I LOVE the Witness organization. Founded by Peter Gabriel, their mission is to help people create valid and admissible videotapes of wrongdoing by authorities. How can that not be great? It is totally turning everything on its head. Watching the people watching us. In...
Finally. A cop is being treated like any normal citizen. Well, almost. It took a real live caught-in-the-act video to make this happen. The common thread in the so-called “expert” analysis is that if Officer Slager had not been caught on tape he never would have been...
It’s official. Cell phones cause police brutality. Incredible how that works. Just start shooting video and there they are, beating people to death, sitting on their chests until they suffocate, even gunning them down. It’s like bad magic. Just kidding. Except I’m...
I am sure you can guess what this will be about. Robert Durst. Good grief. Seems that you can’t even mutter to yourself these days without incriminating yourself. Of course the fact that Durst was stupid enough (or egotistical enough) to agree to have HBO follow him...
The Police knock on your door. Now what? As mentioned in previous articles on this blog, any warrantless search or seizure is unlawful – without a jealously guarded exception to the warrant requirement. What are the exceptions? Consent is an exception. In State...
We all know the way it works. Some crazy nut job goes out and whacks some innocent person for no apparent reason. Sure enough. Out come the legal guns to blast out defenses like Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity or Diminished Capacity. Next thing you know they walk out...
There are three standardized tests all officers in Washington are trained to administer during DUI Detection. When I was in my early twenties, my best friend drove me to a New Year’s Eve party. He was the designated driver for the night. He drank one beer. The night...
In Part 2 we discussed the constitutional problem concerning admission one’s refusal to submit to a breath or blood test as substantive evidence of guilt. Unfortunately, it seems there is a lack of uniformity among trial courts and judges concerning this issue at this...
In Part 1 we discussed how Missouri v. McNeely resolved the split of authorities among jurisdictions in the United States and tended to abrogate a good amount of prior Washington case law. McNeely held that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does...
If you are charged with a Domestic Violence crime (or DUI, Drug Offenses, Shoplifting or Murder), you are entitled to representation by a criminal defense attorney, to have a jury trial and cross examine witnesses, and, above all, to be presumed innocent. It is with...