Attorney Chris Hatch Explains What To Do When You Are Stopped for Driving While Intoxicated
Share Driving while Intoxicated is a serious criminal charge. Senior Associate Chris Hatch recently sat down with KTBS-TV New Reporter Sara Machi to discuss the advice he would give to someone stopped by a police officer and suspected of DWI/DUI. Chris explained that he recommends that anyone stopped by the police and suspected of DWI/DUI should be polite and cooperative, but should not agree to take any field sobriety test, breath test or blood alcohol test.He also discusses the penalties for DWI/DUI including community service, probation jail time and the loss of driving...
read moreHappy Constitution Day 2014!
On this Day in 1787 thirty-nine citizens signed the document that would become the Constitution of the United States of America. The Constitution is not a mere lawyers document. It s a blueprint for the erection of simple freedoms and a work-plan for the exercise of every day liberties in a free society. Take a few moments today to think about that, and if you have some time surf on over to the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Day webpage. They have all kinds of great resources about the Constitution, its history and about how it is supposed to work. ...
read moreFederal Communications Commission moves to reign in profiteering of Jail and Prison Inmates by Long Distance Phone Companies
Share In a quiet but major development this past week the FCC brought some much needed relief for the families of inmates in America’s jails and prisons. One of the most vindictive aspects America’s war on crime has been the efforts of government agencies, including prison and jail administrators to profit from the epidemic of mass incarceration. One of the ways of doing this is to contract out the provision of telephone service for inmates to third party phone companies who charge exorbitant rates for local and long distance calls and then kickback a portion of the huge profits they take as a “commission” paid to the sheriffs and wardens of the facilities. Our own Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell has taken on the fight at the state level with limited success. See, this op-ed piece in The Advocate, and this release from the Capital News posted on Campbell’s Facebook page. Now the Federal Communications Commission has weighed in with a major action to reign in the profiteering on the back of the families of prison inmates. Here is a link to the full text of the FCC Press Release FCC Announcement DOC-322749A1 This is a major victory in the continuing efforts to restore fairness to the correction systems of...
read moreFreedom is a Dangerous thing
Share Today is the 237th Anniversary of our Independence from the oppression of the English Crown. We would do well to remember that the freedom our Founders fought for was not freedom from foreign aggression, but freedom to enjoy the simple and most basic rights of English citizens seized by a well intended but wrongheaded government under the claim of protecting the security of its people and its colonial borders. On this Independence Day we need only to look to Egypt to be reminded that Freedom is never really taken by foreign armies. It is given over to domestic armies by a people too fearful to muster the courage to face the risks posed by a dangerous and uncertain future. And the future is always dangerous and risky.Keep this in mind the next time some foolish politician entices your vote with promises to make our community and country “safer” by being “tough on crime” and protecting you through expansion of the law-enforcement/prison industrial complex with more laws criminalizing more conduct and incarcerating more of our citizens. Honor the values of Freedom that America was founded on at the ballot box. Don’t vote out of fear. Vote out of faith in the belief that all are created with equal rights and deserving of the opportunity for renewal and redemption that lead our forefathers to this land. Then our children will be able to enjoy the blessings of Freedom along with hotdogs, fireworks and watermelon on long lazy summer days like today. ...
read moreSan Francisco Chronicle Reports Innocent Man’s DNA was Found at Homicide Scene
Share DNA has been touted as one of the greatest crime-solving technologies to be developed. But using DNA to identify criminal suspects is not without its problems. Many crimes do not yield themselves to being solved by DNA evidence, and the mere presence of DNA evidence without more, tells us very little about whether or not the person whose DNA was found was actually involved in the criminal act. DNA is trace evidence. It is genetic material that we leave behind whenever we come in contact with an object or another person. The odds of any two persons having the same DNA genetic sequence is extremely high, though not really as impossible as it might seem. So, finding a person’s DNA at the scene of a crime, or on the body of a homicide victim, might seem very strong evidence indeed that the person whose DNA was found was the perpetrator of the crime. Even more so, if the person had no other connection or contact with the crime scene to explain how his or her DNA might have been left there innocently. But there are problems. Consider what happened to 26-year-old Lukis Anderson, who was accused of murder after his DNA was found underneath the fingernails of a homicide victim. Henry K. Lee reports in this San Francisco Chronicle article how DNA was transferred from Anderson, who was picked up at a San Jose Liquor Store by two paramedics and taken to a hospital, to the murder victim several hours later when the paramedics were called to the crime scene and handled the body of the victim. The first problem is that DNA is easily transferred form one surface to the next. Wipe your face with a towel and you leave DNA on the towel. Wipe another object with that same towel, or another person, and your DNA is transferred to the object or person. The second problem is that technology for amplifying DNA is so powerful that DNA profiles can now be obtained from even exquisitely minute traces of genetic material. That makes the risk of contamination of the DNA sample or the surface from which the sample is taken a serious problem. Contamination can lead to the accusation of an innocent person and possibly a miscarriage of justice and wrongful conviction. When you consider that in the first 200 DNA exonerations by the Innocence Project, three involved wrongful DNA inclusions at trial, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem. Moreover, one can see how it is that DNA, rather than helping to convict the guilty, can actually work to convict the...
read moreOnce facing a lifetime in prison, Michael Madden is returning to real life.
Share Here is the full text to the latest coverage of the dismissal of Murder charges against our client Michael Madden by Sara Machi at KTBS TV. Click here to view the story. BOSSIER CITY, La. – Once facing a lifetime in prison, Michael Madden is returning to real life. He was accused of second degree murder for the 2011 shooting death of James Dean Smith in Bossier City. Madden’s attorney, Elton Richey, says his client should never have been put in this position and puts the blame on police misconduct. “Living in jail, being confined is bad,” Richey says. “It’s even worse when you’re innocent, and you know you’re innocent.” Michael Madden’s lawyer says his client is focused on returning to a normal life after being accused of the 2011 shooting of James Dean Smith. Madden was released from custody April 9th- more than a year after the grand jury put him there on April 2, 2012. Richey says- at best- there were several missteps in the investigation. “They didn’t even record their interview with Michael,” Richey says. “Which is troubling. You’re interviewing someone who is supposed to be a murder suspect, and yet you’re not taking a recorded interview?” At the worst, he says investigators fabricated a case even after their key witness identified another man as the shooter in a live lineup. “There’s a difference between an architectural project and an archaeology dig,” Richey says. “An archaeology dig, you’re digging through the ground, searching for the truth, trying to see what occurred in the past. In an architectural project, you’re trying to construct something in the future. Well, there’s a difference between searching for the truth and trying to build a case. And what I can say is, that they were trying to build a case. The Bossier Police department stands behind their work and denies the use of a live lineup. Public Information Officer Mark Natale says, “We do not do live line ups, nor do we have the facilities to conduct live line ups. All of the investigators involved in the case are still with the department. No internal investigation is being conducted.” Natale also says the homicide investigation continues with Madden as a suspect. Despite Richey’s distrust of the police investigation, he applauds District Attorney Schuyler Marvin’s decision to formally drop the charges against Madden. Calls to the Bossier Parish District Attorney’s office were not returned. As for the Smith family, the victim’s sister, Amy Smith, tells KTBS 3 News that the DA did not inform them in advance that the charges against Madden were going to be dropped. James Dean Smith was shot and killed July 23, 2011, while driving on Old Minden Road after a night at Rockin’ Rodeo in Bossier...
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