Total Criminal Defense Blog

Updates happen every week at Total Criminal Defense—here are some of the most recent:

David Hinkson was in big trouble with a slam-dunk case against him in a murder-for-hire trial—that is, until Elven Joe Swisher, a key witness against him, was found guilty of perjury at trial: Perjury Botches Murder-for-Hire Trial.

Police are contending with new technology as they try to chase down scofflaw drivers: Drivers Use Technology and a Social Network to Dodge Cops.

Curious about gun laws in your state?  See our new guide to common State Gun Laws.

Also, don’t forget to check out our Celebrity Criminal Update!

According to this article from techradar.com, minor social networking site Faceparty, which bills itself as the “Biggest Party on Earth,” has deleted the accounts of all users older than 36 in an effort to prevent sexual predators from misusing the site.

In a company notice, Faceparty acknowledges that only a minority of users older than 36 are sex offenders, but that because of new legislation requiring social networking sites to check users’ email addresses against those of registered sex offenders, they had to delete all over-36 accounts. It seems Faceparty doesn’t have an email-verification policy, and the mass deletion was the only way to be safe.

Except that the “new legislation” mentioned in the notice is actually only a proposal. Faceparty executives have insisted that their move was not “ageist,” despite the fact that it was based solely on the ages of users.

But the bigger question seems to be what’s so magical about 36? Does this mean some otherwise harmless, law-abiding citizens magically become sex offenders on their 36th birthdays? Either the coordinators of Faceparty are following some abstruse logic or they’ve made a bizarre and arbitrary decision about their users.

New Jersey passed legislation early this year banning sex offenders from social networking sites.

WCBS-TV in New York City is reporting that a group of men impersonating NYPD officers who participated in abductions and torture of East Coast drug traffickers has been arrested and indicted in a Brooklyn court for robbery conspiracy and drug dealing as well as numerous other crimes.

The eight men indicted allegedly would meticulously plan their abductions and conduct full-scale police raids as New York City police officers, then detain the dealers as well as family members for up to weeks at a time, torturing the dealers with techniques such as waterboarding while they sold the drugs they confiscated on the street themselves. According to news reports, they conducted up to 100 of these raids in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida. They reportedly also stole around 1,650 pounds of cocaine worth $20 million as well as $4 million in cash.

For more on drug crimes, visit Total Criminal Defense.

Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who has been in the news lately for apparently locking his daughter in the basement “dungeon” of his home for 24 years, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of his crimes, according to the Associated Press. The brevity of his potential sentence highlights a major difference between the United States’ corrections system and those in many European countries.

To an American, a jail term shorter than the amount of time Fritzl held his daughter prisoner hardly seems fair. In fact, overcrowded prisons and world-record high incarceration rates act as proof that those of us stateside are accustomed to seeing serious criminals handed serious sentences.

But the penal systems in many European countries act differently. Few criminals receive life sentences (even for serial murders), and those who do rarely serve them completely. European systems tend to emphasize rehabilitation of criminals over punishment. As a result, European countries have much lower incarceration rates than the United States.

The recent passage of the Second Chance Act marked a slight shift in U.S. criminal corrections: for the first time since the enactment of “get-tough” sentencing laws in the 1970s and 1980s, the federal government is beginning to focus more on rehabbing criminals it has traditionally only punished.

FresnoBee.com reports that an Italian man in a California prison for assaulting an ex-girlfriend has begun fasting to protest the health care he’s received in prison. The man claims he’s gotten insufficient treatment for hepatitis C, a potentially cancerous lungspot and spinal cord problems. Prison officials contradict his claims, but with prison crowding in the United States being what it is, it’s hard to know who to believe.

Inmates in Connecticut have reportedly contracted bladder infections after being denied regular access to bathroom facilities and recent reports show that more than 1% of the US population is now behind bars.

Since 1993, 120 Americans have been taken off Death Row because of DNA evidence that cleared them of the crimes they’d been found guilty of in court, according to an article released by the Associated Press. That number doesn’t include the many innocent people who have been convicted of crimes and freed from lesser sentences.

Last week, Marvin Anderson, who was cleared of charges against him after serving 15 years of a 210 year prison sentence, called for Attorney General Michael Mukasey to begin giving federal funds to state programs investigating cases for which DNA evidence has become available.

Though nearly $14 million was set aside ago by the federal government, that money has not yet seen its way to state programs aimed at investigating convictions involving new DNA evidence. Anderson, along with others who have been cleared of convictions thanks to DNA evidence, plan to speak out against this withholding.

Bobby Joe Helms, known in Florida as the “Hyde Park Rapist,” was cleared for release from civil custody months ago, according to tampabay.com. But he was only just recently released for good. After seven attempts to find Helms suitable housing arrangements, he found a place to stay in Melbourne, FL.

The first place that rejected Helms was a trailer park that housed several other sex offenders. But the management rejected Helms after learning how extensive his criminal record was.

Basically, Helms ended up spending three extra months in custody because of his difficulties finding a place to live. And he isn’t the first. Because sex offenders have very limited options for living and working (proximity to a school or other children’s gathering place is often a consideration), reentering the community successfully can be a challenge. And people who have been convicted of a variety of crimes frequently face difficulties finding legitimate work once they’re released.

A Columbus, OH robbery was thwarted last week when the would-be robber raised his voice a little too high, reports MSNBC.com. Keith Sturgill entered a Wendy’s restaurant with a gun and threatened employees and patrons while waiting for the contents of a safe.

When an employee’s phone rang, Sturgill shouted that he would fire his gun at anyone who answered. What he didn’t count on was that the employee’s headset was voice-activated, and was triggered by his aggressively loud voice. The caller overheard the commotion and called the police.

Sturgill surrendered shortly after police circled the restaurant. He was on parole for a rape and robbery in 1993, and is being held in jail.

Two inmates in the most secure part of an Elizabeth, New Jersey prison escaped this week and are currently at large, reports the New York Times. The convicts, 32-year-old Otis Blunt and 19-year-old Jose Espinosa, dug away at the mortar surrounding a cinderblock, removed that cinderblock, and wriggled through the hole. They then jumped from the roof over a fence and made their way to freedom.

If this sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you’ve seen “The Shawshank Redemption,” in which Tim Robbins plays a character who does exactly that. And here’s the kicker: Blunt actually attempted a similar getaway in September of this year!

After his first escape attempt, he was placed in a more secure cell but, apparently, it wasn’t secure enough. Now, I’ve never run a prison myself, but I would think that, given Blunt’s record for attempting to escape by chiseling through walls, oh, I don’t know–SOMEONE WOULD HAVE MONITORED THAT.

The two men have not been found, and investigators are broadening their search area in hopes of catching the men, whom they believe to be still in New Jersey.

And they say you can’t learn anything from watching movies.

After a 90-minute hearing in Virginia Monday morning, Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison after being found guilty of financing a dogfighting ring and assisting in the execution of dogs that didn’t fight aggressively, reports CNN.com.

The 27-year-old Vick was one of the best-paid NFL players, but is now on the brink of financial ruin and facing state charges related to dogfighting in addition to his federal charges. The state charges, all felonies, could mean up to five more years in prison if he’s convicted.

In addition to the criminal charges, Vick is facing millions of dollars in debt for various loans and credit lines, since the Atlanta Falcons are trying to collect some of the bonus money he made on his ten-year, $130 million contract.

The former quarterback agreed to pay $928,000 for the care of the 54 pitbulls found on his property. He turned himself in last month to begin serving his sentence early.