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There are some interesting Petitions for Certiorari the U.S. Supreme Court is considering this fall. At their September 29th conference, the Justices will determine which petitions involve issues that are compelling enough to move to the briefing stage—commonly referred to as the Court granting “cert.” Each year, the 7,000 petitions are filed with the Court, 100 of which cert is granted.

The following are some cases that have a good chance of being heard by the Court and can have far reaching implications to Irving criminal defendants. Issues raised in petitions that caught my attention include: the validity of the “automatic companion” rule under the Fourth Amendment (Owens v. Kentucky), whether state criminal convictions require jury unanimity (Lee v. Louisiana), and whether probable cause for a warrantless search for drugs exists when police observe two men exchanging money for a small, yet unknown object (Pennsylvania v. Dunlap).

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An Orange County sheriff’s deputy was indicted for allegedly abusing his authority when he tasered a handcuffed suspect in his patrol car last year. Mike Anton of the L.A. Times reports that Christopher Hibbs, a 12-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, was indicted by an Orange County grand jury on two felony assault charges.

The indictment—which was unsealed today—stems from the September 2007 arrest and subsequent gun charge of Ignacio Gomez Lares. Anton reports that Lares was stopped for walking in public with an open beer bottle and when he tried to resist arrest and flee, Hibbs tasered him. The charges stem from what happened next- after Lares was arrested and in handcuffs, Hibbs tasered him numerous times because Lares kept truthfully telling Hibbs his name was “Ignacio Gomez,” instead of Ignacio Gomez Lares, which was not in authority’s database.

If convicted, he could face a maximum of three years in prison.

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A 64-year-old San Diego man was shot and killed Friday night during a confrontation with police that began when he allegedly fired several shots into the home of a San Diego sheriff’s deputy. Tony Perry from the Los Angeles Times reports that the incident began when the man banged on the door of the sheriff’s Lake Murray home and demanded to know if the resident was a San Diego police officer. According to reports, at some point then, the man began to argue with the deputy and allegedly brandished a handgun. The off-duty deputy then slammed the door and the man fired three shots into the home, police said.

Police responded to 911 call about shots being fired and surrounded the home of the alleged shooter while attempting to persuade him to surrender. A half-hour later he emerged, carrying a gun that he pointed at officers. Six officers fired at the man, fatally wounding him. What an unfortunate end to what appeared to be a tense standoff between this man and San Diego Police.

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University of Southern California cornerback Shareece Wright has been charged by San Bernardino law enforcement with resisting a police officer in connection to a party in his hometown of Colton last weekend. Resisting police a police officer using force or violence is a felony in California.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Wright attended a party for someone being deployed to Iraq labor-day weekend. Police detained Wright at the party, but he was not among several people arrested in the early morning hours on Sunday. The San Bernardino District Attorney subsequently filed charges against him and three others. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.

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Two juvenile Santa Ana gang members were arrested in the murder of a 13-year-old boy who was gunned down Wednesday while crossing the street with a group of friends near Santa Ana High School. H.G Reza and Tony Barboza of the Los Angeles Times report that the suspects are 16 and 18 and affiliated with a local street gang.

Santa Ana has had an increase in gang shootings this year. Allegedly the 13 year-old vicitm, who did not attend the school, was crossing the street with friends when another group of teenagers approached him and demanded to know his gang affiliation. When he did not answer, he was shot multiple times in the upper torso and was ponounced dead a few hours later.

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I couldn’t make this up if I tried. Last Saturday, two California farmworkers awoke to a burglar in their kitchen applying spices to a sausage. After using the sausage to attack the victims, the stranger fled with the owners’ money. Police later found the California man wearing only his boxers and socks in a nearby field and were able to identify him as the sausage-wielding perpetrator, since he left his wallet behind at the victims’ house. The full article can be found here.

In what would seem to be an open and shut case for prosecutors has one catch- the sausage tossed away by the fleeing suspect was subsequently eaten by a dog.

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If I’m arrested in Riverside California, do I have to talk to police? The short answer to that question is no. A police officer can stop you, and ask you questions- but you don’t have to respond. Only a judge can force you to answer any questions.

But this brings up a second issue, when is a person under arrest? Because of the many shows on TV like Law and Order and CSI, many people think that an arrest has to include some formal statement by the police like, “you are under arrest,” or “you have a right to remain silent.” But reality is a little more complicated. An arrest occurs when a person no longer reasonably expects that he is free to leave. If, for example, a person is not allowed to leave the scene for an extended period of time, the person may be considered to be “under arrest,” even though those “magic” words are never uttered. If a person is handcuffed, is locked in the back of a police car, or is otherwise kept from leaving, generally the person will be considered to be under arrest—and thus has constitutional protections afforded to them, such as the right to remain silent, and the right to an attorney.

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One Ventura County man seems determined to crash the party at the Playboy Mansion- literally. The Los Angeles Daily News reports that a man crashed his car into the gates of Hugh Hefner’s notorious party palace twice this past week. It is unclear whether Hefner or his three girlfriends were home during the incident, but Los Angeles police reported no injuries, only damage to the gates.

The suspect was arrested and released after the first crash last Thursday night, the police spokesperson said. He then slammed his car into the gates again Tuesday, but fled before police arrived on the scene. Police have not released the man’s name or what may have prompted the crashes, but it’s likely that he’s charged with a felony for his behavior. Comments about this post can be directed to Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney William Weinberg at (714) 834-1400.

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Well, just when all the corporate scandals appeared to have died down, along comes a fairly interesting issue in the Enron scandal. Jeff Skilling, convicted in Houston of fraud for his part in creating bogus off-shore companies to hide Enron debt, has filed a motion arguing that the Federal Prosecutor failed to turn over 400 pages of transcripts of interviews of Andrew Fastow, the former Enron employee who masterminded the off-shoring and cut an early deal with federal prosecutors.

We’ll see if this gets any traction after an appeals court hears it. Meanwhile, Skilling is serving his sentence in a federal prison.

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He may have changed, but he’ll have a lot of time to reflect on what happened. That’s the future (at least 15-17 more years) for Sam Nelson, a drug-addicted kid who killed his neighbor in a vicious attack. Judge Frank Fasel felt there was no middle ground and maxed him out. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/thompson-nelson-fasel-2007781-home-knew
This is the growing and disturbing trend in juvenile law. Treating kids as adults, punishing them as adults. But more and more studies show that kids can’t make decisions as well as adults because their brains aren’t ready to do so. http://www.tresearch.org/headlines/2008Jan_TeenBrain.pdf
Locking kids up earlier and earlier, for longer and longer terms won’t solve the problem. One solution is to provide county governments with resources to study and treat kids earlier in their lives to avoid these crimes from occurring. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9747&page=107 With any luck, and a realization that incarcerating ever-younger kids isn’t helping, we may be able to treat kids as kids, and help them realize a brighter future.