Westlake Legal Group

11/07/2017

Why everyone, including Trump, should really be watching Virginia's gubernatorial election

Don't forget to vote today!

Virginia's election represents the first true referendum on Donald Trump's presidency.

10/31/2017

Court rules request for 'lawyer dog' too 'ambiguous'

Happy Halloween from Westlake Legal Group!🎃 We thought this article was interesting!

The Louisiana Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a man who claimed he told police during an interview to "just give me a lawyer dog,” with a justice saying the request was "ambiguous."

10/25/2017

Courts differ on marijuana suspension law

Interesting article regarding license suspension for marijuana charges.

Some lawyers are encountering clouds of confusion about whether the state’s automatic license suspension for some first-offense marijuana offenders is still in effect. Virginia judges are said to b…

08/02/2017

The Marshall Project

"There were so many things the jury didn't know and so many questions nobody could answer but me."

07/14/2017

The Marshall Project

Incorrect in-court identification can lead to wrongful convictions. So why are prosecutors still using this tactic?

05/03/2017

The Marshall Project

Why are criminal courts so dependent on plea bargaining?

10/03/2016

In another breakdown between incarceration and meeting mental health needs- a 22 year old student with mental illness was arrested and held pending trial in the DC jail. He was denied medication, denied family visitation, and denied placement in a suicide-resistant cell. He committed suicide and, to make matters worse, corrections officers falsified logs after his death to appear as though they had checked on him, stating he was doing things such as reading after he had already passed. In a wrongful death and civil rights suit, DC settled with the family and agreed to pay $500,000.

09/28/2016

September is life insurance awareness month. Please remember to carefully review your estate plans to ensure they are up to date and your loved ones are taken car of. If you have any questions don't hesitate to call Westlake Legal Group, your local problem solvers!

09/15/2016

Salvor Wins Title to Shipwreck Gold

Court rules "finders keepers" when it comes to over $48 million in shipwreck gold and artifacts.

http://valawyersweekly.com/2016/09/12/salvor-wins-title-to-shipwreck-gold/

In this in rem action filed by Recov­ery Limited Partnership in this long­standing contest over salvage rights to the gold-laden wreck of the S.S. Cen­tral A

08/11/2016

Stacey Pomrenke, a former COO of Bristol Virginia Utilities Authority and spouse of Bristol JDR judge, has been convicted of involvement in a bribes-and-kickbacks scandal and this week was found guilty of contempt of court for efforts to influence potential witnesses. She has been sentenced to 34 months in prison with three years of supervised release on top of the 3 years she received for the underlying charges.

08/04/2016

The Marshall Project

John Thompson spent 14 years in the death row. When he finally was granted a retrial and, in 2003, a jury took 30 minutes to find him not guilty.

07/13/2016

Sterling gang member pleads guilty to organizing mob attack with Dominion High students |...

http://www.loudountimes.com/news/article/sterling_gang_member_pleads_guilty_to_organizing_mob_attack_with_dominion_h

Comments express only the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this website or any associated person or entity. Any user who believes a message is objectionable can contact us at [email protected].

06/30/2016

The Marshall Project

Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular "Serial" podcast, will receive a new trial after serving 16 years

"We are just very happy. It's not only a win for us but a win for a lot of people who are stuck in the system because it opened a lot of people's eyes about the justice system." — Yusuf Syed, Adnan Syed's brother.

06/24/2016

Led Zeppelin did not copy 'Stairway to Heaven' intro, jury finds

Yesterday was a big day in the legal community. The US Supreme Court held that a warrant or consent is required before law enforcement can take a blood sample AND Led Zeppelin won the copyright lawsuit against them!

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/23/media/stairway-to-heaven-trial-verdict/

A jury found Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page not guilty of copyright infringement on perhaps their most famous song, "Stairway to Heaven."

06/23/2016

www.supremecourt.gov

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1468_8n59.pdf

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the taking of a blood sample incident to a DWI arrest without first obtaining a search warrant is an unconstitutional violation of an accused's Fourth Amendment rights

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1468_8n59.pdf

06/21/2016

Loudoun County Man Convicted of Killing Wife

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Castillo-Verdict-383700481.html

The Loudoun County man accused of killing his estranged wife and staging her death to look like a suicide was found guilty Monday evening on all counts.

06/14/2016

"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." Theodore Roosevelt.

06/13/2016

Man can sue for unauthorized access to his email

Abingdon, Virginia U.S. District Court rules that, without a company policy in place, and employer cannot search an employee's private e-mail account even if the employee uses the account for business and personal use.

http://valawyersweekly.com/2016/06/10/man-can-sue-for-unauthorized-access-to-his-email/

A rural airport in Southwest Virginia is facing a trial on its former manager’s claim that the airport commission violated his privacy rights when it accessed an email account he used for work.

06/06/2016

Meet Bud: Parrot, possible murder witness

Be kind to your pets. They may try to testify against you in court!

http://woodtv.com/2016/06/03/meet-bud-parrot-possible-murder-witness/

Bud is an African grey parrot who may have witnessed his owner’s murder.

05/20/2016

Stop Not Justified by Yellow- Line ‘Touching’

Westlake Legal Group has been successfully making this argument for some time now. It's great news that it is catching on!

http://valawyersweekly.com/2016/05/16/stop-not-justified-by-yellow-line-touching/

Stop Not Justified by Yellow- Line ‘Touching’ By: Deborah Elkins May 16, 2016 Although a police officer testified that defendant appeared to be driving over the posted speed limit when he first observed him at 3:00 a.m., the driver’s “isolated acts of slight drifting” to “touch” the yellow line twi...

05/17/2016

Feds drop gun case and judge blasts police after security camera contradicts officers' testimony

Facts right out of a movie. Officers testified that the defendant was walking away from them with his hands in his waistband. Video shows him walking toward officers with one hand at his side and the other hand holding a water bottle. The case was immediately dropped.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/feds_drop_gun_case_after_video_contradicts_police_testimony_judge_blasts

A federal gun-possession case was abruptly dismissed Thursday after a rare contradiction of police testimony by video evidence and an even rarer rebuke of police by the presiding judge.San Francisco

05/12/2016

Child ID App

As we are quickly approaching the season of fairs, vacations, and summer break, please take a moment to make sure you are proactive about protecting your children. In addition to talking to your children, you may want to consider downloading the FBI Child ID app.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/august/child_080511

Put safety in your hands using the FBI's new Child ID application for your mobile phone.

05/09/2016

Same-sex cohabitation can cut off support

Interesting article demonstrating the cultural shift's impact on the law.

http://valawyersweekly.com/2016/05/09/same-sex-cohabitation-can-cut-off-support-2/

An ex-spouse who enters a com­mitted relationship with someone of the same sex can lose support payments under Virginia law, the Supreme Court of Virginia has

05/05/2016

"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress." Martin Luther King, Jr.

04/20/2016

What We Can Learn From Celebrity Estate Planning Gone Wrong

Here's an oldie but a goody - Celebrity Estates Gone Wrong.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2012/10/17/what-we-can-learn-from-celebrity-estate-planning-gone-wrong/#1a3fdb4b2f51

Have you seen the new

04/18/2016

A lawsuit was recently filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court on the basis that the chief of vascular surgery at INOVA Fairfax Hopsital not only performed surgery on the wrong leg, but that he also included notes in the record to cover it up. Dr. Mukherjee allegedly was supposed to operate to remove blood clots from a patient's leg and when he realized he was operating on the wrong leg, he added notes to the record to try to justify operating on that leg.

03/30/2016

The Marshall Project

When prosecutorial misconduct goes unchecked, said Hal Lieberman, a former chief counsel for a New York grievance committee, it "undermines the integrity of the entire system."

New report from our friends at ProPublica

03/01/2016

Frisk-averse: pat-down nixed

Very interesting opinion from the 4th Circuit involving the interplay between the 2nd Amendment rights of private citizens and the 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable searches

A tip that a man left a 7-Eleven parking lot with a loaded gun did not allow a police officer to frisk the man after a lawful traffic stop, a federal appeals co

02/08/2016

Study: Suspects shocked by Taser “more likely” to waive Miranda Rights

https://www.facebook.com/TheMarshallProject.org/posts/1731739493708138

17,000 US police departments stunned more than 2 million people in the past decade.

01/16/2016

Taser use restricted by U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals

Police officers lacked clear legal guidance on when they may zap people with Tasers, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decided on Monday, so it made a new rule to

01/15/2016

Police body cameras quickly spreading through Loudoun County

Police body cameras are taking hold in several law enforcement agencies in fast-growing Loudoun County, Va.

12/18/2015

Cox loses jury trial in music piracy case

A Virginia jury has found an internet service provider liable (to the TUNE of $25 million) for its users pirating music!

http://valawyersweekly.com/2015/12/18/cox-loses-jury-trial-in-music-piracy-case/

NEW YORK (AP) A Virginia jury has issued a $25 million verdict against Cox Communications in an online piracy case that could mean more trouble for downloa

11/11/2015

Sheriff’s Office Brutality Claim Settled For $645,000

http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/sheriff-s-office-brutality-claim-settled-for/article_b0bd8aa2-8273-11e5-8781-5b9a62322d78.html

Seven months after a federal jury awarded an Ashburn man $662,500 in damages in a civil rights lawsuit brought against four Loudoun County deputies, the case concluded with a slightly lower settlement.

08/17/2015

Turmoil in the Virginia Supreme Court: Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Roush was appointed by Democratic Governor McAuliffe at the end of July to serve on the Virginia Supreme Court. However, in a political power play, the GOP-controlled Virginia General Assembly may flex its muscles to replace her with a Republican judge because Roush was appointed while the general assembly was out of session. The power struggle between Republicans and Democrats is leaving the Virginia Supreme Court in limbo and is putting a higher value on political parties than ability and quality of candidates.

08/01/2015

Jolly Ranchers, Sage and Breath Mints

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/02/jolly-ranchers-sage-and-breath-mints?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sprout&utm_source=facebook

A closer look at a favorite (and unreliable) law-enforcement tool: drug field tests.

07/20/2015

Interesting development with Juvenile and Domestic Relations Petitions: Social workers will often file and sign JDR petitions for child abuse or endangerment. These petitions may be void because, pursuant to Virginia law, such pleadings must be signed either by an attorney or an unrepresented party. There is a limited exclusion specifically for child support, however, the exclusion does not extent to abuse or endangerment petitions.

06/30/2015

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that when an original last will and testament cannot be found, the proponent of the will doesn't have to show what happened to the will, only that the person who made it did not revoke it. This means that if you find a photocopy of a will among important papers, but you cannot find the original, you need only show the person didn't revoke the will. Thoughts?

06/24/2015

www.supremecourt.gov

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-6368_m6hn.pdf

U.S. Supreme Court determines lower standard of proof for plaintiffs in excessive force claims relating to pre-trial detention as opposed to post-trial detention

06/23/2015

Leesburg officers encountered a suicidal man with a gun and didn’t fire

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/leesburg-officers-encountered-a-suicidal-man-with-a-gun-and-didnt-fire/2015/06/20/4fcb3a9a-1113-11e5-adec-e82f8395c032_story.html

In disarming him, they were part of a police shift from a “warrior” mind-set to a “guardian” approach.