The LAW & LAWYERS Blog

President-elect Barack Obama’s advisers are creating a proposal to ship dozens (maybe hundreds) of Guantanamo-Bay prisoners to the United States to face criminal trials.

Obama has opposed the imprisonment of the terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, calling it a “sad chapter in American history”. He made a campaign promise to close the prison and said that the United States is generally equipped to handle the legal proceedings; however, he has offered few details on what he planned to do.

Under the proposed plans, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted through the U.S. criminal court system.

The detainees who have cases that are entangled in classified information may see their cases before a new court designed to handle sensitive cases involving national security.

These plans were disclosed to the Associated Press in anonymity because the plans aren’t final. Stay tuned to Total Lawyers for information as it develops.

Related Article: The Election and the Supreme Court

Yesterday, disbarred Florida lawyer Graham Kligerman was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a fake mortgage foreclosure rescue scheme.

The 34-year-old lawyer is accused of being the closing agent on 57 fraudulent real estate transactions. Banks were deceived into making millions in loans. Worse, homeowners facing foreclosure, who turned to Kligerman to save their homes, actually lost their homes.

Kligerman, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank, wire and mail fraud, was also ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution payments to all the loan processors, homeowners, banks and homebuyers who were cheated by his con.

His defense lawyers argued that his deceptive behavior stemmed from mental illness and the desperation of a failing law practice—not greed. The said that Kligerman only kept $150,000 of the diverted equity and gave the rest to his law clients.

“This court is seeing too many of these types of cases,” the presiding judge said. “There are victims out here who have lost their homes. You should be down on your knees begging for these people to forgive you and do something tangible to make up for what has happened to them. They’re hurting and you’re living comfortably—What’s wrong with that picture?”

Kligerman was disbarred in 2005 after he fabricated court documents, faked a judge’s signature and diverted money to a client from one of his personal trust accounts while pretending it was a payment from defendants.

“I live with regret every day,” Kligerman told a reporter. “To anybody who was hurt, and I know there were many of them, I apologize.”

Mortgage foreclosures are at an all-time high. If you are nearing or facing mortgage foreclosure, be careful who you turn to for help. Like Kligerman, there are many predatory people out there looking to cheat homeowners who are desperate to save their homes.

Consider talking with a bankruptcy lawyer. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plan has helped thousands of Americans save their homes from foreclosure and get set up on a realistic repayment plan to better manage their debt.

With the economy in such turmoil, times are tough for everybody—even lawyers. Layoffs at law offices are rare but becoming somewhat of a trend as income dwindles.

A Chicago law firm laid off 24 defense lawyers out of its 680 staff and another firm let go of 21 defense attorneys out of their stock of 650, according to a Chicago Tribune story.

But don’t worry—if you’re looking for a lawyer, we have an extensive network and nobody’s going anywhere!

Total Lawyers can help you if you’re looking for a:

• Bankruptcy Lawyer
• Criminal Defense Lawyer
• Personal Injury Lawyer
• DUI Lawyer
• Divorce Lawyer
• Family Law Lawyer
• Estate Layer
• Lemon Law Lawyer

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just busted a world-wide spam network responsible for burdening mailboxes with billions of illegal messages encouraging people to purchase unsafe male-enhancement and weight-loss pills.

The FTC froze the assets of two men, one from New Zealand and the other from Texas. Those assets may may go back to consumers who were sold the bogus weight-loss and male-enhancement drugs. [OK, time to insert bad, obvious joke: “I guess everything isn’t always bigger in Texas.”]

The FTC said it received more than 3 million complaints about the related spam. Preliminary estimates are that the spammers made millions of dollars off the bunk drugs.

The spam network used servers in China to host its Web sites and also used a “botnet” (a network of computers that are hijacked to send spam). In addition, it worked in Cyprus and Georgia to process the credit card information. Through this global system, more than 10 billion spam messages were sent each day.

The FTC is working with the FBI on possible criminal charges against the men.

Check out the related Total Lawyer’s article, Virginia Supreme Court Votes in Favor of Spam.

Baltimore defendants and criminal defense lawyers are opting for their day in court—even in minor cases, according to a recent Baltimore Sun article.

As a result of swamped courts, prosecutors are often left to offer more lenient plea deals or dismiss the case altogether.

Criminal defense lawyers are also requesting jury trials because they know that the idea of repeated court appearances sometimes deter witnesses from showing up and, as a result, their defendant’s case gets dismissed.

For a related article, check out Old Law Prevents Rapists from Prosecution.

A notorious 81-year-old lawyer who went to jail for blinding his lover with lye has found himself in hot water again—and he took another fellow criminal defense lawyer down with him.

The lawyer, who was disbarred after the felony conviction, has been using a Queens, NY criminal defense lawyer as a “front man” so he could continue to practice law.

The criminal defense attorney was subsequently disbarred for his actions, as the state appeals court ruled that “[The aiding defense lawyer] afforded so little regard to his law license as to allow a disbarred felon to use his name freely on court papers and to advertise himself as his paralegal.”

Related Total Lawyers articles:
• The 6th Amendment, a Miami Lawyer & A Columbian Drug Lord
• Judge Allows Police Raid Of Defense Attorney’s Office

As the week comes to an end, check out the latest articles from Total Lawyers:

Appeals Panel Saves American Girl From Deportation:

This article highlights the case of a father who, despite allegedly sexually abusing his daughter, was trying to get the American-born child deported to his current country of residence.

GPS Tracking Law Raises Constitutional Questions:

In Illinois, judges are allowed to order any person considered to be high risk for domestic violence to wear a GPS system. Total Lawyers examines the constitutionality of this new law.

Non-Sex Offender Constricted By Child Predator Law:

How can a man who’s never committed a sex crime be forced to register as a sexual predator? Read this article and learn more about the people who are unfairly labeled sex offenders.

Old Law Prevents Rapists from Prosecution:

DNA evidence has helped close thousands of criminal cases; however, what happens when the statute of limitations expires? Read on…

In a small Mississippi town, a prosecuting attorney called his witness, an elderly woman, to the stand to examine her, according to a blog post. Here’s a transcription of their conversation:

Prosecutor: “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?”

Grandma Jones: “Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a little boy, and frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.”

Stunned prosecutor, fumbling, pointed to the defense lawyer and said: “Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?”

Grandma Jones: “Why yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster too. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.”

Judge then asked both lawyers to approach the bench and said: “If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair.”

Other interesting law articles from Total Lawyers:

• Judge Allows Police Raid of Defense Attorney’s Office
• Court Rules In Gay Discrimination Case

State attorneys wants a Tucson man banned from owning another massage parlor because they say that he ran a prostitution ring and tried to masquerade it as a church.

John LaVoie’s latest legal argument is that he hired women at his business to not sell sex, but to comfort people through the “religious act” of “laying on of hands”.

LaVoie was recently convicted by a jury on 22 counts for racketeering, money-laundering and other offenses related to prostitution in a civil forfeiture.

No criminal charges have been filed against the man due to a police officer allegedly compromising the investigation, but the civil forfeiture, which is a proceeding that allows the government to seize assets if it can prove they were obtained in an illegal manner, could result in LaVoie forfeiting nearly $2 million worth of cash and property.

The civil forfeiture case could also permanently bar him from working or having any stake in any massage business.

LaVoie is fighting hard to keep his money and the right to work in the massage business. He has recently citing his constitutional right of freedom of religion as a defense.

LaVoie testified that he is the pastor of the Church of Liberty and his defense lawyers argue that he has the First Amendment right “to freely exercise his religion, which includes offering comfort through the laying on of hands”.

An assistant attorney general said that his hired “angels” were, in reality, committing acts of prostitution with male customers.

Related Criminal Defense Law Articles:

• Old Law Prevents Rapists from Prosecution
• The 6th Amendment, a Miami Lawyer & A Columbian Drug Lord

The news of a grave violation of privacy—yes, a criminal violation as well—has returned to prominence the ever-important question of safeguarding secure accounts in the Internet age.  With more and more personal information such as bank accounts, credit card numbers, and other personal, private information being sent and stored online, the chance for theft and data breaches has become exponentially greater.

Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a newcomer to the national scene who was thrust into the public spotlight just a few weeks ago, found that her personal Yahoo e-mail account was hacked by a group of Internet pranksters, who took screenshots of Palin’s inbox and a few select e-mails and posted them at Wikileaks.org.

Palin has been the center of a legal entanglement in her home state of Alaska, and she has been widely accused of attempting to skirt state record-keeping policies by corresponding about official state business in her personal e-mail account. Several e-mails on what appear to be state subjects were displayed in the screenshots. 

The Boston Herald reports that the FBI and Secret Services are on the case, and that the perpetrator will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.