There are still folks out there who believe that if they ignore the fact that they never returned to court when they were supposed to, the Commonwealth will kindly do the same. These people are wrong.. When you did not go to court, a default warrant, a warrant for…
You may be suffering under the misnomer that you have the right to dance on public property. Basically, you do. Unless law enforcement tells you that you don’t. Let me give you a for instance…one that can be viewed on video at, among other places, the Huffington Post. The…
Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero, hereinafter, the “Defendant”, has made a fairly unusual decision. The Defendant is one of three officers who arrested 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a man of color, about a year ago. Mr. Gray apparently made eye contact with one of those officers and then allegedly began running…
Today is April Fool’s Day. It seems fitting then, to begin this story today. No, the story is not a joke. Not the funny kind, anyway. It is a subject that makes fools of many of us. In the days, weeks, months and years after September 11 2001, our law…
You have met with your attorney on your drug case. It is your fifth time in court on this case. Your lawyer tells you that the next date is for trial. She explains that she may be able to talk the court and the prosecutor into giving you probation instead…
Many people assume that law enforcement has some kind of duty to notify a suspect before they seek criminal charges against them. This is not true. In fact, to the contrary, the police often try to catch a suspect by surprise when arresting him or her so that the suspect…
…And so our list continues. Law enforcement has appeared at your door, interested in coming in to either look around, have a chat or both. Now what? I had just finished the second of five points for you to keep in mind when we left off. Suggestion 3. Thou Shalt…
In my last blog, we discussed the scene where law enforcement is banging on your door and asking to come in. Let’s assume that they have come for something other than simply a social visit or to congratulate you on being such a great citizen. Let’s also assume that, all…
In my last blog, I laid out the facts for a case, which was recently dismissed because we were able to uncover exculpatory evidence from the Department of Children and Families. Our client was charged with Assault and Battery on a minor (his 7 year old step-son). The child made…
A basic rule of criminal procedure is that the Commonwealth must turnover any and all exculpatory evidence (evidence which can lead the fact finder to believe the defendant is innocent) within their possession to the defense. In most cases there is rarely much exculpatory evidence, because if there were, the…