A Delicate Balance Contact with the police under U.S. law involves a shifting tension between citizens’ constitutional rights and the need to stop crime: the greater the imposition police make on someone’s privacy, the greater the cause they must be able to show for that imposition. Since evidence police collect during contact with citizens can […]
In my last blog, we talked about the pros and cons of talking to the police when under investigation for a crime. As a general rule, we concluded that the less said, the better. What about Miranda warnings? At least once a day, one of my clients will say “the cop didn’t read me my […]
After 19 days of presenting a case built on mostly circumstantial evidence, Florida prosecutors have rested their case against Casey Anthony, who is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. The state claims that Anthony’s conduct and the lies she told about her daughter’s whereabouts weren’t the only reasons […]
Recently, there has been an increase in travel security at the borders. Not only have restrictions to travel been enacted but there have also been more searches, including searches of people’s phones. Unknown to most, Border Patrol and Customs agents have long had extensive powers to search when they have reasonable suspicions and often when they do […]
Recently a new ridesharing company similar to Uber and Lyft began developing its plans to expand across the country. It’s called Safeher, a name that was crowd- sourced to replace the original moniker, Chariot for Women, and it employs only female drivers as well as exclusively serving women and kids under 13, including individuals who identify […]
Let’s face it, DUIs can happen to anyone from any walk of life. If you’ve already received a DUI, the trick is to not receive another one. If you haven’t gotten a DUI, the trick is to not get your first one! With those goals in mind here are some top tips that the best DUI […]
House Bill 19-1275 is new legislation modifying Colorado’s rules for sealing criminal records. With several exceptions that we will discuss, the bill promotes such sealings—it enlarges the category of cases that can be removed from someone’s criminal record, prescribes steps courts must take to help people through the process of removing them, and stops prosecutors […]
We recently blogged on the tragic case of Ever Olivos-Guttierez, the undocumented alien who slammed into the vehicle of 17 year old Juan Carlos Dominguez-Palomino. Mr. Olivos-Guttierez fled the scene, and the young Dominguez-Palomino was killed. In a very unusual move, the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s office charged Mr. Olivos-Guttierez with 1st Degree Murder. In […]
There is an expression in Latin, de minimus non curat lex, which means “the law does not concern itself with trifles.” We probably didn’t need to tell you that—no doubt your Latin is all brushed up on. Our apologies. Ipso apologium. Whatever. Anyway, the idea that a state’s system of justice should be called into action only […]
Regularly we talk to people charged with crimes of violence, and some of them wonder whether they can claim self-defense to avoid conviction. Perhaps the oldest and most intuitive legal concept there is, self-defense is the right of a person to exercise such force as would normally be criminal to prevent harm to his or […]