New York Criminal Lawyer Blog

Published on: May 4, 2012

Defendant Brings Moton too Supressed Confession

by Stephen Bilkis

Two men entered a gas station in Long Island on February 18, 1976. With a gun, one of them forced the 16-year old gas attendant to give him all the cash in the till. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the man ordered the boy to kneel down and to face away from them. He then shot the boy who died later.

At the start of the police investigation into the robbery with homicide, the police had no idea as to the identity of the robbers. They received a tip from a woman who was in the same house as the two men. She remembers that on the same night of the murder of the 16 year old boy at the gas station, the two men suddenly left the house because they had a job to do. They came back highly excited and told the woman that they had to shoot someone. This tip was put in the records of the investigation.

One month after the shooting of the 16-year old, the police chased a suspect in a car theft incident. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said two men were involved in the car theft but only one suspect was caught. The police saw the suspect they were chasing: he slowed down the car and threw something out. A week after the car chase, a little girl turned in a loaded gun she found in the place where the chase took place. The police checked the gun and it turned out that it was the same gun that was used to kill the 16-year old gas attendant at the gas station in Long Island.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Court Discusses Discrimination of Domestic Violence Victims

by Stephen Bilkis

The complainant woman was hired by the City Department of Correction and was subject to a two-year probation period. A New York Criminal Lawyer said she is the mother of two pre-teenage children and a victim of abuse by her crack and alcohol addict husband who also happens to have a criminal history. The woman moved out with her children and went to live with a relative. Things did not work out and she was ejected from the apartment. The woman requested a vacation time to find a home and was granted a leave through April 4, 2002.

On April 5, 2002, the still homeless woman asked the Department’s Health Management Division (HMD) for further time off to continue her search for a place to live. The Health Management Division put her on immediate sick leave due to stress. They also confiscated the woman’s identification and directed her to obtain a new one which reflected she was psychologically unfit to carry a firearm. At that same meeting, the Health Management Division demanded that the woman provide them with an address. When the woman told the Health Management Division that she was homeless and lacked an address, she was told she could not work at the Department without one. Faced with the threat even after she had explained her homelessness, she gave her husband’s address.

The Health Management Division conducted a visit to the woman at her husband’s address. When she was not found there, they required her to appear at the Health Management Division the following day to explain her unauthorized absence from home. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the woman was informed by her mother-in-law the woman appeared at the Health Management Division and at their request wrote a report explaining her circumstances and homelessness. Nonetheless, the Health Management Division made four subsequent visits to the husband’s residence expecting to find the petitioner there. The petitioner remained homeless, sleeping variously in her car, hotels, shelters or friends’ homes. The woman did return to her husband’s home twice, but both times he assaulted her and she had to seek police intervention and leave again.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Sex Crimes Victim Sues Charity Who Failed to Help Her

by Stephen Bilkis

Two counties of New York entered into a contract with a Catholic charitable group to provide residential domestic services. In October 1988, a woman contacted the charity asking their help to escape the domestic violence perpetrated against her by her husband.

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the woman was afraid of her husband and she needed a safe place to go. All the residential facilities operated by the charitable organization were full. The employee of the charitable group suggested that she go to a shelter in the next county but the woman did not want to go so far away.

The employee of the charitable organization then contacted social services and asked for their approval to place the battered woman in a motel. The employee drove over to the house of the woman and picked her up and took her to the motel. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said she battered woman was bruised and intoxicated. The employee of the charitable organization volunteered to drive the woman to a hospital but she refused.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Defendant Appeals for Sentencing Reduction

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiff and appellee in the case is the United States of America. The defendant and appellant of the case is Felicia Monique Dunn. The case is being heard in the fifth circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.

Appeal

A New York DWI Lawyer said Felicia Monique Dunn is appealing her sentence for possessing cocaine with the objective to distribute. She also was charged with aiding and abetting cocaine. Her reason for appeal is that there were two shoplifting convictions that were used to add to her sentence. Under guidelines for sentencing she states that a lower enhancement is necessary as both the offenses occurred at different stores located in the same mall during roughly the same time frame and were heard in the same court with the same pleas and sentences that were concurrent.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Defendant Appeals Sentence

by Stephen Bilkis

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the plaintiff and appellee of the case is the United States of America. The defendant and appellant of the case is Paul Darvin Lamm. The case is being heard in the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.

Appeal

Paul Darvin Lamm, the defendant has been convicted and sentenced for a previous crime. The crime that is currently in question is a guilty plea to being a user of a controlled substance and possessing a firearm. This is referred to as the instant offense. His appeal is only in regard to his sentencing. He is contesting that the petty theft shoplifting charge not be included when determining his criminal history points for calculation of his prison sentencing. This appeal brings into question whether or not an offense of petty theft is similar to an insufficient funds check, which is excluded from an individual’s criminal history report under a set of specific conditions.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Shoplifting Defenant Arrested Based on her Own Admission

by Stephen Bilkis

The appellant of the case is Alma Davis. The appellee in the case is McCrory Corporation. The case is being heard in the second district of the District Court of Appeals in the State of Florida.

Appeal

A New York Criminal Lawyer said Alma Davis, the appellant, was accused and then arrested for shoplifting in one of the McCrory Corporation’s stores. She was acquitted of this crime. She then brought a lawsuit into action claiming malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, and false arrest. She is appealing the decision by the district court that granted a summary judgment in favor of the defendant that dismissed the case.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Defendant Charged with Child Endangerment in Drug Crime

by Stephen Bilkis

Whenever a child is involved or present at the time that a criminal act is committed, it becomes more serious. Child endangerment charges are especially applicable in cases where there has been a drug crime committed. A New York Drug Crime Lawyer said sometimes, the case is as mundane as an aunt or uncle who brings marijuana into the home where children are located. The children need never see the drugs for the aunt or uncle to be charged with child abuse or child endangerment. If there is even a possibility, no matter how remote, that the child may be able to obtain the drug and ingest it, the person who brought it in to the home will be charged.

Most people think that in order to be charged with child endangerment or abuse, that they have to use the drug in front of the child. Some even think that they have to provide the drug to the child. Neither one of these situations is accurate. The mere presence of the drug in the home constitutes a drug crime. That drug crime can constitute child neglect or abuse depending on the circumstance.

A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said on one such case, a woman was arrested for endangering the welfare of a child as well as possession of cocaine. The incident that led to the woman’s arrest occurred when a police officer was in her apartment legally in reference to a different situation. While he was in the apartment, he observed a glassine bag on top of the defendant’s refrigerator that in his experience as a law enforcement officer appeared to be cocaine. The woman later admitted that it was cocaine and that she was a person who would use cocaine every now and then.

Published on: May 3, 2012

Man Claims Cruel and Unsual Punishment for Gun Crime

by Stephen Bilkis

A man was pulled-over by a police officer because the car he was driving was reported stolen. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the car did not turn out to be stolen, after all as the use of the car by the man was merely unauthorized. When the police officer arrested the man for theft of the car, the man was found in possession of a gun. He had with him in his car a loaded .25 caliber automatic pistol.

The man had the gun licensed in North Carolina when he purchased the gun there in 1973. He later moved to New York and brought the gun with him. He knew of the laws of New York regarding the possession of an unlicensed firearm but for seven years, he possessed an unlicensed firearm.

The man was charged with possession of a weapon in the third degree. But during his arraignment, the man entered a plea of guilt to the misdemeanor possession in the fourth degree.

Published on: May 2, 2012

Court Rules on Divorce Based on Domestic Violence Allegations

by Stephen Bilkis

On 21 May 2002, plaintiff commenced the action. The parties were married on 24 January 1992, in Brooklyn, New York. The husband is 37 years of age and the wife is 46 years of age. The parties have two (2) children, a son born on 31 March 1988, and a daughter born on 27 September 1995. The husband is a business and property owner. The wife is a homemaker and factory worker.

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the parties were born in the Country of Ecuador and knew each other in Ecuador prior to coming to the United States. The wife was previously married to the husband’s cousin who subsequently died. It is undisputed that the husband also knew the wife’s two (2) brothers who were the subject of testimony in the instant matter.

When the wife immigrated to the United States in 1987, she did so without permission to permanently reside in the United States and was in the company of her now deceased husband. It appears that the husband and wife herein and the wife’s husband at that time, moved into a two-bedroom apartment which was also occupied by other individuals from Ecuador.

Published on: May 2, 2012

Defendant Contends He was Denied Right to Counsel

by Stephen Bilkis

The plaintiff and appellee in the case is the United States of America. The defendant and appellant of the case is Norman L. Haymer. The case is being heard in the fifth circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.

Appeal

A New York Drug Crime Lawyer said the defendant and appellant in the case, Norman L. Haymer, is appealing his original sentence. He states his right to counsel as provided by the sixth amendment was violated as a misdemeanor conviction that was uncounseled was included when determining his criminal history score.