Michigan Criminal Defense Legal Questions

Most of the cases with these charges do not result in jail, as long as the past record is not too bad. However, in certain district courts jail is more likely than elsewhere. I am speaking about the 48th district court (birmingham, bloomfield, west bloomfield) and the 52-3rd district court (rochester, rochester hills, oxford, various townships).... Read More

If he is charged in a Michigan state court, and the drug is marijuana, the maximum is 4 years. If the drug is a common pharmaceutical or other illegal substance (heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc) it is a 20 year maximum. I do not know whether he has a reasonable chance of winning at a trial. If he is not convicted, he will not receive any sentence. If he is sentenced, either after a trial or a guilty plea, he and the attorney need to carefully go over the pre-sentence report and the sentencing guidelines scoring, and possibly get letters of support from respected members of the community. If he has a previous record that presents additional complications. Whether he gets jail time depends largely on which drug, the amount of the drug, the past criminal record, the sentencing guidelines scoring, what the defendant says at sentencing, and the attitude of the sentencing judge. No lawyer, no matter how great, can guarantee a particular result in this case.... Read More

Unfortunately, that is up to the judge. Jail is reasonably possible, but not legally required. Some courts are more likely to impose jail than others. You should hire a lawyer, and then you will not have to speak to an officer. If an officer tries to question you, you should refuse to answer any questions, but you can show him your drivers license. Do not answer questions about where you were at the time in question, who else uses the car, are you the person in this gas station photo, etc.... Read More

Sound more like a civil case to undo the sale or money damages for nondisclosure of material defect. But didn't you do an inspection before purchase? Surely, you would have noticed the infestation even without special training. Good luck convincing a prosecutor to get involved pursuing a fraud case in a real estate dispute over a defect with partial disclosure.... Read More

Possibly the brother could refuse to testify, citing his 5th amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The prosecutor could get him to testify only by offering him immunity. Then he can testify as to the truth, whatever that is. If there is no testimony she did the stabbing, that could result in a directed verdict of not guilty from the judge, or a not guilty from the jury. If someone takes a knife from my kitchen drawer and kills someone with it, the fact that my prints are on the knife does not make me guilty of the stabbing. However, if the brother made "excited utterances" about the cause of the injury, those out of court statements would be admissible into evidence at a trial, with testimony from the people who heard him make the statements. Whether something qualifies as excited utterance is a question of law that is highly dependent on the testimony,. If she does not want to claim incompetence or insanity, you cannot make her claim it. The attorney theoretically could ask for a competency exam, and the judge might grant it. Competency to stand trial is decided by the judge. Legal insanity (which almost never wins) is decided by a jury.... Read More

Michigan case law provides that the presence of alcohol in one's body or blood does not constitute possession of alcohol. If someone throws a container of piss on me, I am not guilty of possessing the piss. The same is true if someone spills alcohol on me. To litigate these questions in court will cost you far more than the $500, and victory is not guaranteed, but is certainly possible.... Read More

You can make a Freedom of Information Act request for the reports, etc., but in most cases so much will be blacked out (redacted) that it would be of limited value to you. Once someone is charged, the defense attorney should be able to get the full reports. If your plan is to help the investigation, you might ask the lead detective to give you the information to let you help. However, this may lead them to focus on you as a possible suspect, so think about that carefully before doing it.... Read More

Yes, you will be prosecuted.  If you have no prior drug offenses you will be offered a deferral under section 7411 of the public health code which allows the court to dismiss the case after you satisfactorily complete a period of probation.  This will keep it off you record.  You should remember that one of the collateral consequenses to a drug conviction of any sort is that it may disqualify you from and federally guaranteed financial aid.   Tom Stotz 586-465-4198... Read More

In all misdemeanor cases, the defendant can be prosecuted by the county prosecutor (also known as the state prosecutor) or by the local city attorney. If the opposing party is the city, that means the maximum penalty is up to 93 days, and the county prosecutor will not be involved. This designation of the city as the opposing party says nothing about the place where the trespassing supposedly occurred. There are many defenses that might apply to such a case, and also the possibility of making a deal with the city attorney. Hire an attorney in your area to improve the chances of a favorable outcome.... Read More

It is legal for a judge to sentence a juvenile to adult prison if the judge makes certain findings. The state did not put him in prison, the judge did. The judge is absolutely immune from a lawsuit about decisions he made as judge. The Department of Corrections employees have a complete defense to a lawsuit about his being in adult prison, that is, that they were obeying the order of a judge. If he was in solitary confinement for a year, that possibly could form the basis of a lawsuit, if a court were to find this action to be unreasonable. You would need to determine which people arranged for the solitary confinement in order to find out whom to sue. They will defend against the lawsuit with reports or testimony about his bad behavior or psychological evaluations while locked up, which they will claim made the solitary confinement necessary.... Read More