Firearms Rights Restoration
There are several ways a person can lose their right to possess a firearm and each has their own specific procedure for getting those rights reinstated. But the restoration of firearms rights is a complicated business with intricacies, caveats and exceptions too numerous to fully outline is this post. Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 9.41.040 […]
New Jail in Whatcom County
Whatcom County has been wrangling about a new jail – including a failed proposition for a sales tax increase to fund it. I thought it might be a good time to share a few thoughts from a criminal defense attorney’s perspective. First, on the larger issue of the need for a new jail, I used […]
Terminating Sex Offender Registration
Terminating sex offender registration requirement is an important step toward re-integrating a convicted sex offender back into society and and normalizing that person’s life. Particularly for those who made a mistake in their youth or even as an adult, removing this ‘scarlet letter’ from your life is critical and, in most cases, very doable. And […]
The Bellingham Herald – Jury finds driver not guilty in deaths of two Ferndale teens
Continue reading article from Bellingham Herald May 4, 2016 by Caleb Hutton
Dealing with Extraditable Arrest Warrants
Q: I have an extraditable warrant in NY but live in WA. Could this be handled from WA? Is a federal public defender an option?: Its a felony drug warrant for possession. I have no prior drug charges. I am from and currently reside in Washington state. Michael’s answer: If this is a NY State […]
SOC: The Better Alternative to a Deferred Sentence
Last month, I wrote about deferred sentences and I why I don’t recommend them as an option to my clients seeking to resolve misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor charges without getting a criminal conviction on their record. Here I will discuss the alternative I prefer: SOCs. A ‘stipulated order of continuance’ (SOC) also referred to variously […]
Why I Hate Deferred Sentences
RCW 3.66.067, Assessment of punishment–Suspension or deferral of sentence–Dismissal of charges, authorizes Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (District or Municipal courts) to “[a]fter a conviction . . . impose sentence by suspending all or a portion of the defendant’s sentence or by deferring the sentence of the defendant and may place the defendant on probation for […]
Vacating Felony Convictions
Last month I wrote about how a person with misdemeanor criminal history can go about trying to clean up some of that undesirable past by vacating their misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor convictions. Cleaning up or vacating felony history is more complicated. But is it is also more important because felony history can be so much […]
Misdemeanor Criminal History
Anybody who has been convicted of a crime knows the detrimental effects of that conviction can linger long after the case has been resolved. These are what we in the law call the “collateral consequences” of having criminal history and they can range from the loss of ability to enter Canada to deportation or exclusion […]
Should You Take the Roadside Field Sobriety Tests?
A lot of my DUI clients tell me they agreed to to take the “voluntary” filed sobriety tests (FSTs) offered by the law enforcement officer because they wanted to appear “cooperative” or simply didn’t understand that they had every right to decline to submit to those tests. Unfortunately, I then have to inform those folks […]