New York Criminal Lawyer Blog

The suspect in a Brooklyn murder may already have his case decided for him – the slaying was caught on video surveillance. He was caught in all the way up in Albany, after weeks of searching.
The 20-year-old suspect was identified as the primary subject of interest shortly after an 18-year-old man was shot to death on April 17. A camera showed the suspect riding the elevator with the unsuspecting victim in a building in Brownsville at around 7:30 p.m. that evening.
The victim exited the elevator and the suspect, who had previous brushes with the law regarding weapons, drew a silver pistol and followed him into the lobby, police sources informed New York Criminal Defense Teams.
Another camera captured the suspect as he allegedly shot the victim in cold blood. The victim was not seen on the camera, but it could be clearly seen that the suspect was firing the gun, twice, then a third time toward the ground, presumably after his target had fallen.
Yet another camera showed the shooter throwing away the gun, then leaving the scene quickly, pulling his head low to hide his face as he attempted to make his escape.
It has yet to be revealed who harbored the suspect while he stayed in Albany or exactly how the authorities managed to track him down. Police did release the video of the shooting, however, in an effort to gain public help in catching the murderer. In New York City and Long Island, a charge of Gun Possession would also be filed.
When the police came for him, the suspect allowed himself to taken without conflict and he was returned to Brooklyn for questioning.
Even when the outcome of a case seems like a foregone conclusion, there are important facts of the law to consider. There is the right to a fair trial. There is also the fact that all people are innocent until proven guilty. The law is a complicated thing and it takes someone who has studied it for years to properly understand completely enough to provide the legal defense that is the right of every person arrested by authorities. A New York Criminal Defense Team is just such a resource – with the experience, tenacity, and knowledge to make sure the law is applied evenly.

Continue reading " Alleged Brooklyn Killer Caught Upstate " »

A freshman student, formerly of Rutgers College, is already in trouble for using a webcam to spy on his roommate’s encounter with another man. Now New York Criminal Lawyers have learned he has been formally charged with a hate crime, along with deleting tweets and texts so as to avoid further implication.
The 19-year-old was indicted in Middlesex County on a total of 15 counts, including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in the series of events that ended with the suicide of an 18-year-old student in a case that began a national discussion on bullies and the treatment of people of differing sexual orientation.
The 19-year-old student was already dealing with invasion of privacy charges, along with another student at Rutgers. It was a process of months for prosecutors to present the case that the defendant was in fact targeting another student due to his sexual orientation and that this was the basic reason that he broadcast his roommate’s sexual encounter over the internet.
New York Criminal Lawyers note the charges do not specifically say the spying the 19-year-old allegedly engaged in was the cause of his roommate’s death. After the video spread among the other students, the defendant’s then-roommate committed suicide by jumping from the George Washington Bridge.
The most serious of the bias charges could cause the defendant to end up in prison from five to ten years. In Manhattan and Nassau County, these crimes are considered very serious and are treated that way.
A prosecutor in Middlesex County said charges against the young woman considered to be an accomplice to the defendant were not presented to the grand jury. It is unknown yet what course the woman will take – she may go before a grand jury to face charges herself, or she might help the prosecution in the case against the man she helped in the humiliation of another student.

Continue reading " Hate Charges Filed in Rutgers Suicide Case " »

A pair of Brooklyn bandits held up a pizzeria in Williamsburg.
The perpetrators, wearing masks and armed with guns, entered a Papa John’s on Grand Street near Leonard Street at 10 p.m. One of the robbers drew a silver pistol and forced the 18-year-old working the counter to open the register, cops told New York Criminal Lawyers.
The thieves took an undisclosed amount of cash, then ordered the worker to give them what he had, taking his cash and his iPhone, police added.
There are several stories out of Staten Island New York Criminal Lawyers are currently investigating.
The first is of a suspected drug dealer murdered in his car as he drove through Port Richmond. The 26-year-old victim was driving a 2003 Infiniti coup when he was shot through the open window of his car below the left eye at 2:39 a.m. on Harrison Avenue near Castleton Avenue.
The victim had been in trouble with the law before for drug-related issues and was caught in a 2008 prosecution sting. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Drug Possession in Brooklyn and Queens is treated very seriously by law enforcement.
In West Brighton, an ex-con shot up a rival’s car in a drive-by.
The 20-year-old ex-con shot at his enemy’s PT Cruiser as it was parked on Delafield Avenue near Broadway at 8:15 in the evening. The flurry of bullets broke four windows and put a hole in the body of the car.
The shooter was found in his home two hours later, armed with a semi-automatic weapon and listening to an NYPD radio that had been previously reported stolen. He was already on parole after a year in prison for shooting a man in the leg in 2008 at a movie theater.
Finally, a man in Midland Beach was arrested, thanks to a weapon found in his car.
Officers pulled the 36-year-old man for his illegally-tinted windows, when they found the Glock with 34 ammo cartridges in the car. He told the police he was going fishing, but he may actually end up in jail instead, police told New York Criminal Lawyers.

Continue reading " More Crimes from the Blotter " »

Many Connecticut residents don’t know what to make of the decision of a jury to give the murderer of a Fairfield couple life in prison without parole, rather than the death penalty.
“It’s such a weighty decision.” This comment was made by the owner of the store next to the one where the murders took place. The killer shot both victims several times as he robbed their jewelry store on February 2, 2005.
“I know them very well,” the store owner next door told New York Criminal Lawyers. “They were genteel, sweet, family people. They had an unbelievable graciousness with loving, kind hearts.”
The victims’ children had just recently graduated college and had to endure six years as the trial process dragged on.
One benefit of the life sentence, in the eyes of some, is that it will not be endlessly appealed for years. Connecticut law automatically appeals any death sentence. In Queens and Westchester Counties, the judges are asked to move cases along so that this kind of delay doesn't happen.
The killer is already serving life in prison in New York State for another murder, when he killed a jewelry store owner in Glen Head, New York. This happened less than two months before he murdered the Connecticut couple. He fought against extradition to Connecticut, specifically to avoid the death penalty and lost.
The jury deciding the penalty had to decide whether the aggravating factors of the crime justified the death penalty and whether the mitigating factors made him ineligible for the death penalty. Some argued his troubled background and heroin addiction gave him a lack of control that lead to his criminal acts, while others claimed these were no excuse.
Another store owner was quick to say, “If you kill someone, you deserve to die.”
“It was a horrendous, horrendous crime and I think he deserved a lethal injection.”
A pastor who was a classmate of one of the victims explained to New York Criminal Lawyers, “In essence, the death penalty solves our problem of what to do with offenders… in the same way that he solved his ‘problem’ in that horrible moment: by taking a life. That’s revenge, not justice. Nothing would be set truly right; nothing would be restored by his execution; everyone would wind up in the loser column.”

Continue reading " Fairfield, Connecticut Reacts to Murder Verdict " »

Although this story began in 2005, a N York Criminal Lawyer has learned from sources that the case was solved. It was solved due to the dogged determination of a private investigator, who by following his gut instincts tracked the woman’s assailant across the country.
The story began in February 2005 when a Dade County, FL, utility worker found a woman in the grass at an undeveloped cul-de-sac just outside of Miami, FL. The woman had been dumped and left for dead. Sources said that the utility notified the authorities who determined the woman was still alive and immediately transported her to the nearest medical facility where she would remain unconscious until the next day. Investigators attempted to gain information from the woman so as to ascertain who committed the crimes against her, but due to her inability to speak were able to collect some vague information as she could write it.
The woman was a Ukrainian who was employed with one of the cruise lines out of Miami who had been injured on the job and had been placed in a local hotel room by her employer as she recovered. Since the woman had filed suit against her employer, these details explained to investigators why the only person she could direct investigators that she knew was her attorney. In Westchester and Suffolk Counties this crime could easily result in a murder charge and criminal procedure would ensue.
A New York Criminal Attorney also learned that investigators were able to determine the approximate time and location of the attack on the woman. It had occurred at some point after she had entered an elevator at the hotel. The surveillance cameras showed the woman entering the elevator but did not show her exiting it. They did show, however, a large, black man exiting the elevator with a large piece of baggage that appeared to be very heavy since the man had struggled with the bag as he exited the elevator.
Investigators initially could not locate the man exiting the elevator to question him about anything that he may have seen, nor could they locate any more leads and the case went cold. Due to the woman filing a lawsuit against the hotel for lax security, the hotel hired a private investigator to investigate her claims. The investigator was a former NY police officer and federal DEA agent who soon became intrigued by the mystery of this case.
Over time, the investigator would follow leads that led him from Miami to Colorado, and to the woman’s attacker in Frederick, MD. After further investigation and the comparing of DNA evidence between her attacker and others in various locations, the man’s identity was confirmed. However, it would take his conviction on an unrelated case for the Ukrainian woman and the private investigator to see the man sentenced to 24-years to life, for his attack on a Colorado woman.

Continue reading " Woman Survived Attack in Miami—Mystery Solved " »

A woman was just charged with DUI manslaughter charges for a wreck that happened recently, according to a New York Criminal Lawyer. The woman, who was only 20 at the time of the accident, was driving while under the influence of alcohol. Her breathalyzer tested .154, which is almost twice the legal limit allowed. Other criminal charges might be pending due to the level of her intoxication and underage status. She was not injured in the accident but the passenger in the car was killed. Cases like this are handled by local lawyers when they occur in Manhattan and Long Island.
The passenger in the car was a 22 year old male. It is not known what his blood alcohol level was or why he was not driving the car. The accident occurred when the driver of the vehicle left a bar and was traveling down a highway. She thought she was being followed by a car and claims she ran off the road when she took her eyes away from the road to look behind her. She veered and struck the pole on the passenger side of the car. No other car matching her description was found in the area.
A blood test also showed the woman had amphetamines in her system, but the exact drug was not listed. If there were illegal drugs in her system, there may be more criminal charges filed against her, according to a New York City Criminal Lawyer. She is currently awaiting a court date to determine her sentence. It is not known if this is her first offense on a DUI charge. If so, she might pay fines and a jail sentence.

Continue reading " Underage Driver Charged with DUI Manslaughter " »

Mikey Graham, of Boyzone fame, confronted a man being a nuisance at his home, and allegedly hit him so hard that other man was left with swelling in the brain.
The 22-year-old victim was “extremely lucky” doctors told him. Worse injuries could have easily been sustained in the incident that left him with “very intense” trauma.
Graham, according to his closest friends, said he was going to be leaving his home in Spain to return to Ireland to see what was needed from him in conjunction with the fallout from the altercation that took place at Graham’s €1m mansion 'Avalon,’ located at Courtlough, Balrothery, north Co Dublin. Even though this happened at the singer's home it is not considered domestic violence.
Beaumont Hospital doctors treated the victim’s head injury for six days in intensive care.
A New York Criminal Lawyer uncovered some of the details of the victim’s injury: "Before he was released late on Friday afternoon, [the 22-year-old] was told by medical staff at the St Luke's unit of Beaumount Hospital that he had suffered from a general swelling of the brain. He was told that he was extremely lucky not to have been left needing an operation or intensive physiotherapy."
The attacked man was still shaken and pale when he sat up and talked with doctors at the end of last week. His mother and other family members were at his bedside, and they have been charged by doctors to keep a close eye on their loved one while he recovers in the weeks ahead. Doctors suspect that he will need treatment for his brain injury in the future. He returned to his home in north Dublin to recover.
While the victim was being treated, the music star went to his home in Nerja, Spain, a fishing village on the seashore about 50km from Malaga, on the eastern tip of Malaga's Costa del Sol, supposedly for business purposes.
New York Criminal Law Offices uncovered some of the specifics of the incident: “The Boyzone singer apparently responded to incessant ringing of his front gate buzzer; he left his home via the back door of the property carrying a cricket bat. When he reached the front gate, he crouched behind a wall. When the intercom went off again, the singer swung the bat, injuring the 22-year-old.” One of the star’s friends said, “He (Graham) says he was absolutely terrified. He was frightened for his own safety and for that of his family. He just wanted to protect his home. He thought they (the men) could have been armed and felt he had to take action to protect his family.” The singer’s wife and daughter were in the house at the time of the incident. This kind of incident is common in Manhattan as well as Nassau County.
It is unclear if this incident is related to an earlier incident that occurred at the Man O’ War tavern.

Continue reading " Boyzone Singer Hits Possible Intruder and Causes a Brain Injury " »