Maryland Criminal Attorney Blog

When persons under the age of 18 are criminally charged as adults in Maryland, the defendant has the right to ask the adult court to "waive" the defendant back to juvenile court. A successful waiver hearing could be life changing to a minor defendant.

Take, for example, the recent case of white supremacist Calvin Lockner. Lockner and two minors were recently arrested in a high-profile attack of a 77 year old black fisherman named James Privott. All three men were charged as adults. My client, Emmanuel Miller 16 and the other minor defendant Zachary Watson asked a Circuit Court Judge to transfer each of their cases from adult court to juvenile court. The court was persuaded by my argument and sent Miller's case to juvenile court. Watson, who was represented by a different attorney, did not fair so well and is being prosecuted as an adult.

The effect on each of their lives is profound. Privott, for example, has agreed to a plea bargain of 31 years. My client Miller, on the other hand, will be provided social services, vocational training and educational services up to his 21st birthday. How his life turns out beyond that is any one's guess, but there is hope. Because of a successful juvenile waiver hearing, this young man will not be warehoused for the next 30 years of his life.

Continue reading " Juvenile Waiver Hearings in Maryland Are a Critical Stage in the Proceedings " »

I have represented both businesses and individuals before the Maryland Securities Commissioner on both civil and criminal charges stemming from selling unregistered securities. Most are under the impression that these enforcement actions by the Commissioner are civil in nature. Although this is most often the case, a criminal prosecution could result as well.

Selling unregistered securities or acting as an unregistered sales agent in Maryland is potentially punishable both with fines and imprisonment. Such penalties are contained in Title 11, the Maryland Securities Act, in the Corporations and Associations Article of the Maryland Code rather than the Criminal Law Article. Criminal penalties, however, are only likely to be imposed when a person willfully violates a provision of the Maryland Securities Act or an order of the Attorney General Securities Commission. MD. CODE., CORPS. & ASS’NS § 11-705. The statute specifically points out that “a person may not be imprisoned for the violation of any rule or order if the person proves that the person had no knowledge of the rule or order.” MD. CODE., CORPS. & ASS’NS § 11-705(a)(3).

While selling unregistered securities or acting as an unregistered sales agent are acts that could possibly be committed in conjunction with codified crimes such as embezzlement or larceny, there is not a specific statute in the Maryland Criminal Law Article that criminalizes selling unregistered securities or acting as an unregistered sales agent. Nevertheless, the Maryland legislature has enacted the Maryland Securities Act in Title 11 of the Corporations and Associations Article of the Maryland Code. The Division of Securities in the Office of the Attorney General is in charge of administering the Maryland Securities Act and can bring court action against violators of the Act. MD. CODE., CORPS. & ASS’NS § 11-201(a).

The Act states that a person violates the Maryland Securities Act if the person acts as a broker-dealer or agent and transacts business in the State of Maryland without being registered. MD. CODE., CORPS. & ASS’NS § 11-401. After giving notice and conducting a hearing, the Commissioner of the Division of Securities may fine any broker-dealer or agent up to a maximum amount of $5,000 for any single violation of the Maryland Securities Act. MD. CODE., CORPS. & ASS’NS § 11-417.

Continue reading " Civil and Criminal Liability for Selling Unregistered Securities in Maryland " »

As a Baltimore Maryland Criminal Attorney I have written frequently about the critical importance choosing the right lawyer if you find yourself charged with a serious felony. As I have noted in the past there are many lawyers out there who are primarily domestic or accident lawyers or have other specialties who occasionally take on a criminal case very often with tragic results for the client. These bad results for the client are usually the result of inexperience and lack of expertise by lawyers who don't regularly operate in the criminal realm. These lawyers should not take these cases but the simple fact is that they do.

I don't mean to impugn the integrity of these lawyers as I'm sure that they have convinced themselves that they are in fact qualified to handle criminal cases and may even have successfully resolved the majority of the few criminal cases they have handled. But it only takes one mistake to have devastating consequences on your life if that mistake is made on your case. I handled a domestic violence assault and handgun case in Baltimore County Circuit Court recently that illustrates this reality in rather stark terms. Here are the facts:

Continue reading " Domestic Violence Case Illustrates the Importance of Choosing the Right Lawyer " »

http://www.mdattorney.com/lawyer-attorney-1300820.htmlAggressive Maryland Criminal Attorneys handle a wide variety of criminal cases. Among the most common types of cases we see are domestic violence or family violence assaults. Prosecutors and Police categorize a case as domestic violence if it involves people who are involved in a romantic relationship whether or not they are married or children.

As noted, these cases are increasingly common in the District and Circuit courts primarily because the police and prosecutors have become increasingly aggressive over the past few years in investigating, charging and prosecuting these matters. In many cases by the time these matters make it to court the parties have reconciled and the alleged victim will not cooperate with the authorities in the prosecution of the case. In other cases the alleged victim exaggerates or even fabricates the incident entirely because of some other motivation such as child custody or simple revenge. I tried a case falling into this latter category this week in the District Court for Baltimore County. Here are the facts:

Continue reading " Domestic Violence Assault Successfully Defended in Baltimore County District Court " »

Maryland criminal defense attorneys are seeing more prosecutions involving the exploitation of vulnerable adults. Section 8-801 of the Maryland Code Annotated, Criminal Law provides for a criminal action against a person who exploits a vulnerable adult. The elements are:

1. The victim is a vulnerable adult
a. A vulnerable adult, as defined in § 3-604 of the Criminal Law Article is an adult who lacks the physical or mental capacity to provide for the adult’s daily needs.
b. § 8-801(b)(2) prohibits exploitation of an individual who is “at least 68 years old” and does not appear to require the victim in this case to be classified as a “vulnerable adult”
2. The defendant knew or should have known that the victim was a vulnerable adult
3. The defendant knowingly and willfully obtained possession to the victim’s property by deception, intimidation, or undue influence, and
a. Undue influence does not include the normal influence that one member of a family has over another member of the family, but means domination and influence amounting to force and coercion such that the vulnerable adult of individual over 68 years old was prevented from exercising free judgment and choice.
b. Deception is defined in § 7-101 and states that deception occurs when “a person knowingly either creates or confirms in another a false impression that the offender does not believe to be true or fails to correct a false impression that the offender previously has created or confirmed.
4. The defendant intended to deprive the victim of her property.

A person is guilty of conspiracy to exploit a vulnerable adult under Section 8-801 where the State can prove that:

a. An unlawful agreement was entered into by two or more persons,
b. To deprive a vulnerable adult of the vulnerable adult’s property by deception, intimidation, or undue influence.

Continue reading " Criminal Prosecution of Vulnerable Adults in Maryland " »

http://www.mdattorney.com/lawyer-attorney-1300820.htmlExperienced Maryland Criminal Attorney's probably handle more simple drug possession cases than just about any other kind of case in the system. On any given District Court Docket in any jurisdiction in Maryland, a large percentage of the cases will be simple possession cases. Although the majority of these cases so not result in incarceration of the defendant they nonetheless need to be taken seriously as a conviction for possession can result in a permanent criminal record even for first time offenders. Second or subsequent offenders are all but certain to end up with a permanent criminal record and possible jail time, as Maryland Law only allows a person to receive probation before judgment one time for a drug conviction whether it be possession of CDS or possession of CDS with the intent to distribute.

I successfully defended a case in Baltimore County District Court this week in which my client was in this exact position. He was charged with simple possession of marijuana having been caught by the police with just a few grams of the banned substance. Unfortunately for him, he had received probation before judgment for a possession charge a few years ago and was therefore barred by law from receiving this disposition a second time. Here are the facts:

Continue reading " CDS Possession Case Successfully Defended " »

As a Baltimore Maryalnd Criminal Attorney I am often hired to try to secure a defendants' release on bail. Generally speaking, when a person is arrested by the police and charged with a criminal offense in Maryland, the law requires that the person be brought before a court commissioner within 24 hours. The commissioner will conduct a hearing in which he or she will explain to the person what they are charged with, what the maximum penalties are and their right to an attorney. The commissioner will then set the conditions of the person's pre-trial release to include bail.

Many people make the mistake of not hiring counsel at this point to advise them as to how the bail can be posted at this point or whether the person should wait to see a Judge at a bail review hearing. These hearings are required to take place on the the next day in which the courts are open so very often it is only a matter of hours until this hearing. The reason I say it is a mistake not have the advice of an experienced criminal attorney at this point is that the commissioners, who are not attorneys much less judges and generally speaking have little or no legal training, very often set bails that are much higher or much lower than the amount at which a judge is likely to set in the case. Many people are unaware that in Maryland a judge may not only lower the defendant's bail at the bail review hearing but can also raise it. An experienced and aggressive attorney may even be able to determine which judge will be handling the bail review and know what that judge's tendencies are. Sometimes the advice may be to bail the person out before the hearing. In other circumstances it may be to wait for the hearing if the attorney knows who the judge is and is confident that the bail will be lowered if the person is properly represented at the hearing.

Continue reading " Bail Review Habeus Corpus Petition " »