A new group is taking on civil asset forfeiture, the practice by which police agencies seize property even before a person has been found guilty of a crime.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
San Francisco prosecutors told judges Friday that they could not “ethically go forward” with 46 narcotics trials because of evidence problems arising out of the scandal at the Police Department’s drug lab – signaling that the district attorney is likely to dismiss nearly all 750 pending drug cases in the city.
North Carolina and Wake County have had their own problems. Recent revelations that the bench notes had not been released in the Greg Taylor case have spurred a review of the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
Let’s say you’re very intoxicated. Before you got intoxicated, you put some marijuana in your pocket. Later in the evening you’re picked up for drunk and disorderly conduct, and taken to the jail for booking.
At the jail, you empty your pockets, and out tumbles the pot.
Can you be charged with Knowingly Possessing a controlled substance in a penal facility or local confinement facility? That’s a class H felony, with a sentence of up to 30 months in prison.
The answer is: probably not. If you were so intoxicated that you lacked the specific intent required to violate the law – knowingly possession the drug in jail – you may not be convicted of the crime.
In all likelihood, you could be convicted of the simple possession charge, which for marijuana, depending on the amounts, would be a Class 1 or Class 3 misdemeanor.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
Like many defense attorneys, I am opposed to the death penalty. But unlike, many defense attorneys, I am not opposed to the death penalty because I think it’s immoral. I’m opposed to the death penalty because I think – as with most government programs – it is open to corruption and errors that have horrible consequences.
It’s clear that innocent people have been executed, whether because of prosecutorial misconduct or because of scientific error or coerced “confessions” or because defense lawyer incompetence. The question is why do we permit the death penalty given the chance for error.
The reason is that in the United States being “tough on crime” is synonymous with being pro-death penalty.
Last year China executed more people than all the rest of the world combined. But the United States was the only country in the Americas that executed anyone. That includes countries like Cuba, which are dictatorships.
As the saying goes, you’re judged by the company you keep.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
South Carolina is reforming its sentencing laws to reduce the number of people sent to prison for lengthy sentences involving non-violent crimes.
People convicted of nonviolent crimes account for nearly half of the state’s 25,000 inmates, and nearly one in five inmates are imprisoned for drug crimes, according to the commission’s February report.
The bill’s highlights include:
1. More focus on drug dealers. The bill deletes mandatory minimum sentences for a first conviction on simple drug possession, allows the possibility of probation or parole for certain second and third drug possession convictions, and removes sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine possession.
2. More home confinement. The bill will call for home detention for third-offense driving under suspension. This would relieve some prison crowding. The bill also increases penalties if someone driving with on a suspended license injures someone.
3. More violent crime. More penalties. The bill changes the status of two dozen crimes from nonviolent to violent – including sex crimes involving children – meaning those inmates can’t be paroled until they serve at least 85 percent of their time.
North Carolina should undertake sentencing reform. One recommendation would be to modify its Habitual Felon statute. The statute counts for habitual purposes any felony, including very low level and non-violent drug possession and drug sale convictions. These convictions can very easily mount, making people who have never committed a violent or even assaultive felony against another person eligible for 10 years or more in prison.
As with South Carolina, North Carolina has a very high percentage of non-violent people in prison, which costs the state tens of millions of dollars, and deprives these people of freedom. Yes, we all agree drug use is bad. The question is whether someone should be in prison for 10 years for four drug possession or drug sale convictions.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
This weekend police in Wake County conducted checkpoints that ended in arrest of 130 drivers. These checkpoints are sometimes procedurally flawed.
I recently saw a case where police had pre-filled in their reports before setting up the checkpoint and then tried to claim the reports accurately reflected their observations. The judge didn’t buy that.
If you’ve been stopped at a Raleigh DWI checkpoint, call me.
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If you’re charged with a federal crime and the federal government seeks to have you detained prior to your trial, you will have a federal detention hearing. In Raleigh and Wake County, these hearings are held at the Terry Sanford Building which is the home to the Eastern District of North Carolina. Durham is in the Middle District of North Carolina.
The Federal Bail Reform Act of 1984 is the law that governs detention hearings under the federal system. It is codified at 18 USC 3142.
If the United States Attorney (USA) can show that there is a significant risk of flight, of obstruction of justice or witness tampering, or if there is a significant risk of danger, then the judge may order the detention of the person without bail prior to trial.
18 USC 3142(f) provides that only persons who fit into certain categories are subject to detention without bail: persons charged with a crime of violence, an offense for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment or death, certain drug offenses for which the maximum offense is greater than 10 years, repeat felony offenders, or if the defendant poses a serious risk of flight, obstruction of justice, or witness tampering. There is a special hearing held to determine whether the defendant fits within these categories; anyone not within them must be admitted to bail.
There is a hearing where the government has the burden of showing such reasons to hold the person without bail. The burden of the government’s proof is low.
Anyone who is not shown to fit into those categories must have a bail set.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
The Chetson Firm represents clients in both state and federal courts, on serious felonies, misdemeanors and DWI (traffic) offenses.
The Chetson Firm has experience representing clients in serious drug cases, violent felonies, larceny, sex offenses, misdemeanor DWI cases, larcenies, rapes, and non-serious assaults and drug offenses.
The Chetson Firm serves people throughout Wake County and the Research Triangle Park.
The Chetson Firm serves people in the following zip codes: 27601, 27602, 27603, 27604, 27605, 27618, 27619, 27539, 27512, 27513, 27512, 27610, 27611, 27612, 27613, 27614, 27615, 27616.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
If you’re convicted of felony gun crime in Raleigh’s state court – the Wake County Courthouse – at most you could face five or six years in prison, depending on the charge. The more serious the charge, the longer the time.
These charges include felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm (14-71.1), or possession, sale or buy a firearm with an altered serial number (14-160.2(B)).
Possession, buy, or sale a firearm with an altered serial number is a class H felony. Possession of a stolen firearm is a class H felony. Possession of a firearm by a felony is a class G felony.
At most, a person would face approximately 3 years in prison for a Class G felony. A class H felony would be approximately 2 1/2 years in prison.
In most cases, the person, if a plea is entered, will receive a lower sentence.
That said, pleading guilty to a gun charge is a risky move. That’s because the Federal Government can prosecute people separately in federal court even though they’ve been found guilty in state court. This does not violate any Double Jeopardy rule, since the federal government is a different sovereign from the state government.
The federal government’s Project Safe Neighborhoods imposes very harsh penalties – much harsher than state law – for federal gun violations.
For a number of years, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina did not undertake many prosecutions of people on firearms charges. However, the number of prosecutions have started to increase, and so any gun conviction in the state’s court could open the defendant up to later prosecution under the federal law.
Talk about this with an experienced criminal lawyer.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
When is a refusal not a refusal? Under North Carolina’s implied consent laws, anyone driving on the roads of North Carolina “consents” to a breathalyzer or blood examine if an officer has reason to believe the person has been driving while impaired.
If someone “willfully refuses” to submit to a test, the person has violated the implied consent law and the person’s license will be revoked for a year. During the first six months of the revocation, the person is not eligible to get limited driving privileges. The person has no right to drive on North Carolina’s roads at all.
But what happens if a person is short of breath? The person attempts to blow into the machine, but nerves, or shortness of breath result in a failed breath test. Has the person earned a “refusal”? In many Raleigh DWI cases, the chemical analyst or arresting officer will mark the person as a “refusal” even though the person did not refuse!
In these cases, it is worthwhile to demand a hearing before a DMV hearing officer. At this hearing, you may be able to argue that the statute required you to willfully submit to a breath test, and that you did submit. The statute does not require that you actually produce a successful result.
Attorney Damon Chetson is a criminal lawyer Raleigh who helps people charged with serious felonies, misdemeanors, and DWI/DUI charges in state and federal courts in North Carolina. He can be reached day or night at (919) 352-9411.
Advice from a Raleigh Criminal Lawyer 