» Entries tagged with "appeal"
Failing to Comply
The recent opinion from Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals in State v. Burke deals with the issue of whether A.R.S. § 28-622(A), a law involving failure to comply with a police officer, is unconstitutionally vague. The law provides as follows: A person shall not wilfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of a police officer invested by law with authority to direct, control or regulate traffic. The facts of the actual case, as the court explains them, seem pretty simple: This case arises out of a routine traffic stop. After Burke allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign, a police officer pulled Burke over, asked him for his license and registration, and directed him not to move his vehicle. Burke disobeyed the instructions, drove … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arizona Cases, Police
Scottsdale’s DUI Machine Malfunctions, Court Of Appeals Doesn’t Care
One of Scottsdale’s DUI-conviction-machines has some serious problems. I first wrote about it in 2012 after a Scottsdale City Court judge prevented me from telling a jury about the problems. The judge demanded an offer of proof before he was willing to admit evidence of anything calling into question the city’s malfunctioning piece of equipment. Instead of making the state bear the burden of proving the test was accurate and admitting all of the information about its problems, he presumed the results were accurate and precluded any information to the contrary. I wrote about it again in 2013, when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge finally ruled that blood test results from the machine in several cases were inadmissible pursuant to Rule 702 of the Arizona Rules of … Read entire article »
Filed under: DUI
The Stacked Deck
The system isn’t fair. It’s something those of us who pay attention all know, but sometimes it’s more apparent than others. I’m working on a case where the state appealed a lower court judge’s ruling granting a motion to suppress. It’s an uncommon situation due in large part to the fact judges don’t grant motions to suppress all that often. They stretch to find whatever facts best support a denial, knowing that the reviewing court must defer to them. They scour the books for cases that support the state’s position, no matter how old. I’ve seen more rulings for the state finding facts that weren’t really presented or citing ancient cases despite the existence of recent controlling case law than I ever would’ve believed as a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Courts
Getting Away With Nothing
Local news reported yesterday about a scientist who successfully appealed his failure-to-stop ticket by explaining how it may have appeared to an officer that he didn’t stop when he actually did. The title of the article was “California scientist uses physics to dodge ticket,” and it explained that “[a] University of California San Diego scientist was able to use his math and physics knowledge to argue his way out of a $400 traffic ticket.” The emphasis is mine. Here is the scientist’s paper, which is both clear and convincing. The guy is obviously well-educated and articulate, and based on his analysis, it’s tough to disagree with his conclusion that the officer’s perception of reality did not properly reflect reality. After reading the paper and assuming the officer … Read entire article »
Filed under: News
A Brief for Those Who Lack Creativity
Yesterday, Ohio criminal defense lawyer Jeff Gamso put up a blog post that included this paragraph: In Ohio criminal defense circles, I’m known as one of the Anti-Anders-brief Nazis. Under considerable pressure from other members of the bar, I was convinced not to try publicly humiliating the lawyers who file them. Sort of like maintaining good relations with repressive regimes because we can reach them better if we’re nice, I have standing offers out to help lawyers find issues when they’re stuck. Occasionally I’m taken up on the offers. I’ve had some success at convincing people they shouldn’t be filing them. And I speak about this sort of thing a fair amount at CLEs. It’s not enough, but it’s what I can do. If you aren’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: Post-Conviction
Post-Conviction Remedies
In Arizona, a defendant who pleads guilty cannot file a direct appeal. Instead, his only remedy is filing a Rule 32 Petition for Post-Conviction Relief. Most of my clients think that winning a petition for post-conviction relief is always a good thing. Unfortunately, in some cases, people may end up being worse off for having filed a successful petition. If I file a rule 32 petition arguing that a trial court did not have jurisdiction because the statute of limitations had expired, the case essentially goes away if the court of appeals agrees with me. Similarly, the state likely will not bother with a case if essential evidence is suppressed due to constitutional issues or if a criminal statute is held unconstitutional. However, a number of clients want … Read entire article »
Filed under: Post-Conviction
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