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Criminal Law

Philadelphia Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Discussion and analysis of criminal law and criminal defense issues in Philadelphia and nationwide.
By Mark Jakubik, Esq.

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Last Entry: March 16, 2009 at 19:08:34

Fumo Guilty

Posted on March 16, 2009
Former Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo was today found guilty of all 137 corruption related charges in which he had been indicted. The Philadelphia Inquirer has a lengthy story regarding today’s verdict that can be ound here. I am not surpised that umo was convicted, although I am slightly surprised that he was convicted on [...

San Francisco Rejects Decriminalization of Prostitution

Posted on November 15, 2008
On election day San Francisco voters had the opportunity to cast a blow (no pun intended - really) for some commonsense. If passed, Proposition K would have effectively decriminalized prostitution in the city. To my astonishment, Prop K failed, by a rather large margin...

Four Years for ?Clyde?

Posted on November 15, 2008
Edward Anderton, the male half of Philadelphia’s “Bonnie & Clyde” identity thieves, was sentenced yesterday to four years in federal prison for his part in the crime spree in which he participated with his former girlfriend, Jocelyn Kirsch...

Feds Won?t Charge Spitzer

Posted on November 06, 2008
It has been reported that federal prosecutors will not bring any charges against former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer arising out of his involvement with a Manhattan escort service. Sensible decision, it seems to me. As I have written previosuly in this space, Spitzer is a jerk and a hypocrite, but his conduct, in my [...

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Bonnie Gets 5 Years; Clyde?s Up Next

Posted on October 17, 2008
Jocelyn S. Kirsch, the former Drexel University student who pleaded guilty to engaging in a bold identity-fraud scam, was sentenced this morning to five years in prison. “This sentence properly punishes the defendant, provides full restitution and protects the public,” said U...

California Judge Reinstates Murder Conviction in Dog Mauling Case

Posted on August 23, 2008
A woman whose dog mauled her neighbor to death could go back to prison for several years after a Superior Court judge reinstated on Friday the jury’s original second-degree murder conviction. “The defendant acted with conscious disregard for human life,” said Judge Charlotte Woolard, after listing some of more than 30 incidents in which Marjorie Knoller’s [...

Mendte Pleads Guilty To Hacking Alycia Lane?s Email

Posted on August 23, 2008
Former Philadelphia news anchor Larry Mendte pleaded guilty on Friday to illegally accessing the email of his former co-anchor, the troubled Alycia Lane. Mendte faces a possible 5 years in prison. The advisory federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence in the range of 0 to 6 months...

Cops Gone Wild - Prince George?s County

Posted on August 07, 2008
The Baltimore Sun reports on another instance of jack booted thuggery, this one perpetrated by the Prince George’s County, Maryland Sheriff’s Department. Having allegedly intercepted a package containing marijuana that had been mailed to the home of the mayor of the town of Berwyn Heights, the sheriff’s department evidently presumably concluded that someone in the [...

Bad News For Fumo

Posted on August 07, 2008
Another of State Senator Vice Fumo’s former aide’s has agreed to plead guilty and testify against their former boss. Looks like the rats are deserting the ship - with emphasis on the word rat. The Philly.com has the story: In another blow to State Sen...

Ted Stevens Pleads Not Guilty, Will Ask For Venue Change

Posted on August 01, 2008
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) entered a plea of not guilty today to seven charges of filing false financial disclosure forms. Stevens was indicted earlier this week. His lawyer, Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly advised the court today that he would be filing a motion to have the venue of the trial changed to Alaska, [...

Mendte Charged With Hacking Co-Anchor?s E-mail

Posted on July 21, 2008
Federal prosecutors have charged former local news anchor Larry Mendte with hacking into the email account of his former co-anchor, Alycia Lane. Frankly, I think they’re both arrogant jerks who get what they deserve. Glad to see that the federales are still spending their time and our tax dollars chasing dangerous criminals...

Glad To See The War On Drugs Has Been Such A Smashing Success

Posted on July 01, 2008
So we’re now a generation or so into our government’s so called “War on Drugs,” and what do we have to show for all that we have spent, in terms of both dollars and human misery, in the effort? Not a whole lot, according to a recent press report...

Keeping The UK Safe From Fusty Purveyors Of Household Goods

Posted on June 21, 2008
It appears that Martha Stewart has been denied entry to the United Kingdom, presumably because she is a convicted felon, having been found guilty, and having served jail time, for obstruction of justice. Aspokesman for the cabinet ministry with responsibility over such things provided the following observation: We continue to oppose the entry to the UK [...

Rick Mariano Appeal Denied

Posted on June 21, 2008
A federal appeals panel yesterday upheld the 2006 conviction and sentence of ex-City Councilman Rick Mariano on corruption charges. Mariano, 52, is serving a 78-month sentence at the federal prison in Fort Dix and is scheduled to be released in March 2012...

Snipes? Prosecutors Are Sore Losers

Posted on June 21, 2008
According to Ocala.com, federal prosecutors have decided to appeal a federal district judge’s decision to allow actor Wesley Snipes to remain free on bail while he appeals his sentence on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a federal income tax return...

Lord Black?s Chances On Appeal Appear Dim

Posted on June 06, 2008
The Chicago Tribune reports that Lord Conrad Black’s attorneys received what the paper described as a “skeptical” reception from a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Lord Black is appealing his conviction for fraud and obstruction of justice.

Bonds Pleads Not Guilty To New Indictment

Posted on June 06, 2008
Home run king Barry Bonds entered a plea of not guilty to a re-written federal indictment; the San Francisco Chronicle has the details. I guess after the cracker jack job the feds did on the D.C. Madam case, its time to turn to the next highest national law enforcement priority...

Fumo Confidante Agrees To Plead Guilty And Cooperate With Prosecutors

Posted on June 05, 2008
Not a good news day for Vince Fumo. As discussed in the below article from The Philadelphia Inquirer, longtime Fumo aid Howard Cain has agreed to plead guilty to tax related charges and to cooperate with the feds: State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo’s legal predicament worsened today when federal prosecutors disclosed that a longtime Fumo confidant, [...

PA Supremes Hear Argument In Child Porn Case

Posted on May 18, 2008
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court justices considered whether a person looking at a book in a library is analogous to a person downloading files from the Internet and whether, in either circumstance, the person is in “control” of the material...

Fumo Aid Cooperating With Feds?

Posted on May 01, 2008
This morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a long time ally of State Senator Vince Fumo has been reportedly cooperating with the feds in connection with Fumo’s upcoming trial on a broad array of federal corruption charges. Of course, in typical fashion, the story is vague and almost wholly devoid of any facts...

D.C. Madam, RIP

Posted on May 01, 2008
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, dubbed the D.C. Madam by the news media, reportedly committed suicide today. Palfrey was convicted just over two weeks ago on federal money laundering, mail fraud and racketeering charges, all of which arose from her operation of an alleged prostitution ring...

D.C. Madam Convicted

Posted on April 15, 2008
A federal jury in the District of Columbia yesterday convicted the so-called “D.C. Madam,” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, on “racketeering” charges (read, money laundering) arising out of her operation of an escort service, The Washington Post reported this morning...

D.C. Madam Trial To Start

Posted on April 07, 2008
This week’s edition of Washington’s “Legal Times” contains an article on the D.C. Madam trial, which starts this week. By all accounts, the trial ought to be great entertainment - so long as we forget that this woman is being persecuted prosecuted, and faces jail time, for what is an utterly stupid crime...

Hot Dog Stabbing

Posted on April 07, 2008
Well, if they were Nathan’s, I could understand this. Mmmmm, hot dogs.

Eliot Spitzer Is A Jerk And A Hypocrite, But He Should Not Be Prosecuted

Posted on March 12, 2008
Unless you have somehow managed to avoid any and all news media for the last 3 days you no doubt are aware that Eliot Spitzer resigned his position as Governor of New York today, brought down by revelations that he had engaged the services of a prostitute while traveling on government business in Washington, D...

Congressional Committee Prepares Clemens Referral

Posted on February 25, 2008
The New York Times has reported that staff members of the Congressional Commitee before which baseball icon Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee recently testified regarding Clemens alleged use of performance enhancing drugs have drafted a letter asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Clemens committed perjury...

Clemens

Posted on February 16, 2008
I am glad to see that the Justice Department is now pursuing real criminals, as I have long been suggesting that they ought to do. We should know soon, thanks to our federal government, whether Roger Clemens ever took performance enhancing drugs. Praise God!

Milton Street, Tax Denier?

Posted on February 16, 2008
The Philadelphia Inquirer, our city’s newspaper of record, evidently is not impressed by what it expects will be Milton Street’s defense against federal tax charges. Guess we might as well skip the trial and proceed to sentencing. He’s guilty of all charges, just like that other tax nut, Wesley Snipes...

Philadelphia Weekly Profiles Michael Coard

Posted on February 03, 2008
Philadelphia Weekly, one of our local indpendent newspapers, this week ran a very interesting profile on local defense attorney Michael Coard. I do not know Mr. Coard personally, but I have had the privilege of seeing him work in court. Based upon what I have read, I don’t think that he and I would see [...

OJ Seeks Dismissal of Half of the Charges Against Him

Posted on February 03, 2008
The Associated Press reported recently that OJ Simpson last week filed a motion seeking to have half of the charges against him - including the top level kidnapping charge - dismissed. Whatever you think of Simpson - like that he killed his ex-wife and Ron Goldman (which he probably did) - there is a reasonable [...

Snipes Acquitted on Tax Charges

Posted on February 03, 2008
Actor Wesley Snipes was acquitted Friday of tax fraud and willful failure to file tax returns, by far the most serious of the charges against him. He was convicted on three lesser misdemeanor charges of failure to file tax returns. Snipes’ acquittal is a major, major defeat for federal prosecutors and for the Internal Revenue [...

Bonds Seeks Dismissal of Perjury Charges

Posted on January 23, 2008
The Associated Press reports that Barry Bonds today filed a motion to dismiss the federal perjury charges of which he stands accused. Bonds argues that the indictment against him is “scattershot” and in many respects so lacking in specificity that it is not clear what false statements he is alleged to have made...

Good News For Former Brocade CEO

Posted on December 09, 2007
Fortune’s Roger Parloff reported Friday at his Legal Pad blog on a significant recent development in the options backdating case of former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes. Although he was convicted on 10 bacdating related charges, Reyes will likely receive a minimal prison term - if he in fact is sentenced to any prison time at [...

?The whole thing is a crock of sh*t.?

Posted on December 09, 2007
So says defense attorney Mark Geragos about the federal investigation into steroid use and distribution that led to the recent indictment of home run king Barry Bonds. As outlined fairly persuasively in this recent article on Reason magazine’s website, Geragos appears to be right...

Now I Know Where My Check From Publishers? Clearing House Went

Posted on December 08, 2007
This guy stole it. I knew it.

?Bonnie & Clyde? Identity Thieves Could Face Federal Charges

Posted on December 08, 2007
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Daily News comes the latest on the so-called “Bonnie & Clyde” identity thieves, she of Drexel Univeristy and he a Penn grad (they must be so proud). I guess the biggest news in this piece is the confirmation that the gal had a boob job...

?The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.?

Posted on December 08, 2007
Its been brought to my attention (thanks, Bennett!) that I have been AWOL here for a while. I will confess I did not realize it had been so long since I’d posted here. Be assured, I’m still here, and the blog is alive. Just dealing with a major work crunch, and re-charging a bit...

IRS Prepares to Abuse 13,000 Taxpayers

Posted on November 05, 2007
As I have written before, anyone from the government who appears to “ask a few questions” is not your friend, and is not looking to help you. This is especially true when that government employee wears jack boots issued by the IRS. Let me be as clear as possible about this: NEVER assume the bona [...

Shorter Crack Sentences Take Effect

Posted on November 05, 2007
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s guideline revisions shrinking the penalty gap between crack and cocaine powder took effect last week. (Amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines take effect automatically six months after they’re approved by the commission unless they’re overriden by Congress, which in this case took no action...

The Reids: Family in Crisis

Posted on November 05, 2007
As coach of the Eagles, Andy Reid has excelled at keeping the lid on, brushing off questions about team controversies with a countenance as stony as Mount Rushmore.That lid grew airtight when it came to problems at home, with Reid bolting from briefings when anyone dared to broach his sons’ legal woes...

Why Should Prostitution Be Decriminalized?

Posted on November 04, 2007
Judging from the statistics that are reported to me about this blog, the posts thar I have done on issues relating to prostitution and the legalization or deriminalization of it have been by far the most read. Many of readers have asked me to explain what the issues are, and why I am a believer [...

Nancy Grace, Meet Shawn Matlock

Posted on November 04, 2007
I haven’t posted for a while, and I feel a wee bit guilty about that. Its been a busy fall, and the next 2 weeks are the culmination of all of that. Hopefully, after my scheduled trial next week I can get back on a regular blogging schedule. That said, I could not help but [...