Total Criminal Defense Blog

Facing 15 years in prison in conjunction with charges stemming from a video that allegedly showed him engaging in sexual acts with a 13-year-old girl, R & B singer R. Kelly escaped penalty as the jury acquitted him of all child pornography charges after deliberating less than one day.

Defense attorney for Kelly were apparently able to successfully convince the jury of Kelly’s claims that he was not the man who appears in the video—questions were also raised about the identity and age of the female, since the alleged victim denies that the girl in the tape is her.

Neither Kelly nor the victim testified in the trial.

ESPN reports that PGA golfer Tripp Isenhour was taping a television golf show when a local hawk on the golf course became irascible, distracting him and forcing a retake.  Isenhour responded by whacking a few golf balls at the bird.  The 7th golf ball was the culprit: this ball nailed the red-shouldered hawk in the head, killing it instantly.

Now Isenhour faces Charges of animal cruelty and killing a migratory bird.  In an apology statement released through his company SFX Golf, Isenhour claimed to be “an animal lover,” citing three cats that his family owned from a local shelter as evidence of his naturally sympathetic nature toward animals.

Well, well, well. Barry Bonds, formerly of the San Franscico Giants, is facing charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a federal grand jury about his steroid use.

Some sources like Bonds’ case to Michael Vick’s, speculating that Vick’s recent 23-month sentence could be the beginning of a trend: many legal experts predicted a shorter jail stint for the former NFL star. Could Vick’s sentencing have been the beginning of a trend of taking criminal offenses committed by celebrities more seriously?

Both athletes hired teams of crackerjack criminal defense attorneys. Both got in legal trouble at high points in their careers. And, if Bonds’ trial goes anything like Vick’s, both will be held legally accountable for their actions, despite their superstar status.

When OJ Simpson and several accomplices were accused of an armed robbery in Las Vegas last month, the charges against the men really piled up.

Because of the number and the seriousness of the charges against the men, at least one of them has reportedly agreed to testify against Simpson.

Police allegedly have a 45-page transcript of their interview with one of the accused men, Walter Alexander, in which he says that Simpson told him to bring firearms to the alleged hotel robbery to let the victims know they meant business.

Alexander has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to felony conspiracy to commit armed robbery and to testify against Simpson at trial. Alexander could face up to six years in prison. His attorney says that his testimony will clarify OJ Simpson’s role in the alleged armed robbery.

Alexander, Simpson, and four other men involved in the alleged armed robbery were arrested and charged with 10 felony counts each including armed robbery, kidnapping, assault, burglary and conspiracy. Two memorabilia dealers allege that they were robbed of $80,000 worth of sports memorabilia.

Simpson also faces an additional charge of coercion.

Another alleged Simpson accomplice, Charles Cashmore, reportedly will plead guilty to felony accessory to robbery. His attorney says that he will testify as to which men had guns during the alleged robbery. Cashmore could face up to five years in prison.

A hearing is set of October 23 and attorneys for both Cashmore and Alexander have said that they will ask the judge for probation.

OJ Simpson maintains that no weapons were present during the incident and that he went to the memorabilia dealers’ hotel room only to retrieve items that had been stolen from him by his former agent.

Simpson is expected to appear at a preliminary hearing on November 8. He is currently free on $125,000 bond.

It turns out, when Kiefer Sutherland was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving on September 24, it wasn’t his first time being arrested for DUI.  It wasn’t even his first time in the last 5 years.

Kiefer was also arrested for DUI back in 2004 with a reported blood alcohol level of .22 percent and pleaded no contest to the charge.  He was given 5 years probation.   So that means that when he was pulled over for making an illegal U-turn on September 24, and then arrested for DUI, he was still on probation.

Since this is his second time around, if convicted of DUI, under California law there is mandatory jail time.  Well, we’ve seen the mandatory minimum jail sentences before with Nicole Richey’s famous 82 minutes and Lindsay Lohan’s upcoming 1 day or less behind bars.  But wait, remember Paris Hilton?

Sutherland will be in court for this DUI arrest on October 16.  Guess who the judge is?  Anyone remember the Honorable Michael Sauer?  Judge Sauer is the one who threw the book at Paris Hilton when she violated her probation.  Paris wasn’t drunk when she violated probation and she was sentenced to 45 days in jail by Sauer.

This could be very bad news for Kiefer.

OJ Simpson was arrested today in Las Vegas and reportedly has been charged with 2 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, 2 counts of  robbery with a deadly weapon, one count of burglary with the use of a deadly weapon and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon. 

 It was first reported that bail for the Juice had been set at $78,000, however current reports from Las Vegas indicate that the judge has ordered Simpson to be held without bail.

The charges stem from an incident late last week in which OJ has allegedly said was his own private sting operation to recover sports memorabilia which he reportedly said belongs to him.

The victim in the case, memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley, had reported to police that OJ Simpson, flanked by several thugs with guns, came to his hotel room and said that they were police officers.  They then reportedly roughed up someone in the room, demanded the victims’ cell phones and took all of the sports memorabilia that was in the room.  Beardsley had reported to police that during the armed robbery, Simpson and his pals even took memorabilia that was not related to Simpson.

The case got a little weird yesterday when Beardsley got squirrely and backed off his story a bit.  He reported to media that he and Simpson are old friends and “fight like brothers” and that the incident had been blown out of proportion.  Nothing like a little back tracking to keep your head on straight!

Incidentally, OJ and Beardsley do go way back.  Beardsley testified for Simpson in the wrongful death lawsuit against him and at that time told the court that Simpson memorabilia is not nearly as valuable since he was acquitted of the double murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

Country music singer, Mindy McCready, has been sentenced to a year in jail for violation of her probation.

In July, McCready was arrested after the police were called during a domestic dispute between the singer and her mother. In her mugshot following that arrest a huge and bloody gash can be seen on McCready’s nose which was reportedly caused by a fall while she was resisting arrest.

McCready was convicted of a prescription drug fraud charge in 2004 and sentenced to three years probation. She had a few months left of probation when she was arrested in July.

Now McCready is a convicted felon. In addition to sentencing her to a year in jail, the judge ordered 2 more years of probation and 200 hours of community service for McCready.

In court, McCready reportedly made an emotional plea to the judge, but he didn’t buy it and sent her directly to jail.

NFL star O.J. Simpson, the alleged killer of his ex-wife and her young friend, is in trouble with the law again. This time, Simpson is suspected in an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel-casino.

Las Vegas police spokesman, Sgt. John Loretto said, on CNN, that Simpson was being questioned about a theft of sports memorabilia at the Palace Station hotel and casino. Reportedly, Simpson said he was simply retrieving items that belonged to him; that he was conducting a “sting operation” and had not broken into the room where the items were located.

On CNN, Alfred Beardsley, the man attempting to sell the memorabilia, said he was instructed to pack up the items at gun point.

A business associate of Simpson, Thomas Riccio, said he received a phone call a month ago from someone who wanted to auction some of Simpson’s personal belongings by placing them on consignment. Riccio said he called Simpson to tell him about the deal.

Riccio said he was being shown the items when Simpson entered the hotel room and seized them. He also said there was no break-in and no guns were involved.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 of killing Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. A civil jury later found him responsible for the deaths and ordered him to pay the Goldman family $33.5 million.

In August, Idaho Senator Larry Craig stated that he intended to resign from Congress after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct following his arrest in a sex sting in the Minneapolis airport. Craig later clarified that he would resign only if he could not withdraw his guilty plea. Today, he filed his motion to withdraw his plea.

In Minnesota, the standard for withdrawing a guilty plea is the correction of “manifest injustice.” According to the New York Times, Craig’s lawyer said that a guilty plea must be “accurate, voluntary and intelligent.” Craig claims that he was panicked that publicity from the arrest would allow the Idaho Statesman to publish a “baseless article” about his sexuality. The paper did, indeed, publish the article following Craig’s arrest being made public.

The Times reports that Craig’s lawyers wrote that “while in this state of intense anxiety, Senator Craig felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered to him by the police officer; namely, that if he were to submit to an interview and plead guilty, then none of the officer’s allegations would be made public.”

A University of Minnesota law professor said that plea withdrawals are “rarely made and, when made, are rarely granted, and if granted, they cause the original criminal complaint to re-emerge.” So, if Craig gets his plea withdrawn, he may face the original charges of interference with privacy, punishable by up to a year in jail, and disorderly conduct, punishable by up to 90 days.

With the recent reports of buttered microwave popcorn linked to certain lung illnesses, it seems that junk food is becoming dangerous, and not just because it adds pounds to your hips.

When it comes to the cheesy snack puff Cheetos, apparently “Dangerously Cheesy” isn’t just a slogan, but a warning…

A Des Moines, Iowa man was arrested for domestic assault after he threw a bag of Cheetos at his father. 22-year-old Patrick Hamman threw the bag and hit his father, Michael Hamman, in the face, causing his glasses to cut into the bridge of his nose and also causing an explosion of Cheeto dust over his father’s clothes and body.

The younger Hamman admitted to being high on methamphetimines at the time of the incident.