Queens

Published on: February 22, 2012

Defendant Questions Evidence in DWI Case

by Stephen Bilkis

A New York Drug Crime Lawyer said that a police officer from New York City was almost struck by a truck while he was inside his vehicle patrolling the streets just before midnight. The officer testified that the truck went backward into the junction from on-street parking space without its rear lights illuminated. He also simultaneously sounded his horn and put his vehicle in reverse to avoid a collision. The truck then pulled forward, returning to its parking space. When the officer parked his vehicle and approached the truck, he saw that the man was seated in the driver’s seat with the engine running. The officer asked the man where he was going and responded that he was heading home. After the officer obtained his license and registration information, the man turned off the engine and went out of the truck. Noticing a strong odor of alcohol, the officer asked whether the man had been drinking. The man acknowledged that he had consumed few beers at a bar on the adjacent corner.

Subsequently, the man’s father came out from the bar and began yelling at the officer. The man handed his father set of keys and the father returned to the bar after being directed by the officer to stand back from the area. A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said field sobriety tests were administered in which the man failed, and was placed under arrest. Based on the record, field sobriety tests are evaluations done by law enforcement officers in making roadside assessment as to whether a motorist is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. At the trial, the man stipulated to the propriety, reliability and admissibility of the succeeding breathalyzer test which revealed that his blood alcohol content was 0.15%.

In contrast to the officer’s version of the events, the man claimed that he left the bar to lock the truck and did not operate the vehicle at that time. He also offered the testimony of family members and friends and asserted that they were drinking with him in the bar when he announced that he was going outside to lock his truck. A Nassau County Drug Possession Lawyer said they claimed that the man intended to return to the bar and was planning to spend the night at a friend’s house which was within walking distance. The witnesses acknowledged that they didn’t see what happened outside after he departed from the bar. Hence, the bottom of the defense was that since the man left his keys on the bar, he was unable to operate his truck. Only one witness, his brother-in-law, was able to identify the keys as those to the ignition of the truck.

Published on: February 21, 2012

Court Rules on Drug Possession Charges

by Stephen Bilkis

Several police officers were charged with various crimes arising out of their conduct in connection with their search for a lost police radio. According to a New York Drug Crime Lawyer, the records of the case, the police officers went to two apartments to pursue a lead regarding the radio. The radio had been lost during an arrest related to a drug crime in the area several days earlier. The records said the police officers pushed their way into two apartments, ransacking both, and unlawfully detained the individuals encountered within the apartments. In searching the second apartment, the police officers discovered vials of crack coccaine and threatened the occupants therein that they would be charged with coccaine possession if the radio were not promptly returned. The police officers allegedly told the apartment occupants that they would “forget” about the drugs if the radio was returned. Administrative proceedings were then commenced against the police officers by conducting hearings.

Following a jury trial, each police officer was found guilty of unlawful imprisonment, coercion, criminal trespass, and official misconduct. Two of the officers were also convicted of falsifying business records. Prior to sentencing, the police officers moved to set aside the verdict alleging improper use of their statements in connection with the indictment and trial.

A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said that among the numerous issues raised on appeal, the police officers challenged the sufficiency of the trial evidence, the cour’ts charge on unlayful imprisonment, alleged inconsistencies in jury verdict and the court’s restriction on cross-examination of certain witnesses. Each of the police officers gave similar statements essentially denying any wrongdoing. The policemen testified in court that they saw one of the occupants of the apartment in the alley and he dropped the cocaine when he saw the police officers. One of the policemen said he has arrested the same person for marijuana possession prior to the incident.

Published on: February 20, 2012

Bartender Held Liable in DWI Case

by Stephen Bilkis

Two couples went out on a group dinner date on February 2, 1960. According to a New York Drug Crime Lawyer, after dinner, they drove to a restaurant on Staten Island at around 9:00 p.m. In between the dance numbers, the two couples drank. One lady passed out from having taken too much alcohol. Her date steadily drank double bourbons straight. Her date became drunk and noisy. He fell to the floor and some bystanders told the bartender not to give the obviously drunk man anymore to drink.

The bartender kept giving the man more double bourbons reasoning that the man was just enjoying himself. Later, at 1:00 p.m., the two couples left the restaurant. The lady who passed out was asleep in the passenger seat in front. Her date, the man who passed out after imbibing several double bourbons insisted on driving.

When the car had travelled about nine miles from the restaurant, the lady’s date who was driving while intoxicated lost control of the car which veered off the road and crashed into a building. A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said the driver was killed and his date who was sleeping in the front seat was seriously injured.

Published on: February 19, 2012

Drug Possession Defendant Seeks Parole

by Stephen Bilkis

According to a New York Drug Crime Lawyer, a 59-year old man is currently serving an aggregate prison term of 21-1/2 years to life arising out of his 1982 convictions for various drug crimes, including marijuana possession, and attempted escape from prison. The prisoner challenged the denial of his application for parole before the Board of Parole. .

The court held that record demonstrates that the Board appropriately considered the statutory factors, including the seriousness of the prisoner’s crimes, his prior criminal history, positive program achievements while incarcerated and post-release plans.

While the dissent minimized the seriousness of the prisoner’s offenses, describing them as neither violent nor accompanied by a history of violent crimes, the record before the Board showed that the prisoner petitioner had been a drug dealer for 10 years and that his activities escalated to high-level cocaine trafficking that did, in fact, directly lead to the violent death of one police officer and the grievous wounding of another at the hands of his co-defendant brother. The court said that, contrary to the dissent’s view, the Board could reach its conclusion after weighing the prisoner’s accomplishments in prison against the level of violence associated with the drug trafficking and the drug crimes of which he was convicted without improperly considering matters outside the record

Published on: February 18, 2012

Court Decides Drug Case

by Stephen Bilkis

Two adult men appealed from judgments of a state court convicting them after a joint trial of the drug crimes of sale of a dangerous drug and marijuana possession and sentencing each of them to seven years imprisonment.

According to a New York Drug Crime Lawyer, one of the accused argued on appeal that the court had previously accepted a plea of guilty to the lesser crime of attempted criminal possession of a dangerous drug, a Class E felony, to cover the entire indictment; that thereafter, the court unilaterally set aside that plea and directed a trial upon which the defendants were convicted of the Class C felony for which they were indicted and for which they have now been sentenced. In essence, they assert a claim of double jeopardy.

Sources, however, showed that during the joint trial the accused applied to withdraw his plea of guilty and the court granted that application, and this was the understanding of all at the time. A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said it is apparent that the court thought that the defendant was moving to withdraw his plea and not that the court was acting unilaterally.

Published on: February 15, 2012

Court Rules on Drug Crime Charges

by Stephen Bilkis

On April 20, 2007, an undercover police officer in a bar in Westhampton Beach in Suffolk County observed a suspect hand a knotted clear plastic bag containing a white powdery substance to another person and in return he was given cash money. They then separated and left the bar. Since the officer had witnessed the sale of the suspected narcotic, he had other officers stop the truck of the buyer and they recovered the drugs which proved under testing to be cocaine. The buyer was arrested for cocaine possession, according to a New York Drug Crime Lawyer.

The buyer then agreed to testify against the seller. Around two hours later, the seller was arrested. At the time of his arrest, he was not in possession of cocaine or any other drugs. The seller was arrested and charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. In return for his testimony against the seller, the buyer’s criminal charges were dismissed.

Prior to court, the prosecutor asked the judge if he could get permission to ask the buyer on the stand in court if he had purchased drugs from that seller in the past. He argued that since he had been a regular customer of the seller that it would clear up any questions as to the “absence of mistake.” In other words, it would ensure that the defense could not say that the buyer was mistaken about the identity of the person who had sold him the drugs, explained a Queens Drug Possession Lawyer. If the buyer knew the seller, there is no “absence of mistake.” The defense counsel opposed the motion. He claimed that the seller was not going to claim that the buyer had made a mistake about naming him, but that the buyer was simply lying and that he had never sold the man drugs in the first place.

Published on: August 25, 2011

Another Home Invasion Arrest

by Stephen Bilkis

There has been one more arrest in the case of an attempted home invasion that ended with the death of one would-be burglar and the wounding of another, police sources told NY Criminal Lawyers.

Suffolk police investigators found a fourth man involved in the attempted home invasion – a 25-year-old man from Mattituck, who was subsequently arrested. He was charged with first-degree burglary.

NY Criminal Lawyers do not yet know how the police found the latest suspect or how he specifically participated in the attempted burglary. According to police sources, they believed only three men to have been involved in the April 13 incident.

Published on: July 22, 2011

More Crimes from the Blotter

by Stephen Bilkis

A pair of Brooklyn bandits held up a pizzeria in Williamsburg.

The perpetrators, wearing masks and armed with guns, entered a Papa John’s on Grand Street near Leonard Street at 10 p.m. One of the robbers drew a silver pistol and forced the 18-year-old working the counter to open the register, cops told New York Criminal Lawyers.

The thieves took an undisclosed amount of cash, then ordered the worker to give them what he had, taking his cash and his iPhone, police added.

Published on: June 7, 2011

Two Stories of Crime in New York

by Stephen Bilkis

A drug pusher may have been one of the few Americans to actually benefit from the events of September 11, 2001, New York Criminal Lawyers have learned. But now, his luck has run out.

The drug dealer may have already been in prison but for the fact that the evidence gathered against him happened to be in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Now another charge has surfaced and he will serve a five-year sentence for bail jumping – something he did more than 16 years ago, in an appeals court ruling.

Back in 1994, the deal was already on probation when he was arrested for allegedly being one of the men behind a crack ring in the Bronx. He was allowed to go on $200,000 bail, then went into hiding. In order to stay hidden, he even burned off his own fingerprints, sources have stated.

Published on: August 21, 2008

Legend Noah Not Fazed by Son’s Arrest If your child is arrested in Quenns County hire a good Queens Criminal Defense Lawyer

by Stephen Bilkis

Former French Open champion Yannick Noah is not fazed that his son Joakim was arrested for possession of marijuana and having an open cup of some sort of alcohol on his person.

The NBA forward and former Florida Gator star was arrested Sunday in Gainesville, Florida. A policeman saw him on a sidewalk holding a plastic cup. After taking Noah to the station they searched him and discovered that he had some marijuana in his pocket.

Yannick Noah didn’t see what the big deal was. He was asked his opinion as he attended The French Open and said he saw nothing wrong with having a beer on the street.