The term "money laundering" can invoke images of organized crime mobsters engaged in activities such as taking over businesses and using them to hide ill-gotten funds derived from other illegal activities. That may, indeed, be one example of money laundering in practice, but money laundering can include many different kinds of activities some of which may be less obvious than the previous example.
The "right to a speedy trial" is grounded in the Sixth Amendment. But this amendment provides much more than a requirement that the government not unduly delay a criminal trial. Below we break down the protections that this important part of the Bill of Rights includes.
This post is the third in our series covering due process in criminal law actions. In the first two posts we addressed the concept of due process rights generally, and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in particular. In this post we will examine the Fifth Amendment.
This post continues our series examining the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution in connection to your rights to due process under federal and New Jersey law when you are accused of a crime. Thus far we have considered the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution; here, we will look at the Eighth Amendment.
There have been stories in the news recently about how the government – at both the New Jersey and federal levels – has been using asset forfeiture as a means of funding law enforcement activities. While this may not come as a surprise in cases where criminal defendants have been convicted of crimes and the assets seized represented their ill-gotten gains, the reality is that sometimes people are having their property taken away from them without a warrant requirement or even being charged with anything.
At the federal level, the government can seize property using a variety of means. It can do so administratively; it can do so through the criminal justice system; and it can do so in civil court actions. Civil asset forfeitures can be particularly pernicious, with more than $4 billion of property assets seized nationally in one year alone, and more than $2 billion in cash being seized from individuals who were never charged with a crime.
A development in criminal law in New Jersey and other states has been the implementation of statutes that effectively enhance the penalties of other crimes when the motivation of the criminal act involves animus toward the victim based on categories such as race, gender or sexual orientation. These statutes are generally known as "hate crime" laws.
This post cannot cover all aspects of federal hate crime laws, and it is not intended or offered as legal advice. If you have questions or require more information about such laws, a criminal defense law firm can help to provide you with answers.
Our firm represented Dias Kadyrbayev, the young college student charged with obstruction of justice in the Boston Marathon bombing case. The Government sought to introduce statements Kadyrbayev made to law enforcement after allegedly being Mirandized. In the motion to suppress and evidentiary hearing, attorneys Robert G. Stahl and Laura K. Gasiorowski argued that as a non-native speaker of English with no prior experience with the American justice system, Dias did not comprehend his rights under Miranda. Those rights were provided to Kadrybayev only in English, with no Kazakh or Russian translation or interpreter, despite the fact that his limited English proficiency was insufficient to understand the complicated language and syntax of the Miranda rights.
If there is one thing that the federal government does well, it is making things big. And if you run afoul of a federal prosecution, you may discover the big resources that those prosecutors can line up against you along with the big consequences you may face if they are successful in their efforts to convict you.
The U.S. Department of Justice is a perfect example of how the federal government does things big. It has a massive budget, multiple agencies, thousands of agents and hundreds of prosecutors. Especially if you find yourself facing them alone, the intimidation effect can be formidable. They know this and count on it.
Even if you think you did nothing wrong, you still might find yourself running afoul of the federal government. Common situations that could put you in jeopardy include:
When the federal government accuses you of a crime, there is no doubt that you need an attorney. But not just any attorney will do. Criminal defense attorneys who represent shoplifters, deadbeat parents, and traffic violators might be no match for the vast apparatus that the Justice Department can unleash against you.
If these lawyers aren't already experienced in federal criminal defense, the consequences for you of being their "learning-experience" can be disastrous.
What distinguishes the New Jersey law offices of Robert G Stahl is precisely this level of extensive and relevant experience in dealing with the federal government. Our attorneys have combined decades of experience defending people like you against federal and state felony accusations from pretrial negotiation through litigation and appeals. They know their adversaries and are not intimidated by them. These distinctions can make all the difference in avoiding charges, mitigating them and defending against them.
Visit our website to learn more about the difference we can make for you, and how to set up an initial appointment.
Some crimes by their very names can conjure images of the type of person who commits them. Crimes such as assault, strong-arm robbery, or burglary may bring to mind a rough sort of individual. Another type of crime, though, may produce a different kind of mental image: "white-collar crime."