Articles Posted in Criminal Law and Procedure

Noah Domingo, an 18 year old attending the University of California, Irvine, died due to alcohol poisoning on January 12, 2019. Domingo, a minor, was a member of the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The fraternity held a, “Big Brother,” event which was the particular party that lead Domingo to drink excessively. Authorities claim no hazing was involved in the cause of Domingo’s death. This is a claim that Dale Domingo, Noah’s father, denies. Dale states his son was pressured to drink a “family drink,” to be welcomed as a brother into the fraternity. He is attributing hazing to his sons death while, as stated above, authorities deny evidence of hazing. Since Domingo was not legally old enough to consume alcohol authorities have formally charged five fraternity brothers for supplying him with alcohol. 

The five fraternity brothers ranging from 20 to 22 years old have been charged with a misdemeanor; allowing a party to take place while under age drinking was allowed. Zavier Brown, 21 years old, was specifically charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor causing great bodily injury; a misdemeanor. Jonathan Vu, 22 years old, was charged with furnishing an alcoholic drink to a minor, another misdemeanor charge. After completing an autopsy, the coroner found Domingo’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) to be 0.33. No other drugs or substances were found in his system. 

The Possible Consequences

If found guilty of all charges Brown could face up to 18 months in jail and the other four defendants could face up to 6 months in jail. All five defendants names were on the lease to the fraternity brother home. The fraternity has since been shut down.  

Atatiana Jefferson was shot and killed by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean while inside her own home. Dean, a white male, has since quit his job and been charged with Jefferson’s murder. 

The Incident 

Last weekend Jefferson’s door was left ajar. Her neighbor called authorities to perform a wellness check. Jefferson’s mother had recently been discharged from the hospital and the neighbors were concerned for her well-being. 

Dean and another officer responded to the residence. Instead of knocking on Jefferson’s front door he retreated to the backyard in complete darkness. He came to a window and yelled, “Put your hands up, show me your hands,” before firing a fatal shot at Jefferson. He claims he saw a figure near the window and this prompted him to fire. He did not announce himself as a police officer.

Amber Gugyer, a former Dallas police officer, was convicted of murder for shooting and killing Botham Jean while he was sitting in his own apartment. What made the case unusual was that Gugyer believed she was in her own apartment when she was in fact in Jean’s apartment.

Guyger wass sentenced to ten years in prison. She is eligible for parole in five years. During the sentencing hearing, Jean and Guyger gave each other a tearful hug.

September 6th, 2018

Guyger was returning from a long shift on the force. She suspected someone was in “her” apartment due to sounds coming from the unit. Her defense claims she was afraid for her life when she opened the door and witnessed Jean on the sofa. Guyger stated she demanded Jean show her his hands. When Jean took a step toward her and did not comply she fired two fatal shots. Guyger’s criminal defense team claimed self-defense.

Former NFL star Antonio Brown was released from the New England Patriots professional football team on September 20th 2019. The release comes on the coattails of sexual assault, rape, and sexual harassment allegations.

1st Allegation

Brittany Taylor, a former personal trainer of Brown’s, alleges that Brown raped her and sexually assaulted her. The two parties met at Central Michigan University. Taylor approached Brown and inquired if he would invest over 1 million dollars into her business. Brown refused. She then approached Brown to inquire about training him. After an agreement to train Brown was reached Taylor states that Brown inappropriately exposed himself to her and then kissed her. This allegedly occurred in 2017.

In 2018, Taylor states Brown raped her at his residence in Florida. Taylor has filed a civil lawsuit against the football star. In addition, she has been communicating with the National Football League (NFL) regarding the alleged sexual assault occurrences.

The Court of Appeals in People v. Jerome Romey Sueing granted Defendant Sueing a re-sentencing in this case involving aggravated indecent exposure charges.

What Happened in the Case

Sueing was charged in two cases. In the first case, he was charged with aggravated indecent exposure and indecent exposure by a sexually delinquent person. In the second case, he was charged with aggravated indecent exposure and indecent exposure by a sexually delinquent person. In each of the case a jury found Sueing guilty on all charges. Both cases had similar fact patterns. Sueing exposed himself and masturbated while sitting next to a women in a public place, once in the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, and once in the lobby of an art school.

At Sentencing

When Sueing was sentenced, the trial court sentenced him as a fourth-habitual offender (meaning he had at least three prior felony convictions). He was sentenced to concurrent sentences of 24 months to 15 years imprisonment for the aggravated indecent exposure, and 20 to 40 years imprisonment for the indecent exposure by a sexually delinquent person.

In the Court of Appeals case of People v. Justin Louis Williamson, the Court looked at whether a police was in the right when he pulled a driver over for barely going over the speed limit.

What Happened in the Case

Defendant Williamson was charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana less than five kilograms. Williamson was driving by himself one night in Oak Park, Michigan. An officer saw him, and decided to follow him. The officer later admitted it was a quiet night and he didn’t have much to do, and so decided to follow Williamson to see if there would be a reason for a pull over.

They were driving in a 40 mph zone. The officer “paced” Williamson’s car at 44 mph. The officer decided to make a traffic stop.

Felicity Huffman has been sentenced to 14 days in federal prison by Judge Indira Talwani, a U.S. District Judge, after pleading guilty to mail fraud. The sentence comes after Huffman plead guilty to paying Rick Singer $15,000 to take her daughter’s college entrance exam. Huffman is one of many parents accused of paying Singer to earn their child a seat at a respected college.

Other parents, besides paying another to take the ACT or SAT, paid Singer to falsify a student’s athletic high school career in order to make them athletic college recruits. Singer allegedly then bribed college coaches to gain the student’s acceptance. Judge Talwani stated if she did not sentence Huffman to prison regular citizens would constantly question how the A-list celebrity beat the system. Therefore, Huffman is an example to all that no one is above the law.

Other Defendants

Rudolph Meredith, the women’s soccer coach at Yale University, has plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges. She reportedly accepted a bribe from Singer allowing Sherry Guo acceptance into the university even though she did not play soccer. The student’s parents reportedly paid 1.2 million dollars to have their daughter accepted to the ivy league school. Guo is no longer enrolled at Yale.

In Bristol, Wisconsin, authorities arrested Jacob Huffhines and Tyler Huffhines after they raided their condo and found 98,000 cartridges for vaping, 18 pounds of marijuana and three machines used to count money. The cartridges had counterfeit fruit and candy labels on them. In addition, mason jars containing vaping substances laced with THC were confiscated. They employed 20 employees who were instructed to fill cartridges with vaping oil. In a separate residence, authorities found cash just shy of 60,000 dollars, more drug associated paraphernalia, and more marijuana.

Marijuana is illegal in Wisconsin. In addition, Jacob was charged with cocaine possession and felon in possession of a firearm. Tyler was charged with manufacture and distribution of marijuana. A neighbor stated they witnessed individuals driving expensive cars coming and going from the condo regularly. They duo is accused of manufacturing 3,000 counterfeit cartridges a day.

What Lead to the Arrest

A teen customer is responsible for leading authorities to the Huffhines brothers. The teen was caught vaping by his parents who then took him to authorities. From there the authorities used his information to track down the brothers.

A new proposed law would allow more people to erase criminal convictions from their records. The process for clearing the record is called an expungement.

Right now, a person can expunge either a felony or two misdemeanors after five years from the end of the sentence. A person with more on the record is not eligible for any expungement. Not all types of convictions can be expunged.

What Would The New Law Do?

There are six proposed bills in all. Here is a list of possible changes:

Over ten years ago, the rapper Meek Mill was charged with a drug and gun case. Since then, Meek Mill’s time in the legal system has been a journey that highlights much of what’s wrong with the system.

Now Meek Mill’s journey has come to an end. Following a successful appeal and order for a new appeal and judge, he plead guilty to close the case.

What Happened?

Meek Mill was found guilty after a bench trial twelve years ago. The sole witness against him was one police officer. After conviction he was sentenced to one year in county jail, though he was released after about five months.