Browning Law News Blog

This week I will be attending the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers seminar on defending DUI and drug cases at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas this week.  I always enjoy these seminars, because they are put on by some of the best criminal defense lawyers in the US, and I always come back with great information to help my clients.  This seminar's featured speaker is Mac Fulfer, an expert in "reading faces," a skill every trial lawyer should have to some degree.  Mr. Fulfer takes this skill to a much higher level...this one promises to be fascinating. https://www.nacdl.org/LegalEducation.aspx?id=16284 *********************************************************************************************************************** Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen handles cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to se...

Maria Hernandez of Burley, Idaho, also known as Maria Gutierrez, has been charged with helping her brother, Hector Gutierrez, murder her husband Enrique with a hatchet in Las Vegas. Both are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The state alleges Enrique discovered Maria was having an affair. He then hired a man to beat up Maria's lover, and he told her he was going to take custody of the couple's four children. About a month later, Maria wired $800 to Hector at his home in Visalia, which Hector said was to pay for his trip to Las Vegas to kill Enrique Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez thereafter went to Las Vegas to attend a quinceanera birthday party with family when they met up with Mrs. Hernandez' brother. The brother entered the van, in which Maria had concealed a hatchet. When Enrique stopped on a Las Vegas street to check on the engine of his van, Maria directed Hector to attack Enrique with the hatchet. Hector struck him in the head neck five times, whil...

Workers at a New Jersey daycare have been accused of starting a sort of "fight club" among the children ages from 4 to 6 years old. They filmed the the incidents and shared them on various social media websites. Erica Kenny and Chanese White have been charged with child abuse.  Kenny is also facing a child endangerment charge. It seems as though none of the children involved had any serious injuries. Kenny and White were fired from the Daycare center when the allegations were made. The pair have both pled "not guilty" to the charges against them. White is facing 18 months in prison, while Kenny is looking at 5 years in prison. Their next hearing is scheduled for October 15 in Superior Court. Comments from Allen :  Many crimes and wrongs are difficult to prosecute, because there is no documentation of exactly what occurred.  In this case, the staged fights were done purely for pleasure.  One of the defendants showed someone what happened on Snapchat, and that sho...

A teenager from Virginia tried to impersonate an officer and attempted to pull over a car whose driver turned out to be an actual off-duty police officer. The teenager, Joshua R. Rosene, had blue flashing lights mounted on top of his car. The officer thought the vehicle looked suspicious, so instead of pulling over, he called the police. He followed Rosene's car until police officers came to charge Rosene. Rosene was charged with impersonating an officer and was released on a $2,500 bail. Comments from Allen :   First, impersonating a cop is a dangerous thing to do. There is a high danger to the person stopped, and the one impersonating the cop is potentially putting himself in danger.  Despite this, it is the third time this has happened in this county in Virginia this year. Fortunately for this young man, Virginia deems this conduct a misdemeanor.  In Idaho, this conduct is also a misdemeanor. The most unfortunate victim in this episode appears to be Wiscon...

*****Warning this video does contain some explicit language***** This appeared on HBO on September 13, 2015.  The fake news broadcaster editorializes about public defenders, and this clip has been seen by over 8 million viewers. Caseloads of public defenders are very high.  They generally handle about ten times the volume of cases of private attorneys. In some places, local attorneys bid on the ability to handle public defender contracts.  In all jurisdictions, there are "conflict public defenders" who are not working in the local public defender's office, who handle cases in which several people are accused of acting together to commit a crime.  Local attorneys also bid on these contracts, and the pay for this work is very low.  One Idaho Falls conflict attorney said he figured that with the time he spent on this work, and the pay he received, he was getting about $4.00 per hour for this work. I'm thinking he might be going on strike to demand a l...

Ahmed Muhammad was arrested in Irving, Texas for bringing a homemade clock to school when his teachers thought it was a fake bomb. He had a police escort as he was lead off campus. Ahmed told NBC that he has always been interested in engineering, and he wanted to share the clock he made with his teachers. Unfortunately, at least three of his teachers thought it was a bomb and notified the authorities. He was pulled out of class and put in a room to be questioned by five police officers. He asked to talk to his parents, but he was told that he couldn't talk with them because he was being interrogated. Ahmed was handcuffed and taken to the juvenile processing area at the police station. The charges against Ahmed were dropped. Ahmed's family has said that he will be transferring schools. He might go to a private school, or be home-schooled. The community believes one of the reasons this happened is the ever growing Anti-Islamic sentiment that has risen in Irving since the atta...

Freddie Gray was a 25 year old man who died after receiving a spinal injury in a police vehicle on April 19th. His death has led to many riots and protests. The protests did settle a little when the six officers involved were charged for his death. All of the officers plead not guilty. You can read more about the actual incident and the protests surrounding Gray's death in our previous article:  http://abrowninglaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/freddie-gray-death-aftermath.html  The Baltimore city board has tentatively awarded Gray's family a settlement of $6.4 million. The Gray's attorney said the settlement was meant to have a calming effect, and help water down the violent protests that have been happening. This settlement is larger than the one given to the family of Eric Gardner($5.9 million) in New York City. It is remarkable because New York has an annual budget around $75 billion, while Baltimore only has a budget of $2.5 billion. In the past, the city capped police br...

Susan Marie Surrette was in court for a bond hearing for a disorderly intoxication charge. As her hearing was wrapping up, she was complaining about police brutality and being mistreated during her time in jail. Surrette decided to show the judge her bruises, which ended with her flashing him.    The judge set her bond for $100 and ordered that she undergo a medical evaluation. Comments from Allen : This woman is a self-described porn star and escort, who is accustomed to exposing herself for money.  The judge in this case was not sure whether to find her in contempt or get her evaluated for a mental condition.  When she flashed the judge, her attorney suggested to the judge that this was a woman who "needed help" that she was not going to get in jail. From the response given in this case, it does not appear the judge is going to sanction this woman for her courtroom demeanor.  If she pleads to disorderly intoxication, he will probably sanction her wi...

Brian Simmons was exposed to radioactive dust while he was working on repacking radioactive plates at Battelle in Pocatello. In some circumstances, he was not given safety equipment at all when handling radioactive materials. The repackaging incident lead to the contamination of 16 works and the facility. Simmons is currently suing Battelle. He is making claims under the Energy Reorganization Act (ERA), the Price-Anderson Act(PAA), and other Idaho state laws. The PAA provides relief for those who are injured as a result of a nuclear incident. Simmons claims that Battelle knew that repackaging the plates would result in injury, failed to warn him of the danger, failed to follow the safety regulations, and intentionally put Battelle in danger of exposure. Simmons suffered from nausea, vomiting, and malaise from the exposure and he is worried about potential long-term health problems such as cancer. Battelle tried to dismiss the case, but the United States District Court for the D...

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is going to trial because she is accused of leaking secret grand jury information to the press, lying under oath, and ordering aides to illegally snoop through computer files to keep tabs on an investigation into the leak. Her aide is said to have left a  box containing the confidential documents between the door and screen that a reporter later picked up.  She is said to have leaked a confidential grand jury memo and transcript related to the Mondesire case to a news reporter to embarrass rival prosecutors involved in the case. The detective who investigated Kane said that the leak caused Mondesire personal and family distress, and he was forced to close his charity because donations stopped after the newspaper story. Kane's main defense attorney, Gerald Shargel, said that Mondesire already lost his reputation when articles came out in 2010 regarding his bad finances and he can't lose his reputation a second time. This is another...

New York doctor Bret Ostrager accepted cash bribes to direct business to Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services, a New Jersey blood lab, from February 2011 to April 2013. He accepted monthly bribes of around $3,300. Authorities have said that he also accepted thousands of dollars in meals, concert tickets, and sporting events tickets. In return, Ostrager referred his patient's blood samples to the blood lab generated around $900,000 in business to the lab. Ostrager was charged with violating New Jersey's anti-kickback laws. 38 other people, including 26 doctors, have plead guilty in connection to the bribery. Organizers of the scheme have admitted to receiving more than $100 million in payments to the lab from Medicare and other private insurers.The investigation recovered more than $11.5 through forfeiture. He faces up to 5 years in prison if he is convicted. Comments from Allen :   Referrals are the lifeblood of many businesses, particularly among professionals.  Wh...