Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Denver, and Los Angeles are just a handful of cities in the United States sending teams or co-response teams of police officers and social workers to respond to incidents involving individuals suffering from mental health illness, reports The Economist magazine. Many individuals who come into contact…
Articles Posted in criminal defense
Understanding the Legal Uses of Marijuana in California
We are close to the one-and-a-half-year mark of the legalization of the use and possession of recreational marijuana in California. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation on what is the permissible use and possession of recreational marijuana. The following post will tackle some of these misconceptions. Use and Possession…
Using Artificial Intelligence to Detect Lies in Police Reports
Many arrests are initiated by the victim of the alleged crime calling the police. A victim can also go to the police precinct and file a criminal complaint against the perpetrator in person. Whether in person or on the phone, the police open an investigation as soon as the victim…
Illegal Street Racing
A Whittier man, Dealio Lockhart, was recently sentenced to 22 years and four months in state prison for his role in the 2016 street race that caused a multi-vehicle pileup on the Golden State Freeway in Commerce. Three people died and four were seriously injured. An investigation by the City…
Tracking Phones With Your Google Account
Criminal law has entered the digital age. Every day, the privacy of innocent people is compromised as law enforcement officials scoop up information about them while executing routine search warrants involving someone else. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a warrant was required for law enforcement to be…
Did You Buy Sex From a Sex Worker?
For the last two weeks the owner of the New England Patriots football team has been the subject of many jokes and conjecture in regards to his sex life following his recent arrest and charge for solicitation of prostitutes in Jupiter, Florida. As many as 300 people are expected to…
Misdemeanor Domestic Battery
Domestic violence, according to The National Domestic Violence Hotline, is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship. The behavior becomes criminal when one partner hits or strikes the other partner, known as battery, which is often part…
Transparency in Law-Enforcement
This week a San Francisco free-speech group, the First Amendment Coalition, sued the California Attorney General and Justice Department over their refusal to disclose police misconduct records under the state’s new transparency laws. Last year the Senate passed a bill providing the public with greater access to police personnel files…
Am I Free to Go? Handling Your Arrest
An arrest is an undeniably traumatic experience. The simple question, am I free to go, will be answered with an affirmative “no.” Keep in mind that once the police officer starts the arrest process, he or she has probable cause to believe that you have committed a crime. If during…
Strong Arm Robberies
This time of year, there is an uptick in muggings, when someone is attacked and robbed in public. It can happen as a person enters his or her home, walks out of a restaurant, steps off the bus, or walks through a mall parking lot. Robbery is the taking of…