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A woman from Stillwater, Minnesota was recently cleared of a white collar crime according to the woman’s attorney. The woman had been criminally charged in two states and was accused of writing checks with a forged signature. The woman was charged in Minnesota and South Dakota and her story demonstrates the complexities of identity theft.
A strong criminal defense highlighting the fact that shoddy and circumstantial evidence was the only thing linking three men to a series of infamous murders in 1993 eventually led to the men’s release from prison.
As the amount of immigrants to the United States has increased since 2006, so too has the need for courtroom translators for defendants that do not speak English as a first language. In 2006, there were 5,177 hearings in Minnesota that required an interpreter. In 2010, there were 30,009 – many of them criminal defense hearings. According to one district judge, an unwitting admission of guilt due to a language barrier can send innocent people to jail, possibly opening the door for deportation.
Recently, the California state legislature passed a bill that would require law-enforcement officers to obtain a warrant before searching an arrested person’s cellphone. While, the California law does not impact people who live in Minnesota, the law is central to a criminal defense discussion about information collection by law enforcement, electronic devices and search warrants.
Actions surrounding the purchase and use of synthetic drugs in Minnesota are considered drug crimes. Despite the illegal classification of synthetic drugs in the state, the purchase of synthetic drugs continues through black market websites. The dramatic rise in online drug dealing has made it tougher for law enforcement to enforce applicable drug crime laws to synthetic drugs.
A man from St. Paul, Minnesota who plead to a sex crime charge will not serve time in prison and instead will be put on probation. The sentencing decision was partly the result of plea agreement and a misunderstanding on the length of a prison sentence for a second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.
A clerk who worked for Anoka County recently plead guilty to one white collar crime charge and two others were dismissed. The woman adjusted the status of various marriage certificates in the county as a way to gain some extra cash. The 52-year-old woman made just over $7,000 over the three years she fraudulently changed marriage license applications. The woman faces up to 45 days in jail.
Recently, a technical director at Valspar in Minneapolis was caught for attempting to steal $20 million of chemical formulas from the firm. His goal was to trade the formulas for a high-ranking position with a Chinese firm. For the attempted intellectual property theft, the former Valspar worker was sentenced to 15 months in jail. The story of intellectual property theft is a growing one in Minnesota and the United States.
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