Total Criminal Defense Blog

More often than not, people are caught breaking out of jail instead of into it, but that is not the case for Thomas Walsh.  According to ABC, on November 3 Walsh was arrested on trespassing and other charges after he would not listen to jail guards.  The prison does not allow visitors on Mondays.

Walsh was at the prison to visit his brother, William, who was arrested for allegedly murdering his wife.  Earlier this month, William was arrested after he confessed to police that he killed his wife during a fight and then covered it up by making it look like she were the victim of roadside crime.

According to CNN, Rick Beard, director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, was fired by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, October 28 after he was discovered that Beard had been arrested twice for shoplifting.  As director of the museum, Beard, 61, made almost $250,000 a year.

In August, Beard was charged for trying to steal a DVD set worth $40 from Target.  He plead guilty.  Last year, Beard was also charged with theft after being caught allegedly stealing neckties from a shopping mall worth $300.

CNN reported that Katherine Kelly was indicted yesterday in Manhattan Criminal Court last week after she was caught pickpocketing for the 37th time.  Kelly has been convicted 30 times.

According to court documents, the 76-year-old was apprehended after taking the wallet of an undercover sergeant.  She was spotted in a grocery store on the Upper West Side of New York City by another officer as she pulled the wallet from the shopping cart and hid it in her bra.

Economic Struggles Turn Violent

Not everyone has managed to find a break from the financial calamity, especially those who have been hit harder than most. Now the headlines about the disaster the economy is currently in are being replaced with stories about the violence that is ensuing.

Read the full story about the increased observations of economic struggles turning violent.

Nursing Home Sex Tapes Not Admissable in Court

In Wisconsin, a minister was arrested after it was discovered that he was having sex with his comatose wife, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

On July 21, 2005, armed with the secret video footage, police arrested Johnson for sexual assault.

Judge Taggart said that the videotapes of Johnson allegedly having sex with his wife cannot be used as evidence in a criminal trial.

Read the story at Total Criminal Defense.

Criminal Prosecutions over Financial Crisis Expected

Some say that the public fury over the greed on Wall Street and the financial meltdown will prompt an onslaught of indictments. After all, someone has to pay for all of the money, homes and jobs that have been lost, right?

Other criminal defense lawyers say that they are sure that prosecutors will show responsibility in deciding if criminal charges should be brought against white-collar executives, despite public outcry for perceived justice.

Read the full story at Total Criminal Defense.

Inmate Executed after Obesity Argument Fails

Richard W. Cooey II, 41, was arrested, tried and given the death penalty for the brutal murders of University of Akron sorority sisters Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery. Offredo and McCreery were raped, stabbed, tortured and beaten to death in 1986.

During the last minute flurry of appeals in an attempt to stop the execution, Cooey and his criminal defense lawyers argued that he was too obese to be put to death by lethal injection.

Check out the story at Total Criminal Defense.

Under the Nebraska safe haven law, an Iowa teenager was abandoned at an Omaha hospital by her grandparents, reported The New York TImes.  The couple soon changed their mind, telling police they just used the new law to “teach the girl a lesson.”

Although Todd Landry, who leads the state’s Division of Children and Family Services, said that the grandparents used the law inappropriately, a child protection case would not be filed.

Read more about the Nebaska safe haven law.

Imagine coming home to find a family living in your apartment.  That’s what happened to a Long Island resident earlier this month.

According to The Washington Post, Gregory Garvin was arrested October 8 for posing as a real estate agent and renting out a house.  He was charged with grand larceny and fraud.

The Long Island, NY family believed they were getting a good deal when Garvin showed them a rental house that was going for $1,000 a month.  Garvin collected a $1,000 security deposit from the couple, who lived in the house for two weeks until the real owner showed up and asked what they were doing there.

Danny Seals has accidentally been labeled a sexual offender and is now facing criminal charges for failing to register his address, according to the Newark Advocate. More than 10 years ago, Seals was charged with kidnapping and abduction. He served his sentence and was released in 1999, but he was placed on the Ohio Sex Offender Registry even though he did not commit a sex crime.

Today Seals is in the Licking County jail, being charged with a felony for living at an unregistered address, which is a violation of the registry. If convicted, he could face up to 16 years in jail. The Ohio Sex Offender Registry is available to the public. Since being placed on the list, he has been turned down for jobs, had his car spray-painted with “molester” and “predator,” and watched his stepchildren be teased by classmates about their father.

Are we punishing the innocent?  Read more here.

According to NWCN, nine Washington state employees will stand trial for violating the rights of three girls. For ten years, the employees in the Department of Social and Health Services ignored warning signs of abuse by the girls’ foster father.

Although Enrique Fabregas has a criminal history for drugs, theft and assault, the state allowed him to care for the three girls.  Over the ten year period that Fabregas cared for the girls, there were more than 30 complaints that he was physically, emotionally and sexually abusing the girls.  Fabregas is now in prison for sex crimes connected to the girls.  The state is responsibile for damages against the three girls’ civil rights.  They are suing for $45 million.

In February 2008, Nebraska’s government passed a safe haven law that went into effect in July.  The law allows parents or guardians to leave children with hospital staff.  The problem is, the legislation didn’t specify if there was a maximum age for the child.  According to Nebraska law, a child is anyone under the age of 18 or 19.  Since the law went into effect, 16 children have been abandoned at hospitals - most of them teenagers.  Parents who can no longer handle their child’s bad behavior are dropping their teenagers off at hospitals and managing to escape prosecution.

Read the full article.

A study released by the Uniform Crime Report found that violent crime declined in 2007.  The offices reported a total of 1,408,337 violent crimes, which was a .7 percent decline from 2007. Violent crimes are considered murder, manslaughter, rape and assault. All four areas had a decline in numbers.  The study also showed that there were a total of 9,843,481 property crimes in 2007, for a 1.4 percent decrease. Property crime is considered burglary, larceny and theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.  In an unrelated survey, the Death Penalty Information Center found that the number of executions this year are at a 13-year low.

Read more at Total Criminal Defense.