Archive for the 'Criminal Law News' Category

Police investigating the death of Michael Jackson say it could be a criminal case, depending on the results of Jackson’s toxicology report, according to CNN.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told reporters that the coroner’s report will determine whether Jackson’s death is ruled a homicide or an accidental overdose.

Meanwhile, new details have emerged about Jackson’s prescription drug use. CNN cites a confidential source alleging that Jackson received Xanax prescriptions from doctors in different states, and even had employees receive prescriptions in their name, then pass on the pills to him — all forms of prescription fraud.

The pill use details, from a 2004 document, allege that Jackson had a sleep disorder, and took up to 10 Xanax a night.

The document contains the names of five doctors — some practicing in California, with others in New York and Florida.

Chief Bratton did not say who a potential criminal investigation would target.

A class-action lawsuit in Washington state may put an end to traffic cameras and costly tickets in the state, according to KXLY.

The problem, according to the lawsuit, is the excessive fines issues to violators.

A 2005 state law stipulates that fines for traffic violations caught by the cameras must be in line with fines for parking tickets — $25 to $50 in most cities. However, some red light violators have been sent tickets of up to $125.

The lawsuit could force 18 cities to pay back thousands of dollars collected by the red light cameras.

Spokane, for example, has collected $189,000 in just seven months since installing the cameras.

Juan Johnson, a man who spent 11 and a half years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, was awarded the largest wrongful conviction award in the history of Chicago, according to WLS-TV.

Johnson was convicted of fatally beating a man with a two-by-four in Chicago’s Humbolt Park neighborhood in 1989.

Johnson’s defense attorneys relentlessly fought his conviction, and he was acquitted in 2004.

In his defense, Johnson claimed to have been framed for murder by a now-retired Chicago police detective in the gang crime unit, Reynaldo Guevara. That speculation is what won him his acquittal, and his record-breaking federal jury award.

“What we proved in this federal case that his conviction was not an accident but he was a victim of police misconduct by Officer Guevara,” said Jon Loevy, Johnson’s attorney.

Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions is investigating more than 40 alleged frame-ups by Detective Guevara.

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.

A State Trooper in Indiana resigned after an internal investigation over information posted on his Facebook account.

Christopher Pestow allegedly referred to himself as a “garbage man” who “takes out the trash” and bragged about heavy drinking on the popular social networking site. He also had a photo that showed him holding a .357 Mangum to his head, according to ABC affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis.

Other questionable content on Pestow’s account were pictures of a crash involving his police cruiser and a comment that a person who resists arrest and threatens police officers would “probably end up shot.”

Pestow was investigated on allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer, violation of department policy and improper use of department equipment, suspecting that he may have visited the site while on the job.

Pestow, had been assigned to administrative duties pending the investigation, resigned Wednesday before Superintendent Paul Whitesell could enter a final finding and order, state police said in a news release.

Prison is no party. Not unless you know the right people, that is.

in New York City, the Bureau Chief of Department of Corrections Facility Operations and the chaplain of the Manhattan Detention Complex have resigned after helping a prisoner arrange a bar mitzvah — inside the prison.

Approximately 60 guests arrived at the detention center, known as “The Tombs,” for prisoner Tuvia Stern’s son’s bar mitzvah, which included catered kosher food and a live band, according to an investigation by the New York Post.

Apparently the party was such as smash that Stern held his daughter’s engagement party in the prison a few months later.

Peter Curcio, the corrections official, resigned Monday; Rabbi Lieb Glanz resigned Tuesday.

The New York Department of Investigation has launched a probe into the coordination of the events, citing preferential treatment, special treatment, special visits, special meals and special-access calls.

Guests at the melee were allowed to use cell-phone inside the facilities, which are normally off-limits.

Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office has launched a probe into possible criminal conduct involving the bar mitzvah, focusing on whether Department of Correction officials may have received money, The New York Times reported.

Norman Seabrook, president of the Corrections Officers Benevolence Association, issued a statement saying, “it is imperative for a new team of leadership to take over, clean house, and immediately restore accountability, which has been absent for too long.”.

Stern was serving a two-and-a-half year sentence for first-degree grand larceny, after spending two decades as a fugitive.

A proposed expansion of hate-crime laws currently up for debate on Capitol Hill is drawing fire from an unlikely source ‒ Christian conservatives.

Hate crime laws add extra penalties to crimes that target and aim to intimidate victims based on race, color, religion or national origin. A bill in Congress, the Matthew Shepard Act, could expand hate crime protection to cover sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

According to USA Today, conservative leaders oppose the Shepard Act, named after the Wyoming man murdered in 1998, as unconstitutional.

“The entire notion of hate-crimes legislation is extraneous and obsolete,” said Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs with the conservative nonprofit Liberty Counsel, suggesting all hate crime laws be repealed.

Other Christian groups have expressed concern that adding gays and lesbians as a protected class would infringe on their ability to preach that homosexuality is a sin.

Many religious groups publicly support the Matthew Shepard Act, even if they preach homosexuality as sinful. A 2007 Gallup poll showed a majority of Americans (68%), including frequent churchgoers (62%), conservatives (57%), and Republicans (60%), were in favor of legislation expanding hate-crimes protections.

Current hate crime laws have been in place since the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Hate crime can be prosecuted on a federal level, and often lead to longer prison sentences, more public awareness and public outcry, and more difficult criminal defense.

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.

The FBI’s preliminary report on crime statistics for 2008 show an overall decrease in violent crime, but an increase for cities of 10,000 or less.

In small cities, according to the report, murders increased by 5.5%, forcible rape by 1.4%, and robbery by 3.9%.

Violent crime decreased for the second year in a row, showing a 2.5% decrease from 2007. Property crimes were also down 1.6% from the previous year, the fifth in a row.

In the categories of violent and property crimes tracked by the FBI, only burglaries showed an increase across the nation.

Looking at crimes by region, the West and Midwest had between a 3% and 4% decrease in both violent and property crimes. The South and Northeast had less dramatic changes, with property crimes actually rising in the Northeast.

Arson, which the FBI tracks separately from the other two groups, was down in all for sections of the country.

Mother vehicle thefts had the most notable improvement, decreasing by 13.1% from 2007.

The statistics are based on data provided by more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies across the country.