Articles Posted in Queens

Incidents of rape and sexual assault cases involve many different laws. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said each case is reviewed in relationship to how it addresses each element of each law. The most appropriate law or multiple laws are then charged by the prosecution. In some case, a charge is reduced to a lesser included offense because the jury or prosecutor decides that the lesser included offense if more appropriate to the actions of the charged offender. One case of this type occurred in 2008.

On May 21, 2008, a man was charged with rape. He was convicted after a jury trial on May 28, 2008 of third-degree rape, which is detailed under New York Penal Law § 130.25(3). This charge was determined by how the victim expressed her lack of consent to the sexual assault. This victim apparently never stated the actual term “no,” but rather testified that she had been crying the entire time and stating that she just wanted to go home. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the court concluded that any reasonable person observing this situation would conclude that the victim was not consenting to the act. The defense maintained that he did not consider her actions to be a refusal because she never actually stated that she did not want to have sex with him. The court evaluated the totality of the evidence which included the fact that this was his second or third offense of sexual assault.

They also reviewed the fact that the offender forced the woman into his apartment against her will and used threats of physical injury to prevent her from leaving. The court determined that when viewed in their entirety, the circumstances surrounding this assault clearly contained all of the necessary elements to be considered a rape. Because of this, the offender’s request to have his conviction overturned was denied.

Continue reading

Plaintiffs alleged that they were sexually assaulted and were subjected to unwanted and repeated sex crimes by their supervisor, one of the defendants in this case. New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the plaintiffs were employed as data entry technician in a company engaged in children’s clothing apparel, another defendant in this case. One of the plaintiffs alleged that she underwent abortion as a result of the rape committed against her.

Defendant supervisor moved for a summary judgment to dismiss the case against him. According to the defendant, plaintiff’s testimony is incredible as a matter of law. He argued that plaintiff did not make her claim of rape until six months after the first alleged rape and four months after the second alleged rape. Additionally, there are records of numerous telephone calls and text messages between him and the plaintiff at all times of day and night, indicating that they engaged in a consensual sexual relationship Defendant supervisor’s passport unequivocally demonstrates that he was in Colombia on August 19, 2005, the date of the second alleged rape. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said after some of the alleged acts of harassment occurred, the plaintiff signed a birthday card “Be healthy & wealthy” for the defendant on his birthday, and sent flowers to him on this occasion

The Court denied defendant supervisor’s motion for summary judgment.

Continue reading

In a criminal proceeding, a New York Criminal Lawyer said that, a computer store located at West 57th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues was burglarized. Police Officer Maselli, on patrol in an unmarked yellow cab, heard a radio run of two Black males who were involved in the burglary. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said he proceeded to the scene of the computer crime where he spoke to the doorman of the building in which the store was located. This witness gave him the additional information that the two men were wearing blue jeans and sneakers and had last been seen running west on 57th Street toward Ninth Avenue.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that, Maselli then began to drive around the area until he reached Eighth Avenue between 47th and 48th Streets, where he saw two Black people wearing jeans and sneakers, walking south. One, a man, was carrying what Maselli believed to be a television set. The other appeared to be female. Maselli stopped the cab approximately twenty feet from them and approached, displaying his shield, while his partner approached from the other side. Without making any inquiry whatsoever, Maselli put the two up against the wall and, after discovering that the “television” which the male put down was actually a computer, placed both under arrest. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the defendants were then taken to the computer crime scene where they were displayed to another witness, Linda Siegfried, who lived in an apartment above the store. After the witness identified them, defendants were taken to the stationhouse and booked; a cord belonging to the computer which Washington had been carrying was recovered from Perry’s pocket.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said that, Maselli testified to an incident prior to his initial arrival at the computer crime scene which allegedly connected Perry and Washington to the crime and explained his subsequent stop of them. Maselli told of seeing “two male blacks” turning into Eighth Avenue from 54th Street, where they had been walking in an easterly direction. One of the men was carrying a television, and it was his recollection of the two which caused him to drive to a more southerly area of Eighth Avenue after interviewing the doorman.

Continue reading

Crime occurs in every type of neighborhood. Domestic violence is not located in some other neighborhood, it is located in every neighborhood in the United States. When domestic violence advances to homicidal violence, it is especially tragic. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said that family violence effects more than the two adults who participate in the fighting, it also affects the children of the adults. In some cases, the primary aggressor will batter the victim in front of the children. The effect on the mental stability of children of this type of violence is obvious. No child should have to see one of their parents murdered by the other parent, but it happens.

In a nice middle class home in Spafford, Onondage County, New York on a spring day in April of 1998 a couple determined that they could no longer remain married. Pursuant to New York divorce law, they filed a separation agreement and proceeded to wait the allotted time before they could file for the divorce. They decided that the divorce would be amicable and that they would continue to live in their home together but separately until they could file for the divorce. However, on April 21st, the couple engaged in a violent argument with their young children at home. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the husband and father grabbed a baseball bat and bludgeoned his wife about the head with it. During the assault, the woman cried out for her children to call the police before he killed her. The children were frozen in fear.

Following the assault, the husband realized what he had done. The wife was not dead and was moaning incoherently and bleeding profusely on the floor of the kitchen. The husband contacted his parents and they came over to help him. After his parents arrived, they summoned his brother who called a family friend who was a doctor to come with him to the house. When they arrived, they contacted the police. Upon arriving on the scene, the police found the wife still on the kitchen floor, barely alive. She had the imprint of the baseball bat in her left temple area. The husband had superficial cuts on his person that he claimed were the result of the wife attacking him with a knife from the kitchen. He stated that he had struck her in the head with the bat in self -defense.

Continue reading

Many questions of law dictate the admissibility of evidence in criminal trials. One of the most common motions that are made by defense attorneys is to suppress evidence. Evidence in a criminal case may be either direct or indirect evidence. It may by physical evidence or it may be testimonial evidence. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said because evidence is the crux of any criminal trial, it is important that the rules of evidence are followed carefully by the police and prosecution. The ability to contaminate evidence at any step in the location and collection process can have devastating results on the prosecution’s case against a defendant. Whenever a person is arrested, it is the responsibility of the police officers involved to ensure that the rules of evidence are carefully observed.

The rules that apply to direct evidence are easier to apply than those that apply to indirect evidence. Direct evidence is that evidence that directly links one particular individual to the crime that they have been charged with. Common direct evidence can be fingerprints on a murder weapon, or DNA belonging to the defendant located at the crime scene. Direct evidence must be carefully photographed, logged, isolated, and protected. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said there must be a definable chain of custody of the direct evidence in order to maintain the validity of the evidence. If the evidence is mishandled in any way, there can be grounds to have it suppressed and not allowed to be mentioned to the jury during the trial of the person who was indicted. These rules of evidence are critical to protect the rights that American citizens hold dear. A criminal defense attorney considers himself the guardian of the rights of all American citizens to ensure that evidence that is submitted in court, has not been obtained in illegal means in violation of the United States of America’s Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. Direct evidence is often physical evidence, but not always.

Physical evidence is evidence that has a physical component to it. Physical evidence can be a bullet, a body, or even a gun. Anything that can by physically touched is physical evidence. Physical evidence is usually direct evidence, but there are always exceptions. A Nassau County Sex Crimes Lawyer said it can be debated that photographic evidence is not physical evidence, but is actually a more solid form of indirect evidence.

Continue reading

The issue of search warrants and the rights of Americans to be free from illegal and unreasonable search and seizure in their own homes is balanced by the responsibility of the legislature and law enforcement to ensure that those laws are fair and enforced lawfully. What that means is that a judge has to be very conscious of the impact that signing a search warrant has on the community as a whole. A New York Sex Crime Lawyer said that every time that a search warrant is signed in the United States, a judge is permitting law enforcement to encroach on the sanctity of the home that the warrant is for. In criminal cases, the lines are often drawn clearly. However, in civil cases involving code violations, the laws are not so clear.

One case that involved a search warrant for a code violation occurred on September 25, 2003 when a judge in the Village of Westbury in Nassau, New York, signed a search warrant on a code violation. The code violation was for running an illegal boarding house in the Village. The investigation that resulted in the issuance of the warrant was a lengthy one. The details of the warrant that established that an illegal boarding house was being operated in the Village involved months of stakeouts and a recording of numerous license plates that demonstrated that more than one family was living in the one family dwelling house. In fact, the warrant was issued for evidence of more than one family including locked doors to individual rooms, illegal plumbing, and multiple vehicles located at the residence. A New York Sex Crime Lawyer said the warrant was signed by a Village judge based on the facts that were presented by a code enforcement officer to the judge. The details of the evidence were well documented and the warrant was issued. The judge placed on the warrant that it could be executed by any police officer of the County of Nassau.

However, a code enforcement officer is not usually considered a police officer. A code enforcement officer is more commonly considered a peace officer of the state of New York. So in essence, the officer who obtained and possessed the warrant was not named as an official for the purposes of executing the warrant. However, the code enforcement officer took with him several police officers of the County of Nassau to execute the warrant, so that issue became moot. The problem with the warrant was that during the execution of the warrant, several of the law enforcement officers photographed occupants and asked questions of the occupants.

Continue reading

The Facts:

A member of the New York City Police Department was detailed to work with the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force (Task Force). His usual assignment with the Task Force was as an undercover officer (office-one), and that was the assignment he was performing, when, on 16 July 1981, he met with an informant who later introduced him with the co-defendant

Thereafter, a New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said meetings were set and arrangements were made for officer-one to buy quantities of cocaine. The co-defendant said that he could deliver a pound from someone that he knew, the herein defendant. Accompanied by another officer (officer-two), upon their meet, defendant only promised to deliver two ounces of cocaine for the reason that they didn’t know each other. Subsequently, the parties agreed to buy the two ounces of cocaine. Shortly after officer-two produced a brown bag with money, and, while defendant was looking into the money bag, officer-two placed defendant under arrest.

Continue reading

A mother and a grandmother of a teenage girl filed a complaint of negligence act to one talk show. The show moved to dismiss the complaint brought by the complainants. The complainants allege that the show’s negligent actions are connected with the show’s motion on the chain of events which concluded with the girl’s rape.

It was started when the mother contacted a solicited show who presents out-of-control teen guests. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said that during conversations with the mother and grandmother, the show’s staff was advised that the girl was 14 years old, undergoing counseling, and taking medication for emotional illness, as well as that she recently had attempted suicide. The girl also lost a close immediate family member and reported sexual intercourse with one twenty nine year old man and five boys who were under age sixteen. It was agreed between the mother and the show that the teen would appear on the show and the show would provide the teen with follow-up psychological counseling and a corrective teen boot camp. The show will also provide the transportation, hotel arrangements and pay related expenses of the girl. The show further asked the mother and the grandmother to accompany the girl on the trip. Consequently, the girl, her mother and her grandmother were picked up by a limousine in their hometown and transported to a midtown hotel.

On the day of the taping at the studio, a woman and a show staff allegedly told the girl to act sexually provocative and also requested to look sexier by wearing her thigh-length top without slacks. A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said that in accord with that theme, the girl claims that her sexual experience was exaggerated five-fold during the show.

Continue reading

The People of the State of New York are the plaintiffs in this case. The defendant in the case is Davis I. Shakemma. The case is being herd in the First District of the District Court of Suffolk County in the state of New York. Judge Lawrence Donohue is presiding over the case.

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the defendant of the case has been charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which is in violation of Traffic Law section 1192. The defendant has been charged with using marijuana. A probable cause, Huntley, and refusal hearing has been held in the matter.

Case Background

Continue reading

This case deals with the respondent Lewis Novod who is an attorney and counselor at law. The petitioner in the matter is the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, and First Department.

Case Background

A New York Sex Crimes Lawyer said the respondent, Lewis Novod was admitted to practice law in the state of New York by the First Department, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the state of New York on the 14th of October, 1972. The respondent has maintained his practice of law in the First Judicial Department.

Continue reading