Archive for the 'Criminal Courts' Category

An Ohio repeat drug offender has been released from prison after discovering a typo in his jury verdict, according to a recent CNN story.

When Calvin Eugene Wells of Akron was convicted for first-degree crack cocaine possession in October, 2005, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, due to the amount of the drug in his possession — more than 100 grams.

However, in the official verdict signed by the jury, that amount was skewed, leading to confusion about exactly what Wells had been convicted for.

The form, typed by an employee of the court or prosecution, reads in part:

We, the Jury, find the Defendant Guilty of the offense of POSSESSION OF CRACK COCAINE.

We, the jury, further find that the amount of crack cocaine WAS in the amount exceeding ten one hundred (100) grams as charged in the indictment.

The phrase ten one hundred (100) grams sticks out, and, according to a three-judge appeals board, lowers Wells’ crime to fifth-degree possession.

Wells had already served four years of his sentence before being released from prison.

Wells discovered the superfluous number while researching his case from prison, but had more difficulty finding a criminal defense attorney who would take the issue to appeals.

Finally, Wells fifth attorney, Jason Desiderio, successfully argued that Wells was unduly sentenced.

However, even with his favorable decision, Wells may be heading back to prison. He apparently has an outstanding warrant for possession in New Jersey.

Utah’s highest court ruled that crime victims cannot appeal a plea bargain reached in a criminal case, upholding the constitutional rights of defendants throughout the state.

According to an article by the Salt Lake Tribune, the state Supreme Court Peggy Hay and Patricia Hay, whose husbands were killed in a car accident. The defendant, Brandon R. Lane, reached a plea agreement in the  case and was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a driving class.

Both charges of negligent homicide were kept off Lane’s criminal record.

The decision by the Supreme Court is a victory for criminal defense attorneys throughout the state, who can now pursue beneficial plea bargains without fear of retribution by victims.

The Hays were told that Lane’s sentencing would include $1,500 in restitution; however, the sentencing judge struck the provision from Lane’s sentence.

In its decision, the court said that because criminal cases are between the defendant and the state, the victim, as a third-party, is not eligible to spur any actions. Utah recently passed a Crime Victims Remedies Act, allowing victims to voice their concern and possibly receive reparations.

The family of a wrongfully convicted man who died in prison are urging Texas Gov. Rick Perry to issue a pardon, even though Perry says his hands are tied.

Timothy Cole was convicted of rape in 1985 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He died in 1999, and his conviction was reversed a decade later when another man confessed to the crime. Cole has since been cleared by DNA evidence.

Gov. Perry, however, has yet to issue a pardon, saying that the governor is not able to offer a posthumous pardon, and a bill to extend that power died in legislature, according to ABC affiliate KVUE.

Cole’s family, however, is arguing that, through consulting with criminal defense attorneys, they’ve learned that Perry could easily extend his power to clear Cole’s name.

Really he can still pardon my brother without that [bill], said Reginald Kennard, Cole’s brother. This was a tragedy. This was a true, American tragedy… We don’t want to have to wait until another session to start all over again, do this again. We’d rather have this done sooner rather than later.

A Georgia man who allegedly hijacked a car to get to his court date was arrested after the victim, his girlfriend, called the cops on him.

Marcus Brown of Lawrenceville, Ga., hijacked his girlfriend’s car at gunpoint Tuesday morning because he needed to appear at the Lawrenceville Municipal Court on drug charges, according to WSBTV.com in Atlanta.

Officers at the courthouse arrested Brown upon arrival.

Brown was charged with driving with a suspended license, carrying a concealed weapon, and theft. Brown’s girlfriend declined to press hijacking charges.

You have to admire Brown’s respect for the criminal justice system, although his tactics could use some work.

A Georgia law prohibiting left turns into the far lane of a multi-lane road has been ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court due to poor wording, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The state legislature, in writing the law, was so vague that a person of common intelligence cannot distinguish between the statute’s two diametrically opposite interpretations, Justice Carol Hunstein wrote.

The case before the court comes from the 2007 arrest of Todd Christopher McNair of Whitfield County, Ga. McNair was charged with DUI, obstruction of a police officer and making an improper left-hand turn. McNair was acquitted of the DUI and obstruction charges, and fined $500 for the improper turn. His criminal defense attorney appealed that conviction based on the impenetrable language of the left-turn law.

The unconstitutional traffic law says, in part:

Whenever practicable, the left turn shall be made to the left of the center of the intersection and so as to leave the intersection or other location in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the same direction as such vehicle on the roadway being entered.

The Federal Trade Commission shut down a large Internet Service Provider for the first time, alleging that the firm recruits, knowingly hosts, and actively participates in the distribution of spam, child pornography, and other harmful electronic content, according to a FTC press release.

This is the first time that the US government has filed such an injunction against an ISP.

They are notorious, FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz told the Financial Times UK. Almost anything that you can find that harms consumers on the internet, this ISP was involved in.

The FTC alleges that Pricewert, which, according to the BBC, has servers in the US but is registered in Bolivia,
actively recruits and colludes with criminals seeking to distribute illegal, malicious, and harmful electronic content including child pornography, spyware, viruses, trojan horses, phishing, botnet command and control servers, and pornography featuring violence, bestiality, and incest and has ignored or circumvented requests to take down such material.

The massive computer fraud case against Pricewert was complied with help from NASA’s computer crime devision, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; The Shadowserver Foundation; Symantec Corporation; and The Spamhaus Project.

A preliminary injunction hearing has been scheduled for June 15, the FTC said.

Four middle-school teens in Tampa, Fla., are facing charges as adults for the sexual assault of a member of their flag-football team, according to CNN.

They are charged with four counts each of sexual battery after using broomsticks and hockey sticks to sexually assault the 13-year-old boy on their team over a two-month period.

The defendants, three age 14 and one age 15, were arrested in early May and placed in a juvenile detention center, but released on house arrest the next day. Their charges were elevated to adult status this week. Each charge carries a maximum 30 years in prison.

Because they now face adult charges, they no longer receive the anonymity that juvenile courts provide. Each defendant’s name and photo has been published across major media outlets.

Three of the teens are out on bond as of Thursday, and have been fitted with electronic monitoring devices, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Although the teens signed confession letters, each maintains his innocence. Criminal defense attorneys hope to paint the defendants as good students who have never before been in trouble.

O.J. Simpson’s criminal defense attorneys are appealing 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping, claiming that his trial was “fundamentally unfair,” according to Reuters.

Simpson was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison for his attempted robbery in a Las Vegas hotel, in which Simpson and five other men tried to recover memorabilia from his NFL career and 1995 murder trial.

In their 47-page brief to the Nevada Supreme Court, Simpson’s attorneys allege that Simpson was not allowed a fair trial, citing insufficient evidence, the admittance of hearsay, and an un-diverse jury.

The appeal also claims that Judge Jackie Glass allowed the trial to be tainted by Simpson’s previous trial and acquital for the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

The Nevada Supreme Court will review the appeal, and either grant or deny Simpson the right to retrial.

Simpson is currently serving out his sentence at Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada, and will be eligible for parole in 2017.

Four men accused of planning a terrorist plot in New York City are being held without bail after their arraignments this week.

James Cromitie, Laguerre Payen, David Williams and Onta Williams will remain in custody until their next court appearance on June 5, according to CNN.

The men were arrested Wednesday night after placing explosive devices in cars near two synagogues. The arrests followed a year-long FBI investigation.

They also planned to attack a nearby Air Nation Guard base by firing surface-to-air missles.

Vincent Briccett, criminal defense attorney for Cromitie, Williams and Williams, declined comment at the court hearing. At Payen’s hearing, held later, his defense attorney claimed her client suffered from mental instability and was taking prescription drugs for depression and bi-polar disorder.

On September 23, just hours before Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis was to be executed, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay so that they could hear an appeal in the case on September 29.

The Associated Press reported that on October 14, despite the fact that seven of nine key witnesses in the case have now recanted their testimony against Davis; the Supreme Court cleared the way for his execution.  The court declined to give Davis’ appeal a full-blown hearing.

A new date for the execution has not been set, but there are no prospects for any legal avenues to stop it.

Davis was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, a Savannah, Georgia police officer.  To read more about the case, please see our previous article:  Supreme Court Postpones Execution.