Prior Conviction Deciding Factor for Man Sent to Jail Before Marriage

The article below discusses a situation involving a man who took money and a vehicle from his fiance in an attempt to get some space two weeks prior to his wedding. The man had been under pressure, had recently found his birth mother, and felt troubled. The Court however, citing the fact that 13 years previously he had been convicted of similar crimes, found him guilty.

The full article follows below.

Groom gets jail time for 'cold feet'

Apr 19, 2011

ACCOMAC -- An Accomack County man described by his attorney as having "cold feet" before his wedding will serve jail time for taking his girlfriend's money and car and trying to flee to Central America just weeks before the planned nuptials.

Gilbert Werner, 33, of Chincoteague pleaded guilty to charges of uttering, grand larceny and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in Accomack Circuit Court.

Defense attorney Patrick Robbins said the man was having "second thoughts" two weeks before the upcoming marriage.

Werner took $500 from his fiancé, forged her checks and used her car in a way that was described as "beyond the scope of her permission."

The car was found in Salisbury where Werner left it. Werner bought an airline ticket out of the country in an attempt to meet his mother in Costa Rica, according to Robbins.

He had been abandoned by her as a child and grew up in an orphanage, Robbins told the court.

On the witness stand, Werner said he was going through a lot.

"I had just found my mother," he said. "I just kind of broke down."

He said his then-girlfriend had forgiven him for what he did. "She still loves and misses me," he said.

Robbins said his client had made restitution and even filed his 2010 tax return from jail, where he has been the past 10 months.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Francis Suraci presented evidence that Werner should serve time in jail because he had a criminal record. He was convicted of arson and unlawful wounding when he was 19 years old, Suraci said.

A year later, Suraci said, he served time for grand larceny and unlawful wounding.

"He was good for 13 years," Robbins said. He has been working and making "pretty decent earnings."

Werner was sentenced to nine years in prison with all suspended but 18 months.

Copyright http://www.delmarvanow.com/
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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Rhode Island Personal Injury Involving Salmonella Outbreak

RI Criminal Defense Attorney's routinely handle cases involving personal injuries to clients through the negligence of others. The case below involves salmonella poisoning through a breakout stemming from contaminated pastries from a local bakery, death resulting.

Rhode Island Salmonella Outbreak has First Fatality; Sickened At Least 39 Others

Personal Injury Lawyers News
by Nicole Howley

Providence, RI — One person has died as a result of salmonella outbreak that already sickened dozens of people in Rhode Island. The exact source of the outbreak is still under investigation, but authorities reported that those who became sick said they had eaten a zeppole and/or baked good made at Johnston’s DeFusco’s Bakery, reported WPRI.

Just one day after the Rhode Island Health Department reported that at least 33 people were sickened as a result of the salmonella outbreak, the news of the first fatality was received.
By Tuesday afternoon, 39 people were affected and 24 of them were hospitalized with 21 being lab confirmed.

"An individual who died tested positive for salmonella associated with the outbreak," said Health Department spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth to WPRI.

The victim was identified as a Providence County man in his 80s. He tested positive for the same strain of salmonella associated with the outbreak, but it was not confirmed that the bacteria was the cause of his death. It is also unknown if the man consumed any pastries from the bakery.
Family members of the victim reported that the man had underlying health conditions when he passed away on March 23.

Health inspectors arrived at DeFusco’s, who closed voluntarily, and found pastry cream stored at unhealthy temperatures and baked shells packed in unsanitary boxes, which could have been possibly exposed to contaminated raw egg.

Beginning Tuesday, March 29, the public can contact HEALTH's Emergency Information Line for further information at 401-222-8022 which will be staffed Mon-Fri from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

What is Divorce Mediation and How Does it Work?

Divorce Mediation 

Divorce Mediation is the process of resolving conflicts between divorcing parties without the use of an attorney or the court system. Although it is highly advisable that both parties retain their own attorney, it is only for the purpose of legal advice and counsel, and not for presenting a case against one another.

Most divorcing parties undergo a tremendous amount of emotional stress and pain. This stress is translated into powerful emotions like anger and resentment, making the resolution process more difficult on everyone involved; in particular, any children of the marriage suffer greatly by the inability of their parents to resolve their many differences. In the long, drawn-out, and unresolved divorce conflicts that have become typical of our society, and in our desire to inflict the hurt we are feeling during this process upon our partners, our children tend to be forgotten.

Divorce Mediation offers couples a way to resolve their differences, without the high pressure (or price tag) of attorney involvement, thereby allowing everyone to come to terms with any emotions of anger and resentment and arrive at an agreement that is in the best interest of not only any children involved, but also one another.

Before hiring an attorney to handle your divorce matter, consider speaking with a divorce mediator first to see if there is a low-cost, low stress alternative available to you.
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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

More Mothers Paying Child Support Than Fathers Says Report

More Mothers Paying Child Support

In the case of child custody and child support, more and more fathers are obtaining physical placement of their children, leaving more and more mothers in the position of having to pay child support for their minor children. The rise in this trend began with the decline of stay-at-home moms as more and more women were forced to enter the workforce to help balance the housing budget within the marriage.

As women were lured away from the nest, men were no longer the sole bread-winner, creating a gap in childcare at home, and the massive growth in the child care industry in general. With men reaching the peak in their careers and able to work less hours, while still making substantially more money than women in similar position, this left more fathers able to be home for the children.

Many women were then left with the decision to continue in the careers to which they had devoted a good portion of their lives, or resign themselves to working at less demanding jobs in order to balance out the parenting roles and be home as well. As divorce rates climbed in 2008, another trend emerged involving more moms paying child support, with increases in the amounts they were required to pay, as well as fewer fathers on the opposite side.

More Moms Paying Child Support Say Top Divorce Attorneys

Latest National Survey also Reveals Increase in Payment Amounts

CHICAGO, IL, October 1, 2008 — More women are paying child support these days, according to the latest survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). In all, 55% of the respondents have cited an increase in the number of mothers who have been assigned to make child support payments over the past five years. Additionally, 42% of the divorce attorneys have seen the size of overall payment amounts rise during the same period of time.

“The changes in our society are almost always reflected in divorce courts and the legal system. The issues involved with child custody payments are certainly not an exception,” says James Hennenhoefer, president of the AAML. “If one spouse is better suited to provide financial care, it is in the best interests of the court and all parties involved to put the needs of the child first.

Interestingly enough, results from the survey revealed that only 1% of AAML members have seen an increase in fathers making child support payments during the past five years. There was a response total of 44% who noticed no difference.

In addition to the question regarding which party is now making child support payments, the divorce lawyers have also cited changes in the size of those payments. Overall, 42% of the respondents said that the amount a spouse must pay has actually increased over the last five years. Only 14% said the payments have gotten smaller, while 44% have cited no change in payment totals during the five year time frame.

Read the full article HERE

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

Legal Advice on the Internet

It is no secret that the Internet has become our own personal virtual library. What may escape some business owners this year however, is the magnitude of the importance in maintaining not only your Internet business presence, but also keeping your professional education and services up to date with the changing needs of the people you serve with your law practice.

You may consider yourself highly skilled in your field, however, if you are outmoded or falling behind in the technology available to reach you, no one else will ever know of your skills. People have to find you online first.

Enter the legal forum system. This new breed of advice column features a question and answer forum style, allowing clients to log-in anonymously, and get their questions answered by an actual attorney. Most forums are free to ask your question, some charge for the answers, and still others allow a voting system to decide the best answer, and who will get the minimal payment offered.

If you'd like to jump ahead of the crowd a bit, set up a system to offer quick advice on your own website instead.

'E-lawyering will be mainstream in 3 years'

By KATHRYN LEGER
March 4, 2011


A few weeks ago, a New Brunswick judge ordered a lawyer to force his client to download her Facebook page so that it could be used against her in a personal injury lawsuit with an insurer.

The lawyer, James Crocco, was told by the judge, Frederick P. Ferguson of Court of Queen's Bench, that he should hire another lawyer to summon his client to a meeting without telling her what it was about and obtain the download lest she delete some of her photos and videos.

The case has since been settled out of court with a cash award for the woman claiming a settlement from the insurer of the other driver involved in the car accident that injured her.

That stumped plans by her lawyer to challenge the order in appeals court on the grounds that it was the equivalent of executing a civil search warrant on his client and that it threatened her right to legal advice.

It is unclear whether such an order could be issued in Quebec, but the case - similar in nature to one in Quebec last year that captured worldwide attention - underlines how social media and new technology are changing the ways lawyers can advance or defend their clients' claims in court.

What jurisprudence does exist in Quebec relative to the use of social media as evidence in courts and what legal tools are available to different parties to obtain such evidence will be discussed at the fifth edition of the Legal IT conference that takes place a few weeks from now in Montreal (see www.legalit. ca for details).

"People think the rules are different because it is in a computer format, but there are still reliability thresholds to be achieved," says Marcel Naud, the Robic LLP intellectual property lawyer who is director of the organizing committee for the conference sponsored by the Young Bar Association of Montreal following its founding by Dominic Jaar, now legal technology adviser with KPMG Canada in Montreal.

"You have to be comfortable with issues that develop online because if you say: 'I don't deal with online stuff because it is too complicated,' you might miss something that is quite material."

Xavier Beauchamp-Tremblay, an intellectual property lawyer at Ogilvy Renault LLP who lined up this year's speakers for LegalIT 5.0, added: "Since the financial crisis, it is has been more and more important for lawyers to understand technology to become more productive and give better client service and understand the issues.

"We're trying to provide that on the practical side to try and get lawyers to embrace technology but be aware of their potential pitfalls.

"And on the theoretical side, to understand how technology is very rapidly changing the role of law in many domains."

"If you don't stay informed, you cease to be relevant," said Robic's Naud, adding that the conference also features forward-looking issues that could be in the mainstream in a year or two from now.

The dispensing of legal services to the public over the Internet is one of them.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/lawyering+will+mainstream+years/4381858/story.html#ixzz1FdwfR9Z3
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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

The Constitution and Minor Children

The Constitution and Children

It may be surprising for many people to learn that, much in the same way that the criminal laws that apply to adults cannot be used against a minor child, the constitutional rights that protect adults, do not apply to children either. We need to ask ourselves if the rights that are inherent in every human being should be negated by the legal system based upon someone's age.

Are children not entitled to the same rights to free speech, freedom of religion, freedom from self-incrimination, right to counsel, and right to remain silent simply based upon their status as being underage? It seems that this might open a debate under age discrimination for many, yet, it is a widely confirmed belief upheld by our own court systems in countless cases, and for many years.

In one California case where the issue of banning violent video game sales to children under 18, the only member of the court with minor children themselves argued that there was a duty expected of the court to protect children from these things. One could safely argue, based upon the very same constitutional law protections that are being withheld from the children of the population, that the decision for whether or not a child should be exposed to certain content rests squarely in the hands of the parents of that child, not the State.

When schools are allowed to interrogate children based upon assumptions, albeit well-meaning though often severely misguided and damaging to the child in the long run, we have to ask ourselves if this is an overstepping of boundaries of any kind. We need to begin to take the responsibility for raising our children away from the government, and that means paying attention to our children, and keeping them safe, unless we want others to do so for us.

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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.

RI Truancy System Needs Monitoring

Rhode Island Truancy

Violators of truancy laws in RI fall under the title, "status offenders," because although their actions may be considered disrespectful, disruptive, or non-conformist, they are also patently non-violent, and non-criminal in nature.

The Rhode Island Family Court Magistrates who have sent over 28 minor children to the state's training facility in the past 5 years however, justify their actions with complaints of disrespectful behavior in their courts.

The fact that these children are being forced to spend one, at times two nights in the state juvenile training school with teenagers who are incarcerated for much more serious, criminal offenses. They are subjected to the same intake treatment as their criminally charged cell mates, of strip searches, blood and urine testing, and wear prison uniforms. The practice has not gone unnoticed by law-makers.

The law in RI states that no child will be held at the Training School for a status offense. The law is being circumvented by holding the children in criminal contempt of court; thereby making their trip to the juvenile facility "legal."

Because very few children have access to an attorney for truancy hearings, and the records are closed to the public, very little information is discovered while the process is taking place.

The full article discussing the provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, as well as RI Public Defender Hardiman's comments can be read HERE


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If you have questions about this posting or are interested in Criminal Defense, Divorce, or Immigration Law in RI contact Rhode Island Criminal Defense Lawyer John E. MacDonald at 401-421-1440.

To learn more about The Law Office of John MacDonald, please visit his website at AggressiveLegalServices.com.