New York Criminal Lawyer Blog

A 30-year-old immigrant, married to an American woman, with a very young son, was arrested on September 28, 2009, taken from his family home in Durham, North Carolina, a New York Criminal Lawyer reported.

“I was scared, but in the back of my mind, I just felt that everything would eventually be OK because I was a citizen and he was married to me,” said the immigrant’s wife. She is a mental health therapist, born and raised in the United States.

It’s been more than a year and a half and every request for release on bond has been denied, thanks to two misdemeanor drug possession charges from 1998. The authorities feel these charges make him a flight risk, which means he stays in prison until they make a final decision, according to a Bronx Criminal Lawyer.

While this particular man has a lawyer, many of the detainees in ICE facilities never get the chance to see one, because their facilities tend to be in isolated locations, which makes the acquisition of an attorney much more expensive. The man in question is nine hours from his home and two hours from his own attorney.

“Unlike in the criminal system, where if someone can’t afford a lawyer they’re appointed one, in the immigration system you have a right to a lawyer, but you have to find and pay one for yourself,” a representative of the National Immigrant Justice Center tell.

Fortunately, the wife of the North Carolina immigrant can hire a lawyer, but many detained in similar circumstances cannot. She gets the money from her mother and grandmother, who have paid $14,000 so far, and that might only be the beginning. There are also travel expenses, application fees for immigration forms, and counseling fees for wife and son.

“If it wasn’t for them, we would probably be out of the country,” said the wife, referring to her mother and grandmother.

The immigrant did illegally enter the country, but at the age of eight, brought by his mother. Eventually, he gained a work permit of his own. But because he entered the country as a minor, his immigration status relied on his mother’s status. She was denied permanent residency in 2008, which invalidated her son’s immigration status. When Immigration Services sent him a notice to appear in court, it was sent to the wrong address. They later admitted their mistake but only after the man was arrested and ordered deported.

Continue reading "Immigration Detention System Shows Ugly Flaws in North Carolina" »

A group of citizens told a New York Criminal Lawyer that a couple was blamed for having videotaped their toddler who is 23 months old and was allegedly smoking pot. The couple was arraigned in court for charges of negligence.
The police told reporters that they got a tip about the incident from an anonymous person. The Sheriff of the country went to the accused couple’s home and found the twenty year old mother and 24 year old father of the child. The police said that the video did, in fact, show that the toddler was smoking pot from a pipe. This incident occurred about three times. The pipe had residue of marijuana in it as seen on the video. The video has become the main evidence in the case and will be kept into evidence and not released.
The parents were charged for child cruelty and neglect. An investigation into the case was done and that was when the couple was officially charged. Both parents were not booked at the same time. The mother was brought into custody first and then the father surrendered the next day.
The Police told a A New York Criminal Attorney is set to transact business in court for any criminal case.

Both parents were held in jail on a bail of $100,000. According to law enforcement, the parents seem to be remorseful for their behavior and have since understood that they did not make a good decision in this case. According to law enforcement investigators, both parents owned medical marijuana cards. The toddler was taken away from the parents and put in custody. In the Bronx and New York this behavior is not condoned by the courts.

Continue reading "Pot Smoking Toddler’s parents arrested " »

A Police Officer told a New York Criminal Lawyer about the DUI incident with celebrity and former teen star, David Cassidy, who was a singer and actor during the 1970s. The Police Officer indicated that the star is assumed to be ready to enter a please of guilty. He also have the option of entering a please of no contest. The sentencing hearing took place a few months after the incident and David Cassidy was charged with a DUI not drug possession.
The Police Officer indicated that on the day of the sentencing, the Judge declared a postponement of the sentencing. However, his lawyer opted to have him enter a plea in written format for the DUI charges against him. The police report indicated that Mr. Cassidy could not stay in his lane and when stopped, the police found open alcohol containers in his vehicle, which was in violation of the law.
The Police Officer explained to the NY Criminal Lawyer, “David Cassidy was allowed to not appear at the hearing because it was a misdemeanor charge and his lawyer would stand on his behalf and enter the plea for him. “
Reporters were anticipating that David Cassidy would have appeared at the sentencing hearing, but they were highly disappointed. David Cassidy lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and he was driving on the highway on a November evening, when the police pulled him over. His car had veered off the road and he almost caused a crash with the other vehicle behind him. He failed the breathalyzer test. Cases like Cassidy's are common in places like Brooklyn and The Bronx.

Continue reading "Former Teen Star enter plea in DUI case" »

Investigators have seized the alleged client list of a retired chief probation officer after his arrest late last week, when he was charged with cocaine trafficking. The suspect was arraigned on Monday at the Dukes County Courthouse and pled not guilty to trafficking more than 28 grams of cocaine, a class-b-substance, according to court documents found by a New York City Criminal Lawyer.
The suspect’s ledger allegedly contained the names of 20 persons, along with corresponding coke order amounts and drug debts. The Sargent further revealed that police have been getting tips about the suspect “for years.”
The 65-year-old former probation officer was arrested by members of the Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force and Oak Bluffs Police Department on Friday, March 18 at approximately 4:30 p.m., after they arrived, armed with a search warrant, to search the suspect’s property. Officers at the scene found 39 packages of cocaine on the suspect and on his property, and also found cutting agents used to package the cocaine, according to court records obtained by investigators from The Bronx and Westchester County.
The suspect served 30 years as a chief probation officer, retiring in 2000 to Martha's Vineyard with his wife. Officers said he cooperated during the arrest, leading them to the location of drugs on both his property and his person, according to a statement of facts provided to the court.
The suspect admitted that he had sold cocaine to an individual that members of the Task Force and Police Department observed exiting the property just before the arrest, according to a statement gathered by a NYC Criminal Lawyer.
He was ordered to pay $500 bail and forfeit his passport on Monday and is scheduled to appear in court again on April 22.

Continue reading "In Cape Cod, Retired Chief Probation Officer Arrested for Cocaine Trafficking" »

A drug pusher may have been one of the few Americans to actually benefit from the events of September 11, 2001, New York Criminal Lawyers have learned. But now, his luck has run out.
The drug dealer may have already been in prison but for the fact that the evidence gathered against him happened to be in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Now another charge has surfaced and he will serve a five-year sentence for bail jumping – something he did more than 16 years ago, in an appeals court ruling.
Back in 1994, the deal was already on probation when he was arrested for allegedly being one of the men behind a crack ring in the Bronx. He was allowed to go on $200,000 bail, then went into hiding. In order to stay hidden, he even burned off his own fingerprints, sources have stated.
He was caught for drug dealing in 2007 and was sentenced to 151 months in prison. It was at that time he pleaded guilty to bail jumping in order to get a deal that would limit his stay in prison to no more than two years.
The judge wasn’t going for that, however. He claimed the bail jumper had made a “mockery of the constitutional right to bail” and made sure he got more than twice the two years – five years in total.
An appeal was made, but the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld the decision.
In other news, a fight between a former student and a school aide near a middle school in Queens resulted in hospitalization for one person and a sprained ankle for a dean who attempted to break up the fight, sources have revealed to New York Criminal Lawyers.
The argument between the two women started inside the school and moved outside, where their confrontation turned violent. During the fistfight on the playground, the dean attempted to intervene, but fell down as the others continued to fight.
Both of the fighters were arrested and charges are still pending.
One of the combatants was taken to the hospital, bleeding from the head. Authorities told N York Criminal Lawyers that none of the wounds were serious.

Continue reading "Two Stories of Crime in New York" »