Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Blog
Justices at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals are looking into whether Mohammad Hammoud should be given a new trial or a new sentencing hearing. Hammoud was convicted of supporting a terrorist organization. The prosecution in his case claimed that he participated in a cigarette smuggling ring and sent the proceeds of the illegal operation to Hezbollah, a militant organization that the United States has identified as a terrorist organization.
Hammoud’s attorneys deny that he is a member or supporter of the organization. They concede that he sent the group money, but the money was sent to a branch of the organization that provides social services, not to the branch that carries out militant terrorist attacks. 
Stanley Cohen, Hammoud’s attorney, believes that the sentence he received is disproportionate to the crime. Initially, Hammoud was sentenced to 155 years in a federal prison, but a federal judge reduced that to 30 years after finding the sentence grossly disproportionate. The reduction did not seem to appease either the prosecution or the defense.
Federal prosecutors are seeking a new sentencing hearing, believing that the 30 year sentence Hammoud received was too lenient. They are requesting that he be sentenced to life in prison. Cohen, on the other hand, believes that cases with similar facts as those to Hammoud’s case should set the standard for his sentence. Other cases similar to his have resulted in four or five-year sentences. There is also new evidence that has been discovered which suggests that Hammoud may have been telling the truth about not being a card-carrying member of Hezbollah. The prosecution, of course, disputes this new evidence as well as the comparison to similar cases, asking that Hammoud’s case be evaluated alone and that the sentence given be based on his actions and his prior convictions and not on how his case measures up to other similar fact patterns.
These loans are backed by the federal government and all of the money must be paid back. Should student loan fraud continue to increase, Mr. Smith believes that the bust could be even bigger than the bust seen in the real estate bubble.
An “extraordinary event” is defined in the code as “a large-scale special event of national or international significance and/or an event expected to attract a significant number of people to a certain portion of the city.”
After an investigation into the incident, the police determined that a women at the scene, Andrea Endara-Paredes, was the mastermind behind the kidnapping attempt.
On average, it takes the team about 19 hours from the beginning of the team’s investigation to make an arrest. Their speed prevents the alleged criminals from fleeing the jurisdiction. Winterhalter believes that some of their success is attributable to the police department being more efficient at identifying suspects. He said, “The department is responding to the incident a little bit differently. There’s increased number of resources put into the initial investigation, different bodies from within organization are helping.”
In December 2007, Edwards, along with Young, issued a statement to the press in which Edwards denied that he was the father of Rielle Hunter’s unborn child, saying that it was Young who was father. According to Young, Edwards was to tell the press the real story once the baby was born. Young testified that he and his wife were no longer happy about letting Hunter live with them in an attempt to keep the press away from her.
Earlier this month, the 6-year-old received media attention when it was reported that after she had a temper tantrum at school, the police were called and she was handcuffed. According to reports, the girl refused to comply with her teacher’s rules and began throwing things off of the teacher’s desk. She sent the student to the principal’s office where she continued her tantrum. The student threw things off of the principal’s desk and turned over a small shelf that fell on the principal’s leg. The principal tried to calm her down, but she resisted. At that point, it was decided that the police should be called. The Milledgeville Police Department responded and placed the 6-year-old in the back of a police car and transported her to the police station. Police procedure required that anyone placed in the back of the patrol car be handcuffed.
He used this ruse to lure them out of their cars where he would rob and then rape them. These occurred in February 2010 in the high-end residential neighborhoods of Dilworth and Myers Park in Charlotte. According to officials at CMPD, Carter ambushed a woman as she was getting out of her car on Spanish Moss Lane. It was 1:30 AM and he clasped his hands over her mouth and demanded her pocketbook. He searched through her purse for money and when he did not find any he took her cigarettes instead.
An individual close to the investigation and the case told the Charlotte Observer that Edwards was offered a plea deal where he would only serve 6 months in jail and still be able to practice law, but Edwards rejected that offer. He said that he would take his chances with a jury. In a press conference, Edwards said, “After all these years, I finally get my day in court and people get to hear my side of this, and what actually happened . . . And what I know with complete and absolute certainty is I didn’t violate campaign laws and I never for a second believed I was violating campaign laws.”
He is described as a Hispanic male, between the ages of 25 and 30, with dark spikey hair. Since the incident has happened, investigators are taking it seriously and are vigorously investigating the case, but they have yet to arrest anyone for the attempted abduction.