Saratoga County Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

If you want to be a criminal, but can't bring yourself to do actual harm, there's a simple solution. Just ignore correspondence from New York's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Ignore DMV, and any number of normal, everyday activities can get you arrested.

One of our clients was just driving to work. His wife (who usually took care of the bills) had accidentally let their car insurance lapse. DMV immediately suspended the car's registration. When our client drove the car, he was committing a misdemeanor - a crime - by driving a car with a suspended registration.

Ultimately, we were able to get the charge reduced to mere operation of an unregistered vehicle, a traffic violation. But not before the client had called his wife and shouted "You've made me a criminal!"

Driving with a suspended license is another easy way to commit a crime. And you can get your license suspended with little or no effort, as we'll go into below the fold.

Continue reading "How to Be a Criminal Without Really Trying: New York's Scofflaw Provisions" »

We really hadn't planned to return to the issue this week, but yet another New Yorker has been arrested for recording police activity. It happened last Friday, July 30th. The arrestee was Phil Datz, a professional cameraman - a credentialed member of the press.

The charge, once again, was obstruction of governmental administration, a crime. According to the Long Island Press, Datz was hauled off to a police station, where mug shots were taken, and he was fingerprinted. As we've said before, the potential penalty is $1,000 and/or a year in jail.

The whole thing is absolutely outrageous - beyond a mere exclamation mark's power to express.

In fairness it must be said, though, that the arrest obviously embarrassed the officer's superiors. Another article in the Long Island Press indicates that the Police Commissioner wants the charge 'nullified'. And that's not surprising, since Datz, throughout the recorded encounter, is clearly following the department's own published guidelines for the media.

The guidelines themselves bear looking at: bystanders have the right to remain in the area - outside police lines - "provided their presence and activities are lawful and do not unlawfully compromise the safety and outcome of police activity or violate the privacy of the detainee."

Bystanders may: (1) 'observe the incident'; (2) 'produce recorded media including still photos, video and audio recordings in any format'; and (3) 'comment regarding the incident'. These are, in fact, excellent guidelines: they neatly summarize both the civilian's constitutional rights at the scene of police activity, and the limitations the state may lawfully impose on the exercise of those rights.

Nevertheless, as the video demonstrates, rights and guidelines mean nothing to a man who has both power and a yen to use it - right now, on you. The bravery of citizens like Phil Datz and Emily Good has to be commended.

Their bravery is especially commendable in given a regrettable pattern to be seen all over the country: attempts to trample (sometimes literally) on the public's rights to see and document what government is doing. Here's a link to an editorial posted by Glens Falls' Post-Star. It's got a little history and a brief overview of law enforcement push-back against civilians who record their activity. On the scary side, but necessary reading.