A man identified as Wossen Assaye was apprehended yesterday morning in Washington, D.C. following an hours-long man-hunt after the man, being held on federal bank robbery charges, escaped from a Northern Virginia hospital. Assaye was purportedly being held at INOVA Fairfax Hospital on a suicide watch while charges are pending in federal court for as […]
Last Friday FBI agents raided a Woodbridge, Virginia home and took a 17-year old into custody for helping another man travel to Syria to join the Islamic State or ‘ISIS.’ The juvenile is reportedly a student at Osbourn Park High School outside of Manassas in Prince William County who has been described as quiet, polite and […]
This past Thursday, it officially became legal to possess marijuana in the District of Columbia. On November 4th, 2014, Initiative 71 was approved by D.C. voters, adding D.C. to the ranks of those that have legalized marijuana possession including Colorado, Washington, Oregon and (as of February 25th) Alaska. The initiative, which formally amended D.C. Code […]
Yesterday morning the White House went on lockdown after a small commercially-available ‘drone’ was spotted flying over White House grounds. It crash-landed on the lawn at about 3am. The President and First Lady were in India but their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were at home. After a brief lockdown and search of the White House […]
So now you’re either sitting in jail or out on your own recognizance or some sort of bond. What do you do next? Get a lawyer. Immediately. You should obtain a skilled attorney as soon as possible. You should do some research to make sure that this person is qualified to represent you and has some […]
Well that depends. It depends on whether you know the mayor, the sheriff, someone on the city council or even if you know someone willing to drop a few hundred bucks to bail you out of jail. But seriously, let’s say you are arrested for some non-violent, not-terribly serious offense (although obviously it was serious […]
Jonathan Rapping Wins MacArthur Genius Grant One of D.C.’s very own, Jonathan Rapping, a former D.C. public defender and graduate of the George Washington University Law School, has been awarded a MacArthur Genius grant. The grant, which is awarded annually to only 20 or so individuals, recognizes innovation and creativity in numerous fields. Mr. Rapping […]
…the answer should always be ‘no.’ Many of us have been there. When a police officer asks (or more accurately, declares) to search your car, home, locker, etc., we presume they have the power to do so anyways. We presume that we will be better off cooperating rather than telling the officer ‘no.’ We presume […]
I don’t think this one comes as a big surprise. It’s good to see officers cleared after a clearly justified shooting especially in the wake of what’s been going on in Ferguson. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/federal-dc-officers-cleared-in-shooting-mass-killer-aaron-alexis-at-navy-yard/2014/08/27/bd93bc1a-1e42-11e4-ae54-0cfe1f974f8a_story.html
Apparently even your silence can be used against you: https://blog.simplejustice.us/2014/08/25/the-warning-formerly-known-as-miranda. This post by attorney Scott H. Greenfield is very alarming. Apparently the California Supreme Court has determined that, simply by exercising your own right to remain silent, the prosecutor can use that against you by highlighting what you didn’t say to show your guilt.