Blog

By Jessica Gillespie Learn the basics about the crime of hit and run, as well as potential penalties. Car accidents usually make people think of civil liability—issues like who will have to pay for the damage and any injuries and whether insurance rates will go up. But, even where no one was negligent, auto collisions… Read More

Learn what officers can and can’t suggest in order to get a statement from a defendant. By Micah Schwartzbach, Attorney For a defendant’s confession to be admissible at trial, it must be “voluntary.” The notion is that the legal system should tolerate only those statements that are a product of free will. So, physical or… Read More

Writs involve review by appellate courts, but they’re different than appeals. Writs are an exception to the typical appeals process. As explained below, a defendant can ask a higher court to issue a writ outside of the appellate process to rectify certain wrongs that occurred at the trial court level. The word “writ” traces its… Read More

Restitution is designed to compensate crime victims for their losses. Learn about the kinds of expenses and people that restitution covers. By Sherilyn Streicker , While we’ve all heard the saying “crime doesn’t pay,” adding up victims’ expenses proves that it definitely costs. In the criminal justice system, there are two main mechanisms for crime… Read More

Learn what happens when the defense doesn’t get what it bargained for. By Michael Tarleton A plea bargain is an agreement between the government and a defendant. Once a judge approves it, the bargain becomes enforceable by law—it’s therefore a contract. And with any contract, each party must uphold its part of the agreement. Judicial Interference Only… Read More

There are limits to the ways police officers can act while enforcing a warrant. When the police knock on your door, you typically don’t have to let them in unless they have a search warrant signed by a judge. But even if they do have a warrant, they can’t act however they please. Search Warrants… Read More

  Moving cases along, and making sure that there’s room in the jails and prisons for truly bad actors, are two reasons why plea bargaining is part of the system. For judges, the primary incentive to accept plea bargains is to move along their crowded calendars. Most judges simply don’t have time to try every… Read More

The need to provide for highway safety, by getting drunk drivers off the road, trumps the normal need for reasonable suspicion. By Sara J. Berman “Sobriety” checkpoints are valid. The goal of improving highway safety and the gravity of the drunk driving problem, combined with checkpoints’ minimal intrusiveness, means that police officers can stop drivers… Read More

Below is a list of new statutes that have been added:  PC 236.23 is a new affirmative defense available to victims of human trafficking.  Defendant/victim is allowed to show that the charged crime was committed as a direct result of being a trafficking victim and while in reasonable fear of harm. PC 236.14 Allows a person arrested… Read More

Some people figure that, if they avoid true knowledge that they’re doing something illegal, they can’t be convicted. Not so fast. By Jane Rydholm Sometimes it’s tempting to bury one’s head in the sand—there are some things you just don’t want to know about. But, at least when it comes to criminal law, willful blindness… Read More