Ann Arbor Criminal Defense Blog

With the Coronavirus pandemic growing, people are staying indoors. The expectation is that people will stay hunkered down in their homes through at least the end of April. Tensions are running high. Arrests for domestic violence could increase with this newfound tension in close quarters.

What is Considered Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is an assault or battery that is committed against a person you are in a relationship with or with whom you share a household. Here is how I explain assault and battery. A battery is where I punch someone. An assault is where I threaten to punch someone and have the immediate ability to do it, or I try to punch someone and miss. A battery does not have to be as severe as a punch. A battery could be a push, a slap, spitting at someone, grabbing a person, or sometimes even grabbing an object a person is holding. The key to whether an action is a batter is whether the touching of the other person is offensive and non-consensual.

As the threat from the Coronavirus increasingly consumes the public attention, people are noticing the growing threat from the disease to people in jails and prisons.

Incarcerated inmates are especially vulnerable to the spread of the virus. It may easy for many people to self-isolate in their homes and apartments. Social distancing in prison may be impossible. Inmates live in confined quarters with restricted movements. Sheriff’s deputies, prison guards, and many other staff work closely around the inmate population, and of course go out into the world and back after a day of work.

Governor Whitmer issued an executive order to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Michigan prisons and jails. The Order focuses on the Michigan Department of Corrections. The Order also makes recommendations to county jails.

The Coronavirus has impacted all of us. From Asia to Europe to America, the Coronavirus is a global pandemic. Over the last couple weeks in Michigan, we have seen schools shut down, followed by a shutdown of restaurants and bars. Governor Whitmer ordered all non-essential businesses to shut down beginning March 24 and continuing to at least April 13.

States across the country, including New York, California, and Ohio, have also ordered non-essential businesses to close. Each state defines “non-essential” differently.

Courts are an essential business, and the courts are open in a limited capacity. For criminal cases, the courts are only handling cases for defendants who are in custody, meaning they are in jail because there is no bond. Most court cases are not being heard during this shutdown period.

No one plans to get charged with drinking and driving. Most people who get charged did not have any intentions in the world of committing a crime. Getting pulled over and arrested is a scary experience for anyone. The next day you’re released from jail, now what?

When Will I Be Charged With a DUI?

Often a person is released from jail and they haven’t actually been charged with any crime yet. This can be confusing. You probably won’t actually be charged yet for a while. This could be for a couple reasons. First, a prosecutor must review the case and determine what charges there will be. Prosecutors do not move fast. A prosecutor might not review your case for months. The prosecutors often have to wait for the police officers to finish writing a police report and submitting it to the prosecutor’s office.

In many DUI cases, a driver’s blood is taken. The Michigan State Police must analyze the blood. That blood must be mailed to the MSP labs in the Lansing area, where it will get in line to be tested. Once tested, an MSP lab technician will provide the results to the local prosecutors. This process can take some time.

10:00 am this morning is the first time adults can buy recreational marijuana in Michigan. It’s been just over a year since Michigan voters said yet to legal weed. Michigan is the 10th state to have legal weed.

Where Can I Buy Legal Weed

The only stores selling legal weed right now are in Ann Arbor. Right now, three stores in Ann Arbor  selling recreational weed.

Ann Arbor, the home of the Has Bash, is a fitting place to be the first with legal weed sales. It was in 1972 that Ann Arbor decriminalized possession of marijuana, making it a civil infraction with a fine.

A man convicted of murder over 20 years ago claims he should be set free due to fulfilling his life sentence multiple times. Benjamin Schreiber was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1997 after he was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter. In 2015, he was taken to the emergency room for kidney stones. It was determined that due to the kidney stones he had gone into septic shock. He was revived five times despite a previously signed Do Not Resuscitate order (DNR). The physicians had called Schreiber’s brother who gave them permission to ease his pain. He was then resuscitated with fluids and taken into surgery where the kidney stones were removed.

Schreiber’s Argument

In 2018, Schreiber filed a post-conviction relief. He argued that since his heart was restarted multiple times that he had fulfilled his life-term sentence. He stated since he already died he already served his life sentence.

The Iowa Court of Appeals Decision

The district court denied Schreiber’s argument. The case went to the Iowa Court of Appeals where the district court’s decision was upheld. The court of appeals concluded that the felon’s sentence is not met until he is declared dead permanently.

Terry D. Bateman and Bradley A. Rowland are charged with manufacturing a controlled substance – methamphetamine. Bateman and Rowland taught Chemistry at Henderson State University much like the fictional character Walter White in the popular series Breaking Bad. The duo were also charged with using drug paraphernalia. Since the accusations Bateman and Rowland have been put on administrative leave from the university. 

Rowland was previously interviewed and expressed how much he enjoyed the AMC series Breaking Bad. In the show, the main character Walter White’s drug lord name was, “Heisenberg.” Coincidentally, Rowland was known at Henderson State University as the college’s “Heisenberg.” 

On October 8th 2019 the university science center was shut down due to an over powering smell of benzyl chloride. Benzyl chloride is used to make dyes as well as other pharmaceutical drugs. The chemical can cause eye and upper respiratory tract irritation and is used in the production of methamphetamine. The chemical was found spilled on the surface of the science lab. It is not clear if the strong odor of benzyl chloride prompted the investigation into the professors. It is also unclear if Bateman and Rowland are charged with producing methamphetamine on campus. The defendants are awaiting court appearances. 

Cuba Gooding Jr. pleads not guilty to accusations of forcible touching and sexual abuse. 

The Three Separate Alleged Incidents

Gooding’s first accuser is a waitress at LAVO nightclub in New York. She claims the defendant forcibly touched her in 2018. Another party, Natasha Ashworth, claims the movie star groped her buttocks at TAO Downtown in 2018. This video of the alleged occurrence was leaked online by TMZ. A final party accuses the actor of groping her breast in 2019 at Magic Hour also located in New York City. 

The Charges

Gooding is charged with three separate incidents of forcible touching and three separate incidents of  sexual abuse – third degree. He maintains his innocence on all accounts. 

Noah Domingo, an 18 year old attending the University of California, Irvine, died due to alcohol poisoning on January 12, 2019. Domingo, a minor, was a member of the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The fraternity held a, “Big Brother,” event which was the particular party that lead Domingo to drink excessively. Authorities claim no hazing was involved in the cause of Domingo’s death. This is a claim that Dale Domingo, Noah’s father, denies. Dale states his son was pressured to drink a “family drink,” to be welcomed as a brother into the fraternity. He is attributing hazing to his sons death while, as stated above, authorities deny evidence of hazing. Since Domingo was not legally old enough to consume alcohol authorities have formally charged five fraternity brothers for supplying him with alcohol. 

The five fraternity brothers ranging from 20 to 22 years old have been charged with a misdemeanor; allowing a party to take place while under age drinking was allowed. Zavier Brown, 21 years old, was specifically charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor causing great bodily injury; a misdemeanor. Jonathan Vu, 22 years old, was charged with furnishing an alcoholic drink to a minor, another misdemeanor charge. After completing an autopsy, the coroner found Domingo’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) to be 0.33. No other drugs or substances were found in his system. 

The Possible Consequences

If found guilty of all charges Brown could face up to 18 months in jail and the other four defendants could face up to 6 months in jail. All five defendants names were on the lease to the fraternity brother home. The fraternity has since been shut down.