As if the recent current events surrounding Eric Garner and Michael Brown were not enough, this month saw two more high profile cases detailing police misconduct and brutality which made national news. In South Carolina, the tasering and shooting of Walter Scott occurred as he was running away from the…
On Friday, April 3rd, 28 year old San Diego man Kevin Bollaert was convicted in the San Diego Superior Court and sentenced to 18 years for 27 counts of identity theft and extortion via California’s newly enacted revenge porn law. Additionally, he was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution. Although…
Well, the answer is everything. Courts and the public opinion are increasingly viewing the family pet and other companion animals as family members, and the legal trend of covering pets in domestic violence (DV) protective orders are expected to increase. This trend responds to the evidence that 71% of women…
As I have blogged before on the status of California’s DUI laws, last week saw a perfect illustration of what happens when one is caught drinking and driving. A 25-year-old San Diego State student by the name of Amber Dlaine McKinney Morgan was rescued by California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers…
In a recent post, we discussed the current events surrounding local rapper “TinyDoo” (real name Brandon Duncan) and his charges of gang conspiracy. Specifically, Mr. Duncan, along with 15 other co-defendants, was charged in connection with gang criminal conspiracy connected with nine shootings that took place in San Diego between…
Even though it has only been a few months since Proposition 47 has made its debut, the incarceration rate throughout the state of California has dropped a noticeable degree. As most of you may know, the controversial Proposition 47 (“Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiatives”) made its way onto the…
Your Constitutional Rights The Miranda warning is a verbal warning that all police officers must give a suspect before s/he is about to be taken into custody, and applies the whole time s/he is in custody. Custody means a formal arrest or the deprivation of freedom where a reasonable person…
As reviewed in the previous blog, Miranda rights protects one from compelled self-incrimination, but this right is not absolute. There are certain exceptions to the Miranda rule where police do not have to read you your rights. This means in any of these situations, police will use what you say…
Recently, two civil rights groups (the San Francisco branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Asian Law Caucus) filed a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco Police Department alleging that a police inspector not only violated department rules and city law whilst working with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism…
Early in March, San Diego Police investigated two threats of violence to high school campuses using social media. On March 5, they investigated a threat made to to Del Norte High School through the Burnbook app. On March 11, another threat on the Burnbook app was made against Mission Hills…