There was no way that the defendant knew he was attacking the wife of Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Chris Snyder, and that his temper tantrum was criminal. Driving without a license is indeed illegal, as is aggravated assault. Episodes of road rage similar to his occur every day all over the country on the nations streets and highways. A professional athlete's wife being attacked, while he and their children sit in the car, is genuinely newsworthy, and will not help the defendant's chances in court.

Because the baseball player was incapacitated by back surgery seated in the car and could do nothing but helplessly watch his wife get attacked, an innocent bystander and an off duty cop were left to intervene on Ms. Snyder's behalf, fending off bites, punches with keys between his fingers, and flying shoes. As a result of his extremely poor behavior following a close call while the victim was driving and he was riding a scooter, Mr. Modhwadia was charged with driving with an invalid license, aggravated assault, assault, and criminal mischief. He is being held on $25,000 bail. This will not be an easy case for his attorney.

In New Jersey, any criminal defense attorney should be able to tell you that aggravated assault is governed by NJSA 2C:12-1(b) which governs "attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another..[.]" Based upon police notes from the scene and witness accounts, there is evidence to show that Mr. Modhwadia attempted to cause serious harm to Carla Snyder. Additionally, in New Jersey the aggravated assault is an indictable crime so it would be review by the county prosecutor and most likely would remain in the Superior Court. This defendant is headed for far more than anger management. Anyone who has been the victim of a road rage tantrum, or has had an episode of behavior which has resulted in criminal charges, should without momentary hesitation contact a highly skilled attorney who has years of experience with these types of cases.

Texting and driving is a danger with any moving vehicle, as a Boston subway driver proved by crashing his trolley into another trolley. Many of the 60 injured passengers were also likely texting at the time, going by the technology's popularity, but they were not in the drivers seat. The driver plead guilty to criminal gross negligence by a person in control of a common carrier, meaning he was providing a service transporting a group of individuals. His girlfriend must feel a creepy kind of special to have cause the Defendant to run through yellow and red warning lights, endangering his passengers and shirking his crucial job responsibility.

His lawyer certainly did his job with this case. Prosecutors argued that because he felt like reaching out to his girlfriend, the defendant caused 65 people injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones, risking their lives, and incurred $10 million in damage. In defense, Mr. Quinn's attorney argued that this was a one-time thing, that he is ordinarily cautious, and that he has suffered already by losing his job, and becoming extremely unpopular locally and in the media. Tax dollars should not be spent to protect the public from this remorseful, good person he argued.

Mr. Quinn is an extremely fortunate individual. Due to his attorney's efforts, he will avoid time in jail despite carrying with him in the future a criminal record. This case illustrates how someone can be found guilty of a crime and have the State (or Commonwealth in this case) seek jail time, yet still avoid prison. It is because the sentencing judge has the ultimate discretion. Here, the Judge sentenced Mr. Quinn to probation, which means he will have to comply with Probation's requirements, but he will not serve any prison time. In New Jersey, a fourth or third degree criminal offense usually carries with it the presumption that guilty party be given probation rather jail time.

The procedural technicalities, as well as the importance of oral argument, in this case demonstrate how crucial it is to have the best defense attorney possible, no matter how serious or trivial the criminal charges. The right defense attorney can make a huge impact on your life.

A 2007 Beacon Theater hip-hop concert arrest sends another rapper to prison. In this case, Ja Rule will head to prison for two years. Lest anyone believe him to be a "wanna-be," Ja Rule pleaded guilty, just as Lil Wayne did in response to his arrest at the same event, to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. It is stated on the record for the Police, that he was found with a .40-caliber loaded semiautomatic gun in his pricey, speeding Maybach.

The New York City gun laws are the toughest in the nation and Ja Rule became the latest celebrity to learn a difficult lesson. New York City imposes a mandatory minimum prison term on the gun related offense, in this case a violent felony. The Court takes any offense involving a firearm as extremely serious. In New Jersey, the possession of a gun triggers mandatory jail time, as governed by the Graves Act N.J.S.A. 2C:43-6.

Furthermore, the Graves Act requires time periods of parole ineligibility in addition to mandatory prison terms for certain gun offenses, as well as for related offenses committed while in possession of a firearm. These include offenses such as homicide, manslaughter, aggravated assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated sexual contact, robbery, and burglary.
If two years seems like a long time, take a moment to consider that he might have gotten 15 years if he had been convicted of the initial weapons charges. He has some time to relax, if that is possible, because he is free at least until his next Court date in February, when a date will first be set for sentencing. His attorney is earning the counsel fees for sure, and demonstrated how crucial a skilled attorney is, whether or not you are a rapper.

The law is gender-blind for sure, at least, because rappers who have done jail time include Foxy Brown, Lil Kim and T.I. Plaxico Burress, the former New York Giants football player was charged with the same crime and received the same sentence last year. In his case, though, he shot himself. Ja Rule's wife and children living in New Jersey, will write and visit, no doubt, and help his time fly. They can be sure, his criminal defense attorney did as well as any could have given the facts of his case. Be sure to contact the best possible defense attorney, should you find yourself charged with any kind of weapons related or other crime.

Unfortunately, an arrest of a student-athlete is infrequent but not uncommon. When the school's mascot gets arrested, while serving in his official capacity at the stadium, it is at least noteworthy. Apparently, the University of Cincinnati Bearcat mascot was arrested during a Saturday football game against the University of Pittsburgh. During the game that day, the weather was harsh as snow blanketed the stadium. While sitting amidst the falling snow, many fans were tossing snowballs for additional entertainment. Generally, both football fans and players are a hearty bunch, but due to safety concerns, it seems that the fans were warned to stop throwing snowballs. Hard snow and ice can easily injure someone who is not prepared to catch it or doesn't see it coming, in a crowd packed tight in stadium seats. A ball of ice could be used as a weapon. However, the Bearcat mascot did not heed that warning, and threw snowballs into the stands from his perch on a 6-foot high wall behind the end zone that was covered with ice and snow. In addition to hurting crowd members by pelting them with ice and snow, he could have fallen, injured himself and whomever he may fall upon.

When confronted by police, the Bearcat allegedly shoved the officer, both men ended upon the ground, at which point he was arrested for disorderly conduct. In New Jersey, this would give the student-mascot a criminal record. Further, he would be subject to fines and even a potential loss of driving privileges. The best thing the Bearcat can hope for is that he would be able to pay a fine to a municipal ordinance violation, and that he will be allowed to escape being saddled with a criminal record, or receive terms for expungement. While the visual of a mascot being led away in handcuffs may be humorous, it will be no laughing matter for this Cincinnati student when he appears in Court. It should also be noted that even the mascot is replaceable as Cincinnati had a "backup" mascot fill in the original mascot for the second half of the Bearcats defeat.

This sort of scenario, a row among fans or mascots at a stadium in any weather, provides a range of legal issues, personal injury or negligence claims as well as criminal charges. It is crucial for a skilled attorney to navigate this sort of legal minefield, so if you or someone close to you ever finds yourself in a situation like this, the very first thing to do, once your physical safety has been ensured, is to contact and retain an attorney immediately.

The suicide of a Rutgers freshman, Mr. Tyler Clementi, is a tragic event, to say the least. The two students who broadcast his homosexual sexual encounter over the Internet using a hidden webcam, Dhuran Ravi and Molly Wei, now face charges for invasion of privacy. It is alleged that they filmed an intimate encounter of Clementi's with a webcam, posted a twitter message about the recording, and shared the video on iChat. The problem here is that the Middlesex County Prosecutor isn't able to charge them with more serious crimes. The consequences of their actions certainly seem to warrant more. The students were charged with 3rd degree invasion, which carries a potential five years in prison. However, there is a presumption of a non-custodial sentence for 4th and 3rd degree crimes. This means that Ravi and Wei would be looking at probation or even potential enrollment in a pretrial intervention program.

It is clear that the students' actions were driven by anti-gay bias. It may be argued that they might have had the same poor judgment had the victim been heterosexual. The only thing working against the students is the media coverage of the case. If the students were to end up in jail it would only be because of the media coverage's focus on the anti-gay motivation, and would not be consistent with what the average 3rd degree invasion criminal would receive. A defense attorney with experience dealing with intense media coverage would have to confront this risk head on.