Tulsa Attorney Blog
Past Pot Use Can Be an Crime Under Oklahoma's New Zero-tolerance DUI-D Law
Police call it DUI-D. A new law that takes effect today, Oct. 1, 2013, makes it a crime for anyone driving in Oklahoma to have any detectable amount of marijuana in their blood, saliva, urine or “other bodily fluids.” Drivers on Oklahoma highways need to be wary. Police may soon be using new tactics to […] Read more »
Do Parts of the Oklahoma Violent Offender Registry Law Deny Equal Protection?
The reasoning behind a September 2013 Oklahoma Supreme Court decision striking down a portion of the Oklahoma sex offender registry law appears to call into question portions of the Oklahoma violent offender registry law. In Hendricks v Jones, 2013 OK 71 the court stated: “We hold applying SORA’s requirements to sex offenders now residing in […] Read more »
Oklahoma Sex Offender Registration Laws Reversed – Again and Again
Two decisions handed down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court this month continued to roll back the Oklahoma Dept. of Corrections’ over-aggressive application of the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registration Act. This month’s decisions involved convicted sex offenders who moved to Oklahoma and were required to comply with Oklahoma sex offender registration rules. The decisions follow a […] Read more »
Rogers County DA: 'I'm Little Ashamed of Some Law Enforcement'
Cue the famous clang – “cha Chung!” – from the ever-popular TV series Law & Order. During the program’s 20-year run, police and prosecutors frequently clashed over competing interests. Cops sometimes wanted to make cases at any cost. Prosecutors wanted cases that withstood legal review. The ongoing clash in Rogers County, Oklahoma between police and […] Read more »
Incentives Taint Crime Labs' Forensic Science, Oklahoma Ranks Among Worst
Criminal defense attorneys in Oklahoma are prohibited by rules of professional ethics from charging fees based on results. The same rules don’t apply to the state’s crime labs where employees provide forensic science expertise for the prosecution. Oklahoma is among several states where forensic science is funded by fees levied against defendants upon conviction. Does […] Read more »
In New Jersey, You Don't Have to Be a Driver to be Liable in a Texting and Driving Car Accident
Texting and driving is now widely recognized as a potentially dangerous distraction for drivers. In New Jersey, it is no longer just the distracted driver using a cell phone who can get into legal trouble for a car crash; the person on other end of the phone sending text messages to the driver can also […] Read more »
Rogers County Sheriff Seeks Grand Jury Investigation of Rogers County District Attorney
A war of words raging among elected officials in Rogers County by way of court filings and public allegations has escalated again. This time, the Rogers County Sheriff and five others filed an unusual motion to authorize a citizens’ petition for a grand jury investigation into allegations against the Rogers County District Attorney, three assistant […] Read more »
Ohio Judge Rules Against Intoxilyzer 8000 Breathalyzer Used in Oklahoma DUI Cases
An Ohio appeals court ruling this month delivered a severe body blow to a breathalyzer machine now being used in Oklahoma DUI cases to infer blood alcohol levels in drivers suspected of driving under the influence. A judge ruled the results from the Intoxilyzer 8000 are “not scientifically reliable.” In Ohio – as has been […] Read more »
Rogers County District Attorney Election Promises Long, Lively Campaign
The 2014 Rogers County District Attorney election promises to be among the more intriguing local elections we’ve seen lately. We have already seen a cop suing the DA, the DA suing a newspaper and a judge seeking election to the DA’s office fired – at a meeting reportedly called by a relative of the current […] Read more »
Drug Defendants Robbed of Basic Rights By Secret Police
By now most of us know the government is snooping on our telephone and Internet traffic. Reports detailing how the National Security Agency sucks up vast amounts of data generated by routine activities of hapless citizens not suspected of any crime long predate smoking-gun documents leaked this summer by a former NSA worker. In the […] Read more »
Jurors Scold Prosecution in Muskogee Trial
A Muskogee jury issued an unusual post-trial statement after an Aug. 8, 2013 trial, admonishing police and the District Attorney’s office for a “sloppy and incomplete job.” The unusual scolding came at the end of a trial in which Muskogee defense attorney Larry Vickers had defended a man against charges of burglary, assault and battery, […] Read more »
Among Asset Forfeiture Nightmares, Oklahoma Laws Loom Large
The nationwide investigative journalism project ProPublica has released a report detailing nightmare scenarios surrounding the widely used civil forfeiture process. Under civil asset forfeiture laws state, local and federal agencies routinely seize property from individuals who sometimes have not been convicted – or even charged – with a crime. According to ProPublica, the city of […] Read more »
Confidential Juvenile Records 'Strewn' Around Rogers County Courthouse
The idea that juveniles should be treated differently under the law predates the origins of U.S. jurisprudence. Juvenile justice has changed significantly since it was originally shaped by English common law but a significant precept of juvenile justice has long been that juveniles in the system are afforded a degree of privacy. Juvenile courts nationwide […] Read more »
14 Unemployment Appeal Wins in a Row
The unemployment appeal winning streak continues. Oklahoma unemployment attorney, James M. Wirth, has now won 14 of the last 14 unemployment appeals he has handled. Most of these cases overruled previous denials of unemployment benefits for Wirth Law Office clients. In the majority of the cases, Mr. Wirth was able to prevent the employer from […] Read more »
9th Circuit Tosses K9 Nose Witness Testimony
The use of sniffer dogs in criminal court has to be among the most bizarre trends yet to sweep across modern jurisprudence. In some cases, judges have virtually handed their authority over to dogs, allowing police to conduct unwarranted searches based on an officer’s interpretation of their loyal K9’s nuanced behavior. A 9th Circuit Court […] Read more »
Private Firm's Cash Seizures Flout Asset Forfeiture Law
A private company’s seizure of cash from motorists along a 21-mile length of I-40 in Caddo County has raised the ire of at least one judge. A Caddo County District Attorney nonetheless says he plans to “move forward” with a drug interdiction program that has had a private agency stopping and seizing cash from motorists. […] Read more »
Wrongful Conviction: Tulsa Court Must Rule on Actual Innocence
A Tulsa judge who last year vacated a 1996 robbery conviction must now make a determination of the man’s actual innocence, the Oklahoma Supreme Court determined in a July, 2013 opinion. The opinion clears the way for the man to file a wrongful conviction claim against the state of Oklahoma. In a case championed by […] Read more »
Gurneys, Straps and Needles: No Refusal DUI Tests Resemble Execution Procedure
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol captain in command of troopers in seven south-central counties wants to expand the use of forced blood draws in DUI traffic stops. The initiative comes on the heals of an April U.S. Supreme Court decision that put a stop to most forced blood draws by police unless they first obtain a […] Read more »
Court Ok'd City's 'Too Smart to Be a Cop' Rule
Should you decide to seek work as a police officer in New London, Connecticut – if you’re smart — you might want to bungle a few answers on the IQ test. Too high of a score means you are too smart to be a cop. A New London policy that denied a job offer to […] Read more »
Surveillance Programs Can Be Criminal Defense Windfall
Popular wisdom holds that when government and industry amass trillions of terabytes of data about the routine activities of everyday citizens little good can come of the effort. Two recent cases, however, highlight the potential value of digital archives for defense against criminal charges. The first case raises interesting questions about those millions of domestic […] Read more »
Court Blocks Retroactive Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry Rule
With an eye toward removing potentially hundreds of names from the Oklahoma sex offender registry, the state Dept. of Corrections is reviewing details of more than 7,700 listed sex offenders. The review follows a June 25 state Supreme Court decision that found retroactive application of revised sex-offender registration rules violated a state constitutional provision against […] Read more »
Constitutional Questions Swirl Around Metabolite DUI Laws
While many states’ criminal codes treat marijuana as an increasingly trivial concern, legislators in some states have been piling on drugged driving laws that target marijuana users long after any intoxicating effect has subsided. Oklahoma is the latest state to adopt a law that allows prosecution of unimpaired drivers on DUI charges when drug tests […] Read more »
With Metabolite DUI, You Still Have the Right To Remain Silent
A new law set to take effect Oct. 1 will make Oklahoma one of the most restrictive states in the nation with regard to drivers who have traces of marijuana in their system. Under the new metabolite DUI law, any driver found with any amount of marijuana – or inactive metabolites of marijuana – in […] Read more »
Under Drugged Driving Law, Unintoxicated Drivers Could Face DUI Charges
A new Oklahoma drugged-driving law set to take effect Oct. 1, 2013 may encourage prosecution of drivers who are not intoxicated. The new metabolite DUI law makes it a crime for a driver to operate a vehicle with any amount of certain drugs – or metabolites of those drugs – in the driver’s bodily fluids. […] Read more »
Oklahoma Tort Reform Unraveled: Comprehensive Reform Act of 2009 Citationized
Click here to download the full report “Tort Reform Unraveled” in a printable pdf format. When the Oklahoma Supreme Court on June 4, 2013 struck down a landmark 2009 Tort Reform bill, it reversed law spread across 10 titles and 81 sections of Oklahoma Statutes. The order did not include references to the statutes created […] Read more »
