Recent Cases
Many of the wins by a defense attorney are in the courtroom. However, sometimes the win is by convincing the prosecutor that there is no way the prosecutor can win. For the fourth time in a row, Mr. Beach got the prosecutor to dismiss a domestic violence case on either the day before, or day of, trial!
If, when investigate something, the police violate the law to such a degree that their action violates the constitution, the defendant’s attorney can challenge the police conduct and argue that the illegally obtained evidence can’t be used at trial against the defendant. This is the system our nation uses to discourage law enforcement from violating the constitution when investigating. Well, here the police pulled Ms. Johnson’s client over due to having expired tags. During the hearing, Ms. Johnson proved that although the tags were expired, her client had displayed a valid trip permit. Accordingly, the excuse for pulling Ms. Johnson’s client was invalid and the case was won for Mr. Johnson’s client.
Mr. Beach’s client was accused of Assault 4 and Strangulation. If convicted, Mr. Beach’s client would go to prison, not probation, because the case was what is called a ‘presumptive prison’ case. After two days of litigating, the judge granted Mr. Beach’s motion for judgment of acquittal – meaning that the prosecutor failed to prove enough that there could be any way a reasonable jury could find Mr. Beach’s client guilty. So, the Assault was dismissed and that left only the Strangulation charge for the jury. The jury returned with a Not Guilty decision!
Mr. Ridehalgh’s client is a participant in the DVDS program. At the beginning of this program he was not allowed to have contact with his wife. During his supervision, Mr. Ridehalgh’s client disclosed that his wife had called him to tell him that their son was in the hospital and texted him a picture of the injury their son had suffered. The prosecution decided to prosecute Mr. Ridehalgh’s client because of this contact. Naturally, Mr. Ridehalgh opposed this prosecution and established that the facts were as referenced here (there was also a time when the wife had tried to talk with Mr. Ridehalgh’s client during an exchange of their son). The judge agreed with Mr. Ridehalgh and found that this was not a violation!
Mr. Beach’s client was accused of grabbing a sledgehammer and using it to threaten people. At trial, Mr. Beach proved that when Mr. Beach’s client had parked his car, this accuser had jammed a sledge hammer behind his car so as to prevent him from being able to safely back out without causing damage to his car. Mr. Beach’s client got out and moved the sledgehammer and argued with the people doing this to him. Not guilty!
Mr. Carter’s client was accused of injuring his passenger by slamming the breaks while driving causing the passenger to hit the dash. At trial, Mr. Carter proved that this passenger was actively hitting his client while they were driving, that it was causing the car to swerve into oncoming traffic, and that the safest thing for Mr. Carter’s client to do was to stop the car immediately. Not Guilty on both counts!
Mr. Beach’s client was a porch pirate. There was no question that he had stolen a package from someone’s porch. The problem was that the prosecutor filed a ‘mail theft’ charge so that if convicted, Mr. Beach’s client was looking at 26 months of prison. At trial, Mr. Beach had his client testify to exactly what he had done – without denying anything. Then Mr. Beach argued that what his client had done was Theft in the Second Degree (a misdemeanor) and not the mail theft charge. The result proved that Mr. Beach was right. Mr. Beach’s client was found guilty of the misdemeanor theft that he actually did commit and not guilty of the 26 month prison mail theft charge!
The Department of Human (DHS) services had removed a child from a home and the court ordered the parents to do certain things in order to get the child returned. Mr. Goldman’s client did those things, but DHS said that wasn’t good enough. Naturally, Mr. Goldman addressed that issue to the judge and the judge agreed that the parents had proved their home was safe and ordered the child returned against the wishes of DHS.
Mr. Beach’s client was accused of violating a ‘no contact’ rule by sending emojis by text message. There is no right to a jury for these cases, so, Mr. Beach had to do the trial to a judge. Nevertheless, during cross examination of the accuser admitted that she actually didn’t know who sent her those text messages and that they didn’t come from Mr. Beach’s client’s phone number. According, the allegation was dismissed. This was the fourth win in a row Mr. Beach has had with this client!
A husband and wife were going through a rather bitter divorce. Wife called the police and said that husband beat her up. He denied the allegation; but, receiving such an accusation, the police arrested husband. So, wife automatically got the house because once a person is accused of domestic violence the accused has to move away. Naturally, husband wanted a trial. David Carter took that case to trial and pointed out all the many inconsistencies in the wife’s different stories about how this supposedly happened. The prosecutor argued that the differences were only about the details and so that shouldn’t matter. Mr. Carter pointed out that whether and how husband hit wife is the crime he is accused of, not a mere detail. The jury returned a verdict recognizing wife’s motives to lie and the fact that every interview she gave (including during Mr. Carter’s cross examination of her) resulted in a new set of alleged facts.
