Sex Crimes

Published on: April 16, 2012

Court Claims Jurisdiction in Domestic Violence Matter through IDV Courts

by Stephen Bilkis

A man was charged with the offense of harassment in the second degree. Subsequently, the court issued an order of protection directing the man to stay away from the complainant and refrain from harassing, intimidating, threatening her, or committing any acts of domestic violence. After that, a misdemeanor charge of criminal contempt in the second degree was commenced against the man alleging a violation of the order of protection. Consequently, the man initiated a matrimonial action against the complainant.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the court having been assigned to the related matrimonial action, determined that it would promote the administration of justice to transfer to the Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) part the charges pending against the man in the district court and by the order the district court, the matters were transferred to the IDV Part.

The man now moves for an order to dismiss the district court cases for lack of subject matter of authority. The man alleges that criminal procedure law mandates the dismissal of the cases transferred from the district court. The man’s motion is determined. A Westchester County Criminal Lawyer said the discussion of the man’s contentions begins with an assessment of the legal authority of the courts.

Published on: April 16, 2012

Court Determines if Evidence Submitted by Defendant is Inadmissable

by Stephen Bilkis

A husband moved an action against his wife’s lawsuit to take a statement to be offered in court on his behalf by issuance of a request letter. The wife opposes the application of motion.

It started when a wife alleges that she was a victim of domestic violence committed by his husband. However, the husband moves for a letter requesting for information to take the statement of the wife’s sister. The husband argues for his sister-in-law’s granted permission for the recorded telephone conversation between his wife and his sister-in-law at which time his wife made certain admissions. The husband asserts that the recorded conversation contains statement which is necessary for the trial on the issues of custody and domestic violence.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the husband asserts that a letter is requested because the prospective witness, his wife’s sister, resides in another country and therefore is not within the jurisdiction of the court. The counsel further stated that the wife’s sister is physically unable to travel to testify at the time of trial because she is suffering from a blood clot in her lungs. Further, the counsel neither annexed an affidavit by a person with actual knowledge nor certified medical documentation supporting the counsel’s assertion.

Published on: April 16, 2012

Sex Offender Bring Case to Court Over Being Denied Housing Assistance

by Stephen Bilkis

A man was convicted of sex crimes, including rape, sodomy and sex abuse. He was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of six to eighteen years for the rape and sodomy convictions and two to six years for the sex abuse convictions. According to the State Division of Criminal Justice Services website, he is designated as a Level 2 sex offender who is subject to lifetime registration under the State’s sex offender registration program. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the man is an inmate at a Correctional Facility, where he returned for violating parole after having been previously released from prison.

By letter, the man requested that the State Housing Authority provide him with an application for housing and an application for a Section 8 certificate. In the letter, he claimed that he was disabled, homeless and currently incarcerated, but that upon his release in the near future he would be in need of housing. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the State Housing Authority responded by a letter enclosed with the Guide to Applying for Public Housing, a public housing application and a Guide to Section 8 Housing Assistance. The letter stated that no Section 8 application was enclosed because The State Housing Authority was no longer accepting Section 8 Program applications since the waiting list had been closed since May 15, 2007 except to applicants that met certain emergency criteria.

The Section 8 Housing Assistance Program is a federal program administered by local public housing authorities (PHAs); the State Housing Authority administers the program. The Section 8 Program is a voucher program that makes housing more affordable to very low-income families by subsidizing private landlords, thus allowing the families to obtain housing at below market prices. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides funding for the Section 8 Program to the local PHAs. There are two categories of housing assistance in the Section 8 Program: tenant-based and project-based. In the tenant-based assistance, families choose where they want to live, and if the unit is approved by the local PHA, the PHA contracts with the owner and makes rental subsidy payments on behalf of the family. In the project-based assistance, the subsidies are paid by the PHA to assist families in specific housing developments.

Published on: April 15, 2012

Man with History of Domestic Violence Applies for Gun Permit

by Stephen Bilkis

A man applied to the license division of the police department for a premises pistol permit. As required by the application, the man answered numerous questions pertaining to his qualification. The questions include as to whether he had ever been arrested and was an order of protection ever issued against him. The man answered yes to the abovementioned questions. The man also submitted notarized statements describing the circumstances of his two arrests.

The man’s first arrest happened when he was in college. He states that he fraudulently applied for and received unemployment benefits. He pled guilty to petit larceny, paid full compensation and was awarded a certificate of relief from civil disabilities.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the man’s second arrest occurred at a random traffic checkpoint. When the officers checked his license, the officer discovered that it was suspended in accordance to a family court child support enforcement unit order. The man states that it was an error because he had already appeared before in the family court judge and made all the payments. The man obtained the necessary documentation to verify his claim.

Published on: April 15, 2012

Court Says Evidence is Protected by Common Law Victim-Counselor Privledge

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman charged a man with criminal action of various felonies arising from alleged domestic violence. A non-profit corporation has moved to quash a subpoena issued by the District Attorney to provide the address and telephone number of the complainant of the criminal action. The non-profit corporation asserts that in accordance to the Social Services Law and the regulations promulgated under it, the non-profit corporation is prohibited from releasing to the District Attorney the actual address where the resident is being sheltered. In addition, it argues that the information sought is also shielded by a common-law victim-counselor privilege.

A New York Criminal Lawyer the motion to quash is denied. Section of the Social Services Law states that the street address of any residential program for victims of domestic violence applying for funding pursuant to this article shall be confidential and may be disclosed only to persons designated by rules and regulations of the department. At the same time, section of the State Code of Rules and Regulations provides for the confidentiality of facility addresses as each program must maintain a business mailing address separate and distinct from the actual address where residents are sheltered. When releasing the address of any resident, programs must release only the business address of the program and not the actual address where the resident is being sheltered.

On the other hand, section of the State Code of Rules and Regulations provides for access to confidential information pursuant to an order by a court of competent jurisdiction. The non-profit organization argues that the specific prohibition of the State Code of Rules and Regulation limits the broad disclosure permitted pursuant to a section of the said Code.

Published on: April 15, 2012

Court Rules on Robbery Case

by Stephen Bilkis

In cases that involve more than one victim, juries, and sometimes judges can become confused and issue verdicts that are not in accordance with the law or with good common sense. A case that was adjudicated in the Supreme Court of Nassau County on September 3, 1975 is one such case. The incident was fairly straight forward. This incident occurred on October 22, 1969 at a jewelry store that was owned and operated by one man.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said he frequently purchased items from other people and sometimes took in items on consignment. On the date of this incident, he had in his safe a diamond ring valued at $12,500 that he had taken in on consignment for another man. While he was in the shop that day, two men came in to the store to look at watches. They left without making a purchase. They had seen the owner go to the back of the store to retrieve a watch to show them from the safe. On his way back out to the front of the store, he failed to shut the safe or re-secure the dividing door that was usually locked between the front of the store and the office where the safe was located.

A while later, the two men returned to the store and produced a .45 caliber gun and ordered the owner to comply. A said the owner fought with the men and was struck on the head during the altercation with a hard object that he could not identify. He fell down near the panic button for his alarm. He pushed the alarm and passed out. When he came back to consciousness, he was handcuffed an in the back of the store. The attackers beat him again. He struggled to get free and he reached for the gun. Somehow the gun was fired and the jeweler was knocked unconscious again.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Defendant Claims Forum Shopping in Domestic Violence Case

by Stephen Bilkis

A man and a woman, never been married, have a 12 year old child. There have been 6 petitions previously filed between the parents, all in Rensselaer County Family Court (in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2 in 2011). Two were withdrawn, three were settled and one is pending.

The mother has filed a custody petition in Albany County Family Court. The father has filed a motion requesting that the matter be transferred to Rensselaer County Family Court on the grounds of inconvenient forum and forum shopping.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that under the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR), a discretionary change of venue motion would be controlled by section 510(3) and granted where the convenience of material witnesses and the ends of justice will be promoted by the change. The section is, for all practical purposes, identical in meaning to Family Court Act §174, which requires that a change of venue by supported by good cause.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Domestic Violence Leads to Murder Case for Defendant

by Stephen Bilkis

A couple married in 1982. The husband was a surgical resident while the woman stayed home. Their marriage was marked by frequent fights and quarrels. Both of them argued and threatened each other.

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said that one year after they were married, the wife called her cousin who was a divorce lawyer. Her voice was hoarse and she was speaking very rapidly. She told her cousin that she and her husband had an argument and that he assaulted her. She told him that he ended up strangling her until she lost consciousness. He advised her to move out of the house. She called to tell him later that she left their house and was staying at their grandfather’s house for a while. She also went to see her psychiatrist who stated that she noticed finger marks on the wife’s neck. They talked about what happened and she revealed that she was strangled and assaulted by her husband.

In 1984, the wife consulted a divorce lawyer. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said she had adulterous relationships with other men and wanted a divorce from her husband. In 1985, she told her friends and relatives that she was asking her husband for a divorce. She informed them that she was going to coerce him to grant her a divorce by threatening to reveal a letter sent to her by his psychiatrist. In this letter, the psychiatrist told the wife that during her sessions with her husband, he disclosed that he was entertaining thoughts of murdering her. The psychiatrist asked for the consent of the husband to disclose this fact to her.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Domestivc Violence Costs Correction Officer her Job

by Stephen Bilkis

A woman filed a petition to terminate the decision of the commissioner of the department of correction. The decision is to terminate her employment as a probationary correction officer and directing that she be reinstated with back-pay and benefits. After the trial on the issue, the court finds that the petition of the woman should be granted.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said the testimony and evidence introduced at the trial and revealed that the woman was employed by the department of correction as a probationary correction officer. When she was terminated as the result of a complaint made to the department of investigation by a person identifying himself as a parole officer. The officer indicated that he was the parole officer assigned to a former inmate. The former inmate is the woman’s former boyfriend, who has been a history of domestic violence incidents with the woman.

The individual claiming to be the officer made a previous complaint about the woman to department of investigation. The complaint alleged that while visiting the inmate, the officer noticed the woman’s uniform hanging in the inmate’s apartment. In response, the department of correction initiated an investigation concerning the woman’s undue familiarity with the inmate, and her failure to report that she was living with the inmate when she applied for a position as a correction officer.

Published on: April 14, 2012

Court Discusses Role of Counsel at Grand Jury Proceeding

by Stephen Bilkis

A man indicted for drug crimes such as cocaine possession with intent to sell, denied that he had sold cocaine, but testified to his crack possession of three vials for his own use. A police officer testified that he observed the accused man receive money from an unidentified woman and then drop a vial of crack cocaine, which the woman picked up from the ground. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the officer further testified that he arrested the accused man within five minutes, finding four dollars and crack possession.

The accused man testified that he received the vials from three guys whom he knew. When asked to name the three men, he inquired whether he could speak to his lawyer. He was permitted to do so and replied that the guys are not really involved in what he was accused of. A New York Criminal Lawyer said when the question was repeated, the accused man answered without further consulting his attorney. Presumably in an attempt to establish that the accused man’s cocaine possession with intent to sell, the assistant district attorney asked him how he obtained the money. The man testified that he received welfare, had saved some three hundred dollars while in a program of work release from State prison where he had been until three months beforehand, and also received money from his family. At one point in the accused man’s testimony, the assistant district attorney inquired whether the money he spent to go to movies was welfare money.

A New York Drug Possession Lawyer said the assistant district attorney reviewed the accused man’s prior criminal law violations that include four felony and seven misdemeanor convictions. In detail the convictions include four robberies, one invalid use of a credit card, a fare beat, a trespass, and criminal possession of controlled substances. The assistant district attorney repeatedly emphasized the robbery convictions. The assistant district attorney then asked the accused man to tell the grand jury what happened on the occasion of his arrest for marijuana possession. The accused man explained that he was arrested when he took a bag of marijuana out of his pocket to give to a friend whom he owed money. The assistant district attorney finally asked him to tell the grand jury what he had been arrested for on the occasion in 1990 when he pled guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance.