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It may seem odd to hear of a 78-year-old being arrested, much less being arrested for simple robbery and terroristic threats, but that is exactly what happened to a man late last month in Minneapolis. The man is accused of a felony theft crime after he allegedly tried to rob a bank on East Franklin Avenue.
There has been talk in a few cities across the country about partially decriminalizing marijuana for recreational use in an attempt to reduce the number of young adults getting criminal records. Even for something as little as misdemeanor marijuana possession charges, a Minneapolis man or woman could face serious problems. He or she may have to pay a large fine or spend time in jail; regardless of what the punishment is, he or she will now have a criminal record.
A bill has recently been signed into law that will require anyone using Facebook or a social networking site who has also been convicted of a sex crime to post his or her status as a sex offender on his or her profile. Though this law will not affect anyone in Minnesota, it has dangerous implications and could set precedence for the Minnesota legislature.
What would you do if you felt threatened, if you thought someone was going to hurt you? For many people, the answer is simple — act in self-defense. Under certain circumstances, when an individual is threatening or hurting you, you can respond with a certain degree of force. This is exactly what one Minneapolis police officer is claiming after he was charged with assault.
On Thursday, June 14, 2012, attorney Max Keller of Keller Criminal Defense Attorneys argued a possession and distribution child pornography appeal case at the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The case involves a number of issues specific to this client but not of statewide importance, such as sentencing issues and sufficiency of the evidence issues. Two issues argued are of statewide importance and involve the constitutionality of Minnesota’s pornography statutes. The judges focused on one particular issue, that of whether Minnesota’s possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography statutes are unconstitutional, because the statutes are “strict liability” statutes meaning that a person can be convicted for possessing illegal images even though he had no intent to do so.
Facing a charge of possessing, distribution, receiving, or producing child pornographyis a scary proposition. Not only do child pornography charges carry the possibility of long prison sentences and registration as a predatory offender, but even being charged with anything related to child pornography results in a serious social stigma against you.
While many people in Minneapolis may think that longer and more frequent prison sentences will be an important deterrence to anyone convicted of a crime, they would be wrong. According to the PEW Center on the States, longer prison sentences do little curb non-violent offenders from getting in trouble with the law again. That means sending someone who was convicted of marijuana possession to prison for several years isn’t going to help him or her break a drug habit and he or she may just be back before a judge in a few years’ time.
This week, charges against a Texas woman resulted in national media coverage. The woman in Texas was charged in Federal Court with possession, receipt, and distribution of child pornography. Women have been charged with Federal child pornography offenses much less frequently than men, meaning this story was already likely to receive some media attention. What drove this story towards increased media coverage was the status of the woman’s husband.
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