Legal questions for our VERIFIED lawyers on the board

Capri

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Mods, please merge if there is already a thread on this- I couldn't find one.

a question for our lawyers...Can MC be declared indigent on only 2 of her many charges? That's the way it appears on the records at this time. How would that be justified?
 
Mods, please merge if there is already a thread on this- I couldn't find one.

a question for out lawyers...Can MC be declared indigent on only 2 of her many charges? That's the way it appears on the records at this time. How would that be justified?

Capri, that's been bugging me since I saw those two docs the other day. I posted in the other thread, just guessing, but if we find out what she was in court for last time, it could have been two additional charges, so therefore those are updated, and her next court date appears to be 3/31/10 (thought I heard 3/8/10 on her video call with her mom) then the additional charges will be updated? Just a guess. Would love to know the answer too.

I think it's been answered in the LP thread. Nevermind.
 
Mods, please merge if there is already a thread on this- I couldn't find one.

a question for our lawyers...Can MC be declared indigent on only 2 of her many charges? That's the way it appears on the records at this time. How would that be justified?

Hi, I know literally nothing about this case but was asked to drop in and take a look at this question. ;)

There is no way I can think of that anyone could be declared indigent for fewer than the full number of charges. Is there some possibility that the other charges are being handled differently--i.e., plea agreement/being dropped? Alternatively, it could be a clerk error, which at least in AZ is not uncommon.
 
Copying over from the Q & A thread - Very curious about FILED SEQ notation in docket.


2/8/2010 FELONY ARRAIGNMENT SET FOR 03/08/2010 AT 1:30 PM IN 328/ , JDG: BERGER, WENDY W
2/8/2010 PROSECUTOR: ROYS, JACQUELYN ASSIGNED
2/3/2010 INFORMATION
2/3/2010 FILED SEQ: 1 SAME - (893.135 1C1C) TRAFFICKING IN OXYCODONE
~~snipping the docket to make my Q short & sweet~~



INFORMATION FILED SEQ - anybody know what that means? Sequentially? Sequestered? [I didn't take Latin, so is it Latin?]

thx - whoever answers the 2nd Q, if you have a good link re: legal terminology for laypersons, I'd appreciate it.
 
Copying over from the Q & A thread - Very curious about FILED SEQ notation in docket.


2/8/2010 FELONY ARRAIGNMENT SET FOR 03/08/2010 AT 1:30 PM IN 328/ , JDG: BERGER, WENDY W
2/8/2010 PROSECUTOR: ROYS, JACQUELYN ASSIGNED
2/3/2010 INFORMATION
2/3/2010 FILED SEQ: 1 SAME - (893.135 1C1C) TRAFFICKING IN OXYCODONE
~~snipping the docket to make my Q short & sweet~~



INFORMATION FILED SEQ - anybody know what that means? Sequentially? Sequestered? [I didn't take Latin, so is it Latin?]

thx - whoever answers the 2nd Q, if you have a good link re: legal terminology for laypersons, I'd appreciate it.

I really have no idea what the "SEQ" stands for in the Florida dockets, but it looks like just an administrative thing. Often you see "SEQ: 1" after "filed" or "trial" or whatever is being docketed; once in a while you see "SEQ: 2," but it never seems to be important.
 
I noticed we had some legal questions on the threads. If you post your questions here, AZlawyer will come in and answer them for us. :blowkiss:

Please be specific with your questions as she doesn't follow Haleigh's case as a rule and may need a bit of background in order to understand what we are asking.
 
Bumping up for questions regarding Hope's sentencing today. (Or any other legal questions we may have at this point!)

If anyone has questions, I'll ask AZLawyer if she can come by and help!
 
I just asked a friend who serves on the parole board here. They only have to serve the full mandatory sentence in Federal Court.
 
Since noone has been charged as of yet for the Homicide of Haleigh, this is speculative.

IIRC,PCSO has said that they believe that Haleigh was transported away from her home to a nearby river. (paraphrasing).

The river is a crime scene (IIRC) and it is believed the homicide took place there.

Could a kidnapping charge be an option? ( I am assuming that her father would be excluded from Kidnapping if it is proven he participated).

If so, would this crime then become a federal offense?

Could this crime then be prosecuted as a captial crime, according to FL statue? TIA!
 
AZlawyer - on these drug charges, both Ron and Misty have opted for a jury trial. It has been said that LE received a tip that these folks were dealing drugs. In a jury trial, what is the possibility that the person who provided this tip would be called to testify ?

Thanks in advance.

ETA - I ask this because it seems most likely that their defense lawyers are going to attempt to play the they were targeted because of Haleigh card.
 
Please use this thread for verified lawyers only. I'm moving the other posts, which are thoughtful and helpful, to the regular Q & A thread. :blowkiss:
 
Now I have a question and I hope I can explain it simply.

We have five of the players in this case who were arrested for drug trafficking together. One of them is named Hope and she is 18 years old. She made a comment to her mom in a jail house video that "they were all supposed to take a plea". But she is the only one who ended up taking a plea of "no contest".

Could one of the other defendants convinced her to take this plea so that it would look better for them when they went to trial? At least two of the other defendants have plead not guilty. I'm wondering if they lied to her to make it better for themselves?

I hope that made sense.
 
Since noone has been charged as of yet for the Homicide of Haleigh, this is speculative.

IIRC,PCSO has said that they believe that Haleigh was transported away from her home to a nearby river. (paraphrasing).

The river is a crime scene (IIRC) and it is believed the homicide took place there.

Could a kidnapping charge be an option? ( I am assuming that her father would be excluded from Kidnapping if it is proven he participated).

If so, would this crime then become a federal offense?

Could this crime then be prosecuted as a captial crime, according to FL statue? TIA!

Kidnapping is not always a federal offense--pretty much only when the person is taken across state lines. I assume that's not the case here? If it's just a "regular" in-state kidnapping, there isn't much point in bringing that charge unless for some reason the kidnapping could be proved but the homicide could not.

AZlawyer - on these drug charges, both Ron and Misty have opted for a jury trial. It has been said that LE received a tip that these folks were dealing drugs. In a jury trial, what is the possibility that the person who provided this tip would be called to testify ?

Thanks in advance.

ETA - I ask this because it seems most likely that their defense lawyers are going to attempt to play the they were targeted because of Haleigh card.

IMO, the State will not call the "tipster," because they have the evidence on the drug charges (from what I understand) without involving this person. And if I were the judge, I would not allow the defendants to call a witness to show that LE was targeting them due to a potential homicide, because the evidence is irrelevant to the question of whether the drug crime was committed. Also, I doubt that the defense will want to do this once they really think about it....most juries are not too sympathetic to potential child murderers who are being unfairly "targeted" by LE.

Now I have a question and I hope I can explain it simply.

We have five of the players in this case who were arrested for drug trafficking together. One of them is named Hope and she is 18 years old. She made a comment to her mom in a jail house video that "they were all supposed to take a plea". But she is the only one who ended up taking a plea of "no contest".

Could one of the other defendants convinced her to take this plea so that it would look better for them when they went to trial? At least two of the other defendants have plead not guilty. I'm wondering if they lied to her to make it better for themselves?

I hope that made sense.

What were the terms of her plea, though? Is she supposed to testify against the others? If so, why would they want her to do that?
 
No, she just plead "no contest". She isn't testifying against them. If she knew what happened to Haleigh, it could have been a possibility however!
 
Hope's Sentence:
The judge took into consideration the charges from Jan 3rd's arrest in his ruling. Here is my question. She was not sentenced yet on those charges, she has not yet been convicted. Or has she? Anyone know? Would this not make the Jan 3rd charges mute for her sentencing for the recent drug charge?

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.

"Snip' http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100428/ARTICLES/4281005/1002?p=1&tc=pg


Judge LaRue cited Sykes' violation of the terms of her release for the drug possession charge as a factor in his decision to give her 15 years.
 
I'm not a lawyer but is there a slight difference between considering her past charges/convictions and considering her violating the terms of her release?
Even if her past charges happened to be bogus and wouldn't have lead to any conviction in the future she was obligated to follow the terms of her release until further notice anyway and she didn't, and that's what the judge was considering. It may pertain to her ability and willingness to follow the terms of her release this time around. That's what my interpretation was, anyway. Would it make sense legally?
 
I have been looking for similar drug trafficking cases/convictions on the Florida DOC online website.

http://dc.state.fl.us/AppCommon/

So far I haven't found much, most of the charges are for the sale/manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance. The way I read it the difference between S/M/D and trafficking is the amount of the drug (but, I think prosecutorial discretion also factors in here).

Here is a link to one inmate with a trafficking in cocaine charge and a S/M/D of cocaine charge (with two other felony charges) and she got 4 years. Maybe I am missing something here, but trafficking and S/M/D offenders don't seem to be getting that much time.

Hopefully, posting this link is allright...

http://dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/detail.asp?Bookmark=17&From=list&SessionID=26581172

My question...is the difference between S/M/D and trafficking charges only based on weight or is there discretion available to the prosecutor when charging ? Could the prosecutor reduce the charge (from trafficking down to S/M/D) for one of the players in this case, if that person cooperates with LE ?
 
My question is, if the law has a pretty good idea of who killed Haleigh and that person is not currently in jail and that person commits a crime against another child, would the state bear some responsibility in having allowed that person to remain free?
 
This question is more for the mods/anyone else who might know..I didn't know where to put it so I'm putting it here, lol.

How does one become a verified lawyer on WS? I have a law degree and I know the answer (or, what I think is the answer/my opinion lol) to some of these questions but I'm afraid to post because I don't know how to become a "verified" lawyer.
 
This question is more for the mods/anyone else who might know..I didn't know where to put it so I'm putting it here, lol.

How does one become a verified lawyer on WS? I have a law degree and I know the answer (or, what I think is the answer/my opinion lol) to some of these questions but I'm afraid to post because I don't know how to become a "verified" lawyer.

It's easy and it is very informal! Email Websleuth's owner, Tricia, and she'll do an informal verification process! THANK YOU for wanting to help! :blowkiss:

Tricia Griffith
tgrif@xmission.com
6300 N. Sage Wood Drive
Suite H # 214
Park City UT
84098
 

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