On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Drunk Driving on Friday, May 18, 2012
A 21-year-old North Carolina man pleaded guilty recently for his involvement in an alleged fatal drunk driving crash in January. He had been charged with two counts of providing alcohol to a minor. For that he was sentenced to 12 months probation, 24 hours of community service, $50 in fines, plus court costs. The case offers a strong example of how far authorities go these days in countering the problem.
The charges against the Raleigh man stemmed from a fatal drunk driving crash in which a high school girl was killed. She died when the 16-year-old male driving the jeep she was riding in lost control and hit a tree. While the girl suffered fatal blunt force head trauma, the driver survived the accident. Authorities claimed the driver was driving under the influence and that the 21-year-old man had provided the alcohol, aware that he was underage.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, May 11, 2012
A Taylorsville, North Carolina, woman has been charged with three counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, felony charges under North Carolina law. Authorities state that the woman visited three churches with the intent of receiving donations, which she then used for personal reasons. These acts are said to have taken place between December 2011 and April 2012. Authorities have not divulged the personal reasons claimed, nor the total amount allegedly received from the churches. The woman was reportedly arrested and charged with the felony charges after a tip was called in to Crime Stoppers last week.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Drunk Driving on Thursday, May 3, 2012
Last week, we discussed the ramifications when law enforcement and investigators fail to uphold their part of due process, it can cause confusion with DWI cases. Specifically, when blood samples are incorrectly tested or improperly reported, the blood alcohol levels that both the prosecution and defense depend on to make their DWI case are compromised.
That can lead to a case being dismissed or charges being dropped. And while this drunk driving story doesn't fall into either category, it is another chapter that shows your rights are upheld, you can be protected in a criminal case.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Drunk Driving on Friday, April 27, 2012
For those in North Carolina who have been accused of drunk driving, they are facing a very serious charge. The consequences and penalties of being found guilty of a DWI can permanently alter someone's personal and professional lives, and as such, the handling of a DWI case must be thorough and proper to assure the accused is given a fair chance to defend his or her side of the story.
One way that local authorities confirm a person's blood alcohol content is by taking a sample of their blood and then testing the levels of alcohol contained within it. The testing procedure is a supposedly sure-fire way to attain someone's BAC. The test itself may be accurate, but what if people who are running the test fail to hold up their part of the process?
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Drunk Driving on Thursday, April 19, 2012
About three hours southeast of Greensboro, North Carolina is Pender County, where the county's commissioner was accused of driving while intoxicated in 2010. He was in his truck just outside of Charlotte when multiple people called the police to report the commissioner's vehicle as "suspicious."
The officer who responded to the call found the commissioner in his truck along the side of the road before it moved across the street into a hotel parking lot. The commissioner did not commit any traffic violations or drive in a reckless manner. Still, the responding officer blocked the vehicle and arrested the commissioner, charging him with a DWI.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Traffic Violations on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
North Carolina is one of a majority of U.S. states that has a ban on texting while driving for all drivers, and it is treated like any other traffic violation. Just outside of Greensboro, the city where the University of North Carolina calls home is taking the ban a step further.
Chapel Hill recently passed a law that prohibits the use of cell phones for all drivers within city limits. The offense will be treated as a secondary traffic violation, meaning a driver would have to violate another law before an officer could apply the $25 fine for talking on a cell phone while driving. Take note, Chapel Hill residents -- on June 1 the law becomes official.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Criminal Defense on Wednesday, April 4, 2012
A man in Missouri was not told by his lawyer that a plea deal was available to him. It passed him by and he was sentenced to a prison term that was 12 times longer than the plea deal's terms. A man in Michigan was advised by his lawyer to reject a plea deal and take his case to trial, where the lawyer promptly made a factual error that cost the man his case. His penalty? A possible 30-year jail sentence.
Poor legal advice can ruin a person's life, especially when it comes to plea deals. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy put it succinctly: "Criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials." That makes the Supreme Court's ruling that defendants have a constitutional right to effective legal representation during while negotiating a plea deal very important to those involved with criminal defense cases.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, March 30, 2012
"Police officers are often expected to remember in detail who said what and how many blows were received in the midst of physical struggle or shortly afterwards," said a professor from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. "The results of our tests indicate it may be very difficult for them to do this."
Those tests are part of a landmark study that could affect criminal defense cases not just in North Carolina, but all across the country. The study looked at 52 police officers, all of which exercised on a daily basis and cleared physically for the study. Half of these officers went through a vigorous punching bag routine while the other half did not. The officers then went through a simulated crime environment and were asked to recall details about the situation after the fact.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Criminal Defense on Thursday, March 22, 2012
One particular case -- and potentially thousands more across the country, should the ruling go in favor of the defendant -- could make a small yet significant change to criminal defense representation. The case, Martinez v. Ryan, is happening outside of North Carolina but would affect other cases not only in our state but across the U.S.
The 6th amendment grants a defendant effective legal representation at trial. The defendant in Martinez v. Ryan claims that not only was his trial lawyer poor, but his appellate lawyer was also lacking. Due to this combination, the defendant argues his criminal defense case was not properly handled at either the trial or appeal level, obstructing his constitutional right to adequate legal representation.
On behalf of Keith, Carter & Associates PLLC posted in Criminal Defense on Friday, March 16, 2012
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, an organization that collects and analyzes federal data, published new findings that seem to indicate that judges can have radical takes on similar criminal cases. This leads to a broad range of jail sentences for defendants, when the crime may call for a more standardized or regulated penalty.
In fact, in 1984 Congress passed legislation that established guidelines for how judges could sentence a convicted person involved in a federal crime, but the law's constitutionality was challenged and in 2005 the guidelines were rewritten to be advisory. This new study further highlights this criminal defense issue.
