January 2015

One of the bedrock principles of our criminal justice system is the defendant does not have to testify in his defense. Corey Batey had to testify for two reasons

  1. Batey had to say the two magic words. I’m sorry.
  2. Batey had to advance the defense theory of his intoxication.

One of the elements of aggravated

Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk recently proposed a change in the procedure for docketing misdemeanor domestic violence cases once the cases are bound over to the grand jury from general sessions court . Currently, misdemeanor domestic violence cases are assigned to the criminal courts based on the date of arrest . General Funk made

The Vandy trial is now well into its second week of testimony. It is a story of college students , alcohol ,  sexual assault and rape on a young student who was passed out. You look at the photo of the defendants and they look like young college kids. They were football players at a top

The Fair DUI Flyer created quite a stir recently. A copy of the image is at the top of the post.  Recently , someone used the flyer and entered  a DUI checkpoint using the information in the flyer. The basic concept is that you put your driver’s license in a bag and stick it on the

I planned to follow up to yesterday’s post on defending non-citizens. However , I read about a proposed law in Oklahoma that made me change my mind. An Oklahoma senator has proposed a bill to prohibit those convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) from buying alcohol. Citizens convicted of DUI would be issued a

 

In November 2014 , President Obama announced that t his administration would not deport certain undocumented persons who are the parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents if they qualify for Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA). Since Padilla , it has been extremely important for a criminal defense lawyer to be cognizant of the immigration consequences on the outcome of a criminal case. The Collateral Consequences Resource Center  recently posted on DAPA . The post also contained a link to a practice advisory for criminal defense lawyers in dealing with this issue. I highly recommend downloading the practice advisory prepared by the National Immigration Project.

Without  getting into the who is qualified for DAPA , lets look at what criminal offenses disqualify one from the program.

  • A felony conviction.
  • Three misdemeanor convictions.
  • Conviction of one significant misdemeanor.

The enforcement memo defines a significant misdemeanor as ;

  • Domestic violence
  • Sexual abuse or exploitation
  • Unlawful possession or use of a firearm
  • Drug sales
  • Burglary
  • Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  • Sentences of 90 days or more ,excluding suspended sentences

 Criminal defense lawyers must master criminal law , criminal procedure and evidence . Now , we must know immigration law or consult with immigration lawyers.

Tomorrow , I will be discussing the strategies in dealing with these new problems.

Continue Reading Representing Non-Citizens and Obama’s New Proposal