SUCCESS STORIES – Page 3                                               Stories - Page 1

Here are a few more stories straight out of our case files.  Once again, we do not include actual attorney or client names.

Assault on a Peace Officer or Evading Arrest?: Our Client and a friend had been out celebrating and drinking but not “drunk”, according to their friends who were with them. They left a club about 2:00 AM and were to meet at a restaurant. On the way, our Client stopped at a red light, in the downtown area. He had his music up loud, windows down and had stopped “hard”, when he saw the emergency lights of several Constable’s cars on a side street. Two officers walked toward him and motioned for him to pull over. His light turned green and he took off, turning left one block ahead, then parking, getting out and walking away. A wrecker driver located the car for the officers who had pursued our client. After an extensive search, they impounded the car and arrested him when he came to get it the next day. The charge was Assault on a Police Officer With a Deadly Weapon (vehicle). Our investigation helped the attorney work out a plea arrangement for 18-months probation for Evading Detention, a more proper charge.

SAVED A DEFENDANT 7-YEARS ON HIS SENTENCE: Attorney Feroz Merchant asked us to help him with a federal case he was working. The Defendant admitted his part in the crime a little too late. All the Co-Defendant’s made deals and there was nothing left to bargain with except turning on the main actor. Problem was, no one knew his real name. He went by several street names. The A.U.S.A. offered a 5K1.1 reduction in sentence if our Client could ID the main actor. After interviewing him, we took all the info he could muster up and ran with it. We followed a lot of leads, and rabbit trails but in the end it paid off. We positively identified the main person and turned over a photograph with identifiers to the Federal Agent working the case.

What Happens When You Invoke Your Right to Remain Silent and Wait For Your Attorney? Generally, the Police think you are guilty, put you in jail and the file greatest charge possible. That is what happened to an elderly woman who accidentally shot and killed her husband. She did her grieving in jail for two months and was not allowed to attend the funeral. We interviewed (and taped) the only witness, who was also an elderly man in poor health. He had loaned her husband his revolver with a “hair trigger”, to go to the shooting range. He described the shooting as clearly accidental. On the night before he was to testify before the Grand Jury, he had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. The DA allowed the videotape to be played and she was No Billed and released.