drug…

Special Sentencing Rules

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Aside from a few notable exceptions (impaired driving, drug trafficking, and first-degree murder), most North Carolina crimes are sentenced under Structured Sentencing. Some crimes have additional sentencing wrinkles—a kind of Structured Sentencing plus—that kick in by statute. Today’s post is a noncomprehensive list of some of the most common offense-specific sentencing provisions. Statutory rape (G.S. 14-27.23) or sexual offense (G.S. 14-27.28) by an adult. These are Class B1 felonies, but with a 300-month mandatory minimum sentence and mandatory lifetime satellite-based monitoring. The statutes also provide for a sentence of up to life without parole with findings of “egregious aggravation,” but that provision is almost certainly unconstitutional as written, as discussed here. Secretly peeping (G.S. 14-202). For a first conviction, the court may impose a requirement that the defendant obtain a psychological evaluation and comply with any…

Nice old lady or Florida drug kingpin?

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The Smoking Gun website has a brief blurb about a wheelchair-bound lady who was one of the main heroin dealers for a Florida gang! Sweet 74-year-old Ruth Perez-Lopez was the largest heroin dealer for a local drug ring known for selling cocaine, prescription pills and marijuana.  According to the police, the lady sold her drugs in a fortified Orlando-area house featuring reinforced doors, high tech security and plenty of firearms. Ms. Perez-Lopez was arrested after the culmination of a year-long state and federal operation.  The name?  Operation “Deals on Wheels” of course! Perez-Lopez was arrested for heroin trafficking and conspiracy, both of which are felonies. As of this writing she is being held in the Orange County lockup in lieu of $650,000 bond. Police are estimating that Ruth sold two kilos of heroin per month out of the Orlando home she shared with two co-defendants. LEGAL ANALYSIS As mentioned before, drug trafficking carries with it a…

CAN YOU REFUSE TO GIVE A DNA SAMPLE IN AN ILLINOIS CRIMINAL CASE?

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Generally, the answer is yes. Under Illinois case law, extracting your DNA is a search within the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, police must have either a warrant or probable cause before forcing you to submit it. Otherwise, you may voluntarily refuse to provide a sample. See People v Ealy. Because your right to refuse to give a sample is constitutionally protected, the state may not use your refusal to show that you had consciousness of guilt at trial. Once police have arrested you, they may take a cheek swab. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that such a swab is no more intrusive than taking fingerprints or mugshots and can be done as part of a booking procedure. See Marilyn v King. If you have been charged with a criminal offense, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately. An attorney can review your case to help present the best possible defense. If police acted illegally, an attorney may be able to petition the court to have any illegally collected…

What Scalia Meant to the Law

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The New York Post today printed an op-ed that pinpoints as well as I have seen Justice Scalia's most important legacy to the law.Its key passage is this:[H]is most...enduring contribution was to re-establish the view that the Constitution is a form of law -- that its meaning, like that of other legal texts, is knowable, that understanding its meaning starts with reading what it says, and that it's the job of judges to read it, figure it out and follow it.Back when Justice Scalia first joined the high court, law school professors and justices almost uniformly believed no person of even ordinary intelligence could hold such a naïve view. Rather, they proclaimed that the Constitution's meaning was largely indeterminate, that the justices themselves created its meaning.Justice Scalia changed this dramatically. When one of the nation's most powerful intellects, and one of the greatest writers to ever sit on the Supreme Court, took the view that the…

Information for the Friends and Family of Inmates at Robert Presley Detention Center

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The Robert Presley Detention Center of Riverside, California temporarily houses inmates who are awaiting an arraignment, those waiting to be released on their own recognizance, or inmates waiting to post bail. We have compiled the following information for friends and family members of inmates of Robert Presley Detention Center. How to Post Bail Bail is essentially collateral to ensure a defendant appears in court. Rather than remain in county jail until an arraignment, individuals may pay a sum based on the severity of their crimes to be released. If they successfully appear at all required court dates, the bail money is paid back after the case concludes. The bail money is forfeited should they fail to attend any required court hearing. Any individual who wishes to pay bail for the release of a friend or loved one may do so in the lobby of Robert Presley Detention Center with a single payment for the total amount. Most people can’t afford to pay an entire bail amount at…

Medical Marijuana in Georgia?

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Lawyers David Clark and Jessica Towne watch the slow unfolding of Georgia’s medical marijuana legislation with great interest. David Clark helped start Georgia NORML and served as its first Executive Director, and both regularly defend clients with possession charges. Back in the spring of 2014 Ms. Towne’s blog asked: “When will Georgia get medical marijuana?” Her guess back then: it’s going to be a slow process. Sadly, she’s been proven right. A brief history of medical marijuana in Georgia 2014: Governor Deal champions Haleigh’s Hope, an Act to legalize the use of prescription marijuana THC oil for certain medical conditions. It’s not until 2015 that Georgians are finally allowed to use this oil to treat severe forms of eight (just 8!) illnesses. The rules only allow for the use of THC oil, not for its manufacture in Georgia, so patients must travel to other states to get the oil. As the patients only have permission to use…
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