But I Thought it Was a Misdemeanor?
Oklahoma has several crimes that upon first offense are just considered Misdemeanors, but second offenses are potentially felonies. And the Oklahoma Legislature, which has never suffered from a an abundance of common sense, keeps adding more and more crimes which are “predicates for felonies.” The most common crimes that are charged as felonies upon a second occurrence are Driving... Read More
Bonding Out or Paying for Attorney
Unfortunately, many people charged with crimes are the ones that can least afford it. In some cases, families have a limited amount of money to use to try and help a criminal defendant. If it comes down to a choice between hiring a lawyer and bonding out, it is important to be fully informed of potential... Read More
Enforcing Visitation
Recently, I have seen several posts of a shared article regarding a “new law” which “just went into effect” regarding a new process for enforcing a visitation order. This law can be found in 43 O.S. 111.3 or here. In fact, this law was passed a year and a half ago and became effective more than... Read More
Honest Mistakes
One of my first experiences as a young lawyer-to-be had a huge impact on my view of our criminal justice system. I was still an intern and was covering a case for my brother’s partner. In this case, my client was pulled over for running a stop light and eventually arrested for a misdemeanor which has... Read More
New Car Seat Rules
Another modification to Oklahoma Law that went into affect on November 1, regards car seats. KOCO.com ran a good graphic that showed the new rules: Essentially up to 2 years old must be in a rear facing car seat, children from 2-4 must be in a forward facing car seat, and ages 4-8 must be in at... Read More
Texting and Driving
Beginning yesterday, Oklahoma became one of the last states to enact a law specifically banning texting and driving. Nevermind that we already had the following law: 47 O.S. 11-901(b): The operator of every vehicle, while driving, shall devote their full time and attention to such driving…[officer must] observe the operator of the vehicle driving in... Read More
No Refusal Weekend
There has been some publicity regarding what is called a “no refusal weekend” in Norman tonight and tomorrow. Here is how it works: If you are pulled over for suspicion of DUI and you refuse to take the State’s test, they will contact a judge and request a warrant to stick a needle in your arm and take your blood without... Read More
Presumption of Innocence
This week has been both heartbreaking and infuriating. If you live under a rock, a 25 year old woman drove into a crowd killing 4 people and leaving dozens of others injured. Almost immediately rumors began swirling about what had happened. Many of these rumors were breathlessly repeated in print and on the internet. It was an elderly... Read More
Justice Delayed or Justice Denied?
In case you missed it, 60 Minutes had a heartbreaking piece on a man who was exonerated after 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. By now, these stories are becoming all too common and a simple reality of the complete failure of how we prosecute these cases. This story is... Read More
DNA – Trustworthy?
Most criminal defense lawyers know that science in Court is not like CSI. Fingerprints are rarely used anymore. The FBI has admitted that the evidence used to convict thousands of people over several decades (bullet lead analysis, bite mark analysis) has proven to be completely unreliable junk science. Now, what has previously been seen to be near... Read More