News & Resources
When Peaceful Protesting Hurts
Elizabeth Nichols, a 22 year old college student, was recently found guilty of failing to obey the police. Not obeying the police had more than one consequence for Nichols. Not only was Nichols charged with violations, as opposed to a crime, she was pepper-sprayed in the face and mouth at the scene of the… Read More »
Oregon Supreme Court Protects Suspects
November 29, 2012, saw the Oregon Supreme Court make a very important decision about eye-witness identification evidence. In-State v. Lawson, the Oregon Supreme Court got rid of the current way that eye-witness identification evidence is allowed in during a trial. The Court noted that the reliability of eye-witness identification evidence has been attacked around the… Read More »
Your Cellular Phone Is Evidence
There is no doubt that the police are very interested in what is on your cellular phone. In 2011, cellphone companies responded to 1.3 million demands from various police agencies across the country. These demands were for records of calls, text messages, and cell-site location data. The cell phone has quickly become a source… Read More »
Marijuana – State vs. Federal Law
In the 2012 General Election, Washington and Colorado both passed laws that make it legal for individuals over the age of 21 to possess small amounts of marijuana, even without a medical card. Oregon also had that law on the ballot, and the voters turned it down. So the law in Oregon remains the… Read More »
A Dog-Sniff Search
On October 31, 2012, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in a search and seizure case involving the use of a drug-sniffing dog on the outside of a home. In Florida v. Jardines, after receiving a tip, a police detective visited the defendant’s home, watched it for fifteen minutes, and waited for… Read More »
Expunged Record, Outdated Report
Expungement (record clearance) is a big part of what Mark C. Cogan P.C. Law does for our clients. It’s one of our favorite types of cases, helping people start fresh with no criminal convictions on their record. However, it happens occasionally that after a conviction has been cleared, a background check still shows the… Read More »
Prosecutor Abuse
Federal law allows federal courts to award attorneys’ fees and other expenses to criminal defendants who prove gross misconduct on the part of federal prosecutors. The law — a 1997 amendment sponsored by Representative Henry Hyde, a Republican — is a valuable deterrent to prosecutorial abuse, providing compensation in cases where a court finds… Read More »
Accuracy Criminal Background Reports
For far too long, the federal government has neglected its responsibility for regulating the companies that provide criminal background checks used by 9 in 10 companies to screen job applicants. The damage is done to job seekers by flawed and unreliable data — a common problem with such services — can be devastating. This… Read More »
Native American Client – Custodial Interference
Over the last six months, we defended a Native American client from an activist family on a high-profile criminal matter arising from our client’s actions in rescuing her son from danger. Our client faced extremely serious charges of Burglary in the First Degree and Custodial Interference in the First Degree for violating a Tribal… Read More »
Police GPS Tracking Devices Declared a Valid Search
The United States Supreme Court periodically issues decisions in which the scope of the public’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, as protected by the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, comes into conflict with law enforcement’s use of new technology. In the latest such decision, the United States vs. Jones,… Read More »
