Friday, January 30, 2015

Fine line between presenting evidence and being inflammatory

Interesting article today in the American Bar Association Journal about the prosecutor's use of 250 powerpoint slides in his closing.  The Washington Supreme Court overturned the conviction stating the presentation amounted to “egregious misconduct” during the trial of Odies Walker.

The powerpoint presentation included over one hundred slides with the caption “defendant Walker guilty of premeditated murder.”

“Closing argument provides an opportunity to draw the jury’s attention to the evidence presented, but it does not give a prosecutor the right to present altered versions of admitted evidence to support the state’s theory of the case, to present derogatory depictions of the defendant, or to express personal opinions on the defendant’s guilt,” the opinion said.

What is interesting is the quote from the prosecutor stating that the evidence was overwhelming and that he plans on asking the US Supreme Court to review.  If the evidence was overwhelming...why was it necessary to resort to this type of prosecutorial misconduct?  The evidence should speak for itself.  The other issue is that this prosecutor just doesn't get it.  It doesn't matter if the guilt is overwhelming...he still has to do his job correctly and ethically.  The ends DO NOT justify the means if the result is an erosion of our judicial system to the point that we do not need evidence...just the prosecutor's opinion.

Here is link to the article:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/prosecutors_powerpoint_closing_leads_to_overturned_conviction/?utm_campaign=weekly_email&utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&job_id=150128BZ

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Great wins today for Hunsucker Legal Group

The Hunsucker Legal Group had a great day today. Nicholas Lee had a fantastic win with a complete dismissal of a DUI charge against our client. Client was arrested after driving out of the jurisdiction of the police officer. State argued "fresh pursuit doctrine" applied to misdemeanors. We argued it only applies to felonies and the Judge agreed with us. This is a case where we had already won... the client's license back at the DPS level. This means that the client did not have to pay any court fees or any license related fees.

Douglas Baxter was able to get a bond reduction today in a case where the bond was set at a half million dollars. Doug was successful in getting reduced to $75,000 which should allow client to make bond.

Our Driver's License Attorney,Brian Morton, only had one HLG hearing today at the Department of Public Safety. After Brian's cross examination, it was clear that they were lacking a necessary witness so the case was set aside which will result in our client receiving her license back.

The Hunsucker Legal Group takes pride in having the best DUI Defense lawyers in the state and we strive for these results on a daily basis for every one of our clients. Visit www.OKDUI.com for more information.

Nice Win for Nick Lee

Our Senior Associate Nicholas Lee had a nice win for our client today.  HLG was representing a Colorado citizen that was arrested for DUI in Woodward, OK.  After we obtained the patrol video of the stop as well as the other discovery, Nick sent the video to the prosecutor asking for outright dismissal as we didn't think there was probable cause to arrest our client for a DUI.  The prosecutor didn't agree and basically told us to take the deal or go to trial.  Preparing for trial, Nick asked for a evidentiary hearing on the stop so we could argue for the case to be dismissed for lack of probable cause for arrest. 


Today, Nick shows up ready and armed with the video and case law for the motion hearings.  After further discussions and review, the prosecutor dismissed the DUI against our client.  Congrats to Nick and our client.

This case involved the use of a portable breath testing device and Field Sobriety Tests of which Nick has received extensive training in the use (or more commonly, the misuse) of these testing devices.