Years back I had a case where a woman was with a drunken male friend. She was the driver of a car and they stopped late one night at a Wal-Mart. The man got out of the car and attempted to kidnap and rape a woman. My client was also charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted rape. I will tel...
1. What is expungement? Expungement is the process by which an arrest record can be sealed or “wiped clean” from one's record. 2. If my records are expunged, what does it mean? It means the information pertaining to the case, is no longer available to the public.Information maintained by the s...
Why you might go to jail if you chainsaw a Zombie in Huntsville, Alabama. I'm shooting this video right before Halloween. Today's question is “Could you go to jail if you chainsaw a zombie in Huntsville, Alabama? Of course, we have to assume zombies are real for this question, but, if you if the...
Can you go to jail for wearing a clown mask in Huntsville, Alabama? In light of all of these creepy clown sightings, some of you might wonder whether or not it's a crime for somebody just stand around in a clown mask. In other words, if you're just standing around wearing a clown mask in public ...
For an officer to pull you over you must either have at least reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, is being or is about to be committed. Reasonable suspicion means that there are articulable facts or circumstances on which the officer bases his belief it can't be just a mere hunch....
After a traffic stop in Huntsville Alabama when can the police search you and your car? There are at least seven reasons the police can search you and your car after a lawful traffic stop. The first is if you give consent. This means that even if the police might not have been permitted to do so ...
Some lawyers intentionally will not ask their clients whether or not they committed the crime. To most non-lawyers, this seems strange. Even lawyers have different opinions on whether or not to ask a client whether or not they committed the crime. Should I tell my lawyer I committed a crime in ...
Alabama's criminal justice system divides the crime of possession of marijuana into two degrees. I. Possession of Marijuana in the Second Degree-Misdemeanor Possession A person who knowingly in possession of marijuana for their own personal use (and who has never been convicted of possession of...
I represented a client who had just finished serving a seven-year prison sentence for trafficking cocaine. Three weeks after his release he was trafficking again. This time he made the mistake of hitting his girlfriend. She called the police on him. When the police came to his apartment, she sho...
Child Abuse Alabama has two criminal child abuse laws. The first of these is designed to punish parents, stepparents, guardians or other “responsible persons” (as defined by Alabama law) from willfully torturing, abusing, cruelly beating or otherwise willfully maltreating any child or children...
Under Alabama law there are at four ways a person can commit the crime of rape without realizing they have committed the crime. Statutory Rape Physically Helpless Rape Rape where the victim is “mentally defective” “Aid and Abet” Rape 1.Statutory Rape The most common example is “statut...
What do you do if you have been charged with a crime and you missed your court date? This is commonly referred to as Failure to Appear or FTA. The first thing you need to do is contact your lawyer. If you don't have one, you need to get one right away. This is critical because a person who miss...
Okay, this is a bit odd but, actually being guilty of domestic violence can actually increase your chances of having the charges dismissed. There is, of course, a catch. Here it is: you must not have a prior history of domestic violence, the case cannot involve serious bodily injury and you must...
State of Alabama has enacted new sentencing guidelines that apply to nonviolent offenses such as drug and property crimes. The new guidelines are meant to accomplish several goals. One is to provide greater uniformity in sentencing among judges and to eliminate the degree of disparity that has ...
Madison County has recently enacted a series of pretrial intervention programs which allow many people charged with criminal offenses to avoid a conviction and the serious consequences that often flow from having a conviction. Essentially these are programs that require accused person to attend ...
It is not uncommon for people in the criminal justice system to have mental health issues. The nature and severity of these issues can have a significant impact on the resolution of a criminal case. In some instances an individual will assert that they are not guilty by reason of mental disease ...
