Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Blog

North Carolina Teens Face Criminal Charges For Burning Opossum

Published on: January 9, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What are the long term effects of being convicted of a crime?”

Three teenage boys in Tobaccoville, North Carolina are now facing serious criminal charges after police say they received a tip that the trio had burned an opossum alive and videotaped the attack.

Authorities say they received a tip last month that 18-year-old Kalob Hubbard and two other young men, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, recorded an attack on an opossum that ultimately died after being set on fire. Police investigators say that the attack took place in late October or early November and that a video of the incident was posted by one of the teens on Instagram.

Hard as it is to believe, by making the video publicly available on the Internet the boys appear to have provided the police with precisely the evidence they need to arrest and charge them with animal cruelty. Police say that now that the boys have been arrested and charged the video has since been taken down and will only be shown again if necessary during the criminal trial, with the sheriff’s office maintaining a copy as evidence.

Drunk Iowa Man Arrested After BAC Levels Top The Charts

Published on: January 7, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What happens if I am convicted of a DUI or DWI in North Carolina?”

A 28-year-old from Iowa City, Iowa recently set records after being arrested for drunk driving. The record was not the number of times he’d been arrested, but was instead the amount of alcohol in his system.

Levi Carter was arrested for driving drunk last Friday at around two in the morning. A passenger tipped off the police to Carter’s intoxication after the two drove off the road and crashed into a street sign. The woman called the cops saying that she’d been injured and needed the assistance of law enforcement.

When cops arrived, the woman told officers that when she at Carter’s home she found him pacing around his basement talking to people that were not there. Carter was unable to hold himself upright and smelled strongly of booze. When police approached Carter he claimed that he was not intoxicated, saying that he had only had two Bud Lights to drink all evening.

Despite his protestations, Carter was unable to perform a standard eye test or any other aspect of the routine field sobriety tests. Cops then got out a Breathalyzer machine and had Carter give a breath sample. The first reading registered a 0.467 BAC. The subsequent tests appear to have broken the machine, with the results only coming back as “HI.” The stunned police officers slapped Carter in handcuffs and took him to jail to sober up. Carter has unsurprisingly been charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Charlotte Drunk Driving Plea Deal Rejected And Approved By Two Judges Within A Few Hours

Published on: January 2, 2014 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “Are breath test results always accurate?”

In an odd drunk driving case out of Charlotte, a judge in Mecklenburg County recently accepted a plea deal for a driver only several hours after another judge rejected the identical deal.

The plea deal involved a sad case where a passenger was killed in the car driven by Bairon Sandoval. The accident took place last February and Sandoval was initially charged with felony death by vehicle, DWI and lacking a valid driver’s license. His criminal defense attorney was able to reach a deal with prosecutors who agreed to reduce the charge to involuntary manslaughter in exchange for Sandoval serving between 10 and 20 months behind bars.

Sandoval had admitted that he and several friends had spent the evening drinking in a bar prior to driving home with a friend, 20-year-old Tatiana Rivera. Rivera was killed and two other innocent victims were injured in the accident that occurred after Sandoval ran into a tree near the intersection of Tyvola and Old Pineville Roads. Police officers tested Sandoval’s blood and determined his BAC was 0.10 percent, slightly higher than the state’s 0.08 percent legal limit.

Given that the plea deal had been reached between the prosecutor and Sandoval’s attorney, all that remained was to have a judge sign off on the deal, something that is typically only seen as a formality. Such deals are commonplace and save both sides significant time and money, reducing the risks that are inherent in a criminal trial. Despite the deal already being in place, one judge initially disagreed with the plea arrangement, saying that he was not willing to sign off on such a light sentence given that Sandoval’s drunk driving had directly led to another person’s death.

LAPD Announces New Oral Swab To Test For Drugs

Published on: December 31, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What happens if I am convicted of a DUI or DWI in North Carolina?”

The Los Angeles Police Department made a surprising announcement recently when an official revealed that officers would begin carrying portable devices that can check drivers for drug use. Officials with the police department say that the tool will be rolled out to combat increased instances of drugged driving, often due to medical marijuana usage.

q-tip Charlotte Criminal Lawyer North Carolina DWI Attorney.jpg The new tools, which are swab-testing kits, will be used primarily during DUI checkpoints and in jails to test those who have already been arrested. The department intends to pair the devices with breathalyzers and subject drivers at checkpoints to both a breath test and mouth swab to detect the presence of drugs. The test has been designed to screen for the presence of methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepine, methadone and THC, a component of marijuana.

An LAPD spokesperson said that officers would ask drivers to consent to a swab of their gum line. After the swab has been collected, the tool will then read the fluids and immediately alert officers to the presence of drugs. Previously, such a test would require blood samples taken by nurses, which would then be sent off for analysis.

Police officials have said that the growing prevalence of medical marijuana dispensaries has pushed the department to consider new strategies to detect impaired drivers. Law enforcement authorities say that driving under the influence of drugs, known as drugged driving, is just as dangerous as drunk driving and it will be an important priority of officers in the area to limit the ability of drivers to engage in similarly risky behavior. Officials with the city attorney’s office have said that nearly 600 DUI cases that were filed against LA drivers in the past year concerned the use of drugs, a number they want to see increase given the new technology.

North Carolina Men Plead Guilty To Train Robbery :: Charlotte Criminal Lawyer

Published on: December 26, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “The person that called the police doesn’t want to press charges.”

Train robbery sounds like the kind of crime that went the way of the steam engine. Though times have changed and robberies are no longer being perpetrated on horseback, train robberies still take place and are taken quite seriously by law enforcement officials in North Carolina and elsewhere.

Train Charlotte DWI Lawyer North Carolina Criminal Attorney.jpg Keeping with the theme, it was announced this week that three men from Rowan County, NC pled guilty to a train robbery that occurred back in 2012 in Salisbury. The statement from the U.S. Attorney said that 25-year-old Altise Bridges, 20-year-old William Johnson, Jr., and 19-year-old Kenyad Kelly, all pled guilty to accessory after the fact to train robbery.

According to authorities, the incident began last April when two masked me carrying guns climbed aboard a Norfolk Southern train that was heading from Columbia, SC to Asheville, NC. The men boarded the train while it was stopped at a station in Salisbury for a required crew change. When the robbers entered the engine car of the train one of them brandished a shotgun while a second man waived a revolver.

Court documents say that the robbers then demanded money from the engineer of the train as well as the train’s conductor, taking cash and a wallet before fleeing the train. Investigators assigned to the case later determined that Bridges and Johnson had engaged in the robbery while Kelly was brought along to destroy and hide evidence, apparently unsuccessfully.

NC Woman Robs Bank After Giving Her Name And Account Information

Published on: December 24, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “If I simply intend to plead guilty, why do I need a lawyer?”

In a bizarre criminal law case out of Salisbury, North Carolina, police say one would-be bank robber made a series of mistakes that led to her being quickly apprehended. The woman, Tara Jean Vaughn, started off on the wrong foot by robbing the Wood Forest Bank branch inside a Wal-Mart where she has an account, meaning the workers were already familiar with Ms. Vaughn.

Cash in envelope Charlotte DWI Lawyer North Carolina Criminal Defense Attorney.jpg According to a police report, Vaughn arrived at the bank around 8:30 in the morning on Monday, but discovered the branch was not yet open. She then left the store and returned at around 5 p.m. Vaughn then approached a teller and asked him about getting a pack of starter checks. Vaughn then gave the teller her name and mentioned that she had an existing account with the bank.

After divulging such crucial identifying information, Vaughn then curiously chose to rob the branch, telling the bank employee that she had a gun and wanted his money. Vaughn was at least polite during the robbery, apologizing and explaining that she didn’t want to shoot the man. Vaughn then placed her purse on the counter and instructed the teller to fill the bag up with money from the cash drawer. The teller did place some money inside the purse, though police have not yet revealed how much Vaughn was able to get away with.

Police say that Vaughn then fled the store, but was arrested only a few hours later. She is now charged with armed robbery, despite never actually brandishing the weapon, and is being held on a $50,000 bond.

Suspect Sought For Writing Bad Checks At North Carolina Food Lions :: Charlotte Criminal Defense Lawyer

Published on: December 19, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What are the long term effects of being convicted of a crime?”

A man from Georgia has filed a criminal complaint concerning bad checks that were passed using his checking account information which have made their way around several grocery stores in the Charlotte area. Police say that Robert Merritt had his account information compromised and that two Food Lion stores in Fort Mill and another in Pineville were where thieves decided to spend Merritt’s money.

Writing a Check Charlotte DWI Lawyer North Carolina Criminal Defense Attorney.jpg Authorities say that a total of $650 worth of bad checks were cashed at a Food Lion on Regent Parkway and another on Highway 160 East. Several more checks were cashed at a Food Lion in Pineville, NC. The checks were drawn against an account owned by Merritt who said that the checks were used to buy items of food at both stores and that suspects also made sure to ask for cash back with their purchases.

Merritt says the first three checks were cashed and cleared his account before he was able to spot them. The others were caught before they could be cashed and Merritt made sure to close the checking account for good. Thankfully Merritt’s bank reversed the transactions and restored his money.

Though he’s since gotten his money back, Merritt says the problem is far from over. Food Lion has begun aggressively attempting to collect money from him, harassing Merritt for the value of the canceled checks as well as an extra $25 fee for each one. Merritt says that he’s never set foot in Fort Mill or Pineville and has cooperated with their investigation into the matter, but that Food Lion continues to pursue him for money he never spent.

Manslaughter Charges Dropped In North Carolina Pit Collapse Case :: Charlotte Lincolnton Criminal Defense Lawyer

Published on: December 17, 2013 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What are the long term effects of being convicted of a crime?”

A tragic case in Lincolnton, North Carolina reached its end after a Superior Court Judge dismissed charges against a man related to the April deaths of two young children. The decision means that Jordan Keely Arwood can now put the criminal case behind him and move forward with grieving the horrible loss of his six-year-old daughter and seven-year-old nephew.

Court Gavel 1 Charlotte DUI DWI Lawyer North Carolina Manslaughter Attorney.jpg Judge Ali Paksoy handed down the decision during a hearing at the Lincoln County Courthouse last Thursday. Judge Paksoy determined that there was no probable cause to justify the two counts of involuntary manslaughter facing Arwood and chose to dismiss both counts entirely.

The nightmare for Arwood began back in April when his daughter and nephew where playing in their grandmother’s back yard near a large dirt pit that Arwood had been working on. As Arwood continued working on the project a portion of the pit’s wall collapsed without notice, trapping the two young children under a mass of dirt. The collapse was so large that it took emergency responders more than 12 hours to locate the bodies of the children.

Investigators in Lincoln County picked apart the case searching for someone to hold responsible for the tragedy. Ultimately, they settled on Arwood, claiming that because the county had never issued any building permits to Arwood that the man demonstrated culpable negligence in their deaths.

Charlotte School Teacher Charged With Taking Indecent Liberties With Student :: Charlotte DWI Lawyer North Carolina Criminal Defense Attorney

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

Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What are the long term effects of being convicted of a crime?”

A 26-year-old teacher with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was arrested earlier this week and stands accused of taking indecent liberties with a student. Officials say the man, David Cale Allison, was employed at Hopewell High School, which is also where the crime is alleged to have taken place.

Classroom desks Charlotte DWI Lawyer North Carolina Criminal Defense Attorney.jpg Officials with the Huntersville, NC police department say they first began investigating the case on November 21st when they were alerted to possible trouble by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials. Authorities say that an investigation later revealed that there had been inappropriate contact and text messaging between Allison and a student at the school during school hours.

Police say the inappropriate contact consisted of flirtatious text messages sent by Allison to the student during and even outside of school. Additionally, there was one incident when Allison is accused of engaging in inappropriate physical contact with the minor.

Police officers say they believe the case is an insolated incident and that other students at Hopewell were never at risk. They also noted that Allison had only been employed as a physical education teacher at the school since August of last year and that this was his first job with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Currently Allison is suspended without pay pending a final determination in his case.

Sexual assault charges in North Carolina are incredibly serious offenses and can leave lasting stains on a person’s record. Such charges might even require registration with the state’s Sex Offender Registry, something that can dramatically impact the way you live your life.

New Laws Mean Good News For Those Convicted Of Some Misdemeanors :: Charlotte North Carolina DWI DUI Criminal Attorney Lawyer

Published on: December 10, 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 range of new laws went into effect earlier this month, some that stiffen penalties and others that actually reduce jail time for some offenses. The new laws, which were implemented on December 1st, are estimated to save the state over $2 million per year thanks to the reduction in police resources normally spent on jailing individuals and paying for court appointed attorneys.

In North Carolina, misdemeanors are classified as Class One, Class Two or Class Three, with three being the least serious offense. Under the newly implemented laws, many Class Two offenses will now be changed to Class Three offenses and will able to be dealt with by simply paying a fine. By paying the fine, offenders can avoid the prospect of jail time and will no longer need to use a court appointed attorney to handle the matter.

Examples of some misdemeanors that changed from Class Two to Class Three include obtaining property by worthless check, driving while license is revoked, failure to notify DMV of address change, applying too much tinting to a vehicle’s windows or driving more than 15 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Beyond this reduction in severity, other misdemeanors have now been reduced to infractions. These include things like operating a vehicle with an expired license, failure to sign vehicle registration card and fishing without a license (yep, that used to be a misdemeanor crime).