Articles Posted in Uncategorized

This is an appeal from the order of the District Court of Nassau County, First District, entered November 14, 2003, deemed from a supplemental order of the same court entered July 20, 2010. The order, following a hearing, designated defendant a level three sex offender pursuant to Correction Law article 6-C.

A Lawyer said that, defendant pleaded guilty to sex abuse in the second degree (Penal Law § 130.60 [2]) and endangering the welfare of a child (Penal Law § 260.10). At a hearing held pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) Correction Law § 168-n, the People submitted clear and convincing evidence of defendant’s out-of-state felony conviction of a sex crime under Maryland Annotated Code, article 27, § 464B. The People also submitted an assessment instrument prepared by the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders recommending that defendant be designated a level three sex offender based upon the automatic override factor of an out-of-state felony conviction. The District Court adopted the Board’s recommendation and designated defendant a level three sex offender.

Continue reading

In 1979 P.H. was a parking lot attendant in a lot across the street from a New Jersey hospital. The nurses from the hospital used the lot to park as they came and went from work. Sometimes the helpful parking attendant would escort them to their cars. Until one of them noticed that he was masturbating behind his coat as he escorted her. She reported the incident and P.H. was arrested. He later admitted that his situation had begun by looking up the nurse’s skirts as they got in and out of their cars. He was charged with public lewdness. His first and only real girlfriend came to see him in jail, but he was too embarrassed by his actions to see her. He later said that he never saw that girl again and never dated anyone else.

In 1980, P.H. was caught masturbating in a public library in New Jersey. He later admitted that he had been to several different libraries over the previous nine-month period. Each time, he would see a woman whom he found attractive. He stated that he would become fixated with her and masturbate behind his coat or other article of clothing while he watched her. He stated that he would do this about two times a week. He told his state appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Erika Frances, that he preferred the aisles in a library because they provided him with a more private location.

Continue reading

It was a spring night in 1995 when Scott R. Nailor’s wife left the house to take care of his terminally ill stepfather. Alone in the house with his twelve year old stepdaughter, Mr. Nailor took the child by the hand and led her into a back bedroom. He told her that if she did not do what he told her to do that he would hurt her mother. He then forced the girl to the floor, grabbed her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

After this initial night, Mr. Nailor forced his stepdaughter to perform oral sex on him two more times on different nights in the spring of 1995 while his wife was tending to his terminally ill stepfather. Each time, he took the child forcibly by her hand, led her in to the back bedroom, and forced her head to his penis. Then one night, Mr. Nailor had additional inappropriate sexual contact with the girl. The court documents are unclear about the exact nature of this additional sexual contact, only to state that it was inappropriate. All of these incidents took place in the spring of 1995.

Continue reading

In March of 2007, the Columbia county Department of Social Services was called to a home in Columbia County, New York where a domestic violence assault had occurred. They were called to take custody of the infant child who was at that residence. He had been present in the room when the assault occurred.

The father was arrested and charged with the offenses and sentenced to a jail term. When he was released, the court ordered that he not have any contact with his wife or the infant child.

Continue reading

September 29, 2011, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York heard an appeal of the mother of three children who was charged with neglecting them by committing acts of domestic violence against their father. The court found that the mother had committed the acts of domestic violence and two of the three children were already released into their father’s care. The father has taken numerous steps to ensure that he provides a stable and loving home for his children. He requests from the court that he be allowed to relocate to Pennsylvania to raise his children in his sister’s home away from the stigma of domestic violence that they are currently living in.

The Pennsylvania Administration for Children’s Services found that the sister’s home was a safe environment for the children and New York County Family Court gave their permission for all of the children to be relocated to their father’s care and allowed to move out of state to Pennsylvania.

Continue reading

On October 1993, Dwayne J, also known as Tyrone Mc, was charged with first degree robbery, first degree criminal use of a firearm, and second degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was accused of robbing a Cumberland Farms store in the City of Kingston, Ulster County. He was found guilty on all counts by the County Court.

This was what happened. On August 23, 1993, the Broadway Grocery store in Kingston was robbed by two men. On August 25, 1993, a Cumberland Farms store was also robbed by two men. During both robberies, one man would point a gun at the clerk while the other man would take the money in the cash register.

Continue reading

On December 2, 2010, a Tioga County New York man appealed two orders of the Family court to adjudicate his child to be recognized as a neglected child. These orders stemmed from two prior occasions when this man committed acts of domestic violence on his wife. These acts of domestic violence were performed in the presence of the man’s child. It is enough in New York that acts of domestic violence in the presence of a child for the child to be ruled neglected. However, it was brought to the attention of the court that this child qualified for documentation as a neglected child derivatively based on a host of other qualifiers.

To begin, it was found that the man had other children that had been in his home before who were found to be neglected based on this man’s proclivity towards domestic violence. He has also in the past been found to have sexually abused the children of a former live-in girlfriend. On top of everything else, this man had an extensive criminal history for domestic violence incidents involving his ex-girlfriends.

Continue reading

In the early morning hours of Sunday March 11, 2007, a Nassau County police officer observed a speeding vehicle on the Long Island Expressway. Trained to visually estimate speed, the officer verified his initial assessment with a laser speed gun and initiated pursuit that further confirmed the speeding vehicle to be travelling at roughly 90 miles per hour. The driver, William E. Lent, was subsequently pulled over.

During their following interactions the officer observed several indicators that led him to suspect the driver might have been intoxicated. Mr. Lent, upon being probed in regard to his questionable sobriety, confessed to having recently consumed one alcoholic beverage. This admission prompted the officer to administer several field sobriety tests, none of which Mr. Lent was able to pass. Mr. Lent was immediately arrested and transported to the Nassau County Police Department Central Testing Unit.

Continue reading

Sexual abuse can be everywhere, it might be occurring in our own home. According to a Defense Lawyer, on September 5, 1995, James L. Archer was convicted by the County Court of crimes of sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. During trial, the 13-year-old victim testified that prior to the commission of the crimes, James L. Archer, a 31-year-old live in companion of the victim’s aunt, told her that he wanted to rape her and have a baby with her. She further testified that Archer threatened to kill her whole family if she revealed his feelings about her to anyone. The victim indicated that she believed these threats and, for that reason, did not immediately report the crimes.

Based on the report, Archer’s initial argument on his appeal was that the jury’s verdict finding him guilty of two counts of the crime of sexual abuse is not supported by legally sufficient evidence in that there is no proof of forcible compulsion. As relevant here, ‘Forcible Compulsion’ means to compel by either use of physical force; or a threat, express or implied, which places a person in fear of immediate death or physical injury to herself or another person. The higher court held that given the victim’s young age and Archer’s dominance over her by reason of his age and relationship with her aunt, the jury could have reasonably inferred that Archer accomplished the sexual contact through the use of threats that placed the victim in fear of immediate death or physical injury to herself or members of her family.

Continue reading

On January 22, 1979, a man was arrested by the police for robbing a local bank. He was put on trial for this three times. The first time, he was found guilty, but the court reversed the judgment because there was a mistake in the charge to the jury. The second time, the jury could not come up with a decision and a mistrial was declared. The third time, he was found guilty again. The defendant then appealed to the Court of Appeals.

The main issue that the Court debated on was if there was enough evidence to show that the defendant was guilty of first degree robbery. Majority decided that there was enough to show that he was guilty. They voted to affirm the decision of the last trial. Justice O’Connor however, disagreed. He argued that there was an issue of misidentification, an error on the court’s (court during the last trial) part, a violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights, and that the testimonies presented by the prosecution were unreliable.

Continue reading