Is what you write on facebook private?
No, not according to United States Federal Court Judge William Pauley III. Federal prosecutors were able to use what a criminal defendant wrote on his facebook profile against him. This person had written threats on facebook which federal prosecutors were able to use against him in a criminal proceeding.
http://www.tecca.com/news/2012/08/16/facebook-privacy-court-ruling/
Prosecuters in Rhode Island were able to use pictures that a criminal defendant had posted on his facebook profile to show that he had propensity for firearms. If you questions about how facebook can be used in a criminal or family court proceeding, please call my office at 401-942-3100.
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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.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Divorce Attorney-Who do I hire?
Divorce Attorney - Who do I hire?
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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.
The divorce process can be a very difficult and stressful process. You should hire a lawyer who will make the process less stressful for you. It is important that you hire a lawyer who believes in you. It is equally important that you find a lawyer who you feel comfortable with for the process.
Before you meet with a lawyer you should make a list of the following:
- Questions you have about the process?
- How much time is this going to take?
- Questions about division of assets?
- Bring a list of your assets to the first meeting.
- Questions about division of debts?
- Bring a list of your debts to the first meeting.
- Is child custody, visitation and support going to be an issue?
- Is Alimony going to play into your case?
- Bring you tax returns, pays stubs and other relevant financial paperwork.
- How does the lawyer charge?
These are just a few of the many questions that we will go over with you on your first initial free consultation. It is important that you select the right lawyer for your divorce in Rhode Island or Massachusetts. If you have questions about these or any other issues, please contact my office at 401-942-3100.
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.
Monday, August 13, 2012
NEW - RI Child Support Guidelines Increase
Rhode Island Family Court Child Support Guidelines.
Recently the Rhode Island Family Court has updated its Child Support Guidelines. This update has resulted in the monthly amount of child support that paying parents pay, going up. As a result, parents receiving child support could get more in their weekly or monthly payments. If you are receiving child support and would like to recalculate your child support, one should ask a lawyer the following questions:
- Am I entitled to recalculate child support at this time?
- If this is a new child support order, am I entitled to retroactive child support?
- Is the child support going to be garnished? (take directly from a paycheck)
- Am I entitled to receive any other expenses in addition to child support?
If you have questions about child support or any other family court matter, please call Attorney Rui P Alves for a free consultation at 401-942-3100.
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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.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Hit & Run in Rhode Island
From the Providence Journal Newspaper
About two hours later she was fighting for her life at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where she was taken after having been run down by a Jeep operated by a hit-and-run driver on Narragansett Boulevard in the Washington Park neighborhood. She was hospitalized for seven months.
Having suffered a broken left leg and a brain injury, a 17-year-old Nancy now spends her days in a wheelchair, partially paralyzed, in a long-term-care facility. “Her reaction is, ‘Why me,’ ” a sister, Damaris Martinez, said recently.
The driver was Jose M. Cordeiro, an auto-body repairman nicknamed “Joe Maaco,” for the Maaco chain of auto-paint shops, who was at the wheel of a customer’s vehicle. He had picked up the Jeep about one hour before the accident. Afterward, he left it at the customer’s house with more damage, according to court evidence.
Thursday was Cordeiro’s day of reckoning, in Superior Court. Cordeiro, with a crumpled tissue in his hand, and Nancy’s family began crying midway through a sentencing hearing.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, with serious bodily injury resulting. Judge Netti C. Vogel imposed a prison sentence of 10 years, with 5 to serve at the Adult Correctional Institutions and the rest suspended with probation.
She ordered that his driver’s license be suspended for two years and that if it is reinstated, his car for two years must have an ignition interlock device that prevents him from turning on the engine until he has breathed into the device to prove that he has not consumed alcohol.
Vogel recited the facts of the case, including Cordeiro’s admission that he stopped the vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, looked back, and then took off after the impact, which the police said threw Nancy 71 feet.
Cordeiro left her in the street “like road kill,” Vogel said.
“You made a choice. … You had to know that she was suffering.”
Cordeiro, 57, of 11 Paula Lane, Johnston, and a citizen of the Azores, faces possible deportation as a result of the conviction, Vogel pointed out.
John E. MacDonald, one of Cordeiro’s lawyers, told the judge that his client is the father of a 25-year-old son who is housebound in a wheelchair and for whom Cordeiro is the sole financial support. He asked Vogel to see that Cordeiro have work release while at the ACI so Cordeiro could continue to earn money. But she left that decision to the Department of Corrections.
Yadira Martinez, another of Nancy’s sisters, gave a victim-impact statement on behalf of Nancy, who relatives said could not be brought to court.
“You took something very special from us. … ,” Martinez said. “I want you to look at me. You made us suffer. …”
In Portuguese translated to English, Cordeiro said later, “I am very, very, very sorry for what happened to their little girl.”
“Every day in the evening, I pray for that young lady. …”
Said Vogel, “I think that the family must have taken some solace from your tears.”
Some of the common reasons for hit-and-run accidents, according to the police, is that the driver has been drinking alcohol and fears the consequences of that, has an outstanding arrest warrant, and/or is driving without a license.
Vogel referred to Cordeiro’s two previous convictions for driving while intoxicated and said she does not know if he was drunk in this case because he fled the scene.
“You were an accident waiting to happen,” she declared.
Court evidence shows that Cordeiro admitted that he had been drinking before the accident. In a statement to the police, Cordeiro said he remembers nothing between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on the night of the accident, Oct. 10, 2009. Nancy was struck at 7:58 p.m.
“Cordeiro was highly intoxicated when his wife, Nellie, arrived to pick him up” on Park Avenue, Cranston, later that night, a police report states.
Cordeiro was not charged with drunken driving. If he had been, he would have faced a more severe sentence, according to Sgt. Paul F. Zienowicz, commander of the Providence police traffic-services unit.
Detectives did not identify Cordeiro as the driver and locate him until the day after the accident. So too much time had passed, the police noted, to get a usable test of his blood alcohol content. Even if they could, he mighthave been drinking after the accident as well, spoiling any potential link that might have been made between the accident and the alcohol.
Cordeiro’s case was resolved as the General Assembly considers proposals to beef up the laws on hit-and-run accidents and drunken driving, among other motor-vehicle legislation.
In 2011, there were about 20 serious hit-and-run accidents statewide, of which 3 were fatalities, according to Sen. Edward J. O’Neill, an independent who represents a district in Lincoln, Pawtucket and North Providence, and sponsor of a bill that would stiffen the penalties for hit-and-runs.
In Providence alone, there are about 2,600 hit-and-run accidents annually, most of which involve only property damage. gsmith@providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7334
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / KATHY BORCHERS
Jose M. Cordeiro appears in court Thursday with defense attorney John MacDonald, left, and interpreter Dalila Ferreira.
Nancy Ramos, shown in a family photo, was 15 when she was run down by a hit-and-run driver on Narragansett Boulevard, Providence, on Oct. 10, 2009. The accident left her partially paralyzed and confined to an undisclosed rehabilitation facility.
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / CONNIE GROSCH----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
COURTS
The penalty for his choice
Jose M. Cordeiro sentenced for hit-and-run crash that left young girl severely injured
PROVIDENCE — Nancy Ramos was a happy 15-year-old when she left her family’s apartment in the Codding Court public housing to meet a new friend on Columbus Day weekend in 2009.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.
Friday, December 9, 2011
5th Amendment
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
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
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.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Divorce & Holidays
React
Read more
One November, a colleague of mine asked the divorced parents of an angry and hostile 7 year old boy she was seeing for therapy to come to a consultation session. She handed them a doll: "You take the arms", she said to the dad. "Now you take the feet", this to the mom. "Now pull in opposite directions."
"But we'll break the doll," objected the mom.
"Right," said my colleague. "You two have got to stop fighting about who is going to get the kids on Christmas. It's tearing your son apart."
I wish I could report that that dramatic moment changed everything. It didn't. But the parents involved did love their son more than they hated each other and the demonstration got their attention. They did start to work in therapy to get the unresolved issues from their divorce out of the holidays for their children.
It's easier said than done. Parents who could never cooperate while married often find that the holiday season throws them back into the same kinds of arguments and stressful interactions that led to the divorce. Decisions about who goes where and when, who should pay for what, and who should be included in a child's sense of family are all potential stressors. If the parents make negative comments about each other, fight in the kids' hearing, or look for the kids to side with them, it's the kids who suffer most of all.
It doesn't have to be that way. The key to keeping stress down for the kids during the holiday season is adult flexibility.
Be flexible about dates: The old song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," had it right. Christmas is a season, not a 24 hour day. If you don't believe that it's second rate to spend time with the children on a day other than Dec. 25, they won't either. Even if your ex tries to make an issue of it, you don't have to. Focus on your kids' feelings, not on the date.
Be flexible about traditions. You may want to establish new traditions for your new idea of family. The kids may want to hold onto the way they've always done things. Traditions give kids a sense of predictability in an uncertain world. By all means, fold some new activities into your old routines to make the statement that things are different now. But make sure to honor your children's need for continuity as well.
Be flexible about who you include in family celebrations. There are divorced couples who are able to set aside their differences enough to participate in some Christmas activities together. Some are able to accept and include their ex's new partner as part of the new reality. And many people include former in-laws in holiday events with their children. If there are good reasons you can't, you can't. But when adults are able to get along or at least be reasonably polite with whoever is involved in the children's lives during holidays (and every day, for that matter), children are reassured that they won't lose anyone from their sense of family. They can like, even love, each of their parents' new partners. the families of those new people, and their original extended family without fearing the loss of affection from anyone.
Feeling caught in a fight for their loyalty between the two parents they love is highly destructive to kids' sense of safety and to their ability to form trusting intimate relationships of their own someday. When divorced parents are able to set aside their disappointments and anger with each other and instead focus on the kids' needs, they give their children the best Christmas gift of all.
Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D. is a marriage and family therapist and parent educator with over 30 years experience working with families. She is the author of Tending the Family Heart: Connecting your family in Disconnecting Times. It is available on Amazon and the Barnes and Noble websites; as well as on PsychCentral.com. Tending the Family Heart through the Holiday Season is coming soon fromPsychCentral.com. Visit her online at www.MarieHartwell-Walker.com.
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.
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