Kentucky’s DUI statute states that “aggravating circumstances are any one (1) of the following: (e) Refusing to submit to any test or tests of one’s blood, breath, or urine requested by an officer having reasonable grounds to believe the person was operating or in physical control of a motor vehicle in violation of subsection (1) of this section;” KRS 189A.010(11)(e). Now...

Earlier this month, the Kentucky Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals in ruling that a Defendant is not entitled to an affordable blood test. During a DUI arrest, the officer will give you the opportunity to contact a criminal defense attorney and request that you submit to a blood, breath, or urine test. After that test, the officer is required to offer you the chance to obtain an indepe...

Any criminal defense lawyer who handles Federal drug trafficking cases will tell you that they are seeing an increase in defendants being charged with the death or serious physical injury of their users. This increase in prosecution has come in response to the heroin and more specifically fentanyl epidemic. Fentanyl has resulted in dramatic increases in the number of overdoses. It is no secret t...

I often have clients ask me to call the Judge to resolve an issue in their case. For example, “Call her to see if she will lower my bail.” or “Have you spoken with the Judge to see if he will give me probation?” The problem is that the legal rules of ethics prohibit me from doing any of that. Calling a judge without the prosecution’s involvement or permission is cal...

One of the hardest parts about being a criminal lawyer is fighting the lies spread inside the jail. Inmates have a lot of time on their hands, which means they spend a lot of time thinking about their case and hearing other people talk about their case. This results in some of them believing that they now understand how the system works. On the other hand, there are inmates who like to make up f...

I have a weakness. I will admit it. Every time I see a legal story linked on my Facebook feed I know the tittle, story, or comments will make me mad, but I click on it anyway. Sometimes, I get so weak that I even start responding to comments, which is generally a bad idea. A little back story, I saw this headline on my Facebook feed "Magistrate Judge Recommends Not Droppi...

I am often first contacted by a client’s family or friends. If that happens, that normally means that the client is in jail. Most people do not realize that any phone calls from the jail are recorded. This is why I always hate to hear someone tell me that the client has told them all about he case over the phone. People need to realize that the client is basically testifying when the...

In the United States, an average of 1.5 million people are arrested annually for drunk driving. In 2015, an astounding 10,235 people died as a result of driving while drunk. There is a library of statistics and evidence comparing driving under the influence and car accidents. Though alcohol may be the predominant substance consumed in DUI arrests, it is hardly the only subst...

"Call for a free consultation" does not mean the same thing to everyone. When I advertise that, I mean that I will talk with you in generalities about your case, for free, to determine if I can help you out. The only time I charge people money to talk generally about their case, is if I have told them I cannot help them and they insist on meeting to discuss their case further. Many peo...

If a lawyer lies to the Court, they can face punishment and potential disbarment by their state Bar association. Anytime someone suggests I could lie or misrepresent something, my simple response is "I worked very hard to get my law license and I am not risking it for any case." What may surprise most people is that these suggestions generally do not come from clients, but m...

Over my three years of law school, I sat through a lot of class time, so not every pearl of wisdom from my professors has stuck with me, but I will always remember when my criminal law professor said "I hate when people say he or she got off on a technicality, those are your constitutional rights, not a technicality."  To be honest, I did not have intentions of going into criminal law ...

People often assume that the relationships between defense attorneys and prosecutors are as dramatic and hateful as you see in the movies and T.V., but that is usually not the case. I think one of the best skills any lawyer can have is the ability to not take a passionate argument from the other side personally. I also think the general public would be better off if they develo...

If you ever receive a phone call and hear some variation of that sentence, you need to be aware that you are being scammed. Over the last two years, I have received a call about once every few months with a person dealing with a similar situation. The scam I  most often hear is that the victim will meet someone on an online dating website and eventually begin texting...

One thing that law school did not prepare me for is how offended people will become when you tell them that you cannot help them. I often get phone calls from people about areas of law that I have no practical experience in. Yes, I did take a property class in law school, but no I will not help your cousin look over and edit his commercial lease. There is a huge difference between rea...

A commonly held belief is that if you have nothing to hide, you should not be afraid to answer questions. This leads people to doubt the innocence of someone who is not willing to testify at their own trial. I have heard people say "If I was charged with a crime, I would testify to clear my own name.", which sounds a lot better than it works out in real life. Whether it is true o...

Anytime I see news coverage of a criminal case online, the headline announces that the defendant pleads not guilty and the comment section is flooded with people angry that the defendant had the audacity to not plead guilty. So, I wanted to explain why the clients generally should not plead guilty at first and why some cannot plead guilty at first, even if they wanted to. Your...

A Bill is currently being considered by the Kentucky Legislature which would change the look back period for DUIs in Kentucky to the lifetime of the defendant when deciding whether it is a first or second offense. In Kentucky, a DUI is known as an "enhanceable" crime, which means that each time you commit the crime your penalties get worse. As an example, a 4th DUI in Kentucky is...

The state of New Jersey has decided they are and has completely revamped their bail system. The change is so dramatic that in the first four weeks of January, out of 3,382 cases, bail was only required three times and 283 defendants were held with no bond. (New York Times). That means that less than 9% were not given bail at all and less than 1% were required to post a bail. The other...

On January 23, 2017, in United States v. Robinson, Judge Wynn of the Federal 4th Circuit stated "individuals who carry firearms elect to subject themselves to being frisked when lawfully stopped by law enforcement officers.", in his concurring opinion. In this case, a tip was called in to local police that a man was seen loading a pistol, placing it in his pocket, and then enteri...

That is the one question every criminal defense attorney expects when they tell someone what they do for a living or at least what I have come to expect. People genuinely have a look of puzzlement or may even shake their head when they ask me how I do my job on a daily basis. What is interesting is that my start in the criminal justice system was actually on the other side of the cour...