Archive for the ‘Criminal Defense’ Category

There are some peculiar ways to get arrested in this country of ours. It makes one wonder what could possibly have happened in Oklahoma that caused the legislature to take the time to actually prohibit an activity as unusual as having a donkey sleeping in your bathtub after 7 p.m.! So, what sort of things are (or were) prohibited by law in Kentucky? Read on. A woman cannot remarry the same man more than three times. Why she would want to is not mentioned. It is illegal to fish with […]

When Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher left office in 2007, one of his last acts was to issue eight sentence commutations and 93 pardons. The final hours of Governor Steve Beshear’s term in 2015 saw the granting of six commuted sentences and over 200 pardons. Whether it’s based on favoritism or mercy, executive clemency is complicated and controversial. A pardon formally forgives a defendant and restores certain liberties, such as the right to vote or sit on a jury. It does not imply innocence or erase a criminal record. A commuted […]

America’s criminal justice system is riddled with flaws, and one of the most troubling examples is the high rate at which people are wrongfully convicted. Over 1,670 people have been exonerated in the United States in the last 26 years, having served an average of nine years before their convictions were overturned and they were released. In 2014 alone, the National Registry of Exonerations boasted a record number of 125 exonerations, six of which were death row inmates – the highest number of exonerations in capital cases since 2009. Almost 40 percent […]

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has its roots in the 1970s, when it started out as a fairly obscure military technology. Its use expanded in 1988, when the Magellan NAV 1000 became the first civilian GPS device on the market. Since then, many of us have come to depend on this space-based navigation method to provide location and time data. In fact, other governments are developing their own systems similar to GPS, including Russia’s GLONASS, China’s Compass, Europe’s Galileo, and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. Advances in technology now allow a tracking device […]

People tie the knot for lots of reasons — maybe because of tradition, finding their soul mate, wanting to have kids, or even out of fear of staying single. Regardless of the motivation behind it, federal law grants approximately 1,138 benefits, rights, and protections to married couples. They touch upon nearly every area of life, from debts to medical care, taxes to insurance. Based on the policy of encouraging harmonious relations, spouses may also be able to claim two separate privileges that protect them from testifying against each other at […]

While public awareness of child abuse has grown, so have reports of possible abuse. Every year, more than 6 million children are referred to state child protective services, with about half eventually being subject to an investigated report regarding physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect and emotional neglect. Of course, it is society’s duty to protect children, but the collateral damage often affects men and parents by way of unfounded and false accusations. Many of these allegations originate not from a child but from an adult bringing them […]

There have been many headlines lately in high-profile cases concerning the veracity not of the defendant or even a key witness, but of a juror. While the idea behind the U.S. jury system is that a group of people from diverse backgrounds can arrive at a better verdict than can one person acting alone, juries are riddled with problems. Whether justice is truly served is directly related to the quality of the jurors who are seated. The guilty verdicts against two former Vanderbilt football players accused in the rape of […]

Pilotless drones patrolling the nation’s skies have been raising privacy and security concerns as they have grown in popularity over the last decade. Technically called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones are computer-controlled for nearly their entire flight, though they have the capacity for autonomous flight and navigation. Originally restricted to government and military use, commercially available drones are now enjoyed by hobbyists and professionals alike. The Federal Aviation Administration has estimated that by the year 2030, there will be more than 30,000 private unmanned vehicles competing for U.S. airspace. Yet, oversight is severely lacking. […]