Two suits, permitted to proceed as class actions, were brought in District Court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by respondents, individuals and organizations, against petitioners, the Mayor of Philadelphia, the Police Commissioner, and others, alleging a pervasive pattern of illegal and unconstitutional police mistreatment of minority citizens in particular and…
New York Criminal Lawyer Blog
Court Looks at Parole Issue
Petitioner was convicted in the Supreme Court, New York County, of the crime of manslaughter in the first degree and was sentenced to imprisonment for an indeterminate term of 15 to 25 years. On January 10, 1973 petitioner was paroled with a maximum expiration date of March 15, 1989. A…
Defendant Files Application for Resentencing
A man was convicted of having committed the crime of criminal possession of a weapon in 1993 and he was sentenced to serve one year in jail. In 1995, the same man pleaded guilty to a charge of federal racketeering and conspiracy. He served a prison term of six years.…
Defendant Questions Probable Cause in Arrest
Two known low-level drug dealers who sold marijuana were found shot in the apartment they shared. The police were investigating the murders. The police then questioned their known associates. A New York Criminal Lawyer said one of the murder victims’ known associates the police talked to admitted that he was…
Defendant Had Eviction Notice Filed Against her for Drug Activity
On August 2006, a detective recovered a loaded handgun and approximately 300 small glassine and zip lock bags which were later tested and found to contain a total of 1/8 oz + 0.2 grains of heroin and 1/8 oz + 4.5 grains of cocaine from a woman’s bedroom. An individual…
Defendant Files Motion to Supress
The defendant in this case was charged with Rape in the first degree. He filed a motion to suppress any line-up or photograph identification. He argued that the result of a line-up conducted by the Suffolk County Police Department violated his rights under the Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the…
Court Looks at Illegal Contraband Case
In this case, two police officers were on routine motor patrol in Bronx County when they observed a car with its trunk lock “popped out.” They directed the driver of the car to stop. As the officers approached the car, a single passenger in the rear appeared to be fumbling…
Court Decides Drug Charges
On November 29, 1976 petitioner was indicted with a drug crime in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, and charged with several counts, the first of which alleged that from January 1, 1976 to November 18, 1976 certain defendants, including petitioner, “did knowingly and wilfully combine, conspire,…
Court Hears Motion to Amend Grand Jury Instruction
The People of the State of New York are the plaintiffs in this case against the defendant Luis Pantojas. This case is being heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Bronx County, Part C. The People have moved for an order to amend the direction…
Court Decides Whether to Disbar a Lawyer
In October 1993, a lawyer, a member of the New York Bar was arrested at 9pm on a street corner in the Bronx. He was arrested and charged with criminal crack cocaine possession. In June 1998, the same lawyer was apprehended by police officers at a street corner after he…