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Legislators Propose Changes To Juvenile Justice System :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: May 21, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “A past conviction is keeping me from finding work what can I do?”

A new criminal measure is getting attention in North Carolina as legislators consider changing a longstanding law which allows those over age 16 to be charged and prosecuted as adults. The law is the subject of intense scrutiny given that only one other state in the country has a similar law in place. Watch Children Sign Charlotte NC DUI DWI Criminal Lawyer Attorney.jpg

North Carolina lawmakers are now putting forward an idea that would raise the age for adult prosecution to 18. Representative Marilyn Avila is the lead supported of the bill and says that the law would raise the age to 18 only for teenagers who commit misdemeanors. Initially the law was drafted to include charges such as low-level felonies like car break-ins and marijuana possession. According to Avila, the problem with this draft of the law was that some criticized it for being soft on criminals and many would not support a measure that they felt let teens off the hook for more serious criminal actions.

The measure to raise the age for adult prosecution has been around for years as many advocates for young offenders say the juvenile justice system is better prepared to treat and rehabilitate young people. By shipping minors off to the adult criminal justice system, many are pushed even further into a dangerous life of crime. Another problem cited by some is that teens in North Carolina find themselves at a disadvantage to teens from other states when it comes time to apply for colleges. While other teens can claim a spotless criminal record, with their juvenile records sealed, young people from North Carolina with adult convictions have their crimes follow them for far longer.

North Carolina Legislature Considers Changes To Marijuana Laws :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: April 16, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony?”

A potentially important bill has been introduced in the North Carolina legislature that could change the way law enforcement agencies handle marijuana possession offenses. The legislation, House Bill 637, would lower penalties for minor marijuana possession offenses.

The legislation would reduce penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. Those found to have such a small quantity of the drug would only be subject to a fine, changing the classification of possession to a civil infraction rather than a criminal offense. The bill would also reduce the punishment for those found guilty of possessing between one and one and a half ounces of marijuana by making the crime a Class 3 misdemeanor. Marijuana Leaf Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Defense Attorney Lawyer.jpg

Currently, North Carolina law says that possession of a half ounce of marijuana or less is a criminal misdemeanor and is punishable with a fine of up to $200 and a possible suspended jail sentence. Possession of between a half-ounce and one and a half ounces is punishable with up to 45 days in prison and a $1,000 fine. Possession of more than one and a half ounces of marijuana is punishable with up to 8 months in prison and a fine.

North Carolina Legislature Considers Changes to State Drunk Driving Laws :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: March 12, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What should I do if I have been pulled over and I have been drinking?”

With the 2013 legislative session in North Carolina well underway, lawmakers in the state are moving forward with several important changes to the criminal justice system that deserve mention.

Perhaps most importantly is House Bill 43, which would require the use of ignition interlock devices for anyone who has been convicted of drunk driving. Should the bill move forward it would make North Carolina only the 15th state in the nation to mandate the use of such ignition interlock devices for even first-time offenders.

The ignition interlock devices work by testing a person’s blood-alcohol level before the car they are driving can start. The state’s current law says that only repeat drunk drivers and first-time offenders with especially elevated BAC levels are required to use the devices.

A major push by various groups in the state has ensured that the issue received substantial attention in the legislature this session. The state Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter has endorsed the ignition interlock bill and has asked its members to contact state lawmakers to express their support. The bill right now has bipartisan support and is still being studied before a final upcoming vote is scheduled.

General Assembly Proposal To Cut Judges Would Lead To Overcrowded Superior Court Dockets :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: February 12, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “I was found not guilty of a charge, but my record still shows the charge.”

A recently proposed bill working its way through the North Carolina General Assembly would cut appointed superior court judges across the state, including one here in Mecklenburg County. The piece of legislation, Senate Bill 10, proposes cutting 12 judges to help shave more than $2 million from the state’s budget.

These special judges work by traveling across the state and filling in where they are needed. They keep the already crowded dockets moving when regular superior court judges are out or busy with other, lengthy cases. The judges hear serious civil and felony criminal cases and can be a much needed release valve for the massively overscheduled judiciary. Budget Cut.jpg

Our very own Charlotte, NC criminal defense attorney, Brad Smith, was interviewed by reporters with WSOC TV about the proposed piece of legislation. Smith pointed out that rather than save the state money, the removal of the judges would actually end up costing everyone more in the long run as already crowded dockets would grind to a halt. By trimming these traveling superior court judges, existing clerks and judges will have to worker harder and longer hours, complicated trials will clog up dockets with no relief from extra hands and more money will be spent transporting and housing criminals while they await trial.

CMPD Announces Major Surveillance Expansion

Published on: December 17, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

In a somewhat frightening attempt to create a comprehensive surveillance network across the county, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have said that they want access to private businesses’ security cameras which would allow them to actively monitor the happenings at malls, gas stations and banks.

Though the CMPD has not yet said how many cameras this will mean in total, the move represents a major change for the department and a huge expansion in the scope of its surveillance capabilities. CMPD only started using cameras 12 years ago and the latest move would dramatically increase the number of locations under watch by the police department. Police currently have access to about 650 cameras. Though that seems like a lot, the department points out that Chicago, which is four times bigger than Charlotte, has access to 10,000 cameras.
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Already, the police have access to some private cameras in the Charlotte area. These include the Time Warner Cable Arena, the Bank of America stadium as well as all the major bank buildings. By expanding the reach of their camera system, the police believe this will allow them catch many more criminals and prevent crime from taking place.

However, the police fail to acknowledge any of the downsides, including that the cameras could collect more images of people who have done nothing wrong. Moreover, this video of innocent people will then be stored on police servers for weeks or months in the future, providing a database for the department to should they have an interest.

New North Carolina Cyber-bullying Law Goes Into Effect

Published on: December 6, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Nearly two-dozen new laws went into effect on Saturday including one important item that extends a North Carolina crime against cyber-bullying to also provide protection to school employees.

The new law will mean that students who use a computer to intimidate or threaten school employees will face criminal penalties. Existing laws in the state already made it illegal for cyber-bulling to target other children. The new law makes it a misdemeanor for students to commit various online offenses against school employees, such as creating false profiles, signing them up for Internet porn or posting personal images and private information.

The roots of the new law began about five years ago when a teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools discovered that someone had created a fake MySpace page in his name and posted material implying he was a pedophile. Charlotte-Mecklenburg School investigators traced the profile to students at Providence High and charged those students with cyber-stalking.

Delayed Release from Jail Causes Charlotte, NC Judge to Dismiss Drunk Driving Charges

Published on: December 4, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Brad Smith, a partner here at Arnold & Smith, made the news recently when it was announced that prosecutors in Charlotte, NC decided to appeal a judge’s decision to throw out the drunk driving charges filed against Tim Newman. Neman’s case made headlines earlier this year when the former chief executive of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority was arrested after an accident on I-77 in May.

Assistant District Attorney Emily Kraper filed the appeal, writing that she believed District Judge Kimberly Best’s decision was “contrary to the law.” Kraper went on to say that the government thinks there was enough evidence to overcome Newman’s motion to dismiss and eventually convict Newman of driving while impaired.

First Cases Involving North Carolina Racial Justice Act Wrap Up

Published on: October 16, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

After eight days of a contentious trial, the case that will test North Carolina’s new racial justice law finally wrapped up last week. The outcome of the case will have an important impact in determining how the Racial Justice Act is interpreted in future criminal cases.

Under the state’s law, death row inmates are able to appeal their sentences to life without parole if they can prove that race played a significant role in their sentencing process. The point of the Act is to ensure that people are not excluded from juries in North Carolina on the basis of race. Post #2 criminal image 10-18-12.jpg Advocates of the law say that doing so compromises the integrity of the justice system by introducing an element of racial bias.

Before the implementation of the newest iteration of the Act, an appeal could be based only on statistical evidence. Now that the legislature reworked the legislation, defendants must demonstrate that the prosecutors in charge of the case discriminated against them in some way, something that will be much more difficult to prove.

Defendants Tilmon Golphin, Quintel Augustine and Christina Walters are all asking for relief on the basis that prosecutors struck otherwise-qualified black jurors from their trials at more than twice the rate of potential white jurors. In Augustine’s case, all five qualified black jurors were kept from serving on his jury. Augustine was then sentenced to death by an all-white jury, despite the trial having taken place in a county that is 35% black. Prosecutors struck five out of seven black jurors in Golphin’s case, and 10 out of 14 in Walters’ case, statistics the defendants say are indefensible.

The first person to bring and win a case under the Racial Justice Act in North Carolina was Marcus Robinson, who was convicted of murdering a white teenager back in the early 2000s. In April of this year, Judge Greg Weeks ruled that Robinson would be given life without the possibility of parole after finding that race played a material and statistically significant factor in prosecutors’ decisions to strike potential jurors.

Robinson’s case marked a important turning point in the state and precipitated a revision of the law by legislators, putting the statistics based approach of demonstrating racial inequalities in jeopardy. Now Judge Weeks is also presiding over these recent appeals and he will have to decide what amount of evidence is needed to prove that prosecutors discriminated in the process of selecting a jury. Judge Weeks has said that he hopes to return with his ruling before the end of the year.

Electronic Monitoring Leads to Conviction in Charlotte

Published on: August 4, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

According to WCNC, just this week the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced that their electronic monitoring program led directly to a rape conviction. Damian Jackson claimed that he never committed the crime, despite evidence from the electronic ankle bracelet that showed he was at the scene at the time of the rape.

His defense attorney argued that Jackson could not have committed the crime given that he was on foot and that there was just a nine-minute window where the woman was assaulted. electronic monitoring device 8.4.12.jpg It took the jury only 20 minutes to convict Jackson, apparently not convinced by the victim’s testimony. Instead they were swayed by the data contained on the monitoring system.

The moment marked the first time a defendant in Charlotte has challenged the system in court. Police Sergeant Dave Scheppegrell said, “This is the first case where a person plead not guilty and we have a jury trial where a tracking monitor was showing them at the scene of a crime. That’s significant.”

For his crime, Jackson received eight-and-a-half to 11 years in prison. Had he agreed to the deal offered to him by the prosecution prior to trial he might have been released on time served.

The police department’s electronic monitory program began in 2007 and has since expanded dramatically, covering an array of crimes and suspects and running up a $35,000-a-month bill. Police say they are currently watching about 400 people at any given time and more than 1,000 this year alone.

The program was created in response to a rise in the number of robberies across Charlotte in 2004 and 2005. Even now the majority of those wearing the devices are facing robbery and burglary charges, though police have begun adding some domestic violence and sex assault offenders to the program. The program has thus far dealt with a significant number of younger offenders, with the majority of people monitored younger than 25. In February of this year, 251 of the 372 (67%) on electronic monitoring were in that age range.

Charlotte Approves New Gunshot Detection System

Published on: July 26, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

According to recent article on WCNC.com, the Charlotte City Council has now unanimously approved the decision to bring a gunshot detection system, known as ShotSpotter, to the city. Police and elected officials are hoping that it will improve public safety and give officers another effective tool to help fight crime.

Currently, there are just under 70 systems in place across the country, including in Wilmington, NC. The system is costly, running around $50,000 for a one-year trial period. Here’s how it works: the detection system triangulates sound picked up by acoustic sensors which are situated on top of buildings, utility poles and other structures throughout a neighborhood. imagesCA0XXN13 7.26.jpg When gunshots are fired, those sensors produce a report which is relayed back to the control room of ShotSpotter where a technician will focus on a computer screen and zoom in on a satellite map to see where the gunshots originated. The technician then analyzes the data and zeroes in on the exact block where the incident took place. After having confirmed that the sounds were indeed gunshots, the tech will then contact the police department and alert them to the gunshots, the time that the shots were detected by ShotSpotter sensors and the exact location.

The system’s technology is incredibly sophisticated and can even be used to determine what type of gun was used and the caliber of the weapon. Proponents of the new technology contend that use of the detection system greatly improves response time and increases community confidence that the police will respond swiftly. For the moment, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is remaining quiet about what part of town the ShotSpotter will be used in.

All this technology comes at a price, say some critics who complain that it invades the privacy of individuals and that it is not always able to distinguish between gunfire and other loud noises. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette told a controversial story of an incident in New Bedford, Massachusetts where a ShotSpotter recording of an argument that took place on a street corner will play an important role in the case against two men charged with murder in a December 2011 killing. At a hearing earlier this year, an assistant district attorney said that the system had recorded arguing and yelling at a busy intersection. An attorney for one of the defendant’s says that if the prosecution uses the recording, it will raise important issues of privacy under the state’s wiretapping statute.

The defense counsel said that the technology opens up a can of worms related to privacy issues and begs the question, “Where will it stop?” The lead prosecutor said that the issue is not so important given that what was recorded was said in public and lacked an expectation of privacy. The government believes the evidence will turn out to be admissible.