J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I talk to the police?”
Nothing on the internet ever really goes away, conventional tech wisdom holds. A person types out an email and hits “Send,” and the words can never be taken back; and what’s more—even if the email is deleted, it can be retrieved.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?”
Local news outlets are abuzz over the deployment of officer body cameras in two divisions of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I ever plead guilty to a charge?”
Sports and celebrity news sites in the United States, Canada and around the world have broadcast the details surrounding the arrest last Friday of professional hockey star Jarret Stoll.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?”
The prosecution of a former New York City police officer who federal prosecutors say participated in “a concerted criminal plot to kidnap and eat women” has raised concerns that his case will set a precedent for so-called “thought-crime” prosecutions.
Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers: A past conviction is keeping me from finding work what can I do?
A state legislator has introduced a bill that she says will close a loophole in Illinois’ sex offender registry. Critics of the bill say the bill is “overly punitive and burdensome” on offenders who have paid their debt to society, according to the Chicago Tribune.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I ever plead guilty to a charge?”
The criminal law, it is said, evolves as technology does, and criminal codes and doctrines grow to fit the new circumstances and technologies that criminals, would-be criminals and unknowing criminals commit. It should come as no surprise, then, that longstanding criminal doctrines are being applied to actions taken on devices that have become ubiquitous in modern American life: phones.
Except, devices that people carry around these days have come a long way from the banana-sized box lawyer Johnny Cochran made famous carrying around in the early-to-mid 1990s. It is said that the law cannot keep pace with society, evolving about twenty years slower than the culture, but even the United States Supreme Court has caught on to the uniqueness of the modern “cell phone,” calling the devices “minicomputers that also happen to have the capacity to be used as a telephone” in a landmark case last year called Riley v. California.
In that case, the high court unanimously rejected the United States government’s position that when a person is arrested, a law-enforcement officer is entitled to seize everything off the arrestee’s phone. The court ruled officers need a warrant to do that.
Phones—or whatever one calls them nowadays—are still bringing individuals into criminal jeopardy, however, as a recent case from Massachusetts illustrates.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “What is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony?”
The Washington State legislature is considering changes to the state’s criminal code that would dramatically alter the manner in which marijuana-related crimes are prosecuted in the state.
Under a bill sponsored by Republican State Senator Ann Rivers, most marijuana-related crimes would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. Voters in Washington legalized the recreational use of marijuana in a statewide referendum in 2012.
Seattle’s city attorney John Schochet said he wants the possibility of jail time for “lower-end violators” eliminated. He likened minor offenses to buying a bunch of beer at Costco and selling it out of the trunk of his car. If he sold enough marijuana in that fashion, he could be subject to a felony trafficking charge.
Attorneys like Schochet and city attorney Pete Holmes want to eliminate criminal penalties for sharing marijuana. As it stands, it is a felony to give any amount of marijuana to a friend, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Schochet and Holmes also want to see criminal penalties lessened and removed for users who make their own “homegrown” weed. Under current law, it is illegal to grow one’s own marijuana in Washington. In other states that have legalized marijuana use, growing a small amount of marijuana for personal use is permitted. In Colorado, for instance, it is legal for individuals who are 21-years-old or older to grow as many as six plants, as long as they are kept in an “enclosed, locked space.” Alaska also allows users to grow up to six plants, while users in Oregon can grow as many as four plants and can legally possess as many as eight ounces of usable marijuana.
Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: A past conviction is keeping me from finding work what can I do?
The State of Georgia has employed a woman to protect its most vulnerable children despite her convictions for forgery and on charges stemming from a 2011 road-rage incident.
The woman—Paige Newsome—was employed last May in Cherokee County by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services as a child-protection investigator. Applicants for employment by the State of Georgia are required to report any convictions or pending criminal charges on their employment applications. Newsome reported four traffic convictions, and she noted that charges were pending against her related to defrauding her father out of more than $1,700 by forging his name on checks.
Newsome failed to report that she pled guilty to charges in Louisiana stemming from a 2011 Interstate 20 road-rage incident in which Newsome allegedly pointed a revolver at another driver after cutting in front of him. The State of Georgia discovered the road-rage conviction but hired Newsome anyway.
A month after Newsome began working for the Division of Family and Children Services, she pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery for signing her father’s name to checks without his permission. She was fined $250 and placed on probation for a year.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “If I have an outstanding warrant, what should I do?”
The “Hands up, don’t shoot!” moniker is all the rage in the United States, with prominent professional athletes in the National Basketball Association and National Football League, as well as well-known celebrities, politicians, political pundits and media figures adopting the meme—some displaying the same on tee shirts proclaiming the phrase.
Long before the rage—before Michael Brown was shot to death by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and before New Yorker Eric Garner died after being wrestled to the ground by a small team of New York City police officers—an unarmed backseat passenger in Billings, Montana was shot to death for failing to raise his hands during what began as a simple traffic stop.
Officer Grant Morrison said that on the night of April 14, 2014 he saw a car “turn quickly and decided to follow it.” After following it, Morrison said, he pulled the car over because of a “light violation.” Richard Ramirez was a passenger in the car.
Morrison testified at a hearing that after pulling the car over, he noticed that the back right passenger was pushing against the door. Morrison ordered all of the car’s occupants to raise their hands, but the 38-year-old Ramirez kept fumbling for something in his pocket.
J. Bradley Smith of Arnold & Smith, PLLC answers the question “Should I talk to the police?”
Americans are well informed of the facts—and the rhetoric—surrounding the high-profile police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City this past summer. Most are just as familiar with killing of two New York City police officers last weekend by a man who said the point-blank shootings were retribution for Garner’s killing.
The man—Ismaaiyl Brinsley—allegedly posted on the website Instagram some three hours before fatally shooting officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos that he was “Putting Wings on Pigs Today.” The term “pig” is an insulting form of slang that refers to a law-enforcement officer. One gives someone wings—a reference to angel’s wings—by murdering someone. Brinsely’s post, translated, meant he planned to kill some police officers.
Now police in Chicopee, Massachusetts are seeking a criminal complaint against a 27-year-old man who also allegedly used the phrase “put wings on pigs” in a post on his Facebook page. That man—Charles DiRosa—is not accused of killing anyone, but police view the comment as a threat, according to Chicopee Police Department spokesman Michael Wilk.
The complaint, filed by members of the detective bureau in Chicopee District Court, is described as a “show-cause” complaint. A report by the local CBS affiliate described the charge against DiRosa as a “Threat To Commit A Crime.” At the show-cause hearing, the District Court will decide whether the complaint is valid. If so, DiRosa will be entitled to have a trial to answer and defend against the charge.
Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Blog