In Huston last week, a federal judge enjoined the judges of Harris County, Texas from issuing bond orders for misdemeanors. The judge, in a detailed opinion, found that the bond system disproportionately affected the indigent.

The ruling in the civil rights lawsuit came after 8-days of trial and over 300-plus exhibits. Federal judge Lee Rosenthal found that holding accused misdemeanants on a relatively high bond until resolution of the case violated the equal protection and due process provisions of the U. S. Constitution.

One case featured a working mother charged with driving on a suspended license; her bond was set at $2500. When she was unable to make bond, she spent two weeks in jail while her case resolved, at great hardship to her family and children.

Judge Rosenthal found that the Harris County bond system featured "wealth-based discrimination", and violated due process during the pretrial detention phase of a case.  The civil rights lawyers that brought the case presented statistics supporting their contention that 40% of people charged with misdemeanors wound-up sitting in jail the entire time their case remained pending; in some cases, up to a month.

An interesting feature of the case was that nearly all of the evidence presented came from the county clerk's office; court records like the bond orders and the register of actions indicating whether the accused posted the bond.

Although her injunction is temporary, legal scholars believe the ruling will stand. Depending on how far it goes on appeal, the ruling could set a new constitutional standard in criminal procedure regarding pretrial detention for misdemeanors.

Here in Michigan, we have had a movement to eliminate jail as a sanction for misdemeanants that cannot pay court costs and fines. The Texas case is significant because it deals with detention prior to any conviction or other adjudication.

Post #590
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As statistics, injuries and deaths mount, distracted driving is evolving from minor ordinance violation to misdemeanor and, in some cases, felony status. Hand-held devices and on-board computing, while very useful and powerful these days, distract drivers from their primary task: staying focused on the road at all times.

Operating a cell phone has been prohibited by the Motor Vehicle Code in Michigan since October 2013. The applicable language of the Code provides:

Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person shall not read, manually type, or send a text message on a wireless 2-way communication device that is located in the person's hand or in the person's lap, including a wireless telephone used in cellular telephone service or personal communication service, while operating a motor vehicle that is moving on a highway or street in this state. As used in this subsection, a wireless 2-way communication device does not include a global positioning or navigation system that is affixed to the motor vehicle.

Statistics now reveal that as many as one in four vehicle accidents are caused by a distracted driver. There are many forms of distracted driving:

• cell phone use of any kind; 
• GPS input on vehicle dash or device;
• tending to the vehicle console in any way, including changing a radio station;
• hands-free interaction with the vehicle console;
• eating;
• reading documents; and
• talking to passengers in a manner that takes your eyes from the road ahead.

Even for those not driving, but texting someone whom they know is driving a vehicle, contributes to this dangerous problem now being addressed by the law. Distracted driving is any activity that takes a driver's full-attention from the road ahead and places it somewhere else.

A case of distracted driving from St. Johns, near Lansing, caught our attention this past summer. A driver, distracted by using her cell phone, struck and killed a bicyclist.

Mitzi Nelson pled to a misdemeanor and the district judge fashioned an interesting sentence: she could not own or possess a cell phone during her two year probation; she did 90-days jail "up front"; and she was obligated to address 20 separate drivers education classes. A very light sentence for causing someone's death.

In Rock County, Minnesota, Chris Weber was driving his truck at night and decided to check his cell phone to see about paying his mortgage. While doing so, he struck and killed a mother of two on a bike; her two daughters were in a carrier attached to the bike.

Unlike Nelson's case here in Michigan, Weber was convicted of vehicular homicide, a felony in Minnesota. He did 120-days in jail; a relatively small price to pay. Now he is assisting the Minnesota State Patrol by making a video with the victim's husband.

For busy mobile folks living in a world of 24/7 connectivity, constant contact has become the standard. What better time to "catch up" or to knock-out that one email task or make that one call than while you are on the road between appointments.

We know all about it over here at the Law Blogger, as we are in 2 or 3 courts each day, driving all over Southeast Michigan on deadlines. Here are a few habits we ask our legal team to develop while on the road:

1. When putting on your seat belt, make a conscious resolution each time that you will not answer your cell phone until you have reached your destination; 
2. To that end, prior to pulling-out from your parking spot, check your phone for any messages, and send any messages that you need to send; 
3. Likewise, make any calls you need to make prior to reaching your next destination; 
4. If possible, leave enough time on both ends of your trip segment to complete the above tasks; 
5. When a call comes in while you are on the road, ignore it because your life, and our lives, are more important.
6. Do not text someone that you know is over the road.

It is the height of arrogance to believe that you are so busy, and that your schedule is so important, that you must tap into your phone, constantly, while on the road. Veteran drivers have been doing this, and getting away with it for years.

Statistics and circumstances, however, will eventually catch-up to such drivers. Just because a driver is busy does not mean the rest of us have to pay the price.

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Considering that I graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, I do not find myself in the position of pulling for the MSU Spartans very often; but last Saturday, I was grateful that another team mustered the power to bring down the Ohio State football machine.

That's just when the trouble started, again, on the Michigan State campus in East Lansing.  In the wake of their impressive victory over OSU, the campus erupted into what arguably could be characterized as a "friendly riot".

Apparently, there must be something in the student orientation material that advises: a) yes, our school will win occasional championships and national titles, and b) yes, you will be asked to participate in a campus riot when this occurs.

While it is debatable whether actual violence erupted in East Lansing after the game on Saturday night, or whether the campus gatherings more resembled a sport-fueled love-fest, it is undisputed that available property was seized, burned or otherwise destroyed.  On this occasion, it was all documented in real-time by a significant portion of the revelers through a variety of social media.

The photo above was taken in Indianapolis while the game was still being played.  Now, the individual holding the sign is being sought by the East Lansing Police; but for what?

Sounds like a waste of time.  The police should be on the lookout for the culprits depicted in the dozens of clips posted to myriad social media sites, and from the clips looping on the evening news, depicting the destruction of property.

Was the guy in the stands at Lucas Oil Field simply expressing his right to free speech; or was he inciting a riot?  If any of the students displayed in the media were actually committing crimes and can be positively identified, the prosecutor will have a variety of potential misdemeanor charges to level:

• malicious destruction of property; 
• disorderly conduct; 
• inciting to riot on a university campus;
• minor in possession of alcohol; or the catchall East Lansing ordinance -
• being 300 feet from an "open fire" without reporting it to the police.

Having been up to the East Lansing District Court on several occasions following campus MIP sweeps, I know that the district court judges are tuned-in to the student culture of their precious college town.  But this stuff gets political; the judges are looking to make examples, as they should.

Our concern here at the Law Blogger is that the net gets cast too-wide.  After all, we as citizens do have a right to peaceable assembly.

Some Spartans, however, moved well beyond peaceable assembly.  Now, there is a lot of pressure to sentence the offending students to significant punishment, to say nothing of what the MSU administration will do.  Atta boy Sparty!

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When an accused pleads guilty to a crime, the complexity of our modern legal system often leaves some of the significant consequences of the plea undetected.  After all, that's why you hired a lawyer in the first place, right?

These undetected consequences include quasi-criminal matters such as immigration as well as less obvious examples like disqualification from certain career paths or professional degrees; or affecting a client's parent-child relationship.

Recognizing this growing problem back in 2006, the State Bar of Michigan's Criminal Issues Initiative sought to educate criminal defense lawyers and the public by developing material useful to making a fully informed decision.

In addition, the SBM's website provides useful and current information for those either facing a criminal plea, or those attempting to recover from one.  The web site includes a checklist for clients to complete, the Michigan Re-entry Law Wiki link, and information about housing, immigration, employment, and child/parent issues.

Just recently, the SBM's Representative Assembly (the State Bar's elected governing body) passed a resolution to support legislation for the collection and notification of all collateral consequences involved with a criminal guilty plea.

Attorneys are challenged to keep-up with the multi-faceted and ever-expanding consequences of criminal convictions in our modern world.  When facing the prospect of a criminal guilty plea, even for a misdemeanor, be sure you hire a lawyer that knows about such consequences.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

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Last winter, a 14-year old from Olympia, WA wanted to send her boyfriend a special momento.  In an exercise of judgment she would come to profoundly regret, she snapped a full-on frontal nude with her cell phone.

She then attached the pic to her boyfriend Isaiah's number and pushed send, sealing her fate.

For his part, Isaiah was coaxed by another girl he thought was good friends with his girlfriend into forwarding the pic.  Actually, the other girl was a rival for Isaiah's affections with an epic episode of cyber-bullying on her mind.
 
Annotating the pic with a disparaging comment, the rival did a global attach, publishing it to all her contacts.  From there, it went viral within hours.

Before school started the next day, parents and middle school administrators alike were scrambling with damage control.  By mid-day, local police were on the scene conducting interviews.  Isaiah was arrested at the school by the end of the day.

Isaiah, the rival, and another middle school student were charged with distributing child pornography; a felony.  The three teenage offenders spent at least one night in the local juvenile detention center and were brought before a magistrate in standard blue jumpsuits.

The community was pitched into an uproar.  Some parents wanted the accused teens tried as adults; others wanted the subject of the photo charged along with the publishers.

In the end, the prosecuting attorney moderated the charges, offering a misdemeanor reduction equivalent to our "disorderly conduct", with the opportunity to earn a dismissal in exchange for some very targeted community service.

As a component of their probation, the teen misdemeanants were required to create a public service  campaign about the hazards of sexting.  The prosecutor fashioned a sentence that would both capitalize on the aftershock of the incident as well as educate the public about what was acceptable conduct for their children.

Looks like "mission accomplished".

But you would be fooling yourself to think that our culture's sexual saturation is going to change anytime soon. Our children are bombarded with images on a 24/7 basis.  Remember Motorola's Super Bowl ad of Megan Fox snapping a pic of herself in a bubble bath.  Wonder who she sent that pic to...?

We here in the Detroit area are well familiar with sexting hazards; it basically brought down the hip-hop Mayor after all. [Well, technically a perjury conviction accomplished that; but still, just sayin....]

So think twice before you push send folks.  This bit of digital common sense applies to any manner of content you are about to publish.

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