Recently the King County Prosecuting Attorneys office began a process often times called restorative justice.  This is program where youthful offenders are offered counseling, and spend time discussing their offense, and how it affected others.  It may involve meeting with the family of the vi...

The Kent police are at it again, using their usual online advertisements to lead Johns to the Howard Johnson hotel. Kent Reporter Article

Weve all heard the Miranda Rights read off by police officers on TV shows or in Hollywood movies.  They usually read them off when they are arresting the criminal, and they sound like this: 1.  You have the right to remain silent. 2.  Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law....

The city of Bellevue recently launched an internet sting where they placed Backpage.com advertisements and arrested 110 men who showed up to an apartment complex in Bellevue.   You can read about the operation in this recent Seattle Times article. If you were arrested in this sting operation, o...

Does our criminal justice system truly guarantee JUSTICE FOR ALL? Not if you don't have the money to hire your own top-notch attorney, it doesn't. (CBS News)

Many think that on college campuses, sex assault cases occur more frequently than in other areas of society. RAINN (Rape, Abuse amp; Incest National Network), estimates that 11.2% of college and graduate students will experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapac...

Technicians for Best Buy’s “Geek Squad City” computer repair facility had a long, close relationship with the FBI in “a joint venture to ferret out child porn,” according to claims in new federal court documents, which also note that Best Buy’s management “was aware that its supervisory personnel were being paid by the FBI” and that its technicians were developing a program to find child pornography with the FBI’s guidance.

Never meet with law enforcement, state agencies, or any investigators of any kind without speaking to your attorney first. If you are pressured to make a decision immediately, politely decline. This is the best policy even if it does result in you being taken to jail, since often times they would have taken you to jail anyways, but if you cooperated, you would have given them more evidence to convict you at trial later on. Many times, I will allow my clients to meet with law enforcement and various investigating agencies, but I will never do that without being present and usually without setting ground rules such as: what questions will be asked; and whether we will be recording the interview.

I often times have clients that wish they had filmed their interactions with the police. Many police agencies do not have in-car or body mounted cameras or audio recording equipment, and when there is no recording, it is possible that there will be differences in what people remember or perceive happened. On the other hand, a recording can make it perfectly clear what happened. I have had cases dismissed or won at trial because of a recording. I have also had clients who were shocked to see how they behaved in a recording. The recording may not have been perfectly filed or recorded, but it is at least unbiased.

The lawyers at Newton & Hall can assist you in determining if an entrapment defense is applicable in your case. RCW 9A.16.070 defines entrapment as: (1) In any prosecution for a crime, it is a defense that: (a) The criminal design originated in the mind of law enforcement officials, or any person acting under their direction, and (b) The actor was lured or induced to commit a crime which the actor had not otherwise intended to commit. (2) The defense of entrapment is not established by a showing only that law enforcement officials merely afforded the actor an opportunity to commit a crime.

“It’s a terrible law,” said Michele T. Corigliano, of the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association, which represents more than 100 establishments. The executive director, is lobbying Governor Herbert to veto the measure. “We feel that because .05% is so low it’s going to put a lot people in jail who should not be in jail. It’s an extremely low-level … people who use too much mouthwash could be targeted.”

A criminal defense lawyer has not been part of the United States Supreme Court in over 25 years. This is problematic, since many of the cases are ones that concern criminal cases, yet there is no one on the bench to discuss represent those who provide a defense in those cases. The court has two ex-prosecutors currently, and if President Trump gets his appointment of Neil Gorsuch confirmed, the court will have a total of three, making up 1/3 of the justices.

It is important to ensure that any criminal case is handled with the assistance of knowledgeable criminal attorney, like those at Newton & Hall, who regularly work with immigration attorneys to ensure that our client's criminal problems, don't become immigration problems.

Our state is following the lead of other states and looking at lowering the legal limit for alcohol while driving a motor vehicle from its current legal level of 0.08 to a lesser level of 0.05. This could make it significantly easier to be arrested and convicted for DUI or Physical Control in Washington state.

How a person is identified by witnesses or victims of a crime can taint their memory, and lead to wrongful convictions in a court of law.

The Title IX system of due process is a farce at best. It is designed only to allow school administrators to take quick and easy action against anyone accused of sexual assault on campus.

A recent article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer that you can view by clicking here, describes a lawsuit filed by employees of Microsoft who allege that "federal legislation imposed new duties on Microsoft in 2008 that required them and other tech companies to report child pornography and other...

A man in California was recently charged with a DUI, after a blood test came up positive for only caffeine.  This became a national news story, and was featured on CNN, and although his case was later dismissed by the local district attorney, they did not back down on their assertion that a perso...

It was recently announced by the Department of Homeland Security, that they would require warrants for Stingray devices, which are used to simulate cell phone towers, and have the ability to zero in covertly on the location of cell phones. Previously, many of their agencies were surreptitiously using these suitcase sized devices, often while driving in cars, to look for cell phone information while posing as a cell phone tower.

My clients often have a belief as to how a criminal trial will work, that is based upon the trials that they have seen on television or the movie screens.  These trials may or may not accurately depict what a criminal trial will look like.  

The chief executive officer of New York based male escort site Rentboy.com, plead guilty and admitted in federal court in Brooklyn that he violated the law by promoting "the exchange of sexual conduct in return for a fee".  He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 2nd, and is facing a sentence...

The most interesting thing about the article is that Nate Parker was found not guilty by a jury that listened to all of the evidence in the case, but the allegation from sixteen years ago is still following him in a negative way. Those who are accused of a sex crime are often considered by society to be guilty, before they ever get a chance to establish their innocence.

In 2009 the King County Sheriff's Office disbanded it's investigation unit that handled domestic violence charges, but in 2015 it was reimplemented. Since that time there has been an 20% increase in the number of felony domestic violence cases being referred to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

The City of Seattle recently announced that 204 men, from all walks of life, were recently arrested in a sting operation run by the City of Seattle Police Department Vice Unit.  The Vice Unit ran an operation out of a previous massage parlor called the "Euro Spa" in the Roosevelt/University Distr...

As a longtime criminal defense lawyer I frequently meet with people who are tasked with choosing a criminal defense lawyer to represent their interests, or those of someone they care about.  There are many pitfalls that a person needs to consider in hiring a lawyer, and price is just one. The bi...