Local Legal News

Charlotte Man Arrested for Presbyterian Hospital Attacks

Published on: July 21, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

A report out of WCNC.com, reveals that a Charlotte man is now behind bars after a hospital employee was attacked and held at gunpoint just outside Presbyterian Hospital. This recent attack marks the third such incident in as many weeks.

The latest assault took place around 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at the main hospital located in the Elizabeth neighborhood. A female employee was leaving work when she was robbed at gunpoint in an elevator in the parking garage adjacent to the hospital’s orthopedic center. Post #2 criminal image 7.20.jpg Thankfully, the employee was not injured in the attack. Police say the gunman, Lejarris Williams, took the employee’s purse and ran from the scene but was quickly apprehended by Presbyterian Healthcare Public Safety Officers on a nearby street.

Not all the victims have been as lucky as the woman in this incident. An earlier attack left a nurse badly injured after having been stabbed three times and robbed in another hospital parking lot in the early morning hours of June 27th. Later that same day, another employee, Kelli Hannum, says she was robbed in the parking lot.

Presbyterian Hospital began offering a $10,000 reward on June 28 to help find out who was responsible for the first two attacks. The hospital also beefed up security. Many in the area are relieved at the news of the recent arrest but police have not yet said whether Williams is connected to the two previous attacks.

Charlotte Soccer Coach Arrested for Sex With a Minor

Published on: July 19, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

According to Fox Charlotte, a soccer coach from the Catawba College Hall of Fame and Steele Creek Soccer Club has been arrested and charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a child, crimes against nature and first-degree sex offense.

Under North Carolina law, § 14‑202.1 refers to the crime of taking indecent liberties with children. It states that if a person over the age of 16 and at least 5 years older than the child in question takes or attempts to take any “immoral liberties” with the child, they could be found guilty of a Class F felony. Post #1 criminal image 7.18.jpg Any improper, immoral, or indecent acts done out of the purpose to gratify sexual desires or for arousal could fall into this category of crime. In this case, a child refers to anyone, male or female, under the age of 16.

Investigators said the arrest of Ralph Wager, 69, occurred as the result of a two-month long investigation following one man coming forward and claiming Wager had inappropriate sexual contact with him in the late 1980s. At the time the incident was alleged to have occurred, Wager was a soccer coach and PE instructor at Catawba College in Salisbury and was later inducted into their hall of fame in 2008. The school has since been notified of his arrest and is cooperating with the criminal investigation.

Investigators are not yet revealing the nature of the evidence they have against Wager but say it is strong enough to move forward with charges. It’s also not yet clear if Wager confessed after being questioned by police. He was arrested earlier this week, on Tuesday night, at his home in east Charlotte.

The victim was 9 years old when the abuse began and 12 when it ended. The boy was not directly under Wager’s soccer instruction at the time of the sexual abuse, but was involved in a different athletic activity.

The Steele Creek Soccer Club has removed Wager from its website and say he has been suspended indefinitely as a coach due to the Steele Creek Athletic Association’s zero-tolerance policy. Wager is currently in jail with a $500,000 bond. Wager waived having a court appointed attorney and is now scheduled to be in court for a probable cause hearing on August 1.

Incarcerated Juveniles in North Carolina Prepare for Sentencing Changes

Published on: July 14, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

The Supreme Court recently held that it is cruel and unusual punishment to send a young murderer to prison for life if a judge has not first weighed whether he or she deserves a shorter prison sentence due to his or her youth and the specific nature of the crimes committed. The 5-4 decision struck down laws on the books in some 29 states – including North Carolina – that say life sentences without parole for juvenile murderers are acceptable.

Officials in North Carolina law enforcement say it will take some time for the state to assess the impact of the ruling. Post #2 criminal image 7.15.jpg Most experts in the state say that the number of state prisoners affected by the Supreme Court ruling is around 88.

North Carolina was among 29 states that required life sentences for youth found guilty of first-degree murder. Legislators in the state took action in the final days of June’s legislative session to approve a bill making parole possible for offenders who killed while under age 18 and Governor Bev Perdue signed the bill into law Friday. The new bill would require judges to consider the juvenile’s age, intellectual capacity, prior record, familial and peer pressure and other mitigating factors before handing down the sentence. Life still remains an option, but only for those convicted of premeditated murder. It’s important to note that the decision does not mean it’s unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life in prison, only that statutes that make such sentences mandatory are no longer acceptable.

The bill acts as a major retooling of sentencing laws that defined the state’s criminal justice system for nearly the past 20 years. In 1994, the state basically abolished parole in what was known as the “truth-in-sentencing” reforms. Since then, inmates have been required to finish out their terms.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on two cases of 14-year-old boys, one from Alabama and another from Arkansas, who were given life sentences for their roles in a murder. In the case of young people who participate in homicide, “a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty.” Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “We therefore hold that mandatory life without parole for those under age 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on ‘cruel and unusual punishments.'”

Discreetly recording the police? There’s an app for that

Published on: July 11, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Just last week we did a post about the police in Charlotte’s use of license plate scanners. Now Yahoo has news of a civil rights group that’s trying to turn the tables on police. The New Jersey Branch of the Americans Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has created a new app that will allow users to discreetly monitor and record police activity. The mobile phone program is designed to hold police officers accountable for their behavior while interacting with the public.

The app, dubbed “Police Tape,” allows people to securely and inconspicuously record interactions with police officers. Currently the app is only available on Android devices, but another version for the iPhone will be released later in the summer. The ACLU says the device will act as a critical tool for monitoring the actions of law enforcement officers.

The ACLU’s New Jersey executive director, Deborah Jacobs, said, “Too often, incidents of serious misconduct go unreported because citizens don’t feel that they will be believed.” She says this app should go a long way to remedying that worry.

Unlike most, if not all, recording apps, “Police Tape” disappears from the screen once it has been launched, reducing the likelihood that a police officer will notice that the device has been engaged. cell phone - post 7.11.jpg The app also allows users to electronically transmit the file to the ACLU for safe-keeping and review. Further, the program contains legal information concerning the rights of citizens when confronted by police.

The recent announcement follows not far behind another app by the New York branch of the organization called “Stop & Frisk Watch.” The app does much the same thing, allowing citizens to clandestinely tape the NYPD police during a stop and relay the information to the local branch. According to the New York Amsterdam news, over 2,000 videos have been sent in thus far. Unlike “Police Tape,” when “Stop-and-Frisk Watch” is activated, it also triggers an alert to warn nearby users that a police stop is happening.

License Plate Scanners Make Big Splash in North Carolina

Published on: June 27, 2012 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Raleigh police have a new weapon in their arsenal to track down criminals: a device mounted on a patrol car that automatically scans license plates, looking for cars that have been reported stolen. The system is known as Automated License Plate Recognition and is made up of four cameras atop the patrol car’s lights bar that are capable of scanning in every direction. The cameras then connect to a computer in the trunk of the car that is linked to the database found in the officer’s computer in the front seat.

The city purchased six of the nearly $19,000 devices and they’ve seen an impact, in just a few weeks they helped find at least four stolen plates and two stolen vehicles. It’s not surprising that they’re effective given that the devices are capable of scanning up to 3,000 license plates in an hour. Post #1 criminal image 6.26.jpg Along with alerting officers about stolen plates, the devices can assist with other crimes that may involve a suspect vehicle, such as missing individuals, bank robberies, or any other crime where a license plate was reported.

Though the devices are new in Raleigh, they’ve been in existence in Charlotte for some time. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department uses the scanners even more aggressively and has a policy which states that the scanners can be used to confirm a criminal suspect’s alibi regarding his whereabouts at a particular time and date and that the scanners can be used for predictive purposes. This means that the scanners can be turned on in high-risk crime areas to focus on unusual traffic patterns. Something the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) believes is profiling.

There are questions though about the incredible amount of data the police will be able to collect. Though the ACLU doesn’t specifically object to the technology, its local spokesman says that it raises tremendous privacy issues. Mike Meno of the ACLU North Carolina says, “The thing that is most troublesome to us is that in most cases the police will retain the data, even if a person is not charged with a crime.” The retained information could be used to help tie someone to a later criminal investigation or lead to tracking of people who have done nothing wrong.

Charlotte’s police are supposed to purge all information retained by the devices 18 months from the date it was recorded. Raleigh won’t hold onto the information for nearly as long, only keeping it for six months. Even this is too long according to the ACLU, after all, if the information is not being used to further an investigation then why keep it around at all?