New York Criminal Lawyer BlogThough it may seem politically incorrect, when you are accused of a crime…political correctness doesn’t mean squat. Instead, facts, evidence, and the law is what matters. With that in mind, Saland Law is pleased to share that a recent client not only avoided a Domestic Violence arrest after his ex-girlfriend falsely made a criminal complaint, but that she also withdrew her Article 8 Family Court Order of Protection petition against him after we filed a motion to dismiss and made it clear that we would be drafting our own petition backed up with actual evidence to set the record straight.
Articles Posted in Case Results
Domestic Violence Assault Dismissed After Client Accused of Stabbing Boyfriend
Whether in Westchester, Manhattan, Brooklyn, or any borough of New York City or county in the state, District Attorneys prioritize Domestic Violence related arrests, and rightfully so. Similarly, Domestic Violence lawyers who represent individuals accused of these crimes equally prioritize these cases knowing that both the police and prosecutors aggressively pursue what they believe, right or wrong, is accountability on the part of their clients. When the crime is a felony, such as for First or Second Degree Strangulation or Assault, or one that involves any type of weapon, both the prosecution and the defense often find themselves in an “all hands on deck” situation, albeit on different sides of the criminal justice system.
With this in mind, Saland Law is pleased to share that a recent client accused of First Degree Assault after allegedly stabbing her then-boyfriend in the upper shoulder/chest area, was completely exonerated after finding herself in the crosshairs of a such a prosecution. Facing a five-year minimum prison term if convicted, Saland Law’s client was nonetheless rightfully unwilling to accept a plea offer to any crime. Through months of uncertainty as the case slowly moved through the court process, our client, the real victim, stood firm until prosecutors exonerated her by dismissing all the charges upon Saland Law’s application even before the case reached the speedy trial threshold.
JFK & LaGuardia Airport Weapon Arrests & Summons Update: Saland Law Secures Firearm & Other Weapon Dismissals & Non-Criminal Violations
Any attorney who holds him or herself out as a New York firearm lawyer or an airport weapon attorney, and serves clients arrested or issued summonses in Queens County’s JFK or LaGuardia Airport for weapon possession crimes, must have more than a basic legal and practical knowledge of how these offenses are prosecuted, how to identify the right strategies, and the best means to implement the strongest defense. Why is that? While it is not atypical for the Port Authority Police to arrest travelers for crimes including both misdemeanor and felony Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance for possessing heroin or cocaine in checked luggage or carry-on bag, the most serious offenses often involve criminal possession of a firearm, and to a lesser extent, batons, brass knuckles, knives, ammunition, and other weapons. Whether your baton, knuckles or ammunition was inadvertently left in your carry-on bag screened by TSA, or, even worse, you thought you were abiding by the law and doing the right thing when you declared your otherwise legally owned pistol or revolver to a TSA agent or airline employee when you were checking your luggage, the immediate and collateral long-term ramifications are as potentially severe as they are career and life altering.
With the above in mind, Saland Law is please to share that over this past summer, north of ten different clients charged with Second Degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon (Penal Law 265.03), Criminal Possession of a Firearm (Penal Law 265.01-b(1)), Fourth Degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon (Penal Law 265.01), and Unlawful/Criminal Possession of Ammunition (NYC Administrative Code 10-131) all had their cases dismissed or walked away with non-criminal violations. What started as a missed flight and trip to Queens County Central Booking, being printed and released with a Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT), or finding themselves with a pink criminal summons in hand, not a one of these men and women ended up with a criminal record. Instead, each of them moved forward in their respective lives and careers without a blemish.
Saland Law Title IX Appeal Exonerates Student After College’s Initial “Responsible” Finding
As a Title IX attorney routinely representing clients accused of dating violence or some form of harassment or sexual misconduct at a college or university, I sometimes find it incredibly frustrating to deal with the general lack of due process provided to students, especially the accused. Compounding matters, as an advisor to these students, I have witnessed time and time again the lack of practical and actual experience those in charge of investigating criminal-type offenses have despite their ability to upend the academic lives and futures of so many young people. Sadly, even with the flimsiest of evidence, the power bestowed upon these administrators, investigators, and fact-finders by way of Title IX creates a lethal combination that can define and destroy a student well beyond the four walls of his or her institution of higher education. With that in mind, on the heels of a recent exoneration of a student falsely accused of sexual misconduct and dating violence at a different university, Saland Law is once again pleased to share another victory after a successfully appealing a college’s initial determination that our client violated a no contact order by way of third-party.
Saland Law Secures Mistrial for “Empty Chair” Client Before Jury Hangs in Loaded Firearm Trial
There are few things more difficult as a criminal defense attorney than representing an “empty chair” at trial where that chair, or, better stated, client, is accused of possessing a loaded and disguised “cell phone” gun in a vehicle he is driving without any passengers. OK, well, maybe that is surmountable, but throw in the fact that the evidence before the jury demonstrated that the accused’s DNA was on both the firearm trigger and grip, and that he had what police called a “holster”, things tick up in difficulty. Sound insurmountable? Well, you’d be wrong if you said “Yes”, but that is not all Saland Law faced in defense of a client standing trial for Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Penal Law 265.03. In fact, there is much more…
New York Criminal Lawyer Secures Dismissal of Domestic Violence Assault & Criminal Obstruction of Breathing Charges
On the heels of a “Not Responsible” finding for a client accused of dating violence at his college in violation of Title IX policies against sexual harassment and domestic violence, New York criminal lawyer Jeremy Saland is once again pleased to share that Saland Law exonerated another client accused of domestic charges and crimes. Arrested for Third Degree Assault, Penal Law 120.00, Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation, Penal Law 121.11, and other crimes after our client’s then-girlfriend alleged he choked her, tore off her necklace, and repeatedly struck her in a hotel room during a holiday visit to Manhattan, prosecutors moved to dismiss the case before picking a jury and commencing a trial in the Jury Court Part. Though it was both deserved and a long time coming, what started off as a frightening night in custody, sending our client’s life spiraling, ended up in a complete and total exoneration.
Another Saland Law Client “Not Responsible” After Title IX Dating Violence Hearing at Top University
Since starting my career in 2000 as a lawyer in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and establishing a successful criminal defense firm that has grown into servicing other areas of law, I have become all too familiar with the gravity and magnitude a criminal accusation can and does have upon a person and his or her family. More specifically, as my law practice grew into representing clients involved in university and college Title IX and code of conduct investigations, I quickly learned that even beyond a criminal case, any allegation is overwhelming. When the target or subject of misconduct is a young person – a college, university, or high school student – an allegation that he or she violated a school’s Title IX policies against dating violence, sexual harassment, or some other infraction involving the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) amendments to the Cleary Act, the emotional burden for a client is often at its greatest. Why? Without an adult’s life experience, lack of a local support structure or fear of involving parents, and perception that their “life is over”, these teens or twenty-somethings find themselves in a place of despair, facing a stained academic career with the real possibility of suspension or expulsion, and a future life and career on the precipice.
Felony 2nd Degree Strangulation & 2nd Degree Assault Indictment Dismissed: Client Withdraws Plea & All Charges Dismissed
Sometimes good people do terribly bad things, regular people make incredibly poor choices, and bad situations find everyday people who did nothing much at all. No matter how they got there, when the handcuffs are locked around their wrists and a Grand Jury hands down an indictment, they face the same dire consequences within the confines of New York’s criminal justice system.
Regardless of the bucket a recent Saland Law client could point to, he found himself in desperate need of an experienced criminal defense lawyer. Facing the Class “D” violent felonies of Second Degree Assault, Penal Law 120.04, and Second Degree Strangulation, Penal Law 121.12, and a presumptive mandatory two to seven years in prison, our client, a professional working for a large organization, knew his life, liberty, and career were all in jeopardy.
Prosecutors Dismiss Loaded Firearm Felony Against Promising Young Attorney in Interest of Justice After Client Accused of Brandishing Loaded Weapon
Usually, one of the first questions clients ask me in my capacity as a criminal defense lawyer after they have been arrested by the NYPD or Port Authority Police for possessing a loaded firearm is, “What is the penalty is for carrying a gun in New York City?” and “How long do you go to jail for having a gun in New York even if you have a conceal carry permit in [Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Connecticut, Virginia…]?”. While a conviction for Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Penal Law 265.03, can saddle you with a sentence for as long as 15 years in prison, with a compulsory minimum of three and a half years if the firearm is “loaded” (bullets needn’t be in the weapon for it to be “loaded” as a matter of law”), a judge can hand down punishment of up to four years behind bars for Criminal Possession of a Firearm, Penal Law 265.01-b(1), even when there is no ammunition at all.
With this type of exposure in mind, Saland Law is incredibly grateful, though not as much as our client after her arrest for Penal Law 265.03, prosecutors took the time to truly review what I presented, examine our client’s case, and advance the matter for dismissal in the interest of justice. While a non-criminal Disorderly Conduct violation or Adjournment in Contemplation (ACD) of dismissal after six months would have been considered a “win” assuming there was no legal impediment to the case, such as in cases I have handled in Queens County where unknowing travelers checked their firearms with the TSA at either JFK or LaGuardia Airport, and downward departures and re-pleaders to non-criminal pleas in other counties such as Manhattan and elsewhere, Brooklyn prosecutors went the extra mile to make an objectively just decision on a case that appeared ugly if one did not do one’s “homework”.
NY Forcible Touching Case Dismissed: Prosecutors Drop PL 130.52 Charges After Accuser’s Lies Exposed
Due to the nature of the underlying allegations and elements of the offenses themselves, there are certain crimes in New York that carry with them a horrendous stigma. Both misdemeanors and felonies, many of these crimes are New York Penal Law Article 130 sex offenses and include Forcible Touching, Penal Law 130.52, on the “lesser” end, and varying degrees of Rape on the more violent side of the spectrum. While it would be hard to disagree that individuals convicted of these crimes are deserving of our collective scorn for their sexual misbehavior and abuse of another, what is unjust is our cavalier willingness to strip these individuals, often men, of their presumption of innocence. Instead of treating and holding them to the same standard we are entitled and would demand for our loved ones, we, without pause, saddle them with something far worse – not a mere presumption but a firmly held determination of their guilt right out of the box. Fortunately for a recent Saland Law client accused of Forcible Touching by a former co-worker, despite this presumption of his guilt and months of challenging the arrest, prosecutors finally dismissed the case against him on the merits.