Archives for washington dc criminal lawyer

4TH AMENDMENT VIOLATION: COURT OF APPEALS REVERSAL

The Court of Appeals in Miles v. U.S., decided on March 29, 2018, reversed gun related charges and conviction due to defendant’s 4th amendment violations. An anonymous 911 call and tip formed the basis for the Terry stop which led the arrest and seizure of weapons. The tip provided by a concerned citizen described a man wearing a blue army jacket with characteristics similar to Mr. Miles’s shooting a gun in the air. Miles argued on appeal that: The 911 tip was not sufficiently corroborated at the scene and thus was not shown to be reliable. That his flight from
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DISCOVERY RULES IN THE DRUG CASES: DC COURT OF APPEALS: DC DRUG LAWYER

The Court of Appeal in Buchanan v. U.S., decided on August 3, 2017, remanded a Possession with Intent to Distribute (PWID) Marijuana case due to the government’s lack of compliance with the specific scientific discovery requests by defense as deemed to be material on appeal. Specifically, the defendant had requested these documents in preparation for trial from the government pursuant to Rule 16, which provides for discovery of specific information within the government’s control such as: books, papers, documents, photographs, which are material to the preparation of the defendant’s defense. The defense with the assistance of an independent chemist and affidavits
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RECENT COURT OF APPEALS DECISION: ATTEMPTED THREATS REVERSAL

In Milton v. U.S., decided by the DC Court of Appeals on December 24, 2015, the Court reversed Milton’s conviction for attempted threats against the arresting police officer. Officers had responded to an unlawful entry call on July 5, 2015, and Milton having been identified as one of the culprits was placed under arrest, but while on the curbside and cuffed, uttered to one of the arresting officers that “take that gun and badge off and I’ll fuck you up,” and moreover, that “too bad it’s not like the old days where fucking up an officer is a misdemeanor.” These
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REVERSING CONFESSION — DC CRIMINAL LAWYER

In Little v. U.S., decided on November 12, 2015, the issue was the constitutionality of the confession, which lead to conviction at trial with little or no collaborating independent evidence. Little was picked up on an abscondence warrant and suspected of being involved in an attempted car robbery and was ushered to the interrogating room. Mr. Little’s cell phone was found inside the car, and although he vehemently denied involvement initially – eventually after several hours of interrogation confessed to the crime. The issue on appeal was the voluntariness of the confession in light of the highly unconventional and aggressive
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