Assault with a deadly weapon and attempted premeditated murder of an ex-girlfriend could be considered the antithesis of what one associates with a hilarious blockbuster comedy. An actor who appeared in "The 40 Year Old Virgin," however, has reportedly been charged and convicted of these violent crimes and been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in twelve years. There is nothing funny about that. While Shelley Malil's defense attorney described his ex as a violent drama queen, it was the defendant that stabbed her multiple times with a kitchen knife in a jealous rage upon finding her sharing a drink with a male friend in her own home.

A jury has convicted the actor and sentenced him to life in prison for attempted premeditated murder and assault with a deadly weapon. The assault was of course that he stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife. The premeditated murder charge may be analagous to an attempted murder charge in New Jersey. The issue for the jury was to decide if the Defendant had the intent to kill the victim when he began stabbing her. In this instance, they found that he intended to kill her when he began to stab her and he was convicted of that crime. He was also charged with burglary but acquitted on that lesser charge. He can be charged with burglary because he meets the elements of the crime: he entered her home as an uninvited guest and committed a crime in the dwelling. However, it also had to be shown that he had the intent to commit that crime when entered her home. In this situation, the defendant showed that he did not have the intent to assault and murder her. This would be because he did not know the victim was with another man until after he entered the dwelling. He actually only went to her house uninvited to tell her that he had taken her pot and sent some explicit sex photos of the two of them to her co-workers. There is nothing funny about that either.

The mild upside for the Defendant is that he eventually can be eligible for parole and thus most likely will not be confined to prison for the rest of his life. While domestic violence is common, it is not likely that the average person would have this nuanced legal knowledge or even if they did, be capable of drawing upon it in the midst of a conflict. If an individual describe themselves as having a emotionally volatile temperament and intense relationships, or as being involved with this type of personality, he or she would be well served by identifying an experienced attorney to call immediately should he or she be involved in any domestic altercation in order to best protect his or her legal rights.

In a case that will likely appear on a Law and Order episode, a jeweler, whose clients have included Donald Trump and Yoko Ono, has reportedly been sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing his wife, despite the fact that her remains have not been conclusively identified. During his trial, it was determined that he knocked his wife unconscious with a piece of wood and incinerated her body in an oil drum. The theory that he used his scientific knowledge of acids to destroy forensic evidence such as bones and teeth that could be used to identify her has been accepted by the Court. It should be noted that she was in the process of divorcing him, and he stood to lose more than $1.5 million.

The Defendant, representing himself, made the argument that his confessions were inadmissible, but the Court doesn't accept it. For a confession to be considered by the Court to have been involuntary, the defense must show that the police overbore the defendant's will and he was forced to confess. In this case, that doesn't seem to have been shown. First, the Defendant claimed he confessed due to pressure from a friend, even though he didn't seem to indicate how that pressure occurred. He told the friend that his wife "doesn't exist anymore" and that "they can't find her" while that friend was wearing a wire. There appears to be little other evidence offered by Defendant to show how law enforcement did anything improper so as to coerce a confession.

The prosecution leveraged testimony from five witnesses, including the victim and defendant's teenage son, the victim's cousin and sister. His accusations that the judge is prejudiced and the prosecutor incompetent, and that his wife's family and friends formed a lynch mob, did little to strengthen his legal strategy. His statement that "it is impossible to burn a human body and leave no evidence" seems to highlight his terrible and horrific accomplishment. What ever an expert, experienced criminal defense attorney may have done for him in Court will never be known. What is known, however, is that an attorney would have been a better choice.

Three days is all it took for a released sex offender to victimize another person, a teenager, no less, and it gets worse: a disabled teenager, in a bathroom, of all places. Police reportedly found the fourteen year-old victim in Newark's Penn Station appearing as if something was amiss. She told them that she had been assaulted in a library restroom. The forty-five year-old accused had been released from state prison and was wearing an ankle monitor. As of the date of the report, it was unclear if he had retained a defense attorney.

Criminally, this person has definitely dug himself into a grave. He is a "recidivating" or re-offending sex offender, meaning that a subsequent offense will land him an automatic mandatory minimum of five years in prison with no possibility of parole, who can be sent to an additional five years in prison if he faces a new sexual assault charge with aggravating factors. Those aggravating factors include if the rape was forcible, if the victim was a minor, and if he or she is disabled.

Assessments of this sort of behavior lead many to believe that these urges are not easily suppressed or quelled. According to Dr. Gregory J. Coram, Forensic and Medical Psychologist and Director of the Masters program in Criminal Justice at Monmouth University, the acts in which these urges manifest are often unpredictable, repetitive, and non-stop. Rehabilitative treatments, are not often, if ever, likely to be effective when it comes to sex offenders.

"Due to the nature of these sexual disorders," says Dr. Coram, "it is very difficult to make any reasonable prediction on whether or not these individuals will re-offend. Sexual behavior is an integral part of the individual, and any distortions or pathology in that area will permeate their personality. Therefore, I am not a strong believer in true rehabilitation for these types of offenders. They have their signature and their methods, and the capability of rehabilitative treatment to break that pattern of behavior is something I believe to be unrealistic with current treatments."

This type of attack is very serious, and even if the sexual activity itself was not initiated by means of an attack, that is, if it was "consensual", the act would still be considered statutory rape, considering the victim was underage, and in no determinable position to give consent. In terms of legality of sexual activity, any act that is coerced is illegal. Physical force and/or threats need not be used to qualify as criminal.

You might ask, why do I need to know the law? It's not like I would ever commit such an atrocity.

Naturally, it's not expected that any reasonable person would perpetrate a crime like this. However, the laws about statutory rape are not always as crystal clear to everyone as they should be. Plainly, an attorney is in the best position to sort through the details of a questionable scenario as it may be construed by the law. The New Jersey Criminal Code states that sexual activity between an adult (18+) and a child between the ages of 13 and 16 is illegal unless the participants are within four years of age of one another. For example, it is legal for a 20-year old and a 17-year old to engage in sexual activity, but illegal for a 20-year old and a 15 year old to do so. Additionally, any sexual activity involving a child under the age of 13 is strictly illegal. It is worth noting that the gender of the victim or the assailant is not specified.

When it comes to a question of statutory rape, remember: it does not matter if both participants are willing, or even if the underage participant initiates the act itself. The law views a person under the age of 16 as lacking the emotional maturity to give consent to sexual activity, except in the circumstances provided above. And always remember: any act of forcible sex, that is, against the will of either participant, is considered aggravated sexual assault.

The courts do not accept a defense of mistaken age, e.g., "She looked like she was of age to me." The presumption is that if the participant looks underage, it should be assumed that he or she is underage. Real life often presents complications and complexities even where the facts seem clear. As such, anyone involved in an attack, or a relationship or circumstance where these laws may be considered, should contact an attorney who is an expert in this area of practice.

The police are still investigating the situation even though they know that George Huguely killed Yeardley Love. However, the police are doing their due diligence to make sure they prove their case. Also, the police are searching for information about the lacrosse player's state of mind. If they can find some evidence of proof that he intended to kill Ms. Yeardley, also a lacrosse player, then he can be charged with first-degree murder. This is a much different ranking than the rest of his team, ranked first in collegiate lacrosse right now. If that evidence cannot be produced then Mr. Huguely can argue that the crime was manslaughter. That means the death was an accident or that he didn't intend to kill her, but only intended to harm her. Practically speaking this could mean the difference of the young man spending life in prison with no chance of parole or merely spending a very long time in prison.

It is beginning to look like there is evidence of his state of mind because it has been reported that he allegedly attacked Ms. Yeardley before, at another university, the University of North Carolina. They had a long term, on-off-again volatile relationship. Our "gentleman" student-athlete has been arrested for threatening to kill a female police officer while drunk, in an altercation where the officer eventually tasered him. He apparently jumped off the family yacht when his father called the police to come out a quarter mile off shore from the family's Florida estate to help with a domestic dispute. Both the defendant and the victim were raised in a life of privilege, complete with prestigious prep schools the likes of which make this story ripe for a made-for-television-movie. In the interim, the trial will unfold that will demonstrate the relevant issues in prosecuting and defending crimes of passion. There are many lesser crimes resulting from domestic type disputes that, if prosecuted, could prevent the violence from escalating. A proper, skilled defense by an experienced attorney can redirect someone a defendant on a destructive path toward a more productive, mentally healthy life and protect those around him or her.

Evander Holyfield is guilty of hitting his wife several times, according to her recent police report, and she got a temporary protective order against him. He has not been charged, however, and police have been silent as to whether there is an ongoing criminal investigation. She claims that the boxer hit her in the face, head and back after she would not produce check stubs from church donations. Apparently, he was worried that she was not giving money to the church.

Mr. Holyfield, according to the order, is not to be within 500 yards of Mrs. Holyfield, 30 years of age, and their 6 year-old son and 5 year-old daughter, until a February 18th hearing. His third wife, Mrs. Holyfield states that emotional abuse started soon after their marriage, and that emotional and physical abuse have been escalating since then. Publicly, however, they remain steadfastly devoted to each other and their marriage.

In New Jersey, domestic violence is one person's attempt to control another via harmful acts, be they physical, sexual, emotional or verbal, with whom he or she has had a "dating" relationship, though it could be a parent or caretaker. So those who are or were dating, are or were married, have shared or share living quarters fall under the requirements. "Harmful" could include criminal acts from false imprisonment to stalking to criminal trespass. To get a "TRO" or protective order, an alleged victim files a complaint with the family division of Superior Court, where a judge will consider the history of domestic violence, whether or not the victim is in immediate danger, and what measures will sufficiently protect him or her. This is a civil legal action, but a criminal complaint may be filed as well, and once a TRO is filed the alleged abuser can be held in criminal contempt for violating it. Because it is temporary, a TRO is fairly easily obtained from the Court.

A hearing is held ten days later for the judge to determine if a final restraining order, or FRO, is warranted, and for how long. At a final hearing, both parties may speak, and offer evidence and question witnesses on the record. Therefore, of course, it is important to have the aid of an attorney if at all possible, in order to protect your rights. The boxer may be trying to exercise control over Mrs. Holyfield, and their money, and at the time of filing she had a problem with it. She claimed that he choked her in front of their daughter and that he hit her in front of their children. Later, she released a statement saying that Mr. Holyfield "has many qualities and characteristics that [she] admires and respects. We are all human." Of course, the legal system will be there for her should she determine that such behavior towards herself and around her children is not human.

Chris Terry was charged with a DUI, a class A felony dealing cocaine, a class C felony drug possession, resisting arrest, possession of a handgun without a permit and driving with a suspended license, in Clarksville, Indiana. Another man and woman were also in the car, in the man's pocket was $1,200.00 and near him was a large amount of cocaine. They were arrested for similar charges, including public intoxication. The arrest was made at a traffic stop early Wednesday morning when a police officer witnessed him driving erratically. Under Terry's his seat was a loaded handgun and in the cup holder next to him was some cocaine. Add to these elements that Terry is 6'5" and 295 pounds and that he allegedly refused to follow police instruction, this could certainly present a very dangerous set of circumstances. Terry is currently being held without bond.

Charges of DUI, drug possession, dealing, possession of a loaded weapon without a permit, resisting arrest and public intoxication carry serious penalties in every state, including New Jersey. This is quite a fall from Terry's football days. He attended the University of Georgia, and played for the Carolina Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks, and most recently, the Kansas City Chiefs in 2006 and 2007. It was reported that the Chiefs cut him for being absent from team meetings in 2007. The NFL suspended him from the 2008 season for substance abuse, after already having been suspended in 2003 drugs and a domestic dispute. Domestic violence and drugs are a common pair, and they should be taken very seriously.

In New Jersey, cocaine is considered a "Controlled Dangerous Substance," or CDS. As one example, this felony possession charge could lead to up to 5 years in jail and remain on your record permanently. If it is your first offense, you could be eligible for the Pretrial Intervention program, which can lead to a dismissal of charges after 1 year. One way to defend against charges of this nature is to question the method of the police search and seizure, or how the cocaine was discovered. The specific facts of the arrest are crucial in determining the best legal course of action.

If you have been involved in domestic violence, or charged with DUI, drug possession charges, weapons charges, or any of these crimes, it is crucial that you call an attorney immediately. Experienced attorneys can be reached at Chamlin, Rosen, Uliano and Witherington.

Tiger is lucky. Another professional athlete's domestic dispute has led to another motor vehicle accident, but the result is far more tragic than loss of sponsorships. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry died today from injuries sustained by falling from a pick up truck, allegedly driven by his fiancée and mother of two of his children. Police will not say whether he fell out or was forced out of the vehicle, but homicide detectives have been assigned to the case and fiancée Loleini Tonga was driving the vehicle.

At age 26, Henry had a history of arrests, including gun, marijuana possession, and assault charges. The Bengals gave him a break after a rough career at West Virginia under then Coach Rich Rodriguez. At his worst, he was called "an embarrassment to himself and the program," and "a one-man crime wave." He had been suspended by the NFL three times, released and then resigned for another chance to "regroup, catch himself, and re-start his life." Recently, despite being plagued by injuries including a dislocated forearm, he was turning things around. Those around him were both proud and hopeful, saying that "When you see him up close, you'll find that you'll like him," that he "has done everything he can to make himself a better person" and is "a great kid with a great heart."

One doesn't have to dig deep to find a cautionary tale for college athletes, for those embroiled in domestic disputes (Steve McNair's death is also tied to trouble with a mistress girlfriend), for those involved with drugs on any level, and even for dangerous driving (how often do people get behind the wheel when they are upset or following a heated argument).

The legal penalties for all of this behavior quickly pile up, and can have a seriously negative impact on your life, whether you are an athlete or not. Costly fines, loss of drivers license, jail time and mandated community service and treatment programs are all possibilities, depending upon you are caught on a first, second or third offense, or the particular circumstances surrounding the incident. It is too bad that successful athletes who make the most of the opportunities that come their way, and who manage to make good choices do not make the headlines.