Criminal Procedure

Published on: December 5, 2011

Judge orders Feds to find representation for two immigrants with mental disabilities

by Stephen Bilkis

The ACLU is celebrating a small, yet exciting victory today after a judged reached the decision that two mentally challenged immigrants, both of whom are up for deportation and unable to function at a level competent enough to represent themselves, will be given legal representation so that they may have a chance to have their case heard, stated a spokesperson.

Immigration courts are not the same as criminal courts, reports the source. In a criminal court, the federal government will provide a defense attorney to someone who does not have one, but the law, at this time, does not hold true for immigration courts to be required to do so. But in the case of two mentally disabled immigrants, a judge has ruled that they must be given representation by the federal government pending their trial.

Both men are suffering from serious mental illness and there is no way that they would receive any kind of fair trial in immigrations court if they do not have some kind of legal representative to speak for them, said the expert. One of the men functions at the level of a small child, unable to do simple tasks or communicate effectively. The other man is schizophrenic and not competent enough to make statements on his own behalf. The ACLU maintains that detained immigrants with mental disabilities are routinely denied their basic constitutional rights in situations like these where they cannot speak for themselves.

Published on: December 5, 2011

Ex-Qwest CEO Says That He Will Not Pay for His Lawyer’s Underwear

by Stephen Bilkis

On Wednesday, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Qwest Communications, filed a lawsuit that alleges the lawyers who represented him during his insider-trading case overbilled him, a newspaper has learned. The legal malpractice lawsuit was filed in state Superior Court in Newark, NJ, seeks punitive and compensatory damages totaling $25 million plus attorney’s fees.

The former CEO is currently located at a federal prison in Pennsylvania, serving a 70-month sentence for using insider information as a basis for selling $52 million in stock in his former employer, the source was told. An appeals court also ordered him to pay a $19 million fine and to forfeit close to $45 million. His conviction was in 2007.

The former CEO’s current attorney has also informed the source that thanks to the law firm named in the suits failure to follow even the most “basic litigation procedures,” his client received not only strict fines, but also a lengthier prison sentence than what was necessary. The attorney also stated that due to these failures, the trial judge barred the defense’s sole expert witness. He also added that the case is sad, since his client not only received inadequate representation during his trial, but he was also overbilled in the process.

Published on: December 1, 2011

Immigration Detention System Shows Ugly Flaws in North Carolina

by Stephen Bilkis

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.

Published on: November 21, 2011

Guantanamo detainee appeal denied

by Stephen Bilkis

A Judge told a confidant that the United States Supreme Court has denied the appeal made by a detainee at Guantanamo Bay for Mohammed al-Adahi. This man is from Yemen who had been locked up without being charged. This happened in the year 2002. He was accused of Federal Crimes but not murder.

The United Supreme Court reached their decision and insisted that the accused be held in detention for an unspecified time. In other words, the Judge told the reporter that the ruling had to stand when it came to the high courts.

Do you know enough about the United States Constitution to know if this ruling is acceptable or not? In the year 2009, for example, a District Judge ordered the this Guantanamo detained be released even after the United States government accused that Al Adahi was connected to the Taliban or Al Qaeda. The District Judge told the reporter that the government failed to prove that this was the case.

Published on: November 19, 2011

Driver Charged with Manslaughter

by Stephen Bilkis

The driver in a two-car crash that caused the death of another driver has been arraigned on manslaughter charges. This occurred after a six-count Suffolk grand jury indictment which claimed the driver was under the influence of intoxicating substances, according to official sources.

The 53-year-old driver pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court, Riverhead, and was held on $500,000 bond or $250,000 in cash, by order of the presiding judge.

The driver, operating a 2002 Lincoln Navigator, swerved over the yellow divider line on Montauk Highway, near Old South Country Road in Brookhaven, on December 17, 2010.

Published on: November 19, 2011

LeBron’s Mother Arrested for Battery in Miami

by Stephen Bilkis

The mother of LeBron James, major star of the Miami Heat, was arrested on charges of assault, battery and disorderly intoxication. A contentious encounter with a valet at a Miami Beach hotel ended with the arrest.

The 43-year-old woman was arrested because she reportedly struck a valet around 5 a.m. in the morning, Miami Beach police told Long Island Criminal Attorneys.

Sources revealed, the woman requested her vehicle from the valet, who brought it to the valet ramp, where it was left running for 30 minutes as James’s mother talked to other hotel patrons. After that, the valet turned off the car and gave the keys to the valet cashier.

Published on: November 18, 2011

16-Year-Old Mother In Daytona Beach Arrested For Kidnapping Her Child

by Stephen Bilkis

A 16-year-old girl was arrested for Kidnapping in Florida after taking her baby from a foster care agency. The agency’s purpose was to place children who have been abused or neglected in foster homes.

Both mother and child had been taken to the agency located in Daytona Beach by a caseworker from Jacksonville.

The 16-year-old girl learned that she and her child were going to be separated and she sent texts to two of her friends, who came to pick her up, investigators confirmed. She then took the baby and rushed out to the car. Another caseworker contacted the mother not long after that and the baby was soon returned to the agency.

Published on: November 18, 2011

Tax Fraud in Georgia is Growing

by Stephen Bilkis

Tax fraud has been a problem almost since people have been required to pay taxes. As a New York Criminal Lawyer also claimed that, the problem has been even more prevalent in the electronic age. This is due, in large part, to the many places that we do business on the Internet that collect our vital information and store it as part of a normal business transaction. Electronic information gathering is not the only method that criminals use to collect our private information, however. Thieves have been scouring trash bins and mailboxes during tax season for many years, and the problem has only grown worse.

Many citizens in one state in particular have been learning of the problem firsthand. Citizens from the State of Georgia have been reporting increasing instances of receiving tax bills that have caught them by surprise. These are also the same citizens who have been filing their taxes regularly and have had no problems either with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or with their Georgia state income tax. Recently it has been learned of one such man who discovered too late that a 26-year old illegal immigrant had been arrested for using his Social Security number when he applied for work in a nearby county. It is also believed that this same illegal immigrant is why the Georgia man had recently received a tax bill from the IRS for $3,434.

Unfortunately, stories like his are not uncommon. During the 2010 tax season, the State of Georgia’s Revenue Department reportedly detected at least 52,000 fraudulent tax returns that totaled approximately $41 million in tax refunds. Those returns are only the returns that were detected; sources indicated.

Published on: November 16, 2011

Chris Cook’s Day in Court was March 21

by Stephen Bilkis

Minnesota Vikings’ cornerback, Chris Cook, will have his day in court on March 21, sources say.. He has been formally charged with brandishing a firearm, which in this case is a misdemeanor.

The incident reportedly began, as the second round, draft pick was involved in a heated confrontation with one of his neighbors. While his arrest did not take place during the argument, the arrest and charges occurred after his neighbor swore out an arrest warrant a short time later.. Although Chris Cook was arrested and charged Saturday, he was shortly released on his own recognizance. The cause or content of Chris Cook’s confrontation with one of his neighbors has yet to be released.

In case many who are reading this are wondering, just how Chris Cook was arrested and charged so quickly, especially when police were never called to the scene of the argument at the time of its occurrence. There are some differences in the way that Virginia law works and how the law in many other states work. We will try to explain.

Published on: November 15, 2011

An international case of fraud involving a major software firm leads to high-stakes charges

by Stephen Bilkis

A former manager of a major U.S. software company was recently indicted on charges of wire fraud, suspicion and money laundering, following an investigation which revealed a multi-million dollar international scam.

During the course of his five-year employment with the software company, the defendant appears to have taken kickbacks from foreign suppliers in exchange for insider information and future plans of the company. The co-conspirators included several suppliers from Singapore and China, as well as other partners in Asia. A the defendant is responsible for approximately $2.25 million in lost revenue for the company which he represented. This amount reflects both personal gains that the defendant gleaned from the shady Asian foreign suppliers, as well as damages to the software company he once served as manager. Potentially he can be charged with Grand Larceny wither in State or Federal Court

A New York Criminal Lawyer observes that the defendant, a native of Sunnyvale, CA, was indicted on August 11, 2010. He subsequently entered into a plea deal, the details of which are summed up in an official statement by a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice: “…(the defendant) admitted to engaging in a scheme to defraud (the company) of its money or property and its right to his honest services while he was employed with the company from 2005 through 2010.” Federal agents scoured the defendant’s home following his detailed conviction, where they found approximately $150,000 cash hidden in shoe boxes. This cash was most like part of the kickbacks he received from the Asian-based suppliers, which constituted a certain percentage of the commerce between the plaintiff company and its foreign suppliers.