Category Archives: Criminal Defense
17 NYPD POLICE OFFICERS INDICTED IN TICKET-FIX SCANDAL
A grand jury in the Bronx has indicted 17 police officers with bribery, perjury, official misconduct, and other crimes for allegedly having made traffic summonses “disappear” for fellow officers, their friends and relatives. These officers — many of whom are officials working for the city’s largest police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association – are expected to […]
QUEENS D.A. TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE WRONGFUL CONVICTION IN 1996 DRIVE-BY SHOOTING
Queens prosecutors have agreed to open a “full investigation” into the possible wrongful conviction of Tejpal Singh for a 1996 drive-by shooting. The case dates back to Aug. 25, 1996, when two men, Kamaljit (Goldie) Singh and Ramjit (Rocky) Singh were shot in a drive-by in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. Goldie died, but Rocky […]
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: MARINE CORPS LAWYERS SIMULTANEOUSLY SERVE AS PROSECUTORS AND DEFENSE ATTORNEYS
For several years, the Marine Corps has required its JAG lawyers to serve simultaneously as both prosecutors and defense counsel for those servicemen and women under court martial. Under this practice, the Marine Corps transfers its attorneys from defense to prosecution; after Marine Corps defense attorneys become prosecutors, they reportedly are not permitted to prosecute the same defendants […]
IN SOME STATES, RECORDING POLICE MISCONDUCT ON YOUR PHONE WILL LAND YOU IN JAIL
In some states, such as Illinois, using the video camera on your cell phone to record police misconduct may violate the state’s eavesdropping laws, and land you in jail. Of course, the inequity in this is apparent, since police departments routinely use video surveillance to record the public. While doing so may help protect the community on the one hand, on […]
COURT CLEARS WAY FOR TRIAL ON CLAIMS OF RACIAL PROFILING
Yesterday, a federal judge denied the majority of New York City’s motion for summary judgment on claims that the NYPD engages in the widespread pattern of unconstitutional stops and frisks of black and Latino men, and held that a jury must resolve whether the alleged pattern or practice was so common as to imply the acquiescence of senior […]
SCOTUS ASKED TO REVIEW “STOLEN VALOR ACT”
In 2010, the Ninth Circuit overturned the conviction of Xavier Alvarez under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, finding that the Act, which made it a Federal crime to lie about having earned any U.S. Armed Forces medal, violated the First Amendment. Alvarez was prosecuted after giving an address before a local government board he had been appointed […]
CITY OFFICIALS AGREE TO REWRITE ORDINANCE ALLOWING POLICE TO ARREST ALL THOSE WHO “OPPOSE” THEM
City officials in Rock Hill, South Carolina plan to rewrite a city law that makes it illegal to “oppose, resist, or interfere with any police officer in the discharge of the police officer’s official duties.” As presently written, the law allows police to arrest someone for not obeying any police orders, irrespective of the legality of […]
WHICH IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHER DID THE SHOOTING?
Police in Chandler, Arizona thought they had the right guy in a fatal nightclub shooting, based on eyewitness accounts – problematic enough even when the suspect’s identical twin brother is not also at the scene. Now, after additional eyewitnesses came forward and claimed Brandon Nembhard was in fact the shooter, prosecutors have dropped the original charges against Orlando Nembhard without […]
Tiawanda Moore acquitted of illegally taping police
I guess the cops don’t like to be recorded breaking the law…
