Idaho Criminal Defense Legal Questions

In a criminal appeal, the appellate judge will normally only examine the lower judge's ruling to try to detect abuse of discretion - meaning, basically, whether the lower judge made an illegal decision. The appellate judge does NOT substitute his or her own judgment for that of the lower judge: He won't examine the facts of the case on the record, conclude that he would have given a different sentence, and impose that change. He will only require a change if the sentence is clearly illegal in some way. Whether or not to withhold judgment is a discretionary call that the appellate court is unlikely to overturn, no matter how eggregious the facts of the case are: There is no statute or case law that requires the court to withhold judgement under specific circumstances. The good news, however, is that you can ask for the case to be dismissed if you complete your probation without violation (something you'd have to do for a withheld judgment, anyway). Once you successfully complete probation, ask your attorney about petitioning for a dismissal.... Read More

Here are some possiblilities: 1) This could be a scam, I'm not sure how likely that is, but it's possible; 2) The mortgage may have been assigned to a new lender this happens all the time and they don't have to tell you in advance and they don't have to get your permission; 3) Maybe it's just a mistake?... Read More

No, you cant be arrested for not calling the DA back. You can only be arrested by not coming to court when  you have received a subpoena. Wait till you get a subpoena then contact a local lawyer. You might want to call the DA back and tell her or him your situation. Perhaps if you are a valuable witness they will pay you to show. ... Read More

The simple attorney answer is that it depends. Fraud requires intent. If at the time that you took out the payday loans you intended to defraud the company and default on the payments then it would be a crime. If the money is simply unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances, then there is no crime but you are liable to repay the loans. Regardless, it would be difficult for the prosecutor to prove intent based on the question. If you are being harassed by the pay day loan company and they are making threats of criminal prosecution, the company may be committing a crime by violating federal fair debt collection laws.... Read More