Matthew Bark - Ohio city to help translate legal documents for immigrants

Source    : Washington Times
By           : Associated Press
Category :  Attorney Matthews Bark of Orlando, Matthew Bark

Ohio city to help translate legal documents for immigrants

A southwest Ohio city wants to assist immigrants who have trouble understanding legal documents in English by translating them into other commonly spoken languages. The Dayton Daily News reports the city’s municipal court system and some legal departments plan to translate vital documents for immigrants. The Welcome Dayton initiative plans to help translate victim-information pamphlets and victim-notification letters from the Montgomery County prosecutor’s office and help the court translate protection orders and sentence entries.

Ann Murray, the Dayton Municipal Court administrator, said the goal is to tackle some of the language issues they have had. The court has for years offered some of its most important documents in Spanish. But the courts have recently seen an uptick in defendants, victims and plaintiffs who come from other parts of the world, including the Middle East, Russia, China and Africa. “Over the past couple of years, we’re getting more of the Russian, the Turkish, the Swahili and a lot of different dialects,” Murray said. Language barriers can make it difficult for citizens to access necessary services, said Melissa Bertolo, program coordinator for Welcome Dayton. She added that criminal defendants and victims have the right to understand what’s happening in their cases.

Residents appearing in court have previously had access to translators who can provide verbal translations, but the move toward written translations of documents comes after the city last year adopted a new language-access policy stating that citizens cannot be denied access to services due to limited proficiency in English. The cost of the document translation service is not yet clear.

Read more :  washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/5/ohio-city-to-help-translate-legal-documents-for-im/

Matthew Bark - Does legal pot entice users to drink more?

Source    : Futurity
By           : Deborah Bach-UW
Category : Attorney Matthews Bark of Orlando, Matthew Bark

Does legal pot entice users to drink more?

Does legal marijuana tempt pot users to consume more alcohol? A new study highlights the difficulties of gauging the impact of a formerly illicit drug as it moves into the mainstream. Recreational marijuana use is now legal in four states and medical marijuana in 23 states. Research on legalization policies has focused largely on how they impact marijuana access and use, but researchers wanted to know how legalization affects the use of alcohol, by far the nation’s most popular drug. The majority of adults in the US drink to varying degrees. Alcohol abuse is the third leading preventable cause of death nationwide—and drinking accounts for almost one-third of driving fatalities annually. Excessive alcohol use cost $223.5 billion in 2006 alone. “We chose to focus on alcohol because even relatively small changes in alcohol consumption could have profound implications for public health, safety, and related costs,” says lead author Katarína Guttmannová, a researcher in the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington. The researchers sought to determine whether legalizing marijuana led to it becoming a substitute for alcohol or tended to increase consumption of both substances. If it was the former, that could greatly reduce the costs of healthcare, traffic accidents, and lower workplace productivity related to excessive drinking. But if legalized marijuana resulted in increased use of both drugs, costs to society could increase dramatically, particularly since those who use both substances tend to use them at the same time. Those who use both substances simultaneously are twice as likely to drive drunk and face social troubles such as drunken brawls and relationship problems. Drawing on previous studies, the researchers hypothesized that legalization of marijuana could result in either substitution or complementary effects. Marijuana and alcohol both provide users with similar “reward and sedation” effects, which could prompt users to substitute one for the other. But blood levels of THC, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s pleasurable psychological effects, increase with simultaneous alcohol use—so the quest for a better high might lead people to use both substances.

A mix of findings

For the study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, researchers reviewed more than 750 studies on marijuana and alcohol use and focused on 15 that specifically addressed the links between marijuana policies and drinking. They looked at how decriminalized marijuana, medical marijuana, and recreational marijuana affected alcohol use. The findings of those studies fluctuated widely, depending on the demographic and the type and frequency of alcohol and marijuana use. One study, for example, found that states where marijuana is decriminalized had more emergency room visits related to marijuana and fewer visits linked to alcohol and other drugs. Some studies found that high school seniors in states where pot was decriminalized tended to drink less, while other research found that college students who used pot also drank more. Findings around medical marijuana also varied. One study reported that states with medical marijuana dispensaries had higher rates of both marijuana and alcohol use, as well as higher admissions into alcohol treatment facilities. But while states with medical marijuana had fewer alcohol-related fatalities overall, those with dispensaries saw more of those deaths. Other research found that while legalized medical marijuana wasn’t associated with any increases in underage drinking, it was linked with more binge drinking and simultaneous use of pot and alcohol among adults.

A complicated issue

The researchers conclude there’s evidence of marijuana and alcohol being both substitutes and complements. Given the rapidly evolving landscape of marijuana policy, they say further study will be important to understand how changes in marijuana laws impact the use of alcohol and other drugs. In particular, future studies should address specific dimensions of marijuana policies, timing of policy change and implementation, and different aspects of marijuana and alcohol use, such as age of users and whether they are episodic or regular consumers, Guttmannová says. “This is a complicated issue and requires a nuanced approach. We were hoping to have more clear-cut answers at the end of our research. But you know what? This is the science of human behavior, and it’s messy, and that’s OK.” The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded the work.

See more at :  futurity.org/marijuana-alcohol-1081732-2/

Attorney Matthews Bark of Orlando | Jury’s guilty verdict surprises legal watchers

Source    :thespec
By        : Hamilton Spectator
Category  : Attorney Matthews Bark of Orlando, DUI Attorney Matthews Bark of Orlando

Legal watchers in the Maritimes expressed surprise over Saturday's murder conviction against a member of one of New Brunswick's most prominent families, with one expert forecasting an appeal.

A professor of criminal justice history who has been following the trial of Dennis Oland said he was shocked a jury came back with a guilty verdict.

Greg Marquis, of the University of New Brunswick, who is writing a book about the Oland trial, said the evidence presented at the trial was largely circumstantial.

Marquis pointed out that Judge John Walsh emphasized in his legal instructions to the jurors that they could not convict Oland of second-degree murder in the death of his father Richard Oland unless they felt his guilt was proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Marquis said if he had been on the jury he would have struggled with that concept in the light of evidence available, which included a brown sports jacket with some blood stains found on it.

"There was not a lot of direct evidence. There was no murder weapon or witnesses," he said in an interview on Sunday, a day after the jury handed down its verdict of guilty of second degree murder.

"There was hardly any blood evidence, except for on the brown sports jacket. That was a key piece of forensic evidence, but even that is problematic because no one could say how the blood got onto the jacket or how long it had been there."

Oland's mother Connie has issued a statement maintaining her son's innocence and said they would be discussing options with the prominent New Brunswick family's legal team.

Robert Currie, a criminal law professor Dalhousie University in Halifax, predicted Oland will appeal the conviction.

However, Currie said Oland's avenues for an appeal are limited because the jury's deliberations are kept confidential, so there is no written decision to dispute as there are when a case is tried by the judge alone.

Appeals in jury trials are usually limited to the judge's instructions to the jury or the admissibility of evidence, said Currie. He predicted Oland would appeal the decision to allow the brown sports jacket as evidence at the trial.

Oland was wearing the jacket when he visited his father on July 6, 2011 — the day before he was found face down in a pool of blood in his Saint John office. The DNA of the blood stains matched the profile of Richard Oland.

However, none of the expert witnesses could say how long the blood had been on the jacket or how it got there.

The Oland family is one of the Maritimes' best known families and founded Moosehead Breweries.

(Read More : .thespec.com/news-story/6202721-jury-s-guilty-verdict-surprises-legal-watchers-in-oland-s-second-degree-murder-case/)

Attorney Matthews Bark Of Orlando | Freedom of Information Act under threat as government considers charging for requests

Source    :The Argus
By        :  Joel Adams
Category  : Attorney Matthews Bark Of Orlando

THIS newspaper’s ability to unearth scandals, criminality and the misuse of taxpayer’s money is under threat.

Freedom of Information requests by The Argus have brought to light dangerous criminals being on the loose, ruinous under investment in the seafront, failures on the railways and even doctors’ malpractice.

Had the act not been in force this information would have been almost impossible to unearth.

However, the government is considering imposing limits or charges which would prevent this paper, along with other media outlets and millions of citizen journalists, from gaining access to important information.

The Freedom of Information Act 2005 was brought in by the Blair government and applies to more than 100,000 public sector bodies including local and central government, police forces, schools and the NHS.

It enables anybody to ask for information and given it does not fall under a series of exemptions (such as a threat to national security) it has to be released.

The government's consultation comes as Brighton and Hove City Council was criticized last week for reversing its policy of making past FOI requests available to the public online.

Steve Parry, who has filed dozens of requests in the city, said: “People generally, and journalists in particular, have to see that processes have not been a result of undue lobbying, influence or ignorance.

“If there are changes to the act, there will be more information hidden and for a functioning democracy you need to have information.”

The government is considering imposing a £20 charge for each FOI, which would put requests out of reach of most individuals and cash-strapped local newspapers.


Mike Gilson, editor of The Argus, said: "It has been a vital tool in opening up the sort of detail and fact that fuels debate in a properly democratic society.

All institutions have a tendency not to share information. It’s in their DNA. When you hear statutory authorities saying they believe in transparency it is usually transparency on their terms.

"The list of stories uncovered by The Argus using the act is impressive testimony to the important role in plays."

The review of the act was triggered by the Supreme Court ruling that the government must publish the so-called “black spider memos” written by Prince Charles to ministers.

The review focuses on whether additional safeguards are needed to protect the internal deliberations of public bodies, and whether the cost of answering FOI requests has become too great.

Central government has received between 30,00 and 52,000 requests a year since the act was passed, at an average cost of £184 in staff time to resolve each.


THE REAL CRIME RATES REVEALED

THE Argus discovered Sussex Police bosses were failing to inform the public about hundreds of crimes after filing a Freedom of Information request.  It was the only way this newspaper could tell readers 787 crimes were reported in a fortnight – while police press officers only told you about two of them.

They included rapes, robberies, kidnapping, possession of firearms and other weapons, drugs trafficking and threats to kill – most of which remain unsolved.  On July 9 the force faced criticism for failing to be transparent in the wake of this revelation despite having one of the highest expenditures of all forces for communications – £1.2 million.


(Source:theargus.co.uk/news/14111937.Freedom_of_Information_Act_under_threat_as_government_proposes_charging_for_requests/)

DUI Attorney Matthews Bark | Driver sentenced in Volusia County fatal DUI crash

Source    : clickorlando
By        : Loren Korn 
Category  : DUI Attorney Matthews Bark


 DUI manslaughter. The state asked for 15 years but the judge said he wanted to give Acuri a second chance.
On Tuesday, a judge sentenced 34-year-old Jodie Acuri to 11 years behind bars and four years probation for

"I ask God to give you strength and courage to accept an apology now. I am truly sorry for your loss," said Arcuri.

Acuri expressed remorse in court for killing 22-year-old Stephen Wilson last year while under the influence.

Bob Huff, Acuri's attorney, believed she should not get the full 15 years in prison that the state was asking for because besides being remorseful, she cooperated with police. he also said Acuri suffers from mental health disorders and needs counseling more than prison.

"We're warehousing a client who may or may not get the help she needs while she's in prison," said Huff.

However, the state argued Acuri needs to learn her lesson by going to prison, saying she's been a drug addict for 10 years and her mental illnesses have nothing to do with this case.

But after listening to both sides and taking into account strong witness statement, the judge decided Acuri get 11 years behind bars.

"It's probably what I would have expected it but we thought that it should have been a lower sentence," said Huff.

"It's satisfying to know that she's behind bars a little bit but you know nothing will ever bring him back," said Catherine Deering.


(Source :  clickorlando.com/news/driver-sentenced-in-volusia-county-fatal-dui-crash)

Criminal Defense | Another Serial Killer Linked to Two Attacks in Grim Sleeper Case

Source    : People
By        :  Christine Pelisek
Category  :  Criminal Defense Attorney Matthews Bark

An attorney for the alleged Grim Sleeper serial killer suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr. filed a motion last week claiming that DNA evidence found at two attacks link another serial killer to the crimes.

Franklin, a married father of two and former Los Angeles Police Department mechanic and sanitation worker for the city of Los Angeles, was charged in July 2010 with 10 murders and one attempted murder. He faces the death penalty for the alleged 23-year murder spree that began on Jan. 15, 1984, when Sharon Dismuke was discovered shot in the chest in the restroom of an abandoned gas station. Franklin was scheduled to go to trial Oct. 14 but it has been postponed again till Dec. 15.

In the motion, Franklin's defense claims convicted killer Chester Turner is linked through DNA evidence to the attacks on alleged Grim Sleeper victims Barbara Ware and Enietra Washington. Turner, a former pizza deliveryman and one of several serial killers who preyed on young, poor black women in South Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s, is on California's Death Row for killing 14 women, including one who was pregnant. Turner strangled his victims before he dumped their bodies mostly along freeways and alleys, within 20 blocks of his various homes and flophouses.

"DNA analysis reveals that Chester Turner must be included as a potential biological donor to the DNA found," the motion states.

Franklin's defense team also listed 19 other men as possible suspects in some of the attacks, including the boyfriend of one of the victims.

"The evidence reveals a high probability that a third party, or parties, committed one or more of the charged offenses as well as were the actual killer and the only individual present during the crime that had the intent to kill," the motion states.

At a court hearing Friday, Los Angeles prosecutor Marguerite Rizzo questioned the defense expert's methods of calculating the DNA evidence stating it defied "the correct methods of statistical analysis."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy postponed Franklin's trial so prosecutors could have their experts analyze the evidence. Kennedy criticized Franklin's defense for handing prosecutors close to 2,000 pages of discovery days before the trial was set to start.

"You know, you kind of put everybody in a box," she said. "Because when you are turning material over, expert, scientific-type material in volume days before a scheduled trial that obviously require an expert's review – it's one thing to turn over a police report or an investigator's report. It's another thing to turn over scientific evidence at the last second…I'm not going to force the prosecution to proceed unprepared."

(Read More : http://www.people.com/article/defense-attorney-says-another-serial-killer-linked-grim-sleeper-case)

Defense Attorney Matthews Bark | Attorney Asks for New Trial

Source    : .Sfgate
By        : Bob Egelko
Category  : Florida Attorney Matthews Bark

A San Francisco woman who was convicted of murder after her unmuzzled dog fatally mauled a neighbor in an apartment corridor in 2001 should get a new trial because the judge effectively muzzled her attorney during the prosecutor’s closing argument, a defense lawyer told a federal appeals court Monday.
At a “critical stage of the trial,” Marjorie Knoller’s lawyer was “gagged by the court, threatened with jail” if she voiced objections to the prosecutor’s argument, attorney Dennis Riordan told a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
That violated Knoller’s constitutional right to effective legal assistance, Riordan told the three-judge panel. The state’s lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Peggy Ruffra, conceded the trial judge had been wrong but said the error had no effect on the jury’s verdict because the evidence of Knoller’s guilt was strong.
The victim, Diane Whipple, 33, the women’s lacrosse coach at St. Mary’s College, was mauled in a hallway of her Pacific Heights apartment building in January 2001 and bled to death from 77 wounds.
Knoller, an attorney, had been walking her dog Bane, a 140-pound Presa Canario, on the roof of the building and had returned with him to the corridor when he bolted away and attacked Whipple. The dog’s 100-pound mate, Hera, charged out of Knoller’s apartment and may have joined the attack.

Knoller’s husband, attorney Robert Noel, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for leaving the dogs with Knoller, knowing she could not restrain them. But the jury convicted Knoller of second-degree murder, agreeing with prosecutors that she had acted with a conscious disregard for human life because she knew Bane was dangerous from past incidents but failed to muzzle him or try to save Whipple during the attack.
She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, which she is still serving. The trial judge, James Warren, reversed her murder conviction, saying he believed her testimony that she had no idea Bane could kill anyone, but the conviction was reinstated on appeal and upheld by state courts.
At Monday’s hearing, Riordan focused on the final phase of the trial, when Warren, who had previously rebuked Knoller’s lawyer for one of her objections, told the attorney his client could be jailed if she voiced any objections to the prosecutor’s argument. The prosecutor then asked jurors to imagine themselves in Whipple’s shoes as she was being charged and mauled — an argument that is forbidden by California law but was not challenged by Knoller’s attorney.

It was “a tremendously prejudicial closing argument” and the judge’s order deprived Knoller of a fair trial, Riordan said. He conceded that Knoller had been negligent and was guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but said there was no credible evidence that she knew the dogs were potentially lethal.
Ruffra countered that more than 30 witnesses testified Knoller had been present when her dogs attacked other people in the past. “These dogs were huge,” the state’s lawyer said. “They were bred to be aggressive.”
Judge Margaret McKeown said Monday that she was concerned about the impact of silencing the defense lawyer at the close of the trial. But another panel member, Judge Johnnie Rawlinson, questioned whether Knoller was “completely deprived of the assistance of counsel” when the judge limited her lawyer’s comments.

(Source : http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Attorney-asks-for-new-trial-in-2001-dog-mauling-6636476.php )