According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, three men fled from the vehicle they were traveling in during a traffic stop in Framingham earlier this week. The article states that the police pulled the car over for a traffic violation on Hollis Street. Although the driver initially pulled the car over, he then restarted the vehicle and attempted to get away from the police. The driver cut through the Tedeschi’s parking lot and turned down an alleyway next to Auto Brite Car Wash. The alley, however, is a dead end and the three men were trapped. Officers ordered the driver and the two passengers out of the car and proceeded to search it. The police recovered nearly three ounces of marijuana and several digital scales. All three of the men were arrested. The driver was charged with failure to stop for police, driving with a suspended license, driving to endanger, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, and conspiracy. The two passengers were charged…
Three Arrested in Framingham with Three Ounces of Marijuana
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Napa Gastroenterologist Agrees To Pay $400,000 To Settle Allegations That He Upcoded Patient Visits and Unbundled Conoloscopy Charges To The Medicare Program
On or about April 1, 2016 Dr. Ali S. Vaziri, a gastroenterologist in private practice in Napa, California, agreed (without admitting any liability) to pay the United States $400,000 to settle allegations that he submitted false claims for reimbursement to the Medicare program in violation of the False Claims Act.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Inspector General ("government") alleged that from 2007 to 2011, Dr. Vaziri allegedly billed Medicare for patient office visits that reflected more time and services than he actually spent with patients. In addition, the governmet alleged that Dr. Vaziri allegedly billed Medicare for patient office visits that were required to be billed together with routine colonoscopies as one charge. Dr. Vaziri did not admit liability but entered into a settlement agreement in order to resolve the matter.Settlements in these cases often make sense where the legal fees in…
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National Letter Writing Month: A Letter from Randy Mills
Today marks the two-year anniversary of Innocence Project client Randy Mill’s exoneration. To honor Mills and his freedom, we are sharing excerpts from the first letter that we ever received from him, requesting our assistance in his wrongful conviction case. Mills was wrongfully convicted in January 2000 of rape of a child and aggravated sexual battery. After spending 11 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, he was released when the Innocence Project found data from the state’s original DNA testing in the case which revealed that the state had misrepresented the results of those tests; Randy was excluded from the DNA results. But Randy was not exonerated; he entered into an agreement that didn’t require him to plead guilty, but did demand that he register as a sexual offender. The burdens of sex offender registration significantly limited Mills’ ability to work as well as his home life. Mills could not see his grandchildren and was…
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DIFERENCIA ENTRE DEPORTACIÓN Y SALIDA VOLUNTARIA
Bilingual Minnesota Attorney Blog La salida voluntaria es uno de los derechos que tiene el individuo en proceso de deportación. No es automático, lo tiene que pedir, pero el mismo le permite salir de los Estados Unidos sin sufrir las consecuencias legales de una orden de deportación. La persona asume la responsabilidad económica de salir del país para la fecha pautada por el gobierno. Al hacer esto, es posible que pueda regresar a los Estados Unidos con visa en un futuro. No todos son elegibles, particularmente aquellos envueltos en actividades terroristas o tienen un delito grave (“aggravated felony”) según las leyes de inmigración. La salida voluntaria se puede pedir antes que termine el proceso de deportación o al concluir, pero los requisitos son más estrictos cuando se pide al concluir el proceso. Por otro lado, si durante el proceso de deportación, la corte determina que el individuo no es…
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The Power of a Burden of Proof
The world of the law can be a fascinating and complex place. There are plenty of words and phrases – “terms of art” – that can make it difficult for non-lawyers or those without a legal background to understand what's going on. Phrases like “due process,” “res ipsa loquitor,” and “reasonable suspicion” are just a few of these confusing terms. However, even words or phrases that seem normal can have a deeper meaning in the legal field that some people are not aware of. One of these, the phrase “burden of proof,” also comes with serious implications that are important to understand, if you are making a journey through the U.S. legal system. What Is a Burden of Proof? In an argument – any argument, not just a case or trial in a courtroom – one side is going to have the responsibility to show that what they're saying is correct. This responsibility is the burden of proof. If that side…
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McGorrery on Facebook and Eyewitness Identifications
Paul McGorrery (Deakin University, Geelong, Australia - Deakin Law School) has posted The Limited Impact of Facebook and the Displacement Effect on the Admissibility of Identification Evidence ((2015) 39(4) Crim LJ 207-218) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Eyewitness identification...
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School Bus Driver Charged with Drunk Driving in Sturbridge
When we put our kids on the school bus each morning and wait for them to arrive home on the bus each afternoon, we generally do not give much thought to whether or not the bus driver will be sober while driving his or her route. The reason for this is that we assume the school board or contracted bus company will its do its job and make sure to hire well-trained competent drivers, and we assume the drivers will not put the lives of dozens of children at risk by drinking and driving a school bus. Unfortunately, according to the allegations in a recent news feature from CBS Boston, this is not an assumption we can always make. Authorities report they were called to Tantasqua Junior High School around two in the afternoon this past week. They were first told it was a medical emergency, and they dispatched paramedics to the school. It did not take them long to realize this was not exactly a medical emergency. They were directed to see what was wrong…
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Virginia Supreme Court Grants Writ of Actual Innocence to Keith Allen Harward
On Thursday, April 7, the Virginia Supreme Court granted a writ of actual innocence to Keith Allen Harward, who served more than 33 years of a life sentence in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. Harward was convicted mainly on the testimony of two forensic dentists who said that Harward’s teeth matched marks left on the rape victim. But in recent years, bite mark comparison as a means for linking individuals to crime scenes has been totally discredited. Harward is the 25th person wrongfully convicted on bite mark evidence. He is expected to be released on Friday. Stay tuned for additional details.
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New Jersey Supreme Court reverses murder sentence after trial judge says he always gives that sentence
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News Scan
Va Inmate's Execution Stayed: A federal appeals court issued a temporary stay of execution for a Virginia death row inmate convicted of hiring a man to kill his ex-girlfriend in 2006. Alanna Durkin Richer of the AP reports that 37-year-old Ukrainian native Ivan Teleguz plans to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court after his April 13th execution was halted by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Teleguz's attorney argues that there is no physical evidence tying his client to the crime, but following a 2012 hearing on his innocence claim after two prosecution witnesses said they lied during their trial testimony, a U.S. district judge said Teleguz failed to prove his innocence and subsequently refused to overturn his conviction. Teleguz was sentenced to death a decade ago for hiring a man to kill his former girlfriend in order to get out of paying child support for their infant son.102 Illegals Apprehended Crossing Rio Grande in One…
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Bill Clinton Gets It on Black Lives Matter
Bill Clinton was the last President in this country widely viewed as successful. I have my doubts, stemming largely from his failure to counteract the growth of the terrorist threat, but I understand the reasons for his popularity. For one thing, crime started its long, astonishing descent under some of the sentencing laws he supported and signed (and his wife now denounces).Today, Mr. Clinton told his hecklers in the BLM movement what they need to hear but are certain to ignore: "You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter." He could have added that BLM is attacking the best friends preserving black lives ever had -- more police, more aggressive policing, and more incarceration of the thugs and drug pushers who prey disproportionately on blacks.The Weekly Standard has the story and the tape of Mr. Clinton's remarks.
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In praise of my Ohio State students and their research on marijuana law, policy and reform
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WSLCB Emergency Rules (April 7, 2016)
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“WSLCB”) released new guidance this morning related to the testing of certified laboratories working in the I-502 Recreational Cannabis industry. This guidance came in the form of Emergency Rules which shall be in effect from April 6, 2016 to August 4, 2016 as permanent rulemaking is pursued. …
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Casino AML: FinCEN Fines Former Sparks Nugget Management $1 Million
Attributing observed deficiencies to a lack of a culture of compliance, FinCEN has again targeted a casino for willful violations of the anti-money laundering (“AML”) provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). This time the casino in FinCEN’s sights is the Sparks Nugget, Inc. d/b/a John Ascuaga’s Nugget (“Sparks Nugget”), located in Sparks, Nevada. In resolving this matter with FinCEN, Sparks Nugget entered into a consent agreement that, among other things, provided for a civil penalty of $1 million. Sparks Nugget admitted to a number of flaws in its AML compliance program, including: “Routine” disregard of the employee responsible for compliance by gaming personnel; Failure to file SARs, including those completed and deemed worthy of reporting by a former BSA compliance officer – in fact between September 2007 and May 2011 Sparks Nugget filed no SARs; Inadequate collection of patron information as…
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Split Supreme Court Affirms Eighth Circuit Equal Credit Opportunity Act Ruling
“The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.” One sentence, published by the United State Supreme Court on March 22, 2016 sealed the fate of two plaintiffs seeking to expand protections under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq., to allow spousal guarantors to bring claims against creditors for marital discrimination. A 4-4 ruling by the Supreme Court (the first even-split Court since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia) did not set precedent, but limited the definition of “applicant” under the ECOA within the boundaries of the Eighth Circuit. Hawkins v. Community Bank of Raymore involved two Missouri plaintiffs, Valerie Hawkins and Janice Patterson, acting as personal guarantors on loans provided to their respective husbands for a business endeavor. The endeavor was unsuccessful, the husbands defaulted on their loans, and the bank pursued payments totaling more than $2 million. After the bank…
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Fix It and Forget It—Without Making a Trip to the Courthouse
A few years ago, my babysitter texted me that she was going to be late because she had been pulled over by a police officer on the way to our house. When she arrived, I was in full-on substitute parent and attorney mode. Are you okay, I asked? What happened? She was nonplussed by the whole affair. Her registration had expired a few months before. She hadn’t noticed. The officer explained that if she renewed her registration and provided proof of that to the assistant district attorney on her court date, the charges would be dismissed. Oh, I said (slightly deflated that she needed absolutely no input from me—a so-called expert). But she did have to go to court to clear all this up. And that required parking in downtown Raleigh on a weekday, finding her way to the appropriate courtroom and standing in line to pay her ticket. A new procedure, soon to be rolled out statewide by the Administrative Office of the Courts, will do away with this last step, preventing…
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Wrongful Death Attorney in Baltimore
Baltimore wrongful death attorneysWrongful Death Attorney in Baltimore Losing a loved one after a tragic accident can be one of the most traumatic experiences in life. Particularly when that death is the result of the negligence or carelessness of another individual. If you have lost a loved one because of the negligence of another, then you may have the right to file a claim for the death of that loved one, also known as a wrongful death claim. The family of the deceased after an accident can file a civil claim to compensate for the loss. This can be particularly beneficial when the loved one was the primary source of income for the family. You and your family should be able to grieve the loss and move forward without the burden of losing a loved one that provided the main source of income. When you and your family have experienced losing a loved after an accident, let the Baltimore wrongful death attorneys with the Randolph Rice injury lawyer take on the legal work and fight…
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Highest Court in Maryland Reviews Motion to Suppress in Criminal Wiretapping Case
In criminal cases, law enforcement personnel employ a variety of different methods to gather evidence against an alleged “suspect.” One such strategy includes the use of wiretapping and electronic surveillance in an effort to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications. Both federal and state laws govern the use of wiretapping surveillance in criminal cases. Under Maryland’s wiretapping law, citizens are afforded a greater degree of privacy than under the federal wiretap law. If evidence in your criminal case was obtained via a wiretap or other electronic surveillance, it is vitally important that the intercepted communication was obtained within the confines of the law. For help with this aspect of your case, as well as any other legal issue, you are encouraged to contact an experienced Maryland criminal defense attorney as soon as possible after an arrest. In a recent Maryland Court of Appeals case, the petitioner challenged the State’s method…
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Go to Trial: Crash the System
Earlier today, the NY Times published an article about criminal defendant's 6th Amendment right to jury trial and the need for criminal defendants to push their cases to trial. On its face, it sounds like a great theory. If everyone insisted on a jury trial, the system as it currently stand, would crumble as there are not enough judges, prosecutors, courtrooms, funding and jail cells available if everyone insisted on trial. The system would implode and it would shed light on the broken plea-deal system currently in place. Public debate would ensue and changes would be made. Perhaps there would be a dramatic reduction in drug prosecutions. Petty crimes would no longer be charged. And prosecutions would be reserved for the most serious crimes. In a perfect, utopian world, this would succeed. Unfortunately, we do not live in the theoretical or ideal world. We live in the real world with real consequences for our actions.…
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Be Careful Who You Send Text Messages To
It’s important to be careful who you are sending text messages to. Even if they are deleted, there is still a chance those messages could be recovered. Consider the following case. In the recent case of Pierre Duclos-Lasnier… The post Be Careful Who You Send Text Messages To appeared first on Chapman Criminal Defense Firm.
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