Statutory Rape

October 31st, 2008

In today’s world it can be difficult to know certain things about people. Children are growing up faster and faster, looking older and finding ways to make people believe that they are older. This can cause serious problems. Not only does this bring up issues of selling alcohol and tobacco to minors, but there is the problem of statutory rape as well.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

How to Obtain Criminal Records

October 30th, 2008

A criminal record is a list of all the crimes that an individual has committed previously in which includes arrest records and private records of an individual. Crimes can be divided into felonies and delinquency. If you are wondering what felonies are, there are murder, rape, or burglary, which are punishable with imprisonment more than a year or death.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

White Collar Defendants Need a Federal Prison Consultant

October 29th, 2008

White collar federal defendants and their families have questions about prison. Who can provide the answers they need? Their lawyer never spent time in prison. Who do you call?

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

Wrongful Death Action Settlements Varied

October 28th, 2008

If the sudden death that has touched your life in a painful way is the result of someone else’s negligence, by all means speak to a qualified attorney immediately. Even if the death is the result of a faulty product, murder, the result of an accident on unsafe property or neglect by health care providers, you must make yourself aware of what your legal rights are.

Every state has a wrongful death statute and many of them have their own unique quirks. However they all reflect similar basic principles. A wrongful death claim usually has four parts to it: that the death was caused by the conduct of a defendant, that the defendant was negligent or liable for the death, that there is a surviving spouse and other dependents and monetary damages have arisen as a result of the death.

In Georgia, juries award damages for wrongful death on the full value of the life lost from the point of view of the deceased person. That means awards typically include economic damages and intangible factors. Intangibles usually mean things such as enjoyment of living, while economic damages would cover things like value of services and projected lifetime income.

Full value of life is often difficult to determine and most often the services of an economist are required to do this type of projection. Ultimately the jury award will be the result of its jurors voting their conscience. There is no statutory formula or limit on damages awarded in a wrongful death suit in Georgia.

What does tend to happen is juries will often allocate more value to a life when the money is to supposed a surviving spouse and minor children. In this instance, the value of the life award may be reduced to present value under Georgia’s wrongful death law. This reduction does not affect the intangible aspects of the value of the life in question.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

How to Choose a Michigan Firearms Instructor

October 27th, 2008

When evaluating a firearms instruction provider, the very first thing that you want to check is their credentials to teach the class you are interested in taking. In Michigan, the only persons that are authorized to teach the Basic Pistol Safety Training Class are either persons that have been authorized by the state (i.e. Michigan Coalition Of Law Enforcement Standards) or individuals that have been certified by either a national or state firearms training organization (e.g National Rifle Association).

In any case, all authorized training providers should have in their possession firearms training credentials from their parent organization that corroborates their authorization to instruct. Do not be afraid to ask to see it. If they are qualified, they will proudly display it to you. However, if they come up with excuses as to why don’t have any training credentials you can be sure that you are talking to an unqualified firearms training provider.

After you have verified that the firearms instructor is duly certified by an appropriate firearms training authority, the next thing that you want to check is the agenda of the class that they are presenting to you to attend as a prerequisite for getting your Concealed Pistol License (CPL).

The state of Michigan statute is very clear as to what a bona fide Basic Pistol Safety Training Class must cover. In short, the following items must be covered: safe storage of firearms, shooting positions, firearms law, ammunition knowledge, avoiding criminal attacks, and controlling violent encounters. If you are considering a class being promoted by a National Rifle Association Certified Firearms Instructor, you want to be sure that it is the “Personal Protection In The Home Class.”

There are several unethical firearms instructors in the greater Detroit-area intentionally teaching the wrong classes to students who desire to get a Concealed Pistol License (CPL). In most cases, these rogue instructors are fraudulently promoting the “Basic Pistol Class” as a Basic Pistol Safety Training Class. The “Basic Pistol Class” has a lot of good quality information in it. However, it does not meet the state of Michigan’s explicit training standards for a CPL.

Teaching the Basic Pistol Safety Training Class “the right way” involves having a qualified legal authority present to teach firearms law. As you can imagine, a lawyer’s time can be costly. Thus, the scam artists in the firearms training field simply opt to not cover it all. They would rather pocket a couple extra hundred dollars per class and short-change their students.

Carrying a concealed firearm without proper legal training is not advised and is an accident “waiting to happen.” Firearms are the most heavily regulated items in our society. Thus, it is very easy to run afoul of the law. A Concealed Pistol Licensee may face criminal charges if he acts inapropriately with a gun. There is no such “animal” as common sense gun law. The law is very clear as to what is lawful. Not knowing the law is no excuse for breaking it.

Furthermore, if a Concealed Pistol Licensee shoots someone outside of the confines of lethal force/self-defense law, not only could he face murder charges but he may also face a civil liability lawsuit from the injured party or the injured party’s estate. Furthermore, a Concealed Pistol Licensee might also be injured from an attacker because the licensee did not act for fear of acting unlawfully. For all of the above reasons, it is imperative that someone, who desires to get a CPL, actually takes the correct class.

Moreover, when evaluating a firearms training service you should also research their credentials. Some instructors only have training credentials to teach the CPL Class. Other instructors have every possible certification available. Obviously, the more certifications that an instructor has in his training background the more likely it is that he can deliver outstanding value to his students. Instructors of this caliber can deliver more info from related firearms courses and more clearly illustrate complex topics.

The level of professionalism of the firearms training service should also be evaluated. You want to know how long this service has been operating; brand new and unproven instructors deliver questionable value. When entrusting your firearms training to a service provider you want to know how well he has trained others in the past. You should check out their web site and see whether there are any testimonials from satisfied customers, any helpful articles he may have written, and any objective evidence of training ability - such as photos and videos.

Further evidence of an instructor’s commitment to being a competent authority in his field would include memberships to various gun rights organizations: National Rifle Association, Michigan Gun Owners, Michigan Coalition of Responsible Owners, and etc. An instructor who belongs to several gun rights groups is keeping abreast of the latest developments with regards to gun policy at the local, county, state, and federal levels of our government and can keep you informed.

Other items that would be helpful to know about your firearms training provider is the level of support that they can provide to you after the class. Does the company offer an alumni newsletter or other means of contact to keep in touch? Can you call them when a unique situation develops and you need advice? Are they available to help you consider firearms and accessories purchasing decisions? Fly-by-night operators in the firearms training field quickly forget you when the class is over.

In summary, before you consider signing up with a firearms training provider for CPL training, you need to do your research. There are many scam artists - credentialed and uncredentialed - that are short-changing their students by not teaching them the law.

Taking the wrong class can have dire circumstances: criminal charges, lawsuits, and unnecessary harm. Further, you should also evaluate a firearms training provider’s list of qualifications, affiliated firearms memberships, level of service, and support after the class is over. Only when evaluating these items can you make an informed decision as to which company provides you with the best value.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

Self Defense - The Act of Protecting One’s Self

October 26th, 2008

Self defense is the act of protecting one’s self against physical force or the immediate threat of force. It can justify conduct which would otherwise give rise to criminal or civil liability. It can operate as a defense to virtually any criminal or civil wrong which involves the use or threat of physical force, such as assault, battery, and homicide.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

Criminal Records - Checking Court Cases

October 25th, 2008

If you hire someone to work in your company and even baby sitter or house maid, it is wise to conduct background checks. In this way you could easily find out it he/she had a criminal record. Knowing that the person you hire is a trustworthy person, you could feel confident that you and your company are safe.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

Criminal Background Check Services

October 24th, 2008

Criminal background check services and websites are located all over the internet for companies and small business owners to conduct criminal background checks. There are certain sites that are better to use than others. Websites that require you to pay for a criminal background check service are the ones that you will want to look for. Websites that offer free criminal background checks can be faulty and can offer you the wrong information.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

Federal Prison Consultant - Navigating a Minefield

October 23rd, 2008

A Federal Prison Expert was asked during a recent radio interview whether he negotiated with the Bureau of Prisons on behalf of his clients. The response was an emphatic “no.”

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

Find a Bail Skip With A Reverse Email Search

October 22nd, 2008

As a professional bail bond agent, bounty hunter or recovery agent you will probably be surprised to learn how a reverse email search can assist you in locating and recovering a bail skip. In fact most intake forms at the average bail bond office do not even have a field for the applicant to provide an email address.

This is a big mistake. An email address is an excellent tool in maintaining contact with the defendant before they ever skip in the first place, but it’s even better for locating the defendant should they run out on their bail or miss court. A reverse email search investigation when conducted by an expert can pinpoint the exact location of your skip.

An auto email responder program can be used to maintain contact with a client. Remind them of pertinent court dates and telephone check in times and to verify and update contact information. If a client skips you can review the recorded IP addresses of the clients email responses and see if there is a pattern. Possibly another location the client uses to read and reply to his emails at a certain time of day. Perhaps from a girlfriend or relatives computer or a specific public library.

But if they fail to maintain contact or skip out on you, a reverse email search is an excellent method to track them down and locate exactly where they are when they open an email.

Other forms of online investigation services such as locating and monitoring social network sites like Friendster, MySpace or Facebook can also be extremely effective methods. Likewise an online dating service search to locate the personal ads sites the skip has memberships. Just because a client skips on bail does not mean they stopped dating.

In 2008 many if not all people will have email accounts. Many will use online personal ad services and still more will have social network pages such as Twitter, MySpace and Friendster. A person that’s on the run or out in the street is more likely to be usinge a free email account at the public library rather than to use an expensive cell phone. Yet every bail bonds intake form will ask for a cell number and not many will ask for an email address. Even if you never asked for an email address on the intake form an email tracing expert can also locate secret or hidden email addresses a bail skip might be using and then perform a reverse email search on that address to locate your skip.

As you can see there are many benefits to the bail bond office by recording a clients email address and requiring email contact with the client. There are also many options available to the expert email tracer in locating a skip by using online investigations or a reverse email search. I’m sure as a professional in your field there are other applications you could think of and request in a custom Internet investigation.

If you can see the benefits a reverse email search can provide in locating a bail skip you need to establish a relationship with an email tracing expert. Before retaining their services be sure to Google their name and company name to see if they are recognized as an expert in Email tracing services.

Read more

Posted in Criminal Law Review | No Comments »

« Previous Entries