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Maryland DWI (driving while impaired) as Maryland DUI
Headline News |
2013/06/10 17:23
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Charges made against an individual for drinking and driving in Maryland have two common names: Maryland DUI and Maryland DWI. To be considered for a DUI charge, your blood alcohol level minimum is .08 or higher. All other alcohol levels, such as .07, could get you arrested for a DWI. These arrests are made depending on how impaired your driving abilities are due to alcohol consumption.
There are many consequences in getting charged with a DUI. These include but are not limited to 45 days of a suspended license, and a fine of up to $1,000.00 in addition to one year in jail for a first DUI conviction, and $2,000.00 and two years in jail for a second offense DUI. It is also extremely severe for your driving record because a DUI conviction will result in 12 points for the state of Maryland.
Maryland DWI (driving while impaired) is the lesser offense in comparison with a DUI; however, it still has very harsh punishments, including a driver's license suspension of up to 60 days, 8 points on the Maryland Driver's License record, up to $500 and two months in jail for a first offense, and up to $500.00 and one year in jail for a second offense.
It is crucial to act upon your DUI or DWI arrest in Maryland and to be sure a MVA administrative hearing is requested in writing within 10 days. The driving privileges are automatically suspended unless the hearing is requested. A refusal to take the breathalyzer test is admissible in court as evidence of guilt and also may result in 120 days of driving privileges being suspended. |
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Ex-South Tahoe cop guilty of witness tampering
Headline News |
2013/05/23 18:45
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A former South Lake Tahoe police officer faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of witness tampering and obstruction.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said that 44-year-old John Poland entered his plea Wednesday after admitting to interfering with a federal investigation of a gang member at Lake Tahoe.
A grand jury indictment said he persuaded the gang member's girlfriend to conceal and destroy evidence in June 2011. A few months later, Wagner says Poland tampered with that witness in an investigation into his own conduct as well as that of the gang member. |
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Court: California cities can ban pot shops
Headline News |
2013/05/14 07:08
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Local governments in California's have legal authority to ban storefront pot shops within their borders, California's highest court ruled on Monday in an opinion likely to further diminish the state's once-robust medical marijuana industry.
Nearly 17 years after voters in the state legalized medical marijuana, the court ruled unanimously in a legal challenge to a ban the city of Riverside enacted in 2010.
The advocacy group Americans for Safe Access estimates that another 200 jurisdictions statewide have similar prohibitions on retail pot sales. Many were enacted after the number of retail medical marijuana outlets boomed in Southern California after a 2009 memo from the U.S. Justice Department said prosecuting pot sales would be a low priority.
However, the rush to outlaw pot shops has slowed in the 21 months since the four federal prosecutors in California launched a coordinated crackdown on dispensaries by threatening to seize the property of landlords who lease space to the shops. Hundreds of dispensary operators have since been evicted or closed voluntarily.
Marijuana advocates have argued that allowing local government to bar dispensaries thwarts the intent of the state's medical marijuana law - the nation's first - to make the drug accessible to residents with doctor's recommendations to use it. |
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Court dismisses lawsuits in power plant deaths
Headline News |
2013/05/14 07:06
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The Colorado Court of Appeals has dismissed lawsuits against three companies in the deaths of five workers at a power plant in 2007.
The appeals court agreed Thursday with a judge that there was no evidence that the companies violated duties or failed to provide adequate warnings of a fire hazard.
The workers died after a fire broke out inside a pipeline at Xcel Energy's Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant near Georgetown, about 40 miles west of Denver. The men were inside the pipeline resealing it at the time.
The workers were trapped in the tunnel when a flammable solvent they were using to clean an epoxy paint sprayer ignited on Oct. 2, 2007.
Families of the men and four injured employees sued KTA-Tator Inc., Structural Integrity Associates Inc. and Graco, Inc., claiming the companies were negligent.
The court, however, noted that the sprayer used by the workers carried a warning that "flammable fumes, such as solvent and paint fumes, in (a) work area can ignite or explode" and offered safety options.
The workers communicated by radio for 45 minutes with colleagues and rescue crews. But reaching them would have involved using ropes or ladders to go down a 20-foot vertical section of tunnel then along a 1,000-foot section at a 55-degree slope, to reach the horizontal section where they were located. |
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NY top court OKs tax on online sellers like Amazon
Headline News |
2013/04/02 20:05
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New York's highest court ruled Thursday the state can collect sales tax from out-of-state retailers, rejecting claims by Amazon.com and Overstock.com that the tax law violates the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause.
The Court of Appeals said in a 4-1 ruling that the 2008 amendment meets the U.S. Supreme Court test that the sellers have "a substantial nexus" with the taxing state. Taxes apply when the online retailers generate at least $10,000 in annual sales to New Yorkers from in-state websites that earn commissions by bringing in potential customers through links to the big retailers.
Amazon.com, with corporate offices in Washington state, has an "Associates Program" where others put such links on their websites. Overstock.com, based in Utah, suspended its similar "Affiliates" program in New York after the state statute was enacted.
New York's sales tax is 4 percent and all its counties and New York City add an additional tax ranging from 3 percent to near 5 percent. Both apply to applicable Internet sales, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. |
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Lawyers from LGBT group to join Supreme Court bar
Headline News |
2013/01/17 06:05
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An organization of gay and lesbian lawyers says 30 of its members will be sworn into the Supreme Court bar in a courtroom ceremony next week.
The National LGBT Bar Association says it's the first time it will take part in the mass swearing-in that occurs on most days the court is in session.
Association executive director D'Arcy Kemnitz said many members already will be in Washington for President Barack Obama's inauguration on Monday. They'll be sworn in Tuesday.
By custom, a Supreme Court lawyer vouches for prospective members, and Chief Justice John Roberts welcomes them before they swear to support the Constitution.
Openly gay lawyers already practice before the Supreme Court, but Tuesday will mark the first time lawyers will be identified at the ceremony as LGBT Bar members. |
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Lawyer in Ohio corruption probe to plead guilty
Headline News |
2012/12/27 09:24
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A lawyer charged with racketeering and bribery in a lengthy investigation of county government corruption in Cleveland is preparing to plead guilty.
An indictment filed in June against Anthony Calabrese III alleges he paid a county worker to influence commissioners' choice of a new administration building.
The indictment also accused Calabrese of trying to hinder the corruption investigation.
Calabrese previously was accused of paying public officials in exchange for business for his law firm and legal clients and had pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
A federal court filing Wednesday says Akron federal judge Sara Lioi has scheduled a Jan. 15 hearing where Calabrese plans to plead guilty. |
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