After the baby was born, she choked her son to death and hid his body in a shoe box. The shoe box was later discovered in her dirty laundry. After her mom went into the bathroom and saw a lot of blood in the toilet, she took her daughter to a medical center. The medical staff told the mother that her daughter had undergone a miscarriage.

The daughter falsely confessed to this as well, however her mother later found the deceased baby and upon autopsy, it was revealed that the baby was alive and breathing prior to death. The baby’s death was attributed to asphyxiation and blunt force trauma. The girl has been charged with premeditated first degree murder and aggravated child abuse. She has been taken to a juvenile detention center.

How common is filicide or killing one’s child? According to the co-author of ‘Mothers Who Kill Their Children,’ “I’d say a mother kills a child in this country once every three days, and that’s a low estimate.” According to 2008 estimates by the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System reported 1,740 child fatalities as a result of child abuse or neglect. According to reports, there are a variety of reasons why mothers kill their children, such as:

• Trying to hide a pregnancy
• They are angry/abusive and their actions are taken too far
• They are victims of domestic violence and see murder/suicide as an escape

According to a professor of psychology, “These women almost always feel alone, with a total lack of emotional support.” In the words of a law professor, “Almost all these women are not in their right minds (when they commit these acts). The debate is whether they’re sick enough to be called insane.” Regardless of the motive, murder is a serious crime, and this allegation should be taken seriously. Contact a criminal defense attorney today to secure the legal services you need!

After the body of a forty-six year old man was discovered on the front yard of a suburban home, police officers investigated the inside of the house and were shocked at their findings: the home had Ecstasy pills and alcohol within reach for all and was equipped with a dance platform/dancing pole/private room.

The children told police officers that they were hit by their adopted parents with “fists, belts, hangers and metal objects, which caused them traumatic injuries and scarring.”  The children also reported being whipped with a metal cane and being threatened with a Taser gun. A seven-year-old girl reported that her step-father had sexually assaulted her as well. The children also reported that their adopted mom would lock them in their bedrooms and refuse to feed them. The kids said that they had observed wild parties go until dawn.

The man is being held on $1 million bail and the woman is being held on $50,000 bail for multiple counts of child abuse. All of the children have been removed from their home by child protective services. The murder remains unsolved.

According to statistics, every 13 seconds a child is abused in the United States and five children die from abuse or neglect each day. Eighty percent of perpetrators are parents. If you are a parent who has been accused of sexually, physically or emotionally abusing your child, you could face severe penalties.

Potential consequences include registering as a child sexual offender, termination of parental rights, a mark on your criminal record, supervised access to your child and continual involvement with a child protective services agency. If you face child abuse charges, get a criminal defense attorney on your side today!

Because the two men responsible had illegally tapped into Edison electrical lines, they were charged with cultivation of marijuana and utility theft. Each of these homes that were used to cultivate marijuana had been rented which prompted authorities to advise homeowners to investigate the background of their renters and to regularly check up on their properties.

Earlier this month, in an even more shocking story, police stumbled upon “two football fields worth of marijuana” in Chicago. On a routine helicopter patrol, police reported that they discovered about 1,000 plants some as tall and big as Christmas trees. A look-out on the property apparently prevented the farm from being discovered earlier as did the tall grass surrounding the piece of land. The discovery was reported to potentially be the largest cannabis discovery in Chicago’s history. No arrests have been made yet.

While the police had flown over the property quite often before, in the words of one sheriff, “We had the right altitude, the right angle, the right sunlight and I happened to be glancing down.” The pilot confirmed this saying, “We just happened to be right over a small hole in the trees and we looked down.”

In the words of one police superintendent, “People will do whatever they can to make their money. I think that spending that much time and effort setting up an operation like this in a place like Chicago, it is brazen.”

Across the country, drug charges are serious offenses and can result in high fines, long sentences in jail, license suspensions and other prohibitions. Don’t let your life be adversely affected in this way! If you have been charged with a drug crime, secure criminal defense on your side immediately.

In another horrifying story, a couple broke into a female acquaintance’s home and forced her to engage in several sexual acts with them. And earlier this year, a DJ in Pennsylvania was charged with stalking his male victims, breaking into their homes and performing oral sex on them while they slept.

In Jamaica, a drunk man broke into a home, crawled into a three-year-old’s bed and fondled the child. One detective had this to say about a similar act, “This is an especially heinous crime” while another officer called it “…a nightmarish…crime.”

According to statistics, between 2003 and 2007, there were an estimated 3.7 million burglaries annually. Of these burglaries, 28% occurred while residents were at home. Of these, 7% (266,560) involved some form of violent criminalization. Interestingly enough, most of these attacks (65%) were by people who knew the victims and most of the time these victims were single females with children. According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, residents are equally as likely to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner as they are by a stranger.

If you have been accused of an act similar to these, you should not take these charges likely. Crimes of this nature can result in multiple charges including aggravated assault, sexual assault, burglary, robbery and weapons charges. Exercise your rights today by hiring an aggressive criminal defense attorney with a trial record you can trust!

On the news today, an Ohio man traveled to California to meet up with a 15-year-old girl he met on Facebook. The two conversed online for months before agreeing to meet. The girl ran away from home and was found lying on the ground- after the man sexually assaulted her. According to the authorities, “It was apparent that the suspect’s sole reason for traveling to California was to engage in sexual intercourse with the victim.” The man is now being held on $1.275 bail. Instances like this have sparked many states to ban registered sex offenders from social media sites:

• In Louisiana, sex offenders must state their criminal status on Facebook or other social networking page
• Several states require sex offenders to register with authorities their e-mail accounts, internet addresses and profile names to social network sites
• Illinois and Texas prohibit sex offenders, as a condition of parole, from accessing social networking sites

In Indianapolis, Indiana a recent ruling reinstated that sex offenders are barred from accessing social media sites. In the words of the presiding judge, “Social networking, chat rooms, and instant messaging programs have effectively created a ‘virtual playground’ for sexual predators to lurk.” Court filings have said that Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Google+, chat rooms and instant-messaging are all covered in the ban. Many argue that this is stripping sex offenders of their human freedoms and insist that “A better statute might provide for some sort of individualized determination rather than a blanket prohibition.”

Facebook released a statement saying, “We take the safety and security of our users, especially the many young people on Facebook, very seriously. We have consistently supported legislation to help strengthen law enforcement’s ability to find, prosecute and convict online sexual predators.” Other social media users have echoed these sentiments saying, “People that decide to prey on children have demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that they are unfit to go unmonitored in a civilized society. To willingly provide them a tool that makes it easy for them to “set up and capture” their prey would be the apex of irresponsibility.”

Still, some are afraid that, “If we think that the government can curtail sex offenders’ rights without any connection to the actual crime, then it could become a blanket prohibition against anyone who is accused of a crime, no matter what the crime is.” Many are arguing that these laws directly violate the First Amendment.

Social media laws aren’t the only ones that seem to be restricting sex offender’s freedoms these days, in California a debate is swirling over enforcing Halloween restrictions on sex offenders. These restrictions would prevent sex offenders from displaying Halloween decorations outside and would require them to place a sign on their doors that says ‘no candy or treats will be handed out.’ In Simi Valley, California city documents support these ordinances saying that “trick-or-treating offers significant opportunities for sex offenders to victimize children.” The president of California Reform Our Sex Offender Laws had this to say about imposing Halloween restrictions against sex offenders, “To us, it’s similar to branding. We can think of what happened in Nazi Germany, where Jews had to appear in public wearing yellow stars.”

Regardless of how sex offender laws continue to change or become more severe, one thing remains clear: if you have been charged with a sex crime this is viewed as a serious offense across the country, so you should secure a competent criminal defense immediately. If you are convicted, you not only will face jail time and fines, you will be registered as a sex offender- and could have many more rights stripped away in the future.

• Wrapped a belt around her neck and tried to choke her
• Gave her a bloody nose after holding her in headlock
• Punched her with his fist and struck her with a broom
• Hit her with his police baton
• Gave her a bloody face after repeatedly slapping her
• Bent back her little finger and told her to “prepare to die”

The man was arrested after a five-hour standoff with deputies from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. He could face up to 20 years in prison; he will be sentenced on October 29. According to statistics,

• Every 9 seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten
• Across the world, at least one in three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime
• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women-more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined
• Every day in the United States, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends- one third of female homicide victims are killed by domestic violence
• The cost of intimate partner violence in the United States exceeds $5.8 billion annually

October is Domestic Violence month. Dallas reports that domestic violence murders are up by 25% this year. As a result, the city is reforming its system: police have begun the ‘lethality assessment program,’ where individuals who are most at risk are identified and urged to go to a shelter or seek counseling.

Officers who respond to a domestic violence call now have to ask the victims a series of questions to determine how dangerous their position is and then follow up with shelters and resource centers. The executive director of Genesis Women’s Shelter says, “If neighbors and family members are equally observant, and if the media is more dogged in reporting the dangers of domestic violence, then maybe the epidemic will subside. If everybody’s talking about this we can turn this around.”

In Vancouver this month, the YWCA is stringing lights as a tribute to the struggle against domestic violence. The lights represent those who have died, survived or simply want to end domestic violence. Individuals who commit acts of domestic violence not only violate local and state laws- they could be breaking federal laws as well.

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) criminalizes domestic violence that involves interstate travel. Under VAWA, a person can face five years in prison if the violation did not cause death, disfigurement or a serious injury, ten years in prison if a serious bodily injury occurred or a dangerous weapon was used, up to twenty years in prison if a victim was permanently disfigured and up to life in prison if the victim died (18 U.S.C. § 922).

California recently passed a law that allows new evidence to be considered, in the instances of women serving long sentences for killing their abusive partners. In the words of a California assemblywoman, “These cases were tried prior to August 29, 1996, and back then the judge did not allow expert testimony related to battered women syndrome as part of the defense. Had they presented it today, they probably would have received no sentence or involuntary manslaughter.”

If you have been accused of domestic violence or if you are the victim of domestic violence, you need legal help immediately. Our website is proud to offer you premier choices, from personal injury lawyers to criminal defense lawyers, working in your community. Take advantage of the resources on Law Firms Nationwide today.

The boy says he was grabbed and sexually assaulted when he tried to put the soccer equipment away in the storage room. The boy believes that the soccer hazing ritual has been going on for a while and that the attackers could have themselves once been victimized. The victims were told by their coach to go into the storage room where they were penetrated by a “javelin-like pole.” One mother of a victim said she worries about her son’s safety and wants him out of the school district. In her own words, “I never thought something so awful could happen here.” One of the victims, though battered and bruised, “fought for his life” and managed to avoid being sexually assaulted.

The school district supervisor assured others that, “We do not and will not turn a blind eye to reports of harassment or hazing.” While the coach is still under investigation, one attorney says that he believes he is “at least guilty of aiding in a sexual assault.” The mother of one of the victims said she learned that her own son had been sexually assaulted after another teammate was hospitalized for his injuries.

Hazing has been defined as “any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them regardless of a person’s willingness to participate.” It has been discovered that more than half of college students involved in teams and clubs experience hazing. Other statistics reported by the National Collaborative for Hazing Research and Prevention indicate that:

• Nearly 47% of students experience hazing prior to coming to college
• And that common hazing practices include alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep deprivation and sex acts

Forty-four states in the United States have anti-hazing laws. Since 1970, there has been at least one hazing death on a college campus each year. In 95% of campus hazings, students did not report the events to campus officials.

In California, a bill was recently signed that changed hazing charges from misdemeanors to felonies. This bill was fought hard for by a woman whose son died after being forced to drink gallons of water and do calisthenics outside in the cold. The law protects victims by allowing them to sue organizations that tolerate the rituals. In the words of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Harsher penalties for hazing will protect students and help deter the senseless acts that have led to far too many injuries and deaths on our campuses.” If you have been hazed, it is important that you report the incident to your coach, counselor, teacher and parents. Likewise, if you believe that someone was hazed, you should report that to an authority figure. Other policies encouraged by anti-hazing organizations include:

• Starting a “No Hazing” policy at your school
• Furthering the education of coaches, teachers and parents concerning hazing
• Planning healthy team building exercises and events
• Asking yourself if an activity involves intimidation, humiliation, abuse, degradation or the risk of injury, before you engage in it

For victims of hazing, it is important to know that you can file a personal injury claim and fight for compensatory damages and punitive damages as well.  If you have been accused of participating in a hazing and you live in one of the forty-two states with aggressive hazing laws, you should make sure you hire a criminal defense attorney immediately.

Five days after being released from jail, the actor allegedly killed his landlady. The woman died from blunt force trauma. Investigators are trying to determine whether Lewis had been taking C2-I, also known as “smiles.” This drug causes hallucinogenic effects. The creator of “Sons of Anarchy” tweeted after these tragic events, “I wish I could say that I was shocked by the events last night, but I was not. I am deeply sorry that an innocent life had to be thrown in his destructive path.” The creator described Lewis as “An extremely talented guy, who unfortunately had lost his way.”

Lewis was arrested three times this year and accused of multiple assaults: from biting and beating individuals over the head with a bottle to punching a man in the face at a yogurt shop to attempting to break into a home in Santa Monica. Before killing his landlady, Lewis had attacked a painter working next door. The painter said that even when a neighbor joined the fray to help him counterattack, it was like “hitting him with a fly swatter.”

In previous court records, the actor was called ‘out of control.’ A probation officer said that she was “Very concerned for the well-being of not only the community but that of the defendant.” The family of Lewis has shared that they did everything within their power to get him the treatment that he needed- but that he frequently resisted. In the words of Lewis’ past attorney, “Nobody could have predicted this. This was so extreme.” The Bureau of Justice reports that drugs contribute to crimes in three ways:

• There are drug-defined offenses (such as possessing, distributing or manufacturing drugs).
• There are drug-related offenses (such as offenses “in which drugs’ pharmacologic effects contribute; offenses are motivated by the user’s need for money to support continued use; and offenses connected to drug distribution itself”).
• There are drug-using lifestyle offenses (this is the category that Johnny Lewis fell into. According to the Bureau of Justice, “The likelihood and frequency of involvement in illegal activity is increased because drug users may not participate in the legitimate economy and are exposed to situations that encourage crime”).

If you have been charged with a drug crime or charged with a crime that occurred while you were under the influence of drugs, you should contact a criminal defense attorney right away. Defendants who commit crimes under the influence of drugs often use the defense that their mental function was so impaired that they cannot be held accountable for their actions. Defendants can still be held responsible however, because being under the influence of drugs or alcohol is most often a voluntary decision.

One partial defense is to say that because a defendant was on drugs or alcohol, he/she lacked the intent to carry out a crime. In this situation, an individual can still be convicted of a crime, he/she might just have one charge dropped (for instance you could be accused of “assault with a deadly weapon” but not “criminal assault with the intent to kill”). To find out more about criminal assault, murder charges, weapon charges, or drug charges, speak with a qualified criminal defense attorney today. At Law Firms Nationwide, we provide you with the resources you need to select the right attorney to handle your case.

The document goes on to say that the alleged killer began to create a “detailed and complex plan to obtain firearms, ammunition , a tear-gas grenade, body armor, a gas mask and a ballistic helmet,” that he later used while committed the Aurora shooting. Authorities claim that a short time after the new Batman movie began playing at a theater in Aurora the man entered the building through an emergency exit, impaired viewers with the tear-gas grenade and opened fire. Now the man faces two counts of murder for each person killed. Total, he has been charged with 142 criminal offenses. Sources claim that the man began purchasing weapons at local stores in May.

It appears as though he continued making purchases until July and received a number of packages at his university residence. Investigators believe that the packages contained chemicals used to crate explosives and ammunition. In addition to the movie-theater massacre, the man is charged with rigging his apartment to explode when anyone entered it. New evidence is expected to be uncovered next week when the court will decide whether doctor-patient privilege covers a package that the alleged killer sent his psychiatrist. According to some, the package held a notebook with the man’s plan to commit the Aurora murders.

This Monday, the man’s lawyer offered new evidence in federal court – evidence that some believe supports the man’s claim to innocence. According to the convicted husband and father, four people – including a woman in a floppy hat – broke into his family’s home and murdered his pregnant wife and children. Now, DNA evidence shows that three hairs found in the house do not match the man or his family’s DNA. Because of this, he has been granted a new hearing.

Additionally, a sworn statement from a former federal marshal may prove that a prosecuting attorney threatened one of the witnesses in the case. According to the defense, a heroin addict was among the real criminals. Although the addict and the Marshal have died since the trial, defense is still seeking to get the decision overturned. The hearing could take as long as two weeks, but according to the man’s defense attorney, “no reasonable juror” could hear the new evidence and find the man guilty.

Allegedly, the heroin addict was overheard talking to a federal prosecutor by a U.S. Marshal. New evidence may suggest that the Marshal overheard the addict admit that she was in the Army doctor’s home the night of the murder. The defense claims that the prosecutor threatened the woman and she testified that she didn’t remember anything from the night of the murder. In 1993, the prosecuting attorney pled guilty to obstructing justice and embezzlement in a different case. Now, he is on the list of witnesses for the man’s hearing.

According to the Army doctor, he was stabbed and beaten unconscious by the four intruders – one of which chanted “Acid is groovy, kill the pigs,” while committing the crime. According to the man, the heroin addict wore a floppy hat and participated in the murder of his family. Prosecuting attorneys attributed the wounds to self-infliction or a struggle with his wife. The word “pig” was found written in blood in the family’s home. Police originally believed that the word was put there by the husband as a reenactment of the Charles Manson killing that took place six months earlier.

On Monday, one of the defense attorneys from the case said that the U.S. Marshal called him in 2005 and claimed to be “burdened heavily, morally” by a piece of evidence involving the 1970 murder. The Marshal claimed that the prosecuting attorney in the man’s case threatened to charge the heroin addict with murder if she admitted to being in the house the night of the murder. The defense attorney said that the Marshal “sort of unloaded his soul.”

Today, the prosecution continues to portray the heroin addict as deeply disturbed and unstable. The woman’s mother described her as “a physical and mental wreck,” who “is going to talk all kinds of nonsense.” Additionally, the prosecution claims that the Marshal gave inconsistent details regarding the conversation he overheard between the prosecuting attorney and the heroin addict. On the other hand, one of the woman’s old acquaintances described her as reliable. The hearing will continue on Tuesday.