by admin | Jul 9, 2013 | Domestic Violence
Typically violent crime concerns citizens more than other types of offenses. There was good news for Virginia in the recently published Uniform Crime Report from the U.S. Department of Justice, that found violent crime was falling in Virginia’s major cities at a time when it increased by 1.2% nationally in 2012 over the previous year. Decreases in violent crime were reported in Alexandria, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond and Virginia Beach. Nevertheless, questions have been arising over the validity of the national numbers, amid claims some police departments are under reporting their figures. According to the Commonwealth of Virginia, violent crime in Virginia has fallen steadily over the last decade. Virginia’s violent crime rate was 197 per 100,000 people in 2011. The rate has generally fallen since 2002, when the violent crime rate was 291. Virginia’s 2011 rate was the 5th lowest in the nation for violent crime Virginia Has Low Levels Of Violent Crime Compared to neighboring states, Virginia has low levels of violent crime. In 2011, North Carolina saw a rate of 350, Tennessee was at 608, and Maryland posted a rate of 494. Notwithstanding the falls, violent crime should not be taken lightly. It often has serious consequences for the victim and the accused alike. Some of the most significant violent crimes I deal with as a criminal defense attorney are: -Assault and Battery -Murder -Unlawful Wounding -Malicious Wounding -Involuntary Manslaughter & Voluntary Manslaughter -Rape and Sexual Assault Long Jail Sentences Violent crimes carry the longest jail sentences and require the lengthiest investigations. Not only are the consequences of these crimes more serious than many...
by admin | Jul 9, 2013 | Drug Charges
In two separate incidents, two residents have been convicted drug crimes in Virginia, specifically the importation of narcotics. They have allegedly imported large quantities of an Ecstasy-like stimulant called methylone. Keith Allen Taylor, 28, received more than 11 years in federal prison for importing more than 74 pounds. Caroline Elizabeth Taylor received eight years for importing more than 13 pounds. They were both referred to as “armchair drug dealers” by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Cross said in U.S. District Court. The convicts accepted ordering drugs from a laboratory in China which is why they are labeled as “armchair drug dealers” but they were held to be “drug dealers nonetheless.” Import of methylone is relatively new to the American drug history. It is a white crystalline powder which was initially patented for being an anti-depressant. Its abuse has been seen by snorting, swallowing or mixing into drinks. The drug gained popularity in the United States in 2011 as a club drug popular at raves and electronic-music shows. According to court documents, Keith Taylor and Caroline Taylor were involved in similar but separate conspiracies. In separate hearings, the attorneys of the two drug dealers asked the court for leniency. The leniency was sought on otherwise good records of their clients and that they were good people with only minor criminal records. They also felt that their clients’ co- operation with law enforcement agencies and the streak to take the responsibility for their actions were noteworthy and hence deserved leniency. District Judge Mark S. Davis vehemently responded against this plea for leniency and said that drugs are a poison to the...
by admin | Jul 3, 2013 | Fairfax DUI / DWI
Are You OK To Drive? Check these tips to see how much alcohol is too much before getting behind the wheel The Commonwealth of Virginia has some tough drunk driving laws. To help keep yourself out of trouble, take a moment to familiarize yourself with local rules and regulations. Police in Virginia determine whether to charge a driver with DUI after performing a series of tests. Among these are the field sobriety tests, including the walk-and-turn, the one-legged stand, and following a flashlight beam with your eyes. These tests are all subjective, and how well you perform is based entirely on the officer’s judgment. The blood alcohol content test, however, is more scientific. If performed correctly, the BAC will show how much alcohol you had in your system at the time you were pulled over. The allowable limit is less than 0.08 percent. Once your BAC level reaches 0.08 percent, you can be arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence. However, if you are driving a commercial vehicle, the limit is only 0.04 percent, and if you are under 21, it is 0.02 percent. In some states, lawyers advise their clients not to submit to a BAC test, thereby avoiding the possibility that something could go wrong, or that it could be proven you were driving drunk. But refusing to take this test is illegal in Virginia, and the penalty is having your license suspended for a year. So why do restaurants and bars even serve alcohol if people are not supposed to drink and drive? That’s a good question, and one that, as lawyers, we are not...
by admin | Jul 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
Convicted and originally sentenced to die in 2002, a woman has become the 500th person executed by the state of Texas since 1982. The death penalty was re-allowed in the entire United States, by the US Supreme Court, back in 1976. Since the 1980s, there have now been a total of 1,338 executions in America. Of that total number, Texas has the highest number of executions, at 500, and the Commonwealth of Virginia follows with 110 executions. Executing women has been pretty rare in the years since 1976, since only 13 of the total executions in America have been women. Three years before the Texas woman’s execution, the last previous woman was sentenced to die in Virginia. The reasons for delaying the execution in the Texas case were sometimes based on persuasive pleas by the woman’s criminal defense attorney, showing that possible jury problems were important factors in this case. Three delays in her execution came in a single year because of serious questions concerning race. The executed woman, who was African-American, was found guilty by a jury that as mostly white…eleven of the twelve jurors were white. The criminal defense attorney argued that minorities were improperly kept from the jury. Previous trials in this same county (Dallas) have also suffered from allegations of possible jury unfairness, stressed the criminal defense attorney. In 2005, it took the US Supreme Court to stop an execution in Dallas County (with a different defendant that time), after proof of improper race profiling tainted a conviction. This case also showed the importance of getting experienced criminal advice immediately. Though the murder occurred in...
by admin | Jul 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
There’s a good possibility that no one will ever know exactly what happened at the moment of the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. What happened in the minutes leading up to the shooting, and the seconds after the shooting, may be the closest thing to really knowing. This also means the role of the criminal defense attorney is testing the limits of two witnesses to those two moments of time. The testimony of these two very different prosecution witnesses was strongly questioned in court by the criminal defense attorney. The first witness eventually conceded some important ground under questioning, The second witness, a friend of Trayvon Martin’s, also showed the growing importance of cell phones and recorded 9-1-1 calls in modern crime. The first witness was a neighbor, called by the prosecution, to testify about who was screaming for help at the scene. At first, the neighbor, who insisted “the voice” she heard calling for help must have been that of Trayvon. At the trial, under the intense questioning of the criminal defense attorney, the neighbor admitted the voice calling for help “could have” been that of a man with a high-pitched voice. The admission was seen as an important point by the criminal defense attorney to make the state meet its burden of proof. Described as the prosecution’s “star witness,” the second witness testified that she had been on the phone with Trayvon in the minutes leafing up to the shooting. But the criminal defense attorney had more success in shaking another part of the second witness’s testimony. The second witness had earlier said the voice captured...
