Your Blog

Included page "clone:raggedelation2477" does not exist (create it now)

DUI CASE SIGNALS SHIFT FOR DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY. - 20 Nov 2015 01:19

Tags:

[[html]]Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer<br><br>Rafael Salazar's get-out-of-jail-free card didn't work.&#13;&#13;<br><br>After he hit a trailer truck and spun into a center divider on the&#13;Pomona Freeway in April 1997, the consul general at the Republic of&#13;Guatemala's Los Angeles mission flashed his identification for a&#13;CHP officer, expecting diplomatic immunity would get him released.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Instead he was handcuffed, driven to the station and given a&#13;Breathalyzer. Later, he was charged with drunk driving just like anybody&#13;else.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Salazar responded by suing just about everyone connected to the&#13;case - including a Municipal Court judge. He claims that Article 41 of&#13;the Vienna Agreement makes him immune from misdemeanor arrest. He's&#13;seeking $1 million from the state, the California Highway Patrol and the&#13;officer who took him in.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Salazar's attorney said the criminal prosecution will outrage&#13;the world.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“When Barney Fife arrests a foreign diplomat in Mayberry, the&#13;ripple effect spreads to all foreign governments,” attorney&#13;Stephen Shikes said. “This case opens up a world of harassment for&#13;consulates everywhere.”&#13;&#13;<br><br>Meanwhile, Salazar was promoted by his government to be an&#13;ambassador in another country.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Salazar's decision to file a lawsuit might seem unusual, given&#13;that police say his blood-alcohol level was 2-1/2 times the legal limit.&#13;Perhaps even more unbelievable: He may have some legal ground to stand&#13;on.&#13;&#13;<br><br>From parking tickets to suspicion of drunk driving, laws are set upto protect. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bYBhq5SJAeI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br><br>diplomats like Salazar from arrest.<br><br>In recent years, however, law enforcement officials have been&#13;challenging immunity protection with several successful prosecutions of&#13;foreign government officials who thought they were legally bulletproof in the United States.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“I think it's been tougher for diplomats. The political winds&#13;are shifting,” said Southwestern University law professor&#13;Robert Lutz. “The police used to turn the other way in these cases. Now&#13;I don't think it's in their interest politically.”&#13;&#13;<br><br>Public safety issue&#13;&#13;<br><br>If local precedent is the standard, Salazar had good reason to&#13;think he wasn't going to get charged with a crime.&#13;&#13;<br><br>In 1992, Los Angeles police reported that a Saudi Arabian consul&#13;general was accused of taking some jewelry after crashing his car&#13;through the security fence at a Bel-Air Estates home. Officers suspected&#13;that he was under the influence of alcohol, but prosecutors declined to&#13;charge him with burglary.&#13;&#13;<br><br>At the time, a Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office&#13;spokesman said the Saudi's consular status didn't have a role&#13;in the decision not to file charges. But police officials admitted that&#13;a nondiplomat involved in a <a href="http://www.local.com/business/details/haddon-heights-nj/law-offices-of-stephen-lukach-iii-122462473/">miami criminal attorney</a> similar incident would probably have been&#13;arrested and charged with public drunkenness and driving under the&#13;influence - both misdemeanors.&#13;&#13;<br><br>International law&#13;&#13;<br><br>By international law, consul generals enjoy an intermediate level&#13;of freedom from arrest - Salazar's identification told officers not&#13;to arrest him “except on a warrant for felony offense.”&#13;&#13;<br><br>In any case, CHP and LAPD officials say they can always restrain a&#13;diplomat who endangers the public safety.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“We'll put them in a taxicab, call a consulate or do whatever&#13;we have to do to stop them from hurting others,” LAPD Lt.&#13;Wallace Graves said.&#13;&#13;<br><br>But once the immediate danger is thwarted, Graves said police are&#13;instructed to treat the diplomat differently from a U.S. citizen.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“Once we've stopped them from doing things that are dangerous&#13;to other people, we can't arrest them per se,” Graves&#13;said. “If they want to walk off, they can walk off.”&#13;&#13;<br><br>On duty?&#13;&#13;<br><br>In defending the lawsuit, Deputy District Attorney Richard De La&#13;Sota noted Salazar was not booked at the station and was taken home by a&#13;CHP officer because his car was wrecked.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“The real issue is whether Mr. <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=zT1Oh1zZuf1E.kvSXM00U3q3Y" width="640" height="480"></iframe>Salazar was engaged in theperformance <a href="http://www.merchantcircle.com/law-offices-of-stephen-lukach-iii1-haddon-heights-nj">dallas criminal attorney</a> of his consular functions while driving on the PomonaFreeway in his own automobile with a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 andslamming into the rear of <a href="http://www.citysearch.com/profile/656586354/haddon_heights_nj/law_offices_of_stephen_lukach_iii.html">phoenix criminal attorney</a> a tractor-trailer rig,” De La Sotasaid.<br><br>A letter from U.S. State Department legal counsel backed De La&#13;Sota's assessment, pointing out that Salazar's “consular&#13;immunity” is dependent on whether or not he is at work.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Salazar's attorneys claimed he was en route to his office when&#13;the crash occurred and that CHP officers made an illegal arrest.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Municipal Court Judge Conrad Aragon turned down Salazar's&#13;motion to dismiss the case in February and set a July 27 trial date.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Salazar responded with a lawsuit in federal court, asking for&#13;dismissal of the charges and damages to be assessed. The case is&#13;pending.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Promotion for Salazar&#13;&#13;<br><br><img src="http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/drunk-driver_100353318_m.jpg" width="311" /><br><br>Lutz says state prosecutors' best chance of convicting a&#13;consul or diplomat is to convince a lawbreaker's own government to&#13;waive immunity.&#13;&#13;<br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4NP2q-7ekqg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4NP2q-7ekqg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>That happened in October in Washington, D.C., where a Republic of&#13;Georgia Embassy official pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.&#13;&#13;<br><br>The embassy official, Gueorgui Makharadze, was stripped of his&#13;diplomatic immunity after he killed a teen-age girl while driving drunk&#13;at more than 70 miles per hour in a 25 miles-per-hour zone.&#13;&#13;<br><br>New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's long-running war over&#13;parking tickets given to United Nations diplomats led to an agreement&#13;that resulted in penalties being imposed - even though some said it&#13;violated the Vienna Agreement.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Rather than cut a deal in Salazar's case, the Guatemalan&#13;government promoted him twice since the incident, and he now is&#13;ambassador to Belize, according to consulate officials. Under U.S. law,&#13;an ambassador has even more immunity than a consul general.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Shikes acknowledged that some U.S. citizens may not want to believe&#13;that a diplomat can claim immunity. But he feels that foreigners&#13;won't understand the district attorney's action.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“There's a higher and more important consideration - the&#13;relation between the U.S. and the rest of the world,” Shikes&#13;said.&#13;&#13;<br><br>Lutz explained that consuls and diplomats may have to get used to&#13;the treatment.&#13;&#13;<br><br>“Diplomacy is part legal and part politics,” Lutz said.&#13;“The whole system is premised on give-and-take.”&#13;&#13;<br><br>[[/html]] - Comments: 0

What Happens if I Bail Someone Out of Jail and They Skip Court? - 03 Nov 2015 23:21

Tags:

[[html]]When a friend or family member has been arrested, they may turn to you for help in posting their bail. If you agree to help them, you will have the option to either pay the full bail amount directly to the court or jail, or to use the services of a bail bondsman. When you sign a bail bond contract with a licensed bail bond company, you become known as the indemnitor. This means that you are assuming responsibility to the court and the bail bond agent.<br><br><img style="float:left;margin:10px;border:none;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QdWrBW9eq3o/TPbrpNyN71I/AAAAAAAAAas/-yaavhslPVs/s1600/drinking-driving.jpg" width="265" /><br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j6--kTcODn8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j6--kTcODn8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>As the signer of a bail bond contract, you are guaranteeing that the defendant will show up for court. In many cases where the defendant fails to appear, it is a simple situation such as an illness, car trouble, or just forgetting the date of the court hearing. Situations such as these are understandable and can be resolved easily by reinstating the bond and rescheduling a new court date.<br><br><img style="float:right;margin:10px;border:none;" src="http://blog.thoughtpick.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/drunk-driving.jpg" width="393" /><br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ylM2gCTQ6bI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ylM2gCTQ6bI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>There are occasionally instances where the defendant has no intention of making their court appearance once they've been bailed out. If you have any reason to believe that the defendant will <a href="http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/08035-nj-stephen-lukach-404394.html">Effects Of Driving</a> purposefully skip court and even leave the area, do not consider bailing them out. You won't be criminally liable for the defendant's actions, but you will be civilly liable.<br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ItwAvM9_-Ho&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ItwAvM9_-Ho&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>It is important for you to understand the bail bonds process and your responsibilities as an indemnitor before you enter into a bail bond contract on someone else's behalf. <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=zKS6bj5L1LHs.khKQMxk00vus" width="640" height="480"></iframe>As signer you are responsible for the defendant's appearance at every court hearing. If they fail to appear in court, you are responsible to help the bondsman get the defendant back into court or jail.<br><br>If it becomes necessary for the bail bond agent to apprehend the defendant because they refuse to go to court, the agent will use the services of a fugitive recovery. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bYBhq5SJAeI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>person, or "bounty hunter." In these circumstances, you as the indemnitor will be liable for paying any additional expenses that come from hiring a bounty hunter.<br><br><img src="http://www.hertz-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/drunk-driver3.jpg" width="328" /><br><br>The amount of time that an agent has to locate and bring in the defendant varies by state, but is generally about six months. If the defendant is not apprehended in that time period, you will also be responsible for paying the full amount of the bond as well as any additional expenses and any unpaid premium. For example, if the bond for the defendant is $50,000 and the defendant fails to appear or is not brought in within the time allowed, the indemnitor will have to repay the $50,000.<br><br><img src="https://885fa5ce61295ebf3c84-35b073afd3cf2f7bae35b2b9457774cf.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/news/teen-drinking-driving.jpg" width="291" /><br><br>If someone you know has been arrested, you may want to do what you can to bail them out so they won't have to spend too long in jail. Before making what could be a very costly decision, think it over carefully. If you have any reason to believe that he or she will refuse to appear in court once they've been released, don't arrange bail for them. It may seem very harsh to just let them sit in jail during their court proceedings, which could last weeks, months, or even years, but it would be a great financial liability to you if you posted a bond for them and they decided to leave the area instead of handling their legal issues.<br><br><object width="400" height="241"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EYjpykLYSVQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EYjpykLYSVQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="241"></embed></object><br><br>[[/html]] - Comments: 0


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License