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Recent Posts in Criminal Defense Category

  • Attorney Meranda Interviewed About Robbery Case

    The Case On January 15, 2019, Brianna N. Dotson (19) of Newark used a social media app to lure an unsuspecting man, Jim Jenkins, to her home. When he entered the house, he was physically assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by Dotson’s boyfriend and three teenage boys. After the violent altercation, the four men dragged Jenkins out of the house and tried to force him into a vehicle. When Jenkins ...
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  • Can I Get in Trouble if My Friends Are Smoking Marijuana in the Car?

    Although medical marijuana is legal, smoking in public spaces and buildings remains largely illegal and many residents opt instead to smoke on their own private property—or in it. But is it legal to smoke marijuana in a car? What are the ramifications? And what could happen to you if you aren’t the individual or individuals smoking? Ohio’s Marijuana and Driving Laws Even though medical marijuana ...
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  • Do Medical Marijuana Prescriptions Show Up on Background Checks?

    Medical marijuana is becoming increasingly more accepted as it is being legalized across the United States. While medical marijuana has been legal in Ohio since 2016, the first dispensaries opened in January this year. For some, it still remains uncertain if a medical marijuana prescription could affect an individual’s potential job opportunities. Your Privacy and Medical Records If you have a ...
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  • Do Accidents Increase During the Holidays?

    The holidays are here with us. As you may have already noticed, more people are traveling on the roads. Statistics for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveal that the holiday season is the deadliest on the roads. Holidays normally account for the largest number of deaths and injuries due to traffic accidents. For example, statistics show that an average of about 500 people died ...
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  • Social Host and DUI Liability

    With the holiday season comes social gatherings and parties where alcohol will be served. Unfortunately, some people will drink too much and choose to drive after these parties. When a person drinks and drives, the party host who served the driver alcohol may wonder whether they can be liable for damages caused by the drunk driver. Social Host Laws in Ohio According to social host liability laws ...
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  • What to Do and What Not to Do at a DUI Checkpoint and How a Lawyer Can Help You

    Getting stopped at a DUI checkpoint can be a frightening and unnerving experience. Such checkpoints are usually set up at night and they are especially common on Friday and Saturday nights. There are some rules of thumb—a few things that you should and should not do—to make your experience at a checkpoint pass without incident. What Are Your Rights at a DUI Checkpoint? Knowing your rights before ...
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  • Ohio's New Expungement & Sealing of Record Rules

    Ohio has always had a complicated relationship with expungements and criminal record sealing. There are lawyers practicing today that still remember when expungement was first allowed in Ohio – the rulings are that recent. The state has long been wary of allowing criminal expungements, and for many years an individual was only allowed to expunge one conviction. It was not until October 29, 2018, ...
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  • How Much Marijuana Is Considered Legal?

    With the entire nation pushing towards the legalization of marijuana, many throughout Ohio are left wondering: How much marijuana is considered to be a legal amount? The answer can be simple, but there are also changes in the works that will alter the way in which the law views marijuana possession and use. Before you get arrested, however, you should know more about these laws, including how much ...
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  • Understanding Ohio’s New Medical Marijuana Law

    There has been endless confusion and controversy surrounding Ohio’s new medical marijuana law. Since the law officially goes into effect on September 8, 2018, it’s important that Ohioans truly understand the extent of their legal rights. In recent years, many states have enacted similar medical marijuana laws and have been unprepared to deal with the overall legal transition. In fact, many state ...
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  • Is a Drug Possession Charge a Felony or Misdemeanor?

    The idea of being arrested for drug possession can be a scary thought for anyone, especially when they are unaware of what it means for them and what types of consequences they may be facing. This makes it increasingly important to know what steps to take after an arrest. Just as important is knowing whether your drug possession charge is considered a felony or a misdemeanor. There are a number of ...
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  • Two Constitutional Amendments to Be on November Ballot

    Those who have supported a pair of ballot initiatives that would add two amendments to Ohio’s Constitution claim to have secured enough signatures to make the measure onto the ballot for the general election in November. Both the Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendment and the Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection Amendment campaigns claim to have acquired more than the ...
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  • New Sexting Bill Will Give Teens a Break for Making Bad Choices

    Not wanting to enforce harsh penalties on teens who have been caught sending nude photographs, the Ohio House unanimously voted to support a lesser penalty for young first-time offenders. Judges have struggled with how to handle cases of teenagers sharing sexually explicit photographs via their phones and computers, and when such material involves minors, the penalties can easily rise to the level ...
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  • Ohio Law Harshens Heroin Drug Law Definitions & Penalties

    Ohio House Bill 171, which was passed in late May 2016 and became officially effective September 14 th , 2016, has considerably changed several key legal statutes defining heroin drug trafficking and possession crimes. Previously, heroin charges involving 50 grams to 250 grams was considered a first degree felony; now, heroin charges involving 50 grams to 100 grams constitutes a first degree ...
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  • Ohio Updates Drug Crime & License Suspension Laws for the Better

    Ohio Senate Bill 204 passed in May of 2016 and officially became effective on September 13 th , 2016, changing the face of the state’s drug crime laws and how they interact with driver’s license suspensions. For many people across the state, this new law marks a serious improvement to a system that was notoriously harsh on certain offenders. The main changes that come with Senate Bill 204 are: ...
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  • Goddard's Law Officially Signed into Ohio State Law

    A new Ohio law increases the severity of charges associated with acts of animal cruelty for first offenders. Under Goddard’s Law, officially known as House Bill 60 , knowingly or intentionally causing serious physical harm to a companion animal can be charged as a fifth-degree felony. Convictions for a first offense are punishable by up to a year in jail as well as $2,500 in fines. The bill, which ...
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  • O.R.C. 2905.11 Extortion

    Extortion is the legal term for “black mail.” This crime is committed when you try to induce another to do an unlawful act with the purpose to benefit by either threatening to commit any felony, an offense of violence, utter or threaten any calumny (think defamation) against someone, or expose or threaten to expose any matter to subject any person to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or to damage a ...
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  • O.R.C. 2913.11 Passing bad checks

    Passing bad checks is exactly as it sounds—passing checks that are bad. You violate this statute when you write a check to someone, when you know that the amount will not be able to be funded, or if you try to use false information to obtain some type of financial account. This crime is punishable by a first-degree misdemeanor, unless the check’s amount is for more than $1000, but less than $7500, ...
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  • O.R.C. 2909.06 Criminal damaging or endangering

    This crime is where someone knowingly or recklessly causes some type of substantial risk of physical harm to another’s property by means of fire, explosion, poison gas, poison, or other inherently dangerous substances. For this crime—think someone lighting something on fire after a big sports win or loss. This crime is punishable at its maximum—a fourth-degree felony, and at its minimum—a ...
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  • O.R.C. 2911.11 Aggravated burglary

    This type of burglary occurs when someone enters by force, stealth, or deception into another person’s occupied structure (or other occupied separated structure) with the intent to commit any criminal offense where the offender either inflicts (or attempts) physical harm to another or the offender has a dangerous weapon or ordnance on his or her person. In short, an armed offender, who wants to ...
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  • O.R.C. 2921.29 Failure to disclose personal information

    This crime is where a police officer asks you for information regarding a violent crime you just witnessed, and you refuse to give the suspect’s name, address, or date of birth (if known). You are obligated by law to give the law enforcement officer the information he or she needs if the officer reasonably suspects an offense of violence constitutes a felony in Ohio. This law pertains to witnesses ...
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  • Ohio Supreme Court Seeks Clarity in DUI Law

    Litigation and laws are inherently laced with legalese, or language that is seemingly intentionally geared towards something only a lawyer or a judge could understand. However, sometimes even legal professionals are left questioning what a piece of legislation is saying, or how it is meant to act. Recently, the Ohio Supreme Court had to make a decision to help bring some clarity to the state’s ...
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  • O.R.C. 2909.05 Vandalism

    Vandalism is to knowingly causing serious physical damage ($1000 or more) to an occupied structure or any of its contents, or causing the same level of damage to property owned by another for business purposes, trade or professions, governmental functions (owned by government), or a cemetery, as well as similar structures and facilities. For example: imagine the looting that occurred in Ferguson, ...
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  • O.R.C. 2909.03 Arson

    Arson is the intentional burning or explosion of any type of property, including the offender’s own property. If someone throws a Molotov cocktail into a building, this is arson. Also, burning a building down to defraud insurance proceedings is arson as well. This crime is punishable anywhere from a first-degree misdemeanor (damage is under $1000), to a felony of the third degree if there was some ...
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  • O.R.C. 2905.01 Kidnapping

    Kidnapping has many definitions under Ohio law. It can be the removing of a person (especially if someone is under the age of 13 or mentally incompetent) from one place to another—no matter how far for the purpose of holding someone for ransom, as a shield or during a hostage situation, to engage in some type of sexual activity against a person’s will, to hinder a governmental function, or hold ...
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  • O.R.C. 2903.211 Menacing by Stalking

    Menacing by stalking is where a person by means of a pattern of conduct knowingly causes another person to believe that the offender will cause physical harm (or threats as seen in menacing) to the other person or cause mental distress to the other person. For this crime, this is your run of the mill “stalker” that follows someone home day after day after making threats to them. This crime is ...
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