Drug Possesion

Published on: April 25, 2012

Injured Security Guard Seeks to Make Worker’s Compensation Claim

by Stephen Bilkis

A telecoms company owns the premises leased by an out of possession landlord. The telecoms company contracted a security agency for their security services including the presence of a security guard in the premises. The premises had been a victim of gun crime robbery and homicide. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the assigned security guard was shot in his stomach, inside the premises, by an unknown attacker during a robbery and died of his wounds later that evening. He was employed by the telecom’s parent company. The security guard’s estate sued the landlord and the telecoms company for negligent security and wrongful death, and the security guard’s father sued for loss of his son’s services.

The assailant was forcing a customer and the security guard to the rear of the store with the gun in the back of the customer, when the gun went off grazing the customer and hitting the security guard. He died shortly after arriving at the Hospital.

According to the depositions of the store manager, everyday during closing time, a cashier at the store followed various procedures, which included bringing into the store a coin-operated kiddie rides about 30 minutes prior to closing, and then lowering various gates about 15 minutes prior to closing.

Published on: April 24, 2012

Court Discusses Hearsay Evidence

by Stephen Bilkis

On April 14, 1972, a New York Drug Crime Lawyer said a reputed bookmaker and his wife and sister-in-law were at home relaxing. Two masked men forced their way into the home in Huntington, Suffolk County. After ransacking the house and stealing any valuables that were on hand, the men shot the bookmaker in the head. His wife was also shot and suffered from memory loss due to a stroke. She was never able to remember that night so she was unable to assist law enforcement in the investigation.

A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said then, in December of that year, the investigators were informed that a nineteen-year-old woman and her boyfriend/employer had information about the murder. The two had been arrested in reference to an unrelated kidnapping. Detectives were sent to interview the woman since they had not had any leads and the case had grown stale. She related that the night of the murder, she had been at her boyfriend’s house. She stated that she heard a heated discussion in reference to a crime, so she pretended to be asleep. What she stated that she overheard was a conversation between the defendant, his brother-in-law, another man, and her boyfriend about the murder. She heard the one man tell her boyfriend that he had shot the bookmaker. The defendant stated that he had shot the bookmaker’s wife. Her boyfriend talked about remaining in the car outside and how he had told the other two to only rob them and not to shoot anybody. The woman also stated that although her boyfriend had told her just the day before that he did not have any money, he gave her $25 the day after the murder. He had also told her several days before that he was going to rip off a bookie.

Within days of being interviewed by the detectives, she went to the office of the District Attorney in Queens, New York and began plea negotiations on the kidnapping indictment. The woman committed suicide before she was called to the stand to testify on the murder case. The detective was allowed to testify to the information that she had given him at trial as a declaration against her penal and pecuniary interest. A Nassau County Drug Possession Lawyer said her mother was also allowed to testify to conversations that she had with her daughter before her daughter’s death. She stated that she had asked her daughter for some money. Her daughter had told her that she could not afford to give her the $15 that the mother requested because she did not have it. She stated that her daughter told her that she would have it in a few days because her boyfriend was going to commit a gun crime against a bookie on Long Island who owed him money. The mother stated that the weekend following the murder, her daughter gave her the $15. She stated that when she heard about the murder, she asked her daughter if the boyfriend was involved. Her daughter told her at that time that he was not. However, she stated that after meeting with the detectives, she had contacted her mother and told her the same thing that she told the detective. The mother testified that when her daughter told her about the incident, she did not mention the names of the defendant or the other man who was present.

Published on: April 23, 2012

Defendant Claims they are a victim of Illegal Search and Seizure

by Stephen Bilkis

In criminal trials, issues involving the admissibility of evidence often comes down to a fine matter of law. The authority of an officer to stop a vehicle or a person is restricted by articulable reasonable suspicion. A New York Drug Crime Lawyer said that is a suspicion that can be put in to words that would lead a reasonable and prudent law enforcement officer given his training and experience, to believe that a crime is afoot. Case law has provided a further detail as far as the seizure or stop conducted by a police officer on a citizen. Whether the person is on foot or in a vehicle, if they flee upon sight of the readily obvious police officer, there is an immediate impression of a guilty mind. A guilty mind is also call mens rea. The evidence of flight when an officer attempts to initiate a traffic stop is also evidence of mens rea in a crime. This flight can become probable cause to make an arrest. Probable cause is that set of facts or circumstances that would lead a reasonable and prudent person given the same set of facts or circumstances to believe that a crime, is, has, or will be committed and that the person of interest, is involved in that crime.

However, if the court finds that the officer failed to show articulable reasonable suspicion, then the vehicle or person stop, is considered an illegal seizure. Any evidence of any crime that is discovered as a result of an illegal seizure is inadmissible in court based on the exclusionary rule. The evidence becomes fruit of the poisonous tree unless the police officers can demonstrate that the evidence would have inevitably been discovered anyway.

A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said that on September 16, 1975, at around one in the afternoon, an apartment building superintendent’s wife, noticed a man who was dressed in a white suit loitering around the back entrance to the building. She noticed that he glanced around in a furtive manner before entering the building located at 55 Lenox Road in Rockville Centre, Long Island. Around twenty minutes after she first noticed the man, she heard footsteps in an empty apartment above her own. She went upstairs to investigate and observed the man whom she had seen earlier, testing door knobs looking for unlocked apartments to enter. She went downstairs and notified her husband who went to the lobby and found the man just leaving the building. He noticed that the man had a large bunch of keys in his hand and he could hear more in his pocket.

Published on: April 23, 2012

Defendant Charged with Weapon Found in Car

by Stephen Bilkis

On October 22, 1982 at around 2:00 am, car was parked in an alley near an apartment building. A man opened the car and sat in the car and slept in there. The man was able to get into the car because the car was owned by a friend of his.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said a resident in the apartment building called the police to report the man sitting in the car. When the police arrived at the scene, they found the car and they found the man sleeping in the car just as the resident of the apartment building described.

The police woke the man up and told him to get out of the car. When the man had gotten out of the car, the police checked and searched the car. Between the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat they saw a console. When they checked the console, they found a gun inside the console.

Published on: April 23, 2012

Defedant Contends Police Did Not have Probable Cause for Stop

by Stephen Bilkis

Two uniformed police officers were checking out an illegally parked car near the corner of 39th Street and 9th Avenue at 3am on June 15, 2005. One of them happened to look up and saw a man running. He was coming from the vicinity of 8th Avenue. When the police officers asked him why he was running, the man wouldn’t say. They stopped him and frisked him but found that he was not in possession of a weapon. When the police officers asked him what was going on, he said he had just been robbed. At that time, a New York Criminal Lawyer said the two police officers heard gunshots from the same area where the man had just come from. They reported over the police radio the gunshots fired.

At around the same time, two other police officers in an unmarked police car were in the vicinity of 8th Avenue when they also heard the gunshots fired. They then saw the white SUV they noticed on the street a while back. The SUV fired its engine and started speeding away. The two police officers followed the speeding SUV. They were tailing it when the SUV came to an abrupt halt because they came across the two other uniformed police officers.

The two uniformed police officers were standing on the street with their guns drawn when they heard the screeching of the tires of SUV and the unmarked police car that appeared to be chasing the SUV. A New York Criminal Lawyer said both the SUV and the unmarked police car were coming from the general direction of the area where the gunshots were fired.

Published on: April 22, 2012

Woman Enters Plea Bargain for Gun Charges

by Stephen Bilkis

A New York Drug Crime Lawyer said that on June 9, 20009, police officers searched the apartment of a couple by virtue of a search warrant and seized drug paraphernalia, a .32 caliber hand gun, cocaine residue and the amount of $38,410.00.

The police arrested and charged the couple: the man was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree; while his wife was charged with felony possession of a weapon.

The woman entered a plea bargain. A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said she agreed to plead guilty to the lesser crime of Disorderly Conduct instead of being tried and possibly being convicted of the charge of felony possession of a weapon.

Published on: April 22, 2012

Defedant Claims he is a Victim of Malicious Prosecution

by Stephen Bilkis

A man moved for an order requiring his opponents to produce for an in camera inspection of employment and civilian complaint review board records for two police officers. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the opponent’s city opposes the motion and moves for an order to dismiss the complaint against it.

It started in a complaint report prepared by a police officer involving the man’s mother who stated that the man got upset and broke her cell phone when she presented him with a P.I.N.S. warrant. The man’s brother also stated that the man smacked/slapped his mother in the face with a notebook. No injuries were reported, nor arrests made but a domestic incident report was prepared. The police officer classified the incident as harassment.

Two hours after the incident, the mother was signed and swore to the incident report, on which the notation no offense was scratched out and replaced with harassment as offense description.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Police Mistakenly Shoots Store Employee

by Stephen Bilkis

A fur store employee was present when the store was robbed by two-armed man. According to the employee’s statement, he and his employer were forced into the sales vault, handcuffed, and taped, and one of the gunmen hit him in the head with a gun. The employee was able to free himself and ran to the street, but the two robbers got away. Upon his return to the store, several police officers were on the scene. The man’s employer indicated that one of the robbers had left a gun on the bottom of the fur rack, and his employee saw it. A New York Drug Crime Lawyer said that according to the employee’s statement, the police officer picked up the gun, put it on the desk, and the gun went off. The employee’s previous statement states that he did not see the gun being picked up and was only aware that it had been moved after he was shot. He turned to the location from where the bullet had traveled and saw the smoking gun on the desk, with the police officer holding it. The employee also claims that the police officer hit him and apologized.

The police officer testified that she had received firearms training as part of her police academy training and every year thereafter she received re-qualifying training. A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said she testified as to past experiences handling guns at scenes of crimes and unloading her weapon. She was assigned to evidence collection on the day of the gun crime. At the scene, she was instructed to pick up the weapon to determine its type and she took a couple of photographs of the gun before she picked it up with her left hand on the barrel and her right hand on the butt. She could not tell if the slide had been pulled back and did not know if there was a safety. She held it with her finger, placed it evenly on the table and did not place it pointed in any particular position. When she placed it on the desk, the gun went off though she did not touch the trigger and did not know why the gun fired. The alleged gun crime victim was treated for tinnitus.

The employee filed a notice of claim upon the State alleging negligence and personal injuries. He alleged that he was carelessly and negligently shot by an unknown female police officer acting with the scope of her duties, and that the State and the City Police Department had negligently hired, trained, and supervised the officer, and should have known she was unfit to perform her duties. The employee commenced an action by filing summons and verified complaint.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Court Rules on Custody Dispute

by Stephen Bilkis

Custody issues are never pleasant; however, they are often complicated by differing parenting styles and volatile relationships between the parents. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the court is responsible for determining what if anything will improve the child’s emotional and physical development. In some cases, these decisions are complicated further by domestic violence and poor choices that have been made by one or both parents who are involved in the custody case. In New York, the law is very concerned with the child involved being given the best opportunities. It is because of this outlook that New York courts appoint the child their own attorney to represent their best interests in a custody case.

This is the situation that one couple found themselves in. In May of 2002, a thirty-two year old man met and married a thirty year old woman in New York. The father was a first grade teacher at the time and the mother was an interpreter. They had only known one another for a short time prior to the marriage was in part decided due to the fact that the woman had become pregnant. During the pregnancy, the couple had a violent argument. The father threw his pregnant wife down a flight of stairs in front of her sister. When she attempted to call the police for assistance, he grabbed the phone and pulled it out of the wall to prevent her making the call. Her sister witnessed the incident.

The wife moved out of the house and was living apart from the man at the time that she gave birth to their son in December of 2002. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the couple admit that during the time they were together that a large amount of the time was marked by violence and arguments. During the next few years, the mother raised the son herself with little interaction with the father.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Defendant Charged with Gun Possession

by Stephen Bilkis

On March 11, 2007, two police officers were on motor patrol in an area known for gang activity. At around 11:30 pm, a man walked in front of the police officers’ unmarked car. The man was walking slowly, impeding the smooth flow of traffic on the street. A New York Criminal Lawyer said that as he passed the police officers’ car, one of the police officers noticed a shiny object glinting at the rear right pants pocket of the man who passed by.

As the man was walking slowly, the officer noted that the glinting object appeared to be metallic and it was inside his rear pocket. Only the clip was showing outside and the top part of the object was protruding from the pocket.

The police officer has had the experience of making 50 arrests for weapons possessions and he believed that the glinting object clipped to the man’s pocket was either a gravity knife or a small-caliber handgun.