Advice

Have you ever been in a situation where you think you know but you need confirmation? Well in the case of law and knowing your rights, don’t think…know. Check out the FaceBook site of attorney Jackie Brown. Her law tips are brief, insightful and always handy. I’m not looking for trouble but if it happens to become my companion at least I can refer to my friendly law tip advice.


Just the Facts:

· 5,958 young people age 10 to 24 were murdered—an average of 16 each day—in 2006.
· Over 631,000 violence-related injuries in young people age 10 to 24 were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2007.
· In a 2007 nationwide survey, 36% of high school students reported being in a physical fight during the past 12 months.
· Nearly 6% of high school students in 2007 reported taking a gun, knife, or club to school in the 30 days before the survey.
· An estimated 30% of kids between 6th and 10th grade report being involved in bullying.

As the summer is quickly coming to an end, I am focusing on the next school term. This year is different. My oldest diva is no longer in the halls of children who ,while not always angels, are not having the thoughts and emotions of teenagers. Although children of all ages can be cruel, teenagers often act and react. The emotional turmoil becomes physical and can easily slip out of control.

School administrators do not have to deal with unruly children. With the stroke of fist, an altercation at school can be the beginning of a police record and the ending of a post secondary education.

Do you know your rights as the parent of the victim or the offender? Teen bullying is a nationwide epidemic but as parents, community members, community leaders and adults we need to protect our children.

Until,

-A

*Statistics provided by the Center for Disease Control

I Wonder

My husband is a serial television watcher. Most of his favorite shows deal with crime and/or satirical sarcasm. He usually records shows and watch them before bed. While he is watching I am usually glued to my second husband (my laptop), but this night was different. As I was checking emails I was listening to the crime story. The gist of the show is the detectives have 48 hours to collect enough evidence to charge the alleged criminals. As most stories, this episode involved teens who were at the right place doing the wrong thing.
Three teens were in a car. One decided to rob a coach after school. The situation got out of control and the teen shot and killed the coach. The other two teens were held at gunpoint by the alleged killer while assisting in dumping the body in a nearby ditch.

Now of course I have skipped some of the drama that drags the episode out to a full 30 minutes but you get the idea. The teens told on one another. The issue that really bothered me is the detectives used intellectual police jargon which confused the more innocent teens to confessing to something they had no intention of doing. Where were their parents? Most importantly, where was an attorney?

One thing I learned from the show is the importance of having an attorney present not just to defend you, but to also explain and protect your rights. My clients trust that I am going to get the best deals on radio and television advertisements because they have hired a person who speaks media buying language on a daily basis, so why would you not hire an attorney when you have to deal with legal matters.

Jackie Brown, a veteran criminal law attorney, deals with these situations on a daily basis. She states that individuals at a time when they are in legal situations are generally nervous, anxious and definitely not listening closely to how the opposing force may be backing you into a corner. “When I have been retained or appointed on a criminal case, I begin to tear apart the evidence to see if there is a strong case against the defendant. Who are the victims and witnesses? Are they credible or a potential bias witness for the state? Was the search unreasonable and so egregious that a motion to suppress would be granted? Were any of the defendant’s constitutional rights violated, i.e. searches, confessions, Miranda warning. Every case is different. Although some cases will have similar facts, it’s very unlikely that two cases are exactly the same. You have to individualize each case and advise your client accordingly.”

The two teens were charged with the same charge as the killer. Two teens will never finish high school or ever see life outside of prison walls. I wonder how different the outcome would have been if they only had an attorney.

Visit Attorney Jackie Brown’s website at jfbrownattyatlaw.com or on FaceBook

Until,

Anitra