A blog by Miami Criminal Defense Lawyer Brian Tannebaum. Commenting on criminal law issues of local and national interest.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Detective: You Lied To Me

Cops lie.

Now before the comment section fills up, let's be honest: (no pun intended) cops lie. Lawyers lie. Witnesses lie.

We all know.

But today was different. It was different because I caught a detective lying to me not in court, but to my face (well, on the phone).

My mom had surgery today. She's fine. I took the day to be in the hospital with her.

The Detective called my office to schedule a statement. One of my clients agreed to give a statement in case in return for probation in a case where there was a minumum mandatory sentence.

Now granted she called last week when I was on standby for 2 trials and couldn't commit to a date.

Today she calls and is told I am out on a family emergency. Some background: a cop tells me he sneezed 3 days ago and needs to reset his deposition, done. Why, I may need a favor one day.

The email from my receptionist: "she said that two days ago you didn't have a family emergency and that no one has gotten back to her and your client is not going to have a chance to cooperate if you don't get back to her."

So I call her.

"Oh hi Mr. Tannebaum, how are you?"

"I don't know, what message did you leave at my office?"

"To call me when you got back."

"Did you say that two days ago I didn't have a family emergency and that my client is not going to have a chance to cooperate.........?"

"It really doesn't matter."

It deteriorated from there.

I guess for some people that's just how they roll.

Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Verdict On Misdemeanors: Government Wasting Money, Creating Deficits, Violating Rights

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) announced the "first-ever national report on misdemeanor courts," and determined the following:\

Efficient enforcement will unclog the courts, improve public safety and save money.

Now now, NACDL, why are you throwing things like this at the public? At elected officials? Since when does efficiency in government unclog anything, improve anything, or save anything or anybody?

This report comes on the heels of the announcement that misdemeanors will no longer be prosecuted in Contra Costa County, California due to lack of funds.

The Report, entitled Minor Crimes, Massive Waste: The Terrible Toll of America’s Broken Misdemeanor Courts, took a look at misdemeanor courts in the United States.

It recommends that, ahem, "states divert non-violent misdemeanor cases that do not impact public safety to programs that are less costly to taxpayers and repay society through community service or civil fines."

There's non violent misdemeanor cases that do not impact public safety? Like what? Selling flowers without a license, urinating in public, commercial vehicle violations, stealing a minor amount of merchandise, drinking in public, loitering, expired tag more than 4 months?

NACDL President John Wesley Hall says “I don’t think there is a bigger waste of human potential and taxpayer money in the entire criminal justice system."

Maybe he has a point, since the report shows there are more than 10 million misdemeanor prosecutions per year.

Also, "In four major cities—Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, and New Orleans—public defenders have more than 2000 cases per lawyer per year. In New Orleans it is more than 18,000, which means that the lawyer has five minutes per client.”

Five-minutes? I know, "can we get that down to two" some people are thinking.

Good report, let's see what happens as a result.

Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Getting Paid

When I graduated law school knowing I wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer, the one piece of advice I received over and over again was: don't go into criminal defense." The advice had nothing to do with the possibility that I would not enjoy the practice or the public's perception of criminal defense lawyers, it was based on one thing: money.

"You'll never get 'rich.'" I was told. "You'll never make 'any money."

For as long as I've been a criminal defense lawyer I've heard and read criminal defense lawyers bitching about not getting paid, asking about suing clients, and stating with authority that they cannot do anything to change the "way things are."

Whenever I say that I don't do payment plans, eyes roll, attitudes fly, and disbelief ensues.

I don't do payment plans. I don't audition for cases - you know, do the bond hearing to see if I can get the guy out and then see if I can get hired. I don't care that jerky down the street quoted $500 less, and I don't need to hear that "this is a good case" for me.

Practicing criminal defense is what I do for a living. I run my practice the way I want, and I don't let it run me.

I know, criminal defense lawyers have to compete with know-nothing paraders or mills that send out flashy brochures with the Mastercard and Visa logo, offering "easy payment plans," and letting the public know that there is plenty of "cheap" out there.

And I know, you can't possibly ask for the fee in advance because not a single person in the world will hire you. Every criminal lawyer in your community does easy payment plans (called "non-payment" plans) and if you don't fall in line, you'll be broke.

If you want to get paid, you have to demand to get paid, not hope to get paid.

Many of my colleagues work every day "hoping" to get paid. Why?

I am not "lucky," or any different than many of my colleagues. I just choose to run my practice with a philosophy that doesn't leave me chasing money.

I'm sure the comments will come in - "you don't understand."

I understand.

I just heard something once about "if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting."

Or something like that.

Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

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Thursday, April 09, 2009

$600,000 Of Prosecutorial Misconduct

If you are a criminal defense lawyer, prosecutor, lawyer practicing in any area, law student, citizen of the world, you must, must print out this 50 page order and read every word.

This is what justice is all about.

A defense attorney inadvertantly finds out during trial that he and his investigator have been recorded, and the world of several prosecutors changes like day into night.

Print it out, take it home, read it.

All of it.

Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

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Monday, April 06, 2009

What I Saw On My Vacation: "DRUG CHECK AHEAD."

I consider myself someone pretty up on the news, and so it came as a shock to me when I was driving on Florida's Alligator Alley (I-75 connecting the east and west coast of Florida) to see an electronic sign flashing "DRUG CHECK AHEAD."

"DRUG CHECK AHEAD."

Never seen that before.

My first thought was that it was a sign that was being used at some pharmaceutical conference or health care festival and was now pulled over for some maintenance issue.

Then I saw it.

Two cars, well a station wagon with big silver rims and a van, pulled over by two Broward Sheriff's Officers, and then a few hundred feet later, two more vans pulled over.

I assumed this was the DRUG CHECK, AHEAD.

Now I am aware of DUI roadblocks. They are advertised, regulations are printed requiring that "every 4th car,"or something like that be stopped, but this was all new to me.

Were police officers randomly pulling cars over to seek consent to search for drugs?

I think so, but I didn't stop to ask.

I, in my (quote unquote) white SUV with my family and the family dog heading out on vacation, were not stopped.

So who was, stopped?

Did everyone consent? I have to think so. I was thinking, what if I was stopped? Should I put on my lawyer hat, my criminal defense lawyer hat and wait an hour for a dog (which wouldn't make my dog happy)? Or let the officers search through some of my kids toys and ask if the dog food was really dog food?

Is this a frequent occurrence in Broward County, in other counties, other states?

Are we acknowledging the failed war on drugs with new and inventive ways to find, drugs?

Are there regulations on who is stopped? Probably not. Is Delaware v. Prouse, that nuisance of a case that says it's unconstitutional for state police to randomly stop vehicles at a check stop unless there is a justifiable reason for a motorist to be stopped, still good law?

We're all aware of City of Indianapolis v. Edmond where the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a drug checkpoint. The majority believed it was set up to find drugs. The three dissenting justices believed it was to check driver's licenses and vehicle registration. The drug checkpoints had written rules and like this one in Broward County, were identified with lighted signs reading, "Narcotics Checkpoint -- One Mile Ahead. There was a dog, and if it alerted, your day was done.

But In Michigan Dep't. of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (1990), where the Court upheld the State's use of highway sobriety checkpoints, the Court, noted its disapproval of a "checkpoint program whose primary purpose was to detect evidence of ordinary criminal wrongdoing."

The majority concluded that "in determining whether individualized suspicion is required, courts must consider the nature of the interests threatened and their connection to the particular law enforcement practices at issue. The Court is reluctant to add exceptions to the general rule of individualized suspicion where law enforcement officers primarily pursue their general crime control ends."

So are drugs "ordinary criminal wrongdoing," and DUI "extraordinary?" If you live in Florida, you have to say yes.

So case law aside, with domestic and other violent crime on the rise, what are we doing here? (Cue the "drugs lead to violent crime" talking points.)

Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

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