Category Archives: Criminal Defense
Defendant in Notorious Hudson River Drowning Case Pleads Guilty To Negligent Homicide
On July 24, the accused defendant in the kayak death on the Hudson which captured headlines pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide. The defendant—Angelika Graswald—was accused of tampering with her fiancé’s kayak and purposely leaving him to drown in the Hudson River. Graswald pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide and will now spend between… Read More »
When Protesting Turns into a Crime
The rally in Charlottesville has captured national headlines recently, particularly because it ended with three people killed and some 34 injured. Americans have long-enjoyed free speech rights and the right to assemble. But when does it turn into something more; i.e. something that could be construed as hate crime, or other, even more violent… Read More »
New York Investigating New Device To Crack Down On Cellphone Violations, But Is It Constitutional?
According to the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research, almost 3,000 people were injured in cellphone-related crashes in New York between 2011 and 2015, with more than one million tickets issued for cellphone violations in that same time period. On July 26th, New York State announced that it would set in motion a… Read More »
Is The Department Of Justice Seeking To Prosecute Everyone Who Is Anti-Trump For Criminal Activity?
The Department of Justice is currently seeking 1.3 million IP addresses that accessed a website advertising inauguration day protests, i.e. the website of “Disrupt J20,” which hosted information concerning organized protests on President Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. The justification for the search? That some of the protests turned violent, and… Read More »
Where Does The Responsibility For A Wrongful Conviction Lie?
It would likely be a surprise to most that, according to The New York Times, just in the last three years, Brooklyn’s Conviction Review Unit has asked judges to free 23 defendants who, it stated, were in prison when they shouldn’t have been. And just think: this is only one of many units in… Read More »
Cases Dismissed After Video of Police Planting Evidence Found
Over a hundred criminal cases involving drug-related felonies and weapons possession—cases which relied on testimony from three officers found planting evidence—are currently under review due to suspected planted evidence by police officers. The video exposing the officers’ behavior—evidently taken in January and released in July—shows an officer placing a bag of white capsules in… Read More »
Federal Bill to Legalize Marijuana Introduced
On August 1st, Senator Cory Booker introduced legislation—the Marijuana Justice Act—to legalize cannabis at the federal level. The bill removes cannabis from the list of drugs covered by the Controlled Substances Act, automatically expunges marijuana use and possession, incentivizes states to change their own laws if they’ve had a disproportionate effect on low-income, African-American… Read More »
New Jersey Police Crack Down On Underage Drinking
New Jersey police have re-launched the “Cops in the Shops” program, partnering with local alcohol retailers to put undercover officers inside the stores and crack down on underage alcohol sales. The partnership’s goals are to charge adults who buy alcohol for those who are underage and crack down on anyone attempting to use a… Read More »
Public Corruption Charges against New Jersey and New York Officials
The case against U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey made headlines recently as attorneys asked a federal court to dismiss political corruption charges against him. The Senator’s attorneys argue that a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision—as well as recent decisions—narrow the scope of the federal bribery statute such that he should not be… Read More »
Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants with Prior Offenses Who Worked At Ground Zero
Several New York legislators are working to not only legalize undocumented workers who worked on the rescue, cleanup, and recovery efforts during the aftermath of 9/11, but who also have recently been placed in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities for drug and nonviolent offenses committed long ago—as far back as the… Read More »