Tag Archives: sentence

Unintended Consequences of Criminal Offenders Being Transferred from State Prison to County Jail

The growing population of over 150,000 inmates in state prisons in California has exceeded the level the U.S. Supreme Court opined in 2011 is permissible. There has been litigation in Federal Court to obtain a more speedy reduction of the state prison population, and a new law has been enacted as a result of the … Read More

Former BP Engineer Convicted of Obstructing Justice

In New Orleans today, there was a jury verdict after the U.S. Department of Justice charged Kurt Mix, a former BP engineer, of deleting hundreds of text messages from his iPhone, thereby thwarting the investigation of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although none of the top executives of BP have … Read More

Supreme Court Ruling Allows DNA Samples After Arrest

The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that it is legal for the police to take a DNA sample at the time of an arrest for a serious crime. The ruling came about after a court in Maryland said it was illegal for a police to take Alonzo King’s DNA. King was arrested for felony … Read More

Wrongly Convicted Man “Truly Happy” After 14 Years in Prison

An Alameda County judge has overturned the conviction of an East Oakland man who served 14 years in prison for an attempted rape he did not commit. He spoke publicly for the first time. Through the use of DNA, a team lawyers and students were able to prove that the 37-year-old was not guilty. The … Read More

Ex-Border Patrol agent sentenced for theft, child porn (Sam Spital)

Commentary by Criminal Defense Lawyer SAM SPITAL: “A former Border Patrol Officer convicted of interstate transportation of stolen goods, theft of government property and possession of nearly 400 photos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct was reported by CBS8.com on January 14, 2013. The U.S. District Court Judge sentenced the defendant to 3 years … Read More

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Nurse Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for “Convenience Drugging” Elder Patients

Commentary by San Diego Criminal Defense and California Professional License & Statewide Administrative Law Attorney Sam Spital: “On January 9, 2013, the Sierra Sun Times, a local newspaper in Mariposa County, California, reported Gwen Hughes pled nolo contendere and was sentenced to three years in state prison for one count of felony elder abuse with … Read More

19-year sentence for fatal rock beating (Sam Spital)

COMMENTARY BY SAM SPITAL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: “On November 15, 2012, the UT San Diego news reported the defendant with a long history of drug related offenses in a revenge and repeated beating with a rock to the head of a 31 year old homeless man was sentenced to 19 Years to Life in State … Read More

Confessed murderer sentenced to 80 years to life in prison (Samuel Spital)

“A former nurse pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the slayings of (1) his estranged wife, who was a nurse and almost half his age, previously filed for divorce and kicked the defendant out of the condo they earlier had occupied, and (2) a male co-worker who was also a nurse, after … Read More

Court: Convicted Crowe killer due new trial (Sam Spital)

“In the UT San Diego News, October 2, 2012, the author reported the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Petition for a Writ of Certiorari filed by the California Attorney General’s Office, who sought review of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision that reversed the 2004 voluntary manslaughter conviction of Richard … Read More

Mother Sentenced in Daughter’s Murder (Sam Spital)

“A mother was sentenced after her guilty plea to Second Degree Murder in the death of her nine year old daughter, as reported in the September 19, 2012 NBC digital edition of the news. The story described a daughter who suffered an agonizing 17 months of continued strangling, kicks, burns and punches after she moved … Read More