Friday, December 9, 2011

5th Amendment

Posted Dec 6, 2011 4:53 PM CST By Martha Neil PrintReprints

Updated: A Michigan criminal defense lawyer spent about four hours in jail on Friday after being held in contempt for telling a client to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at his arraignment.Attorney Scott Millard, 29, who works for Miel & Carr, was supposed to be jailed until Monday. However, he was released Friday after Ottawa County Circuit Judge Edward Post issued an emergency stay of Hudsonville District Court Judge Kenneth Post's contempt order, according to the Grand Rapids Press and the Holland Sentinel.The articles don't explain whether the two judges are related to each other.Post apparently had sought information about the 20-year-old client's drug use to determine appropriate bond conditions. However, Millard reportedly told him not to answer, because he might incriminate himself.Chief District Court Judge Brad Knoll told the newspaper such questions are appropriate for this purpose at an arraignment, and Judge Kenneth Post told the Grand Rapids paper he could not comment on a pending matter.However, attorney Josh Blanchard, who also works for Miel & Carr and is representing Millard in the contempt matter, disagreed, calling the district court's procedures not compliant with the law.Blanchard also said Millard had done nothing wrong, only "what the law expects of an attorney." He said Millard “remained calm despite the judge’s threats of jail. He behaved in a manner we’d expect.”Millard is appealing the contempt ruling and has asked the circuit court to take oversight of his client's minor-in-possession case.A subsequent ABAJournal.com post provides additional details:Transcript: Told to Sit Down, Be Quiet, Lawyer Blocked Judge's Drug Queries, Was Jailed for ContemptUpdated on Dec. 7 to link to subsequent ABAJournal.com post.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Divorce, Immigration, or Estate Law in RI or MA contact Massachusetts and Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer Rui P. Alves at 401-942-3100 or CONTACT him via email.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Child Abuse


A small staff of prosecutors and victim advocates will work closely with Day One, a private agency that deals with issues surrounding sexual assault

By W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
BY THE NUMBERS

PROVIDENCE — Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced on Monday the formation of a Child Abuse Unit whose sole focus will be to prosecute suspects charged with the sexual and physical abuse of children.
The unit will be led by Shannon Signore, a special assistant attorney general, and she will have a small staff of prosecutors and victim advocates trained in handling the emotional and psychological effects associated with molestation and other crimes against young people. Until now, the cases were handled by prosecutors in county courthouses who also handle a wide variety of other crimes.
Kilmartin said that will change with the new unit.
“All the referrals are going to go to Shannon [Signore],” a state prosecutor for 10 years, Kilmartin said. “She is going to make the determination.’’ undertaking
Collaborative
The well-attended announcement was made in the basement of Day One, a private agency in Wayland Square that deals with issues surrounding sexual assault as a community concern. Kilmartin’s office will work closely with the Day One staff, along with local police departments, the Department of Children, Youth and Families, and doctors at Hasbro Children’s Hospital to tackle the problem of child abuse.
Dr. Amy Goldberg, a certified child-abuse pediatrician at Hasbro, said that she has been waiting 11 years for something like the Child Abuse Unit and the collaborative effort among the various agencies to take hold. She said that physicians at Hasbro annually evaluate about 1,500 children who are possible victims of abuse. According to Kilmartin’s office, state prosecutors have charged 40 people with child molestation this year and 34 others face felony counts of child abuse or child neglect.
Law-enforcement officials say it’s difficult to gauge whether more children are abused or attacked today than in the past.
Kilmartin said that, historically, children and families were reluctant to report abuse because of the “shame attached.” And, in many cases, the abuser is a family member or someone close to the family.
Kilmartin and Margaret “Peg” Lynch-Gadaleta, a former prosecutor who serves as Day One’s director of advocacy and legal services, said the Child Abuse Unit will ease the victim’s journey through the criminal-justice system. Instead of sitting down for a series of interviews with doctors, police officers and prosecutors, a child will go directly to the unit and tell his or her story.
“These victims are the least likely to be able to stop crimes from being committed against them, report crimes to law enforcement and have the support they need to get through the legal process,” Kilmartin said. “All of the attorneys and support staff in this unit have both a desire and a commitment to help victims survive the crimes committed against them, and empower them to be involved in the process of punishing the perpetrator of the crime.”
Interim Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements hailed the collaborative effort of the police, attorney general’s office and other agencies. He underscored the problem in Providence by saying that there are 477 registered sex offenders in the city.
“We take this seriously,” he said. “These victims are our most vulnerable.”
On another note, officials at Day One announced that its Children’s Advocacy Center has been re-accredited by the National Children’s Alliance.
“Accreditation not only validates Day One’s proven effective approach to responding to allegations of child abuse, but also provides consistency across the child-advocacy movement as a whole,” said Peg Langhammer, Day One’s executive director. bmalinow@providencejournal.com  
(401) 277-7019


Sexual offenses

Day One, the sexual-assault and trauma resource center, supplied the following statistics:
17.6 percent Percentage of women in the United States who say they are victims of a rape or attempted rape. Of those, 21.6 percent of the survivors are between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.

1 in 4 Ratio of girls in the United States who are sexually abused before their 18th birthday.

1 in 6 Ratio of boys in the United States who are sexually abused before their 18th birthday.
Source: Day One

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Divorce, Immigration, or Estate Law in RI or MA contact Massachusetts and Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer Rui P. Alves at 401-942-3100 or CONTACT him via email.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

RI Federal Court

COURTS
By MICHAEL P. McKINNEY JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
PROVIDENCE — It was day three of the federal trial of some police officers accused in a lawsuit, and the lawyers were at odds. It was time, on the issue of how to pose a question to a witness, to face the music. And hear some, too. As the lawyers approached the bench, orchestral music wafted through courtroom speakers and, not unlike a conductor striding from the stage, Judge William E. Smith walked out to meet the lawyers in sidebar, trying to get everyone in tune. At least five times that day, the music sounded as judge and legal teams shuffled back and forth in U.S. District Court. Instruments performed sweeping, lush harmonies. The judge and lawyers talked, hand motions in abundance, but to the observer theirs was a silent film with only a soundtrack.

Every time they headed back to the defense and plaintiff tables, the music stopped and questioning resumed.

The music is there to shield the sidebar discussion from the ears of jurors and witnesses, Smith said in an interview.

Anyone who’s sat in at a state District Court hearing or Superior Court trial has heard whispers or more as legal teams and judge strategize in not-quite dulcet tones. In federal courtrooms, besides music, the options can include white noise, a sound played to mask other sounds in a space, during the sidebars, or bench conferences
. In some federal courtrooms, in which sidebar conversations are deemed not audible, no sound is played.

Smith had served a year or so in the other federal court building across the street.

“I couldn’t stand that white noise,” he said, and wondered if it might bother jurors.

So about eight years ago, Smith said, he decided to opt for playing music, typically classical. “It’s just a little more pleasant.”

While he prefers to keep sidebars to a minimum for the jury’s sake, Smith said, he has never had one of the conferences run so long that music ran out. He recalled a
longer trial where the music — “I think it was Vivaldi” — had become repetitive, so some Van Morrison and a little Bob Dylan filled in during sidebars.

To shroud the conversation, he said, “Van Morrison was better than Dylan because Van Morrison has some orchestra in it.”

But instrumental music is the norm.

“Classical is probably the best choice,” Smith said, “because it fills the space better than almost any other kind of music you could
find.” Other music, he said, may have gaps where nothing is being played, allowing some sidebar conversation to be heard. And, he said, given differing tastes, he felt people would largely be amenable to classical.

Classical is a catch-all term for music including several eras: 17th-century baroque pieces, such as those written by J.S. Bach; 18th-century music by composers including Mozart; 19th-century romantic works by the likes of Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin; and 20th-century music by composers such as Shostakovich and Britten.

Outside of work, Smith said, he likes music of his generation and some that his children have introduced him to, bands such as Wilco and The Decemberists. Growing up, he tried his hand at the guitar but said he didn’t think he was so good at it; he had friends who played better.

In Smith’s courtroom, a
clerk uses a high-tech console to activate everything from case exhibits on video screens to audio for testimony. She also cues up the music selection.

Smith said the court building had its sound system redone in the last year. Speakers are embedded in wood in various locations.

Don’t expect a television legal-drama moment where an ominous soundtrack accompanies a perfectly scripted prosecutor delivering a speech which, in a real courtroom, might not get past the word “objection.” And there’s no way to make a bootleg recording; cell phones and recording devices are not allowed in federal courtrooms. The music lasts for what’s far from concert length.

But Smith said he’s heard enough of the current choices, so the soundtrack will change again soon. A clerk is bringing in new music. mmckinne@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7447
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / MARY MURPHY

Judge William Smith prefers to keep private sidebar conferences with lawyers to a minimum, but when they’re needed, he prefers to play classical music so jurors don’t hear.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Divorce, Immigration, or Estate Law in RI or MA contact Massachusetts and Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer Rui P. Alves at 401-942-3100 or CONTACT him via email.