Articles Posted in Sex Crimes

On this proceeding, the state presented evidence about a pharmacologist who was a member of a conspiracy to procure heroin. The pharmacologist and his accomplices were guilty of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance based on a series of events that commenced in the state. Even if the jury found him guilty of both the crime, on appeal, he challenges the state’s exercise of territorial jurisdiction over the second offense only.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the evidence revealed that the leader of the conspiracy was a man. Through a wiretap surveillance of the telephone line to the leader’s residence, the law enforcement authorities discovered that the leader was raising $120,000 to pay a courier fee to obtain a large quantity of heroin to the state. The intercepted conversations cryptically identified the various players in the proposed drug exchange. The state theorized that the pharmacologist’s role in the project was to test the purity of the heroin.

The leader and another individual discussed the pharmacologist’s availability for the project. Upon receiving a telephone call advising that the pharmacologist had been located. Thereafter, a woman used the leader’s telephone to make airline reservations for three men to fly at 8:00 p.m. that evening and all of them were under the same surnames. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the law enforcement authorities observed the pharmacologist together with two other men aboard the flight. At the request of an investigator, a state’s troop followed the activities of the three men. After registering at the airport’s hotel under aliases, they were seen entering and leaving each other’s rooms during the next 24 hours.

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In this case, the appellant was tried before the court without a jury and found guilty of the crime of breaking and entering a dwelling with intent to commit a felony, to-wit, grand larceny, and of the crime of grand larceny. A New York Criminal Lawyer said that separate sentences were imposed thereon for imprisonment for a period of three years, with provision for the sentences to be served concurrently.

On appeal therefrom, it was contended that the court erred in denying appellant’s motion for acquittal on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence, and further that it was error to impose more than one sentence.

Upon review of the case, the court found no reversible error therein.

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This case is about an appellant who was adjudicated guilty, after a jury trial, for inciting a riot under Section 870.01(2), Florida Statutes (1981). A New York Criminal Lawyer said the appellant argued that the evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to support his conviction. Although the sufficiency of the proof presented a close question, after thorough review, the court held that the State did present a prima facie case and that a judgment of acquittal was not required.

The case however was reversed on the ground of evidentiary rulings as to prior convictions. The question concerns the impeachment of appellant under Section 90.610, Florida Statutes (1981), on the basis of two prior petit larceny convictions. The trial court ruled that these prior petit larceny convictions could be used for impeachment purposes and threatened to hold appellant in contempt if he took the stand and testified that he had not been convicted of a crime. Appellant did testify and on direct examination stated he had been convicted of a crime twice.

The old rules on Evidence provide that a witness was subject to being impeached with evidence of a prior conviction of any crime, excluding violations of a municipal ordinance. Jurisprudence prior to the amendment of the rules established that “a crime is a crime”. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the argument that discrediting crimes must involve moral turpitude was expressly rejected.

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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 in the apartment on the day before the murders and saw a man from the Caribbean buy half a pound of marijuana from the victims.

The known associate also told the police that the man from the Caribbean agreed to buy at least thirty kilos of a new shipment of marijuana from the murder victims. They agreed to meet the next day so that the man from the Caribbean can finally buy the marijuana. The police detective showed the known associate of the murder victims and he identified a picture of the man from the Caribbean.

The police detectives went in search of the man from the Caribbean and found him in an apartment. When the police were near the apartment door, they could smell the odor of marijuana. So the police detectives pounded on the door of the apartment. The man from the Caribbean came to th door. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the police detectives could smell the marijuana odor emanating from the open doorway of the apartment. They then asked the man from the Caribbean to step out of the apartment. They frisked him and handcuffed him. The officers asked him if there were any other occupants or residents in the apartment and the man from the Caribbean said that his brothers and his girlfriend were in there.

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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 with something. That passenger opened the rear door and attempted to flee. One of the officers grabbed him, and, after a struggle, succeeded in removing defendant’s hand from his left front outer jacket pocket. The officer recovered a brown paper bag which, upon later discovery, contained cocaine of an aggregate weight of 8 7/8 ounces. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the motion court concluded that the evidence, before the Grand Jury, of defendant’s knowledge of weight was legally insufficient to sustain the charge of criminal cocaine possession of a controlled substance in the first degree. It, therefore, reduced count one of the indictments from criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree. The Appellate Division affirmed.

The police stopped defendant for a traffic infraction while he was driving in Bronx County. A plastic bag containing 3 1/4 ounces and 3 grains of cocaine was recovered from the automobile. The motion court found no evidence of defendant’s knowledge of the weight was presented to the Grand Jury. It reduced count one of the indictments from cocaine possession of a controlled substance in the second degree to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree. It also dismissed count two of the indictment which charged criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. The Appellate Division modified in the case by reinstating count two, and otherwise affirmed.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that, in a joint memorandum which determined both Sanchez and Garcia, the Appellate Division noted that the trial court properly concluded that the evidence before the Grand Jury was insufficient to establish that defendants possessed the requisite knowledge of the weight of the substance they possessed. Regarding the defendant, the Appellate Division determined that the trial court erred by dismissing count two of the indictment charging defendant with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. The Court reasoned that intent to sell may be established by proof that a defendant possessed a significant quantity of drugs. Thus, as to the present case, the Appellate Division reinstated count two of the indictment. A Judge of this Court granted the People leave to appeal in both cases, and, in the present case, granted defendant leave to cross-appeal.

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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 purchased crack cocaine. A New York Criminal Lawyer said he was charged with criminal crack cocaine possession. He was later sentenced to three years’ probation. Also in June 1998, the lawyer was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration. He was sentenced to three years’ probation as well. At that time, the lawyer offered a New York police officer a sum of money in exchange for the dropping of the drug crime charged against him.

He was also charged under the Code of Professional Responsibility, a law that regulates the conduct of members of the Bar. He was charged with engaging in conduct detrimental to the administration of justice. He was also charged with engaging in conduct adversely reflecting on his fitness to practice law. Aside from his criminal conviction, being a member of the Bar, he also faced other civil consequences of his arrest and conviction by way of an administrative hearing to determine his fitness to continued membership in the New York Bar.