Articles Posted in Criminal defense

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One officer is facing charges after several officers allegedly assaulted a 17-year-old boy during an arrest. Essentially, one officer was caught punching the boy repeatedly while the boy was on the ground, and the other officers were caught standing nearby and watching. While the officer who threw the punch is facing charges of aggravated assault and official misconduct, the officers who stood by and watched are not. Nor are they facing disciplinary action. 

It is not clear that the bystander police officers could be held responsible for a crime in this instance. Which then got me thinking, what happened to the other two officers in the George Floyd case? The answer: They went to prison. So, let’s analyze that case (which was filed under Wisconsin law), and maybe we can figure out if these officers could be charged with the same thing.

George Floyd Analysis

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The father of Robert Crimo III, 58-year-old Robert Crimo Jr., has been indicted on seven counts of reckless conduct after his son went on a rampage that killed seven. Crimo Jr. has been charged with one count of reckless conduct for every death that occurred that day. However, the prosecution has not convicted him yet.

The grand jury process allows prosecutors to present a case without the defense present. Ultimately, a grand jury is composed of individuals who have only heard one side of the story. The effort is an attempt to convince the public that the effort of a trial is warranted. It shows the public that individuals hearing the complaints against the defendant agree with the prosecution’s interpretation of events. The grand jury voted to indict Crimo Jr. on seven counts of reckless conduct. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of three years, leaving Crimo Jr. vulnerable to a maximum 21-year sentence.

Is Crimo Jr. Responsible for His Son’s Conduct?

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Illinois officials have emphasized re-entry services for inmates who have been convicted of serious crimes. But finding steady employment, even for those who earned master’s degrees while inside, remains difficult. Part of the issue is related to their incarceration, but another part of the issue has to do with the fact that employers are not likely to hire someone with a master’s degree for low-level warehouse work. The employer will figure they will get bored with the job and be gone in a few weeks. 

Now one former inmate who was convicted of murder says he’s having difficulty finding work despite the fact that he has a master’s degree. It further becomes a problem when the former inmate has no legitimate means of earning money. The chances of that inmate going back to prison escalate exponentially. 

What Prevents Former Inmates From Getting Jobs?

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A police officer has resigned amid criminal charges that set off a battle between two Indiana police departments, each with their own version of what happened. According to the now-resigned officer, he was checking on an abandoned vehicle when another vehicle approached him. Believing that this vehicle had nearly struck him intentionally, the officer opened fire on the car. Inside was an off-duty police officer headed home. The off-duty police officer insists he did nothing wrong. 

The victim has called the officer who stopped him “a danger to society” and stated that “he doesn’t deserve to wear a badge.” The officer is a 13-year veteran of the force who was cuffed and taken into custody after the other officer shot up his personal vehicle. 

Anyone Can Become the Victim of Police Violence

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This is part of the problem with the arguments against removing cash bail. The obvious thing is that cash bail does not prevent violent individuals from committing more violent crimes. It allows those who can afford to buy their way out of jail, do so. The idea that this makes you safer is silly.

Ending cash bail would give judges discretion over which cases an individual could be held for. In the case of sexual assault or other violent crimes, any form of bail would be denied. 

In this case, a man was accused of sexually assaulting several female clients to whom he provided tattoos. He was charged with the crimes, bonded out of jail, and then committed several more sexual assaults. On Wednesday, he was denied bail.

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The SAFE-T Act was set to go into effect on January 1st of the new year. However, the no-cash bail provision of the bill was deemed unconstitutional by an Illinois judge. The Illinois Supreme Court put a halt on the legislation, which will likely force legislators to revisit some of the provisions of the bill.

While those on the right have derided the legislation as being soft on crime and making the streets less safe, the left believes that the criminal justice system unfairly favors those with money. Ending cash bail is one way to make the system fairer. However, it is not clear that either side is correct, and in all of the confusion, necessary reforms are falling by the wayside. 

Had the Supreme Court not stepped in to block the legislation, cash bail would have survived in the counties that sued to block the measure. With some counties participating and others not, the court blocked the legislation until it could review it more carefully and determine if any of the provisions of the law violated the state constitution.

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Over-the-phone lie detection is the latest junk science employed by the FBI and police departments across the country. While experts familiar with the work say it should not be used to convict individuals, it is being used to analyze 911 calls to determine whether the calls are honest or false. 

Today, the Karen phenomenon and swatting have police on high alert for false calls. But it isn’t swatting and Karens that are being stopped. Often, it’s people who “say the wrong thing,” according to this method of analyzing speech patterns. And that could be anyone, even the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault. 

What You Need to Understand

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A recent television series documented a case in the United States revolving around a man accused of murdering his wife. In the criminal case, the prosecution used testimony from an expert witness to claim that the man staged the 911 call and was actually himself the murderer. He was convicted based on the testimony of a sergeant who interpreted the 911 call as being staged. A jury convicted the man on that basis.

The basis for the witness’s testimony is a little-known method of lie detection promulgated by police departments and the FBI. According to these departments, you can tell if a person is lying by interpreting linguistic cues and stress in their voice. Of course, there is little scientific basis for this, and there has been no testing to determine the veracity of these claims. That’s not the problem, however.

In most cases, we would laud anyone who wanted to endeavor to determine if there was any method to determine if someone was lying by studying their vocal cues. That’s not what’s happening here, however. Instead, the police departments are assuming that they can do this without subjecting their procedures to peer review. Even those most familiar with the theory have publicly stated it should not be used to convict individuals. Nonetheless, there have been 100 cases (at least) throughout the U.S. in which 911 call analysis or vocal stress interpretation.

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The father of Highland Park shooter Robert Crimo III will face seven counts of reckless conduct after sponsoring his son’s gun license. Robert Crimo Jr. surrendered himself to police after the charges were announced. Only an individual can face a crime related to reckless conduct. The government, of course, would never file charges against itself for authorizing the license to Crimo III. However, that is exactly what happened. 

The prosecutor for the state told the press that parents are in the best position to determine whether or not their child should have a gun. However, this is equivalent to shifting the responsibility of licensing to the parents and away from the government. It would be an admission that the licensing process does not work and relies entirely on parents to determine if their children should be allowed access to weapons. In this case, the boy was 19 when his gun license was sponsored. 

Analyzing the Prosection’s Arguments

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A poorly-adjusted Chicago man approached a Jewish high school and began making threats against students and a rabbi who performed security at the school. The man made several Holocaust-related provocations at students and faculty and, at one point, began goosestepping and doing a Nazi march. When police arrived at the scene, the defendant was still doing the Nazi march. He was then taken into custody.

He has since been charged with a hate crime and is being held on a $100,000 bond. He must post $10,000 before he can be released from custody. If he fails to post the $10,000, he will remain in jail until his case is decided. 

Analyzing the Defense

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