Archive for October, 2014

Kansas Criminal Defense Attorney Discusses Search and Seizure Defenses

Monday, October 20th, 2014

If you have been charged with a crime, you may be aware that there are often multiple ways in which you can defend yourself against the charges which have been brought against you. The types of defense strategies which may be available to you depend largely upon the nature of the crime that you have been charged with. If you have been charged with a drug crime or some other crime for which the charges are based upon evidence which was obtained during a search and seizure, it is possible that a search and seizure defense may be available to you.

As an American, you are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, unreasonable searches and seizures happen every day despite the Constitutional guarantee. If you have been charged with a crime which involved any type of search or seizure, it is important that you talk to a Kansas Criminal Defense Attorney about your case. A Fourth Amendment defense is one tool that criminal defense attorneys can use to help their clients, and it can be a very effective tool because it can be used to prevent the prosecution from presenting key pieces of evidence to the court.

Fourth Amendment defenses can take a variety of forms. One type of search and seizure defense is based upon the validity of the search warrant. Search warrants must be supported by probable cause, which means that an officer must have had information available to them which would have led a reasonable person to believe that a crime had occurred or was in progress. If the search warrant which was issued prior to the search and seizure in your case was not based on probable cause, it may be defective. Likewise, a warrant may be deemed invalid if it did not provide a specific enough description of the place which was to be searched and the person or items which were to be seized.

Sometimes, a Fourth Amendment defense is focused on the search itself. A search which was conducted pursuant to a valid warrant may be deemed defective under certain circumstances. An example of how an improper search can be made pursuant to a valid warrant occurs when law enforcement officers go beyond the scope of the warrant and search in places that are not specifically described in the warrant.

Fourth Amendment defenses can also be made in some cases involving warrantless searches. Warrantless searches are often performed as part of an arrest, upon the consent of the person to be searched, in emergencies, and when items are in plain view of an officer. Warrantless searches must be supported by probable cause, so some of them are valid and some are not.

If you have been charged with a crime and the charges are based upon evidence which was obtained during a search and seizure, you deserve the best possible defense. Your Kansas Criminal Defense Attorney can help you to determine whether a Fourth Amendment defense is available in your case. Whether this type of defense is available or not, your attorney can select a defense strategy which meets your needs. Your Kansas Criminal Defense Attorney will also give your case the personal attention that you deserve. To learn more about how a Kansas Criminal Defense attorney can help you with your Kansas criminal matter, please call our Wichita office today at (316) 264-1548.

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Kansas DUI Defense Attorney Talks About Why Science Matters in DUI Cases

Saturday, October 18th, 2014

Did you know that science is an important tool which DUI defense attorneys can use to build strong defenses for their clients? Kansas DUI Defense Attorneys use a variety of tools to defend their clients against DUI charges. For example, an attorney’s knowledge of Kansas DUI laws helps them to find the weak spots in the prosecution’s case. Likewise, an attorney’s knowledge of the procedures that law enforcement officers must follow during traffic stops and arrests, can enable them to challenge the validity of a stop or an arrest. Scientific knowledge is also an important tool for the Kansas DUI Defense Attorney, because it enables them to make challenges to scientific evidence which the prosecution may be relying on to support their case against the DUI defendant.

There are many points at which errors in the collection or handling of scientific evidence can occur in any given DUI case. These errors can be made as early on in the case as during the initial traffic stop, where a blood or breath sample could be collected or tested improperly. While it may seem like a shot in the dark to wonder whether there was an error made during any given traffic stop, it is important to remember that there are a number of different devices which may be used to collect and test blood and breath samples, and each has its own set of operating instructions and its own potential for providing inaccurate results under certain circumstances. Once the samples have been taken, further errors could occur in the handling and testing of the samples as them move from the law enforcement officer or medical personnel who collected them to the lab where they are analyzed, and also as the results are conveyed back to the law enforcement officials who ordered the testing.

There are also other ways in which science can be useful in building a DUI defense, even in situations where there has not been any error in the sampling or testing of the samples that were obtained from the defendant. These errors are based upon scientific knowledge of our bodies, and how individuals with different body compositions process the substances that they ingest. In a DUI case, knowledge of what happens to alcohol once it is ingested can prove helpful, as can information about how other things like medication or food may factor into the results which were provided by blood or breath tests.

DUI charges can have serious consequences, and Kansas DUI defendants deserve to have access to all of the tools that could help to provide them with a successful defense. If you have been charged with DUI in Kansas, contact a Kansas DUI Defense Attorney immediately. Retaining an experienced Kansas DUI Defense Attorney will give you the very best chance at obtaining the best possible result in your Kansas DUI case. To learn more about how a Kansas DUI Defense Attorney can help you, please call our Wichita office today at (316) 264-1548

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Kansas Personal Injury Attorney Talks About Emotional Distress

Saturday, October 4th, 2014

When you are injured in an accident, the physical pain of your injuries is likely to be one of the first things that you notice. Once your injuries have been treated and you are in the process of recovering from them, you are likely to still feel some physical pain. Sometimes, though, the physical pain is not the only type of pain that an accident victim feels. Emotional pain and distress are commonly felt by accident victims, and while they are sometimes noticeable shortly after an accident, they may also take a while to develop. This can take accident victims by surprise, because it is only natural to expect that things will get easier as the physical pain of the injuries caused by the accident subsides.

Whether you are surprised by your emotional distress or not, you are certainly not alone. The experience of being involved in an accident is traumatic, to say the least. Traumatic experiences can have deep and long-lasting effects on people, including anxiety, migraine headaches, and difficulty sleeping. Accident victims who are experiencing emotional distress should not hesitate to seek treatment for it because therapy, medication, and other methods of addressing emotional distress can be very effective at reducing its impact on the lives of those who suffer from it.

Some accident victims may refrain from pursuing treatment for their emotional distress because they fear that it will be costly. Treatment of any kind does cost money, but accident victims can often recover compensation for their emotional damages in addition to recovering for their physical injuries. Recovery for emotional damages may not be possible in every automobile accident case, but in cases where the emotional distress that the victim is experiencing is so severe that it is disrupting the activities of their day to day life, it is likely.

Any automobile accident victim can benefit from working with an experienced Kansas Personal Injury Attorney, but those who suffer from emotional distress in addition to their physical injuries can benefit greatly from working with an attorney who is skilled at presenting evidence that speaks to the nature and severity of emotional distress. Attorneys who work with cases involving emotional damages know how to present evidence from doctors and others who are involved in the life of an accident victim in a way that portrays the extent to which the victim’s emotional distress has interfered with their day to day life.

If you have been injured physically and emotionally in a Kansas automobile accident, you deserve caring and compassionate representation. Your Kansas Personal Injury Attorney can help you with the legal details of your case, so that you can focus on healing your physical and emotional wounds. Your Kansas Personal Injury Attorney will do the stressful and tedious work of communicating with the insurance company, and they will help you to analyze any settlement offers that are proposed. To learn more about how a Kansas Personal Injury Attorney can help you to obtain the settlement that you deserve, please call our Wichita office today at (316) 264-1548.

 

 

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