According to Court records, a 28-year-old woman named Chantae Gilman plead guilty to breaking into a man's Seattle apartment and raping him in his sleep will serve nine months in jail. She was charged with Sexual Assault in both the 1st degree, and 2nd degree. The incident happened back in June 2...
Millions of Americans are on social media- sharing photos, what they eat, and most importantly, their opinions. This contentious issue keeps coming up with the current events that have lead people to vent out their feelings of frustration. All over the country, anecdotal stories are popping up ov...
In a move that could affect tens of thousands of detainees, federal judge Lasnik ruled in a federal lawsuit on April 13, that the Department of Justice (DOJ) must obey current immigration law that allows for the release of some undocumented immigrants without posting a bond. Back in October 2014...
As mentioned previously in my blog, the Seattle Police Department recently started posting body cam videos on YouTube as part of their newbody camera program. Now, lawmakers and enforcement officials claim that they are having difficulty managing the footage in such a way that balances police tra...
In 1993, Washington State was the first state in the nation to pass the ‘no-nonsense' “3 Strikes policy” to address repeat, criminal offenders. Since then, 28 states have passed that same policy (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, ...
I have written about this topic in passing before when I addressed traffic infractions and parking tickets, but it is worth mentioning again, given the recent current events. Life as free Americans is, and has been under attack by the over-criminalization and over-policing- so much so, that havin...
While the use of public records requests and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have traditionally been used in administrative law proceedings, it has become increasingly common for plaintiffs and criminal defense attorneys to file these requests on behalf of their clients as a means to b...
A couple weeks ago, K5 News did an investigative piece on the parking situation in the greater Seattle area, and discovered over the course of three days that vehicles owned and operated by city department workers “camped out” at loading zones, stayed well beyond the posted limits on signs, and e...
As part of its efforts to regain the public's trust, the Seattle Police Department recently launched a new YouTube page showing videos from body cameras worn by officers. The department plans to upload daily videos and have dozens uploaded thus far. Faces of the public will be redacted, but cit...
Some legal issues arise commonly enough that courts get a bit tired of them. When this occurs, it is not uncommon for a legal opinion to include a little sarcasm. This post will address one such issue, as identified by Division Three of the Court of Appeals of Washington. As the appellate court opened its decision, “We thought that this issued was resolved.”
Not all news stories are created the same. Sometimes I open up the newspaper, read a headline, and nod my head. Some criminals charged with a crime do deserve to be charged, just like they deserve to have their rights protected. With other crimes, however, things stop making sense quickly. This story is certainly one of those.
As a criminal defense attorney, I sometimes have to walk a fine line. On one hand, I respect those good police officers that try to protect the lives and rights of all of us on a daily basis. Their contributions to American society are extremely important. On the other hand, I have seen firsthan...
For those that still remember the last days of the Sonics here in Seattle, a familiar name made news last week in an unfortunate way. In 2004, the Sonics drafted 18 year-old Robert Swift, a 7’1” center from Bakersfield, California. Throughout his 4-year NBA career, which was limited by injuries to his knees, he played in only 97 games. During that time, he earned over $10 million.
In recent times, the use of force by police officers has received increasing public scrutiny. An incident over the weekend on Vashon Island demonstrates the difficult circumstances that law enforcement officers often face, and provides some insight into when force is appropriate.
A research team at Washington State University is currently developing a marijuana breath test that will function much like the portable breathalyzers used by police when they investigate alcohol-related driving-under-the-influence crimes.
A recentmeeting of the city council shows that Seattle Police are slowly crackingdown on some of the lower-level crimes that have been plaguing the city. DuringNovember, Seattle Police put a greater emphasis on preventing auto thefts andcar prowls. The number of these crimes dropped significantly—by 34% for autotheft and 25% for prowling—during the month. For the year, however, propertycrimes in Seattle remain much higher than they were in 2013.
Attorney Steve Karimi discusses a case out of Spokane, WA in which a man accused of vehicular homicide and DUI was found not guilty due to his strong defense. For more information about building DUI defense, call The Law Offices of Steve Karimi.
Attorney Karimi talks about a recent case where a Seattle driver was arrested for DUI after hitting a police vehicle that was in pursuit and how a defense is still possible.
Seattle DUI lawyer Steve Karimi discusses the recent conviction of King County Councilmember Raegan Dunn.
Imagine for a moment that you are accused of attacking a person in their apartment during an armed robbery. The victim gives police your name because they claim to have recognized your voice as being one of the attackers. It's because of this that you go on trial and must defend yourself against ...
Instances of police overstepping their bounds are found in states across the nation, including here in Washington. And while many of our blog readers hope that this never happens to them in their lifetime, they know that there is little they can do to stop it. Using a case out of Texas as an exa...
Back in March, as some of our more frequent readers know, we talked about the National Roadside Survey. Funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the project is supposed to give the government a more accurate snapshot of impaired driving in the United States. But as our reader...
One of the main problems a lot of our Washington readers have with news reports is that they often do not provide readers with enough information necessary to see the entire case for what it is. We can see this exemplified by a case out of Bellingham where an auto-pedestrian accident begs the que...
A drug crimes case out of the eastern portion of the state is raising some red flags for many people here in Washington. That's because federal drug charges were recently filed against five people from Kettle Falls after federal agents collected 68 marijuana plants from their rural farm. Their ca...
What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and discovered that you were not a United States citizen? Would you question how the federal government could make such a mistake? Would you tell the government and risk deportation or would you continue to keep it a secret? Would you seek legal represent...
