Legal Blog

Legal Blog

PROSECUTION RESTS IN HIGH PROFILE MURDER TRIAL

PROSECUTION RESTS IN HIGH PROFILE MURDER TRIAL

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 […]

TO SEARCH OR NOT TO SEARCH

TO SEARCH OR NOT TO SEARCH

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 […]

WOMEN ONLY UBER ALTERNATIVE FACES LEGAL BATTLE

WOMEN ONLY UBER ALTERNATIVE FACES LEGAL BATTLE

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 […]

NEW CRIMINAL SEALING BILL

NEW CRIMINAL SEALING BILL

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 […]

DUI FATALITY SHOULD NOT BE FIRST DEGREE MURDER

DUI FATALITY SHOULD NOT BE FIRST DEGREE MURDER

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 […]

PETTY MUCH? THE PROBLEM OF OVERBLOWN CRIMINAL CASES

PETTY MUCH THE PROBLEM OF OVERBLOWN CRIMINAL CASES

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 […]

SHOULD WE PUNISH, OR REHABILITATE?

SHOULD WE PUNISH OR REHABILITATE

As criminal defense attorneys we think so much about the front end of the justice system—the settlement of cases in court—that we might sometimes neglect to consider what comes after a conviction. But it is in the post-sentencing stages of a criminal proceeding that the full weight of the matter reveals itself, not just for […]

FISA WARRANTS: ARE THEY LEGAL?

FISA WARRANTS ARE THEY LEGAL

Controversial Beginnings The investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia has controversial beginnings: a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) authorizing the secret observation of people close to Trump. Regardless of one’s feelings about this investigation in particular, warrants issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in general animate the […]