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 )

Attorney Matthews Bark | Criminial Defense

The Law Offices of Matthews R. Bark, P.A., believes that the way to manage our clients’ anxieties and other needs is by building relationships between our clients, with not only the attorney, but also our staff. Our office is a small office that is managed by Sue. Please contact us for a free consultation today at 407-865-8888.

Whether your are charged with:

• Driving Under the Influence (DUI) (including with property damage, or with a minor in the vehicle, or with a breath alcohol content above .15),
• possession of cannabis,
• possession of drug paraphernalia,
• possession of drugs,
• possession of oxycodone,
• possession of xanax,
• possession of alprazolam,
• possession of heroine or cocaine,
• possession of ecstacy (MDMA)
• trafficking in oxycodone,
• trafficking in Xanax,
• trafficking in alprazolam,
• trafficking in heroine,
• trafficking in cocaine,
• trafficking in ecstasy (MDMA),
• traveling to meet a minor for sexual purposes,
• sexual battery,
• rape,
• homicide,
• lewd and lascivious conduct,
• domestic violence, domestic violence battery, domestic violence assault,
• battery, battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, battery with great bodily harm,
• carrying a firearm by a convicted felon,
• DUI with serious injury, DUI homicide,
• leaving the scene of an accident,
• fleeing and eluding
• money laundering,
• fraud, white-collar crime,
• Medicaid fraud,
• petit theft, grand theft (theft over three hundred dollars), grand theft auto,
• operating an illegal lottery,
• possession of alcohol by a minor,
• sale of alcohol to a minor,
• driving while license suspended revoked, suspended or canceled,
• reckless driving,
• violation of probation,
• felony violation of probation, or
• violation of community control

We believe that through collaboration with our clients (you) that we can reach the best most desirable outcome.

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