Category: Criminal Defense

Intellectual property, theft and Minnesota

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.

Multiple individuals charged with stealing cars for scrap in Twin Cities

Over the last few months there has been an increase in the number of car thefts in Saint Paul and Ramsey County. The car thefts involved older models that were taken from residential driveways, city streets and parking lots and sold to one particular salvage company for scrap. Recently, ten individuals allegedly involved in the thefts were charged by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Woman in largest Washington County theft case sentenced

A woman formerly from Forest Lake, Minnesota has recently been sentenced in the largest theft case in Washington County history. The woman has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for defrauding clients of $1.2 million from multiple property transactions.

Wrongfully Convicted Man Granted New Trial In Murder Case

In order to prevent wrongful convictions, the United States legal system is designed to give the benefit of the doubt to the accused in a criminal case. Put another way, the system is sometimes said to be designed with the thought that it’s better to have a guilty person be acquitted than have an innocent person found guilty. Unfortunately, innocent people are sometimes found guilty, due to any number of reasons, such as the use of unreliable scientific testing, the use of less than truthful witnesses, and attorney error. When all three deficiencies are found in one trial, a person can find themselves incarcerated for a crime they did not commit.

Violent crime and theft down in Minneapolis

Violent crime across the city of Minneapolis has dropped significantly over the last year. The trend over the past year is a continuation of declining violent crime rates that began two decades ago. In addition, the most popular crime on the University of Minnesota’s campus, theft, is also on the decline. Despite the reduction in crime levels, experts are not entirely sure what is causing the reduction in crime.

A one-dollar criminal defense story

Unlike many people who have been charged with allegations of a crime, the man from North Carolina who purposefully robbed a bank for one dollar probably does not want any criminal defense help. The reasoning behind the man’s plan was to get caught robbing a bank so that he could receive health care while in jail.

Retailers deal with more theft and organized crime

Retailers in the United States have been hit by more theft and fraud than at any point over the last seven years. Retailers from Target to Macy’s to locally owned businesses have all been targets. According to an industry survey three factors have contributed to increased theft and fraud at retailers across the U.S. Those factors are less store personnel, sophisticated technology and more gang activity.

Minnesota counties try to deal with abundance of jail spaces

Rural and suburban counties in Minnesota are trying to deal with a criminal law conundrum; the question of how to deal with the cost of an abundance of unused jail spaces. Multiple counties have built new facilities or upgraded old facilities to increase jail capacity while the overall crime rate has declined. Criminal experts and criminal defense experts are not sure what has caused the decline in the crime rate. Regardless, the resulting circumstance is an oversupply of spaces at a time when there is less demand.

Indiana Court Rules Illegal Arrests Cannot Be Resisted Even At Home

An Indiana appeals court has ruled that, when faced with an illegal arrest, citizens have no right to resist arrest in their homes by the police. The court over-ruled English-American common-law precedent dating back to 1215, the date of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was the first basis charter of human rights and civil liberties in English constitutional history. It formed the basis for the Bill of Rights of our U.S. Constitution, including the principle that police may not violate your rights and affect an Illegal Arrest if they do not have a Search Warrant or certainly narrow exceptions to the Warrant Requirement.