Criminal Defense Technology

Researchers say the propensity to commit crimes may be down to a person’s genes

Published on: November 19, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?”

Researchers in Stockholm, Sweden have published findings that appear to show a link between two genetic mutations and a propensity to commit violent criminal acts.

The researchers studied the DNA of 800 Finnish criminals and compared it with 2,000 non-incarcerated Finns who had given DNA samples for a previous study. The researchers found that the two genetic mutations rendered individuals 13-times more likely than the general population to commit a violent crimes. The study did not draw a causal link between the mutations and violent crime.

Researchers hope the information is valuable to “offenders who want to break their cycle of repetitive violence.”

The study’s lead author, Dr. Jari Tiihonen, said researchers found that offenders with one of the two mutations experienced marked spikes in dopamine whenever they consumed drugs or alcohol, which could have fueled criminal activity.

Tiihonen suggested, for instance, that in addition to traditional forms of criminal punishment, offenders with certain genetic mutations could be administered drugs while incarcerated that “make it impossible… to use alcohol anymore… given the medication’s ability to make drinking unpleasant and distasteful.”

Media outlets move to unseal records of cellphone, wireless-device surveillance

Published on: November 4, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?”

Two Mecklenburg County Superior Court judges have indicated that they may be willing to unseal court records detailing how law-enforcement officers have used secret surveillance of cellphones and other wireless devices in closed investigations.

Superior Court Judge Richard Boner told the Charlotte Observer that the legal justification for sealing court records ends “once everything is over and done with” in a case. Superior Court Judge Robert Bell also indicated a willingness to consider unsealing some court orders that authorized the use of secret surveillance.

The surveillance equipment—known as StingRay, Hailstorm, AmberJack or TriggerFish—imitates a cellphone tower and enables officers to uncover the location of cellphones and wireless devices in the area, their serial numbers and other information. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have denied using the surveillance equipment to eavesdrop on conversations or store data from innocent people.

A number of Charlotte criminal defense attorneys told the Observer that they were unaware of CMPD’s use of the equipment until the Observer’s recent stories on the matter. In the stories, CMPD acknowledged that law-enforcement officers have been using the surveillance equipment for at least eight years.

Convict whose DNA cleared two men also suspected in 1980 murder of Gastonia woman

Published on: September 4, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Do I need to hire an attorney if I have been falsely accused?”

Two Robeson County men were freed earlier this week from the North Carolina Department of Corrections after serving 30 years for the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1983. Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were freed after DNA extracted from a cigarette butt near the girl’s body implicated another man.

Now members of a Gaston County family say the man—Roscoe Artis—was involved in the 1980 rape and killing of 30-year-old Bernice Moss. Artis was once a suspect in Moss’s killing, according to Charlotte’s WBTV. Moss’s body was found in a wooded area of Gaston County that is now home to a Walmart.

Artis is already serving a life sentence for the 1983 rape and murder of Joann Brockman. Brockman’s rape and murder occurred less than a month after the rape and killing of Katrina Buie. Mr. McCollum and Mr. Brown were initially convicted of raping and killing Buie. McCollum was sentenced to death, while Brown was sentenced to life in prison.

Artis’s criminal history of multiple rapes and assaults dates back to 1957, according to a witness who testified at McCollum’s and Brown’s hearing last Monday. He lived with his sister in a house near the soybean field where Sabrina Buie’s body was found. Artis, now 74, has insisted that he knows McCollum and Brown did not kill Buie, but he denied that he was involved in Buie’s death, even though he admitted seeing the girl the night she went missing and said he knew her because she used to buy cigarettes from him.

DNA found on cigarette butt clears men who served 30 years for rape, murder

Published on: September 2, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I talk to the police?”

Two men imprisoned over 30 years for the 1983 rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl will be freed today after a Robeson County Superior Court judge overturned their convictions.

Robeson County Prosecutor Johnson Britt told Judge Douglas Sasser that new DNA tests of a cigarette butt found near the victim’s body negated the evidence presented at the men’s trials. Even if the men were granted new trials, Britt said, “The state does not have a case to prosecute.” Britt was not involved in the men’s earlier criminal trials.

After hearing from Britt and other witnesses, Sasser ordered the men to be released.

The men—Henry McCollum and Leon Brown—were just 19 and 15, respectively, at the time of the murder. They alleged that they were coerced into confessing to the crime under pressure from law-enforcement officials. McCollum told the Raleigh News & Observer that he had never been under so much pressure, “with a person hollering at me and threatening me.” He said he made up a story about how he and three other youths attacked and killed the girl so that investigators would let him go home.

CMPD police body cameras may mean Ferguson never comes to Charlotte

Published on: August 19, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Do I need to hire an attorney if I have been falsely accused?”

The shooting death of teen Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer—and the subsequent protesting, rioting and looting—has many Charlotteans asking “Could that happen here?”

NAACP Charlotte President Kojo Nantambu said during a Thursday press conference that Charlotte, like Ferguson, is a hotbed of racial hostility. “NAACP” stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “Police are supposed to be protecting us,” Nantambu said, “but they are killing us instead.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. echoed Nantambu’s sentiments in a USA Today editorial, writing that anywhere Americans look, “There’s a Ferguson near you.”

Like the Brown case, the killing in Charlotte last year of 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell made headlines around the world. Ferrell was shot to death by CMPD Officer Randall Kerrick after a car crash. Both Brown and Ferrell were unarmed at the time of their shooting deaths. In the Ferrell case—unlike in the Brown case—Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police quickly named Kerrick as the officer who fired the shots that killed Ferrell. After an investigation, Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter.

Pineville only the latest in string of cities and counties to install police-monitored cameras

Published on: July 17, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Do I need to hire an attorney if I have been falsely accused?”

Police in Pineville are telling would-be criminals to think twice before executing any misdeeds in the tiny suburb south of Charlotte. Or if someone does set out to commit a crime in Pineville, one should choose a corner of a parking lot where one is not going to see too many people.

The new round-the-clock wireless camera network does not cover the corners of a parking lots where one won’t see too many people, says Pineville Police Lieutenant S.C. Copley. Instead, the initial half-dozen cameras installed by the town are trained on Jack Hughes Park, where the action is.

Copley said the cameras are monitored. “We can keep an eye on any suspicious activity with people, maybe looking into cars,” Copley told WCNC. He thinks it’s a good thing that the cameras haven’t led to many arrests in their first two months of operation. Would-be criminals see the cameras and check themselves before they wreck themselves, he implied. “This isn’t a covert operation,” Copley said.

Cameras are “pretty much everywhere” already, Copley added, so having a live feed of the goings-on in Pineville available at the click of a mouse at the police station is “beneficial for safety.” Copley said officers can tap into the cameras at any moment to see exactly what is going on in a given location.

Pineville is home to Carolina Place Mall and some 8-million square feet of retail space, but the cameras won’t reach any of those spaces. It is likely that most or all of the retail facilities have cameras of their own, however, and Pineville Police Chief Robert Merchant is encouraging other businesses to follow suit. If they do, they can join the wireless police network. Merchant said police wouldn’t monitor feeds from private businesses in real time—they could if they wanted to, presumably—but officers “will have immediate access to playback… in case of an incident.”

For-Profit Mug Shot Websites Under Fire :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: October 17, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What is an expungement?”

A recent New York Times article delved into the issue of for-profit websites that exist to catalog the embarrassing mug shots of everyone from celebrities to Average Joes. The article set off a firestorm after it revealed some surprising information about how the websites operate, specifically with regard to their takedown procedures.

Mugshot Charlotte North Carolina DUI DWI Criminal Defense Attorney Lawyer.jpg A Bloomberg article discussed the fallout from the article, which profiled several people whose reputations were damaged by the mug shot websites holding onto their images years after they had officially paid their debts to society. The article noted how the sites scoop up thousands of mug shots every day and hold onto them seemingly forever, despite the fact that many of these people are ultimately found innocent or have their charges dropped. Even if a person’s criminal record is wiped clean, that has not stopped the mug shot aggregators from continuing to haunt a person’s online reputation for the foreseeable future.
The Bloomberg article notes that one issue that stirred up some of the most heated reaction was the way that the sites handle requests to remove a person’s mug shot. Apparently these takedown requests have little to do with a person’s innocence, and instead depend on how much money you are willing to pay. The sites will agree to remove your mug shot for a fee, with the amount ranging between $30 and $400 dollars.

Many people were outraged by what some argue amounts to extortion and some action has thankfully been taken against some of the sites. For one thing, an attorney in Ohio has launched a class-action suit against several mug shot sites, arguing that the sites violate state laws regarding privacy and extortion. Lawmakers in Georgia, Utah and Oregon have passed laws that mandate the sites remove pictures for free when a person is able to submit proof that they were found innocent of the charges or that their records have been expunged.

Article Notes Concern Over North Carolina’s Crime Lab Receiving Fees For Convictions :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: September 12, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “Can the police search my car without a warrant?”

A recent article in the Huffington Post dealt with the issue of some state crime labs being impacted by the danger of cognitive bias. The author of the study notes that when crime lab analysts report to a state police agency or the attorney general, they can feel co-opted to be part of the state’s criminal justice team. The problem with this is that the crime lab should not be on anyone’s side, but instead neutrally review and analyze evidence.

Test Tube Rack Charlotte North Carolina DUI DWI Criminal Defense Attorney Lawyer.jpg A recent piece in the journal Criminal Justice Ethics deals with a related theme, how the current criminal justice system financially incentives wrongful convictions. Specifically, the article noted how crime labs in many states are actually funded through court fees, something that the authors say act as a channel for bias to enter the crime lab analysis.

In some states, the crime labs actually receive money for each criminal conviction. For instance, some crime labs depend solely on conviction money for their funding, with a crime lab in rural Louisiana receiving $10 for every guilty plea or verdict from each speeding ticket and $50 from DWI cases. Illinois crime labs earn money after convictions for sex offenses and drug crimes while Mississippi crime labs are paid after convictions for crimes including arson, DWI and aiding suicide.

Something that may surprise residents of North Carolina is that the state is named as being one of these locations where bias can be created due to the funding structure of the state’s crime lab. North Carolina law says that judges in the state are empowered to assess a $600 fee to those who have been convicted of various crimes to help pay for the services of a state or local crime lab. Such fees can be assessed whenever a lab performs DNA analysis of a crime, tests bodily fluids for the presence of alcohol or drugs or analyze any substance possessed by the defendant.

DEA Makes Headlines For Seizing $814.22 :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: August 29, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “If I simply intend to plead guilty, why do I need a lawyer?”

Most people would be surprised to hear that a recent DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) seizure of $814.22 received much if any attention. After all, the DEA is used to handling vast sums of money from drug kingpins and other crafty criminals. So why did the three-figure seizure make headlines not only around the country but even around the world? Because the seizure was actually of an electronic currency known as Bitcoin and the seizure marked the first time any American law enforcement agency had ever confiscated a Bitcoin, something many experts believe may be the beginning of a new push into some shady areas of the internet.

Bitcoin symbol Charlotte North Carolina Criminal Defense DUI DWI Attorney Lawyer.png To be a bit more precise, the DEA actually revealed that it seized 11.02 BTC (the abbreviation for Bitcoin), something that at the time amounted to $814.22. According to an online Bitcoin conversion website that same amount of Bitcoin today would be worth $1,524.29, a difference that reveals just how rapidly Bitcoin’s value can shift.

So why did the DEA seize the money in the first place? The agency has been relatively quiet about the incident but news reports have revealed that the DEA was targeting a site known as the “Silk Road”, a website full of illicit products like drugs, prescriptions and weaponry that can only be accessed through what’s known as the TOR network. The system runs in the background of the web that most people interact with everyday and has earned the nickname the “deep web” given it’s anonymity and inaccessibility.

News reports indicate that the Bitcoin were taken from an Eric Daniel Hughes, a South Carolina man who law enforcement officials believe was behind the online persona “Casey Jones” on the Silk Road site. Casey Jones sold prescription painkillers and other narcotics and the DEA bust is believed to be the first shot across the bow by law enforcement officials eager to try and tame the wildness of the deep web.

Federal Judge Slams Law Enforcement For Electronic Invasion Of Privacy :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: August 27, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “Can the police search my car without a warrant?”

One federal court judge issued an important opinion recently that will help to counter the federal government’s attempt to comb through the emails and other online actions of Americans. What is even more surprising about the case is that the judge specified that restrictions should be imposed even as part of specific criminal investigations.

Through the keyhole Charlote North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Defense Traffic Attorney Lawyer.jpg Magistrate Judge David Waxse took the unusual step of denying a governmental search warrant request according to a recent Yahoo article. According to news reports, law enforcement officials had asked for permission to access all emails, instant messages, chat records and other online communications from a range of popular online companies for a group of people the government believed were involved in stealing computer equipment from Sprint. The warrant asked for permission to sift through Google, Yahoo, Verizon, Skype and GoDaddy records for the group of suspects, a request that could potentially yield massive amounts of evidence against the suspected wrongdoers.

Rather than simply rubber stamp the warrant request, Judge Waxse said he was disturbed. Waxse said that the request represented an enormous overreach on the part of federal authorities and was in no way narrowly tailored to target information relevant to the alleged computer theft. Instead, Waxse said that the request was similar to if the government had asked the post office to turn over any and all mail that was ever sent or delivered to a certain person. The request would allow investigators free rein to poke through a person’s most private correspondence, much of which would have nothing to do with the crime in question.