Can I Face Criminal Charges After a Traffic Accident?
Accidents happen very regularly, and most people get into a fender-bender situation at some point in their lives. While, typically, vehicle accidents are civil matters that parties work out between their insurance companies, there are some circumstances that may result in criminal charges. An experienced criminal defense attorney will help you resolve issues that end up in court.
Leaving the Scene of an Accident
Defending Manslaughter Charges
Manslaughter is the killing of another person without forethought or malice. It differs from the charge of murder in that murder is the killing of another person with intent. There are several types of manslaughter charges that might apply. Although manslaughter is generally a felony, the penalties are usually less severe than the penalties for a murder conviction. If you have been charged with manslaughter, you will want to vigorously defend the charges to seek an acquittal or the lowest sentence possible. A knowledgeable criminal defense attorney will guide you through the legal process.
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Charlotte DWI Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: “If I simply intend to plead guilty, why do I need a lawyer?”
Manslaughter is a serious criminal charge in North Carolina. Manslaughter is a crime that may be charged when someone is responsible for the death of another. There are three main types of manslaughter in North Carolina, including voluntary, involuntary, and vehicular. Voluntary manslaughter occurs when a person intends to cause harm to another due to negligence or recklessness. Involuntary manslaughter is when a person unintentionally causes the death of another. There is a separate charge for a death that occurs due to a vehicle accident. This charge is called vehicular manslaughter.
Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: “If I have an outstanding warrant, what should I do?”
Manslaughter charges occur when someone dies due to the negligence of someone else. If you are charged with manslaughter you are facing severe consequences if you are found guilty. Manslaughter is different from murder because of the state of mind of the defendant at the time of commission of the crime. Murder shows intent, malice, or aforethought or extreme disregard for human life. When a person is killed without specific intent to murder, the likely charge will be manslaughter. Because manslaughter charges are considered serious, you will want to fight the case with help from an experienced criminal defense attorney in North Carolina.
Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Brad Smith answers the question: “Can I be arrested without evidence against me?”
It can sometimes seem like we have seen it all before. This is especially true in the criminal law world, where crimes are seldom novel, but often sad cycles continually repeating themselves. Though this is true in some cases, a recent prosecution in Massachusetts demonstrates that individuals can still find new ways to run afoul of the law and, when that happens, it can raise important questions about how these groundbreaking cases ought to be handled.
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?”
A Massachusetts teenager has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after evidence was discovered that the girl sent text messages to her boyfriend encouraging him to commit suicide. Conrad Roy III tragically took his own life in 2014 outside a Massachusetts K-Mart. Roy died inside his truck, and the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.
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, “Before He Cheats,” Underwood sings of taking a Louisville slugger to a cheating boyfriend’s truck headlights. That Louisville slugger would have come in handy on July 11th, albeit under very different circumstances.
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.
Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Blog