Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “What should I do if I have been pulled over and I have been drinking ?” As the Kerrick trial dominates the Charlotte headlines, a different trial attracted the attention of Raleigh residents last week. On…
Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Blog
North Carolina Criminal Makes It Hard On His Defense Attorney
Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: What is an expungement? In a case that will surely make headlines across the country, a man from Clayton, North Carolina has been arrested after police say he left his wallet at the scene of the crime. Being arrested and charged…
Law Firm Partner Faces Criminal Charges After Drunken Outburst On Flight From Charlotte
Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: What are the long term effects of being convicted of a crime? A partner at a major national law firm is currently experiencing the fallout from a series of bad decisions she made during a recent flight from Charlotte, NC to…
Rescue of Carrie Underwood’s baby and dogs locked in vehicle serves as reminder of North Carolina’s Good Samaritan law.
Charlotte DWI and Criminal Defense Attorney J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can the police search my car without a warrant?” Carrie Underwood tried to warn us ten years ago of the damage she can inflict on a vehicle. In her 2005 hit song,…
Use of criminal law to address societal problems leads to over-criminalization
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I ever plead guilty to a charge?” The passage of the Controlled Substances Act by the United States Congress in 1970 represented perhaps the largest single legislative effort to address societal problems by use of the criminal…
High court invokes ancient legal principle to throw out man’s social-media conviction
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?” The United States Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction of a man who prosecutors accused of threatening his wife, coworkers, a kindergarten class and law-enforcement officials in online social-media…
Legislator moves to criminalize sex “procured by fraud,” jail offenders for 20 years
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I talk to the police?” A man after a woman’s heart may be prone to a bit of puffery, but legislators in New Jersey want to criminalize that puffery when it rises to the level of deception.…
Craigslist-post conviction thrown out; criminal defamation law ruled unconstitutional
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I ever plead guilty to a charge?” The axiom that “The truth shall set you free” is, in my opinion, a bit overused and often used out of context. The quote—from the eighth chapter of the Gospel…
Class action challenges alleged police quota system, non-PC criminal summonses
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?” Five years after he was issued two criminal summonses by a New York City police officer for alleged trespassing and disorderly conduct, twenty-four-year-old Sharif L. Stinson is the lead plaintiff…
Life imitates art in Big Lebowski-esque wrong-car smashup
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC responds to “The person that called the police doesn’t want to press charges, can I still be prosecuted?” A twenty-two-year old Florida man brought a scene from Joel and Ethan Cohen’s 1998 feature film The Big Lebowski to life last week…