Five Borough Defense

By Bahar Mirhosseini
Thousands of Trees blocked the Brooklyn Bridge this morning, to protest being processed as paper which would be used for waivers of prosecution.  Each year, thousands – if not millions – of complainants in misdemeanor domestic violence cases sign waivers of prosecution to formally express to prosecutors that they want the charges dismissed.  [...]

by Cynthia H. Conti-Cook
Associate, Stoll, Glickman & Bellina, LLP
Re: Testimony to the Government Operations Committee Hearing regarding Int. No. 1025 – A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the City of New York, in relation to requiring the Corporation Counsel to submit quarterly reports to the City Council detailing the number and disposition [...]

by Cynthia H. Conti-Cook
Associate, Stoll, Glickman & Bellina, LLP
The NY Times today reported that “actual innocence” is squeezing in next to “harmless error” and “ineffective assistance” as something for judges to consider when considering a conviction on appeal.
“I find the due process clause of our state Constitution requires a procedural mechanism be provided for [...]

by Cynthia H. Conti-Cook
Associate, Stoll, Glickman & Bellina, LLP
So recently there has been some potentially exciting developments in how the City of New York will hold the NYPD accountable for its civil rights violations. In early December, the City Council Committee on Government Operations will be holding a hearing about proposed legislation that will require [...]

From The New York Law Journal
Mark Fass
08-05-2009
After three decades as a defense attorney, Robert Simels took the stand himself for the first time yesterday, in order to defend against charges that he plotted with his client, the since-convicted Guyanese drug kingpin Shaheed Khan, to threaten and bribe potential witnesses.
Throughout the week-and-a-half-long trial, Mr. Simels’ defense has [...]

The federal gag order that silenced Public Defender blogs over the Summer has now been lifted, according to government sources.  “The months of silence was a regrettable necessity,” said one such source, emphasizing that his - or her - anonymity was a matter of the nationalest of national security.  The unerring, quasi-journalistic, sort of snarky [...]

Well, according to Time, it’s a problem.  I, however, am wondering why this couldn’t this have been a “problem” when I was a teenage boy?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1901762,00.html?cnn=yes

The report can be found here: http://tcpjusticedenied.org 
 
The constition project general website is here: http://www.constitutionproject.org/ 

New NYCHA regulations reduce max permissible weight of dogs, and update the “banned breeds” list to include pit bulls. 
Read the NYCHA rule here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/downloads/pdf/j09apre.pdf  [It's on the top of page 11].
ASPCA opposes the new rules: http://www.aspca.org/pressroom/press-releases/042809.html  

Good decision on Pringle and the two hour rule. In this case, the license was not suspended at arraignments, and the Court rules that a license cannot be suspended if the test is administered after two hours. The question may be different if the license was suspended at arraignments. But the decision is good incentive to fight the automatic suspensions we are all accustomed to.