A Comment on Yesterday’s Mass Shooting at Douglas High
So, I thought that I would opine on the mass shooting at Douglas High School. As many of you know, I was raised in Broward County. Douglas opened the year after I graduated from Nova High. For the record, yesterday’s massacre was the 18th mass shooting in the United States in just the first 45 days of 2018. I spoke earlier with my sister, who
Read moreWhite-Collar Criminal Defense: Good Result Brings Client Home for Christmas
Although I will rarely post on anything concerning an ongoing case, I thought that it would be appropriate to post this solid result. A client will now be home for Christmas with his loving family. I will be continuing to work very hard to vindicate this client — wrongfully accused. As always, going against the Crown can be exceptionally
Read moreProfessional Ethics: Working With Victims of Sexual Assault
October 29, 2014 / by joe chater / in Criminal Law Matters, Halifax Law Articles, Professional Ethics
Last evening, I had an opportunity to attend a program co-sponsored by both the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society and the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre. The program centered around a presentation and follow-up discussion regarding the best practices for addressing victims of sexual assault. As you might imagine, lawyers — including thi
Read moreHuman Rights/Criminal/Labour Law: The Perjury Prosecutions of Mounties in the Dziekanski Case
October 28, 2014 / by joe chater / in Criminal Law Matters, Halifax Law Articles, Human Rights, Labour Law
For some background on the case, please reference the following CBC News article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/robert-dziekanski-questioning-the-public-interest-in-prosecuting-mounties-for-perjury-1.2813288. This is a tough case. For those who have not reviewed the above link, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the case, there
Read moreGeneral/Criminal: Substantive Analysis on Zimmerman Case; Links to Transcripts from April 6, April 11, and April 12 CNN/HLN Appearances
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/06/acd.02.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/11/ijvm.01.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/12/ijvm.01.html Well, here are the transcripts for my recent appearances. Last evening proved interesting, as I was finally able to push my way through into proving some substance on is
Read moreGeneral/Criminal: More Detailed Appearance Arising Tonight on HLN’s Jane Velez Mitchell Show
The first appearance was, well, interesting. I did hope to get in more input, as there was so much more to say, especially about the “Stand Your Ground” Immunity issue, pursuant to Fla. Stat. 776.032. I believe that this will have a major impact upon the case and whether it even goes to a trial. A motion to dismiss raising such an
Read moreConstitutional/Criminal Law: Rare Praise for U.S. Supreme Court Rulings
March 23, 2012 / by joe chater / in Constitutional Law Matters, Criminal Law Matters, Halifax Law Articles
I know that decisions later this Supreme Court Term will generate an altogether different reaction. However, on March 21, the Supreme Court did issue two, related rulings addressing the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel during plea bargaining. In Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye, the Court formally recognized the responsibility that defense
Read moreCriminal/Constitutional: Great Opinion Re: Limits on Government’s Ability to Search Electronic Devices
September 18, 2011 / by joe chater / in Constitutional Law Matters, Criminal Law Matters, Halifax Law Articles
Credit must be provided to colleagues at NACDL for this insightful case: The government’s application for a search warrant to search all electronic devices in the target’s possession without a filter team and permitting a plain view is denied as constituting a general warrant. In re United States’s Application for a Search Warrant to Seize an
Read moreCriminal Practice: Innocent Man Finally Vindicated on Child Porn Charge
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/24/unsecured-wifi-child-pornography-innocent_n_852996.html I have heard about such occurrences way too often. A former investigator first advised me of the ability of others to hack into the unsecured Wi-Fi of innocent users. Also, there have been several cases involved innocent Internet users at file shari
Read moreCriminal Practice: FL – Drug Dog’s Alert Insufficient, Standing Alone, to Establish Probable Cause to Search
A drug dog’s alert is not sufficient in itself for probable cause. The state carries the burden of proving the dog’s reliability, including training and false positives. Harris v. State, 2011 Fla. LEXIS 953 (Fla. April 21, 2011): When will a drug-detection dog’s alert to the exterior of a vehicle provide an officer with probable cause to con
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