Four Johnston County defense attorneys and a former court clerk pleaded guilty Monday to illegally dismissing traffic cases, including citations for driving while impaired.
Chad Lee and Lee Hatch both pleaded guilty to 10 counts each of felony obstruction of justice and altering official case records and one count of criminal conspiracy. Lee was sentenced to at least four years in prison, while Hatch received a prison sentence of at least 3½ years.
Both men were fined $10,000. They also agreed to surrender their law licenses, cooperate in the state investigation of the ticket-fixing scheme and reimburse clients for the legal fees they collected in the cases – $28,000 from Lee and $14,200 from Hatch.
Vann Sauls pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, suspended to three years on probation. He also was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and to perform 100 hours of community service.
Jack McLamb pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice, was fined $1,000 and was placed on probation for three years. He will have to serve three weekends in the Johnston County jail, however, because of a DWI conviction he had when he was in college.
Both Sauls and McLamb were ordered not to represent any criminal defendants while on probation, and they agreed to take continuing legal education classes before practicing law again. Sauls agreed to reimburse clients $2,350 for the legal fees he collected in the cases, while McLamb has already repaid his clients.
Former deputy court clerk Portia Snead pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice. She was sentenced to 45 days in jail, suspended to 18 months unsupervised probation.
Snead was the only one of the five to apologize in court for their actions.
Along with former Johnston County Assistant District Attorney Cyndi Jaeger, the four attorneys and Snead were indicted last March on charges that they altered court records and knowingly used illegal dismissal forms to get traffic cases against 36 people dropped.
Seventy dismissal forms with Jaeger's signature on them were filed after she left her job in September 2007, according to the indictments. The dismissal forms were filed for clients of the four defense attorneys. Snead deleted the attorneys' names from at least two cases from the courthouse computer system.
The majority of the defendants involved were clients of Lee, a former Johnston County prosecutor. McLamb's cases were traffic offenses and didn't involve DWI.
Source
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Lawyers, Deputy Clerk Plead Guilty In DWI Ticket Tampering
Four Johnston County attorneys and a former court clerk pleaded guilty Monday morning for their roles in a ticket-fixing scheme.
According to the State Bureau of Investigation, the attorneys used dismissal forms signed by former Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Jaeger after she left the District Attorney's Office in September 2007.
Of all the attorneys, Chadwick Lee and Jonathan Lee Hatch faced the most charges. They each pleaded guilty to 10 counts of felony obstruction of justice, 10 counts of altering an official case record, and one count of conspiracy to commit felony obstruction of justice.
A special agent with the SBI said Monday that they both had close relationships with Jaeger and asked her to sign dismissal forms before she left office.
They could both spend up to four and a half to five years in prison.
Lee has to reimburse clients for $29,000 and pay a $10,000 fine.
Hatch has to reimburse his clients for $14,000 and pay a fine of $10,000.
Two other local attorneys were involved in the scheme, according to the SBI.
Van Sauls pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to a 90 day suspended sentence and three years of probation. He has to reimburse clients for about $2,350 and pay a fine of $2,500.
Jack McLamb also pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice. He got a ninety day suspended sentence and three years of probation plus a $1,000 fine.
Former assistant clerk Portia Snead pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice.
Judge Henry W. Hight Jr. told the defendants, "I don't get it. The only thing I can say is it had to come about from stupidity born of arrogance."
Charges are still pending against Jaeger. She faces three felony counts of obstruction of justice and 83 misdemeanor counts of failing to perform her duty of office. She has not entered a plea, which means she may fight the charges in a trial.
Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement, "we expect those who serve as officers of the court to have the highest ethical standards. When the people we trust to uphold the law break it, our system of justice is threatened. Rooting out this corruption in the courts will help restore the system's integrity."
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By myrak on 01/26 04:12 AM
The Officer of the Court responsible for insuring those charged was, in fact, guilty of PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, and is still the ONLY ONE not prosecuted or punished. Attorney General Roy Cooper seems unaware of all the vast Prosecutorial Misconduct which goes unpunished, even DA;s who pay criminals to lie on the stand are still on duty. The only DA to be disbarred EVER in NC is Mike Nifong. My opinion is that he wanted the case to go to court for a trial. Roy Cooper and the Defense Attorneys did not want it to go to a trial in a court of law - and so it was. Did AG Roy Cooper have the 'authority' to declare a verdict without a trial, without sworn testimony, without evidence validated by a judge, without sworm expert testimony in a court of law? If he has that kind of authority, why bother with trials and judges and juries? Just send the package to Cooper and let him decide. Cooper uses the term "corruption in the courts" as if the court is responsible, not his District Attorney who is responsible to prosecute the offenders. Off the subject: where was Mr. Cooper when Shaniya Davis was missing and being brutally raped and then murdered? Mr. Cooper always presents himself as the savior of our children from child predators. Now that NC has been identified as a PRIME DESTINATION for Human Trafficking, what does Mr. Cooper intend to do? Why is he so silent on this issue?
Source
According to the State Bureau of Investigation, the attorneys used dismissal forms signed by former Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Jaeger after she left the District Attorney's Office in September 2007.
Of all the attorneys, Chadwick Lee and Jonathan Lee Hatch faced the most charges. They each pleaded guilty to 10 counts of felony obstruction of justice, 10 counts of altering an official case record, and one count of conspiracy to commit felony obstruction of justice.
A special agent with the SBI said Monday that they both had close relationships with Jaeger and asked her to sign dismissal forms before she left office.
They could both spend up to four and a half to five years in prison.
Lee has to reimburse clients for $29,000 and pay a $10,000 fine.
Hatch has to reimburse his clients for $14,000 and pay a fine of $10,000.
Two other local attorneys were involved in the scheme, according to the SBI.
Van Sauls pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to a 90 day suspended sentence and three years of probation. He has to reimburse clients for about $2,350 and pay a fine of $2,500.
Jack McLamb also pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice. He got a ninety day suspended sentence and three years of probation plus a $1,000 fine.
Former assistant clerk Portia Snead pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor obstruction of justice.
Judge Henry W. Hight Jr. told the defendants, "I don't get it. The only thing I can say is it had to come about from stupidity born of arrogance."
Charges are still pending against Jaeger. She faces three felony counts of obstruction of justice and 83 misdemeanor counts of failing to perform her duty of office. She has not entered a plea, which means she may fight the charges in a trial.
Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement, "we expect those who serve as officers of the court to have the highest ethical standards. When the people we trust to uphold the law break it, our system of justice is threatened. Rooting out this corruption in the courts will help restore the system's integrity."
ShareThis Report Abuse Send To Friend Print Article
Comments
By myrak on 01/26 04:12 AM
The Officer of the Court responsible for insuring those charged was, in fact, guilty of PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, and is still the ONLY ONE not prosecuted or punished. Attorney General Roy Cooper seems unaware of all the vast Prosecutorial Misconduct which goes unpunished, even DA;s who pay criminals to lie on the stand are still on duty. The only DA to be disbarred EVER in NC is Mike Nifong. My opinion is that he wanted the case to go to court for a trial. Roy Cooper and the Defense Attorneys did not want it to go to a trial in a court of law - and so it was. Did AG Roy Cooper have the 'authority' to declare a verdict without a trial, without sworn testimony, without evidence validated by a judge, without sworm expert testimony in a court of law? If he has that kind of authority, why bother with trials and judges and juries? Just send the package to Cooper and let him decide. Cooper uses the term "corruption in the courts" as if the court is responsible, not his District Attorney who is responsible to prosecute the offenders. Off the subject: where was Mr. Cooper when Shaniya Davis was missing and being brutally raped and then murdered? Mr. Cooper always presents himself as the savior of our children from child predators. Now that NC has been identified as a PRIME DESTINATION for Human Trafficking, what does Mr. Cooper intend to do? Why is he so silent on this issue?
Source
Monday, February 15, 2010
Lawyers, clerk plead guilty in DWI case
SMITHFIELD - In the seven months that a band of Johnston County lawyers schemed to make drunken driving cases disappear, their only protection was the trust they had in each other to keep the secret.
Monday, that faith was gone, dissolved in the year since state prosecutors charged them with fixing the cases.
They barely looked at one another as they pleaded guilty. Their careers collapsed, and they had nothing to show for it. The scam, ill-conceived and short-lived, earned them little and cost them almost everything.
Chad Lee and Lee Hatch, buddies for more than a decade, headed to prison for nearly four years. They were spared the 50 years their crimes could have brought them; both surrendered their law licenses. Jack McLamb and Vann Sauls will be forbidden to take criminal cases as they serve three years of probation. Portia Snead, a deputy Superior Court clerk who helped with the scam, lost her job and retirement pay; she, too, is on probation. Cindy Jaeger, a former prosecutor at the center of the plot, still faces charges.
The pleas help close an investigation that rocked the Johnston County legal community. Prosecutors say that, with Jaeger’s help, the lawyers and the clerk wiped away drunken driving charges for dozens of defendants. Court documents were treated like currency, traded after hours among friends, filed in daylight under the auspices of official court business.
“I cannot understand why anyone thought this was a good idea,” Superior Court Judge Henry Hight said moments before sentencing Lee. “Detection was almost certain given the records and the number of people involved. I don’t get it.”
No explanation was offered Monday. Each of the defendants’ lawyers offered apologies and assurances that their clients were good people.
“Chad had made some mistakes. There is no justification, and I will not address one,” said Doug Parsons, who represented Lee.
An SBI agent took the stand Monday and described how the lawyers and the clerk managed to defraud the court system.
The scheme, explained in even the simplest terms, makes little sense. No one got rich. No one got a promotion or even congratulations. Some of the clients didn’t even know they were granted a favor.
Agent Randy Myers said that Jaeger, a few weeks before she resigned as an assistant Johnston County district attorney in September 2007, was bombarded with requests from dozens of lawyers, including Hatch, Lee and Sauls, for dismissals.
Myers said she agreed to grant many dismissals for her friends Hatch, Lee and Sauls, but insisted they be filed in the clerk’s office after she resigned.
Hatch and Lee obliged. The dismissals, dated August and September 2007, were filed in the clerk’s office months later. Snead overlooked incongruous dates and entered the dismissals into the court database, sealing the deal.
Only a few perks for the players emerged Monday: Lee treated Snead to a trip in New York. Hatch and Lee helped Jaeger move to Winston-Salem in fall 2007.
The clients didn’t seem to pay exorbitant rates for the gift of the dismissals. The court ordered the lawyers to refund the money collected from clients. Lee, for instance, is on the hook for $28,800. Divided among cases in which he admitted guilt, that’s not much more than the standard $1,500 rate for handling a drunken driving case in Johnston County.
Jaeger’s fate is unclear. A prosecutor indicated he intends to put her on trial in the coming months. Her attorney, David Freedman, scribbled notes, but Jaeger wasn’t in the courtroom Monday.
“This has been very stressful having this hanging over her head, and with this being handled today and not knowing what will happen,” Freedman said.
Even knowing how Monday would end did not dull the defendants’ pain and humiliation.
In court, they were forbidden from coming to the front of the courtroom unless escorted by their attorneys, a privilege they enjoyed as lawyers for years. A judge forced them to answer a litany of questions about their prescriptions, their education and their mental health. Their families packed the courtroom, dabbing eyes as they watched.
Lee Hatch is leaving his wife and two young children, one of whom is ill and must soon undergo expensive hospital treatment. Hatch’s attorney asked that he be granted work release in prison, so he might provide something to his family during the next three and a half years.
As Chad Lee walked into court, friends offered a hand. He met each with a faint smile. One man heckled him and told him he should be ashamed of himself.
He walked slowly and feebly to the same chair he’d guided clients to for years.
Parsons, Lee’s attorney, explained the toll the year has taken on him.
“He has had a tremendous struggle,” Parsons told the judge. “He is a broken man, but he is not dead. He will rehabilitate a family name which he has humiliated.”
For the next four years, though, his family’s legacy will shadow him. His father, Robey Lee, worked as a state prison official for decades, capping his career as warden of Central Prison in Raleigh.
Lee’s father looked on Monday, watching as deputies escorted his son to jail.
Source
Monday, that faith was gone, dissolved in the year since state prosecutors charged them with fixing the cases.
They barely looked at one another as they pleaded guilty. Their careers collapsed, and they had nothing to show for it. The scam, ill-conceived and short-lived, earned them little and cost them almost everything.
Chad Lee and Lee Hatch, buddies for more than a decade, headed to prison for nearly four years. They were spared the 50 years their crimes could have brought them; both surrendered their law licenses. Jack McLamb and Vann Sauls will be forbidden to take criminal cases as they serve three years of probation. Portia Snead, a deputy Superior Court clerk who helped with the scam, lost her job and retirement pay; she, too, is on probation. Cindy Jaeger, a former prosecutor at the center of the plot, still faces charges.
The pleas help close an investigation that rocked the Johnston County legal community. Prosecutors say that, with Jaeger’s help, the lawyers and the clerk wiped away drunken driving charges for dozens of defendants. Court documents were treated like currency, traded after hours among friends, filed in daylight under the auspices of official court business.
“I cannot understand why anyone thought this was a good idea,” Superior Court Judge Henry Hight said moments before sentencing Lee. “Detection was almost certain given the records and the number of people involved. I don’t get it.”
No explanation was offered Monday. Each of the defendants’ lawyers offered apologies and assurances that their clients were good people.
“Chad had made some mistakes. There is no justification, and I will not address one,” said Doug Parsons, who represented Lee.
An SBI agent took the stand Monday and described how the lawyers and the clerk managed to defraud the court system.
The scheme, explained in even the simplest terms, makes little sense. No one got rich. No one got a promotion or even congratulations. Some of the clients didn’t even know they were granted a favor.
Agent Randy Myers said that Jaeger, a few weeks before she resigned as an assistant Johnston County district attorney in September 2007, was bombarded with requests from dozens of lawyers, including Hatch, Lee and Sauls, for dismissals.
Myers said she agreed to grant many dismissals for her friends Hatch, Lee and Sauls, but insisted they be filed in the clerk’s office after she resigned.
Hatch and Lee obliged. The dismissals, dated August and September 2007, were filed in the clerk’s office months later. Snead overlooked incongruous dates and entered the dismissals into the court database, sealing the deal.
Only a few perks for the players emerged Monday: Lee treated Snead to a trip in New York. Hatch and Lee helped Jaeger move to Winston-Salem in fall 2007.
The clients didn’t seem to pay exorbitant rates for the gift of the dismissals. The court ordered the lawyers to refund the money collected from clients. Lee, for instance, is on the hook for $28,800. Divided among cases in which he admitted guilt, that’s not much more than the standard $1,500 rate for handling a drunken driving case in Johnston County.
Jaeger’s fate is unclear. A prosecutor indicated he intends to put her on trial in the coming months. Her attorney, David Freedman, scribbled notes, but Jaeger wasn’t in the courtroom Monday.
“This has been very stressful having this hanging over her head, and with this being handled today and not knowing what will happen,” Freedman said.
Even knowing how Monday would end did not dull the defendants’ pain and humiliation.
In court, they were forbidden from coming to the front of the courtroom unless escorted by their attorneys, a privilege they enjoyed as lawyers for years. A judge forced them to answer a litany of questions about their prescriptions, their education and their mental health. Their families packed the courtroom, dabbing eyes as they watched.
Lee Hatch is leaving his wife and two young children, one of whom is ill and must soon undergo expensive hospital treatment. Hatch’s attorney asked that he be granted work release in prison, so he might provide something to his family during the next three and a half years.
As Chad Lee walked into court, friends offered a hand. He met each with a faint smile. One man heckled him and told him he should be ashamed of himself.
He walked slowly and feebly to the same chair he’d guided clients to for years.
Parsons, Lee’s attorney, explained the toll the year has taken on him.
“He has had a tremendous struggle,” Parsons told the judge. “He is a broken man, but he is not dead. He will rehabilitate a family name which he has humiliated.”
For the next four years, though, his family’s legacy will shadow him. His father, Robey Lee, worked as a state prison official for decades, capping his career as warden of Central Prison in Raleigh.
Lee’s father looked on Monday, watching as deputies escorted his son to jail.
Source
Monday, December 28, 2009
Ignition interlock fund abuse
If you're convicted of drunk driving, the law requires you get an interlock if you want to drive, but some people say they can't afford the punishment, and get the state to pay part of the cost.
Not everyone is telling the truth, and you end up paying for their lie.
Every year, about 9,000 New Mexicans convicted of DWI get ignition interlocks. Most pay the required cost: Up to $100 to install it, up to $100 a month to rent it, and then another $100 to have it removed.
They also pay another $100 that goes into the state's Indigent Interlock Fund.
That's a fund created by lawmakers to help low-income folks have part of their interlock cost covered.
You also pay into that fund when you buy alcohol.
About $300,000 a year from state alcohol taxes is put into the fund.
About one out of three people with interlocks use the fund, claiming they can't afford it— they get up to half of their interlock costs covered.
That's about 3,000 people a year, but we found some may be lying.
We dug through records of nearly 3,000 cars that had indigent interlocks installed. Dozens are suspicious.
We found 2008 model SUVs and trucks like Nissan Titans, Chevy Avalanches, Toyota Tundras and Ford F-250s.
We found Cadillac Escalades, 2009 motorcycles—like Harley Davidsons and Kawasakis. Even a 2009 BMW.
We couldn't track these people down, because driver information is private.
How do they claim they're low-income?
The law says judges and probation officers determine who needs the fund.
Under oath, in a courtroom, convicts tell a judge they can't afford it.
Often, judges take people at their word or assume because they have a public defender, they are indigent.
Impact DWI's Dr. Dick Roth said, "So clearly, there are some people who are getting by with utilizing the indigent fund who could really afford to install the interlock themselves."
Roth, whose group helped push for the fund, says relying on judges and the courts to gauge who is indigent clearly allows convicts to lie and abuse the system.
He says in the long run, that's not the best way to gauge who needs the fund.
"The fund had a surplus up until this year, but that surplus is rapidly being eroded because so many people are qualifying under our present standards," Dr. Roth said.
He believes the state should designate one person to oversee applicants, by checking their tax forms and check stubs.
Tim Hallford, Interlock provider and vice president of the Interlock Association said, "We think that the indigent fund is important, and we think it supports our goal, which is to make our roads safer."
He says the fund no doubt saves lives, and helps those who really need it, but he says he's seen abuse first-hand.
Hallford said, "We just have somebody that walks in the door with a court order that tells us we to put this on the motorcycle, and the car, and we do. And we've also been known to call probation officers and the courts and say, hey, this guy's driving a new car, and I don't know that he's indigent. And I do know, at times, there has been a response where people have been removed from the indigency because of our call."
Linda Atkinson of the DWI Resource Center calls what we found absurd, and says there needs to be more oversight.
Atkinson said, "So the clever people that are breaking the law driving are breaking the law again by lying about their economic status."
As for the New Mexico Department of Transportation— the agency responsible for managing the fund— spokesman Mark Slimp says it would take an act of the legislature to change how people are determined to be indigent.
Slimp said, "Well, my thoughts don't really count. I'm sure there are probably some that would seem suspicious at first glance, although no one really knows what an actually person's financial status is."
So what's the answer? The state admits the law has allowed a lot of people to claim they're low-income and calls itself a victim of interlock success.
As long as convicts are allowed to lie to judges who take their word, the fund will be abused at your expense.
One side note— The abuse is even contributing to another problem: Paperwork.
It often takes months for interlock businesses to be reimbursed.
Some companies are owed more than $100,000.
Source
Not everyone is telling the truth, and you end up paying for their lie.
Every year, about 9,000 New Mexicans convicted of DWI get ignition interlocks. Most pay the required cost: Up to $100 to install it, up to $100 a month to rent it, and then another $100 to have it removed.
They also pay another $100 that goes into the state's Indigent Interlock Fund.
That's a fund created by lawmakers to help low-income folks have part of their interlock cost covered.
You also pay into that fund when you buy alcohol.
About $300,000 a year from state alcohol taxes is put into the fund.
About one out of three people with interlocks use the fund, claiming they can't afford it— they get up to half of their interlock costs covered.
That's about 3,000 people a year, but we found some may be lying.
We dug through records of nearly 3,000 cars that had indigent interlocks installed. Dozens are suspicious.
We found 2008 model SUVs and trucks like Nissan Titans, Chevy Avalanches, Toyota Tundras and Ford F-250s.
We found Cadillac Escalades, 2009 motorcycles—like Harley Davidsons and Kawasakis. Even a 2009 BMW.
We couldn't track these people down, because driver information is private.
How do they claim they're low-income?
The law says judges and probation officers determine who needs the fund.
Under oath, in a courtroom, convicts tell a judge they can't afford it.
Often, judges take people at their word or assume because they have a public defender, they are indigent.
Impact DWI's Dr. Dick Roth said, "So clearly, there are some people who are getting by with utilizing the indigent fund who could really afford to install the interlock themselves."
Roth, whose group helped push for the fund, says relying on judges and the courts to gauge who is indigent clearly allows convicts to lie and abuse the system.
He says in the long run, that's not the best way to gauge who needs the fund.
"The fund had a surplus up until this year, but that surplus is rapidly being eroded because so many people are qualifying under our present standards," Dr. Roth said.
He believes the state should designate one person to oversee applicants, by checking their tax forms and check stubs.
Tim Hallford, Interlock provider and vice president of the Interlock Association said, "We think that the indigent fund is important, and we think it supports our goal, which is to make our roads safer."
He says the fund no doubt saves lives, and helps those who really need it, but he says he's seen abuse first-hand.
Hallford said, "We just have somebody that walks in the door with a court order that tells us we to put this on the motorcycle, and the car, and we do. And we've also been known to call probation officers and the courts and say, hey, this guy's driving a new car, and I don't know that he's indigent. And I do know, at times, there has been a response where people have been removed from the indigency because of our call."
Linda Atkinson of the DWI Resource Center calls what we found absurd, and says there needs to be more oversight.
Atkinson said, "So the clever people that are breaking the law driving are breaking the law again by lying about their economic status."
As for the New Mexico Department of Transportation— the agency responsible for managing the fund— spokesman Mark Slimp says it would take an act of the legislature to change how people are determined to be indigent.
Slimp said, "Well, my thoughts don't really count. I'm sure there are probably some that would seem suspicious at first glance, although no one really knows what an actually person's financial status is."
So what's the answer? The state admits the law has allowed a lot of people to claim they're low-income and calls itself a victim of interlock success.
As long as convicts are allowed to lie to judges who take their word, the fund will be abused at your expense.
One side note— The abuse is even contributing to another problem: Paperwork.
It often takes months for interlock businesses to be reimbursed.
Some companies are owed more than $100,000.
Source
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
DWI
A 39-year-old Minneapolis man was arrested for second-degree DWI, expired license plates and no proof of insurance after he was stopped for driving 32 mph in a 50 mph zone in the 14200 block of Quentin Avenue on Nov. 6. According to police, the man has two previous DWI convictions.
On Nov. 7 a 48-year-old woman from Savage was arrested for fourth-degree DWI after police responded to a report of a wrong-way driver in the 8800 block of Carriage Hill Road.
A 30-year-old Plymouth man was arrested for fourth-degree DWI after he was stopped for speeding near Highway 13 and West 128th Street on Nov. 8.
Source
On Nov. 7 a 48-year-old woman from Savage was arrested for fourth-degree DWI after police responded to a report of a wrong-way driver in the 8800 block of Carriage Hill Road.
A 30-year-old Plymouth man was arrested for fourth-degree DWI after he was stopped for speeding near Highway 13 and West 128th Street on Nov. 8.
Source
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wakefield police to hold first sobriety checkpoint this weekend
WAKEFIELD — Thanks to a federal grant and a court order, police will establish the town's first sobriety checkpoint sometime this weekend to combat increasing incidents and accidents connected to drinking and driving.
While police have not released a specific time and place, Lt. Mark O'Brien, who will supervise the checkpoint, said officers will set up one checkpoint on one road between Friday and Sunday based on past DWI arrest data.
"It's not to inconvenience them (drivers). It's to get the impairment off the road," O'Brien said, adding participants will have to opportunity to fill out survey forms at the checkpoints.
O'Brien said other departments throughout the state — including Portsmouth, Conway and Center Harbor — have received "a lot of good feedback" from residents about their checkpoints.
Police will be stopping vehicles for a specific amount of time to interview the drivers in accordance with a "tight operation plan" to protect people's constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure based on a court order and state law, O'Brien said.
"It's not entrapment, it's a random checkpoint," O'Brien said. Vehicles will be stopped as officers at the checkpoint are available.
O'Brien said further action will only occur at the checkpoint if officers find probable cause. He added a drug recognition expert will also be at the scene to assist officers.
"If we ran 300 cars through and get no DWIs, I'll consider it a success," O'Brien said. Regular patrols will continue normally in the rest of the community while the checkpoint is operation as officers receive assistance from Wolfeboro police, Ossipee police, the Carroll County Sheriffs Office and N.H. State Police Troop E.
In 2007, there were 122 fatal driving accidents in the state and 41 of them — or 33.6 percent — were alcohol related, O'Brien said, adding he could not recall when the last alcohol-related fatality was in town.
O'Brien said there were 27 DWI arrests in Wakefield in 2003, 51 in 2004, 29 in 2005, 30 in 2006, 23 in 2007 and 19 in 2008. He added these numbers represented arrests only, not convictions.
"We're going to have a lot more DWIs this year," O'Brien said, adding this is due to police patrolling more, not because of an increase of drinking during tough economic times.
Source
While police have not released a specific time and place, Lt. Mark O'Brien, who will supervise the checkpoint, said officers will set up one checkpoint on one road between Friday and Sunday based on past DWI arrest data.
"It's not to inconvenience them (drivers). It's to get the impairment off the road," O'Brien said, adding participants will have to opportunity to fill out survey forms at the checkpoints.
O'Brien said other departments throughout the state — including Portsmouth, Conway and Center Harbor — have received "a lot of good feedback" from residents about their checkpoints.
Police will be stopping vehicles for a specific amount of time to interview the drivers in accordance with a "tight operation plan" to protect people's constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure based on a court order and state law, O'Brien said.
"It's not entrapment, it's a random checkpoint," O'Brien said. Vehicles will be stopped as officers at the checkpoint are available.
O'Brien said further action will only occur at the checkpoint if officers find probable cause. He added a drug recognition expert will also be at the scene to assist officers.
"If we ran 300 cars through and get no DWIs, I'll consider it a success," O'Brien said. Regular patrols will continue normally in the rest of the community while the checkpoint is operation as officers receive assistance from Wolfeboro police, Ossipee police, the Carroll County Sheriffs Office and N.H. State Police Troop E.
In 2007, there were 122 fatal driving accidents in the state and 41 of them — or 33.6 percent — were alcohol related, O'Brien said, adding he could not recall when the last alcohol-related fatality was in town.
O'Brien said there were 27 DWI arrests in Wakefield in 2003, 51 in 2004, 29 in 2005, 30 in 2006, 23 in 2007 and 19 in 2008. He added these numbers represented arrests only, not convictions.
"We're going to have a lot more DWIs this year," O'Brien said, adding this is due to police patrolling more, not because of an increase of drinking during tough economic times.
Source
Monday, September 28, 2009
Accused N.C. lawyer is missing
Chad Lee, a Johnston County attorney who faces charges of tampering with dozens of DWI cases, has disappeared.
His father, retired prison warden Roby Lee, reported him missing to Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell on Tuesday. He last saw Lee's Toyota truck June 25 outside a Holiday Inn in Warsaw, Bizzell said. Roby Lee waited for his son to come outside the hotel. Eventually, Roby Lee went into the motel office. When he came back, Chad Lee's truck was gone.
Chad Lee was a well regarded criminal defense attorney who had fallen hard this year. He was indicted in March for obstructing justice by filing fraudulent dismissal forms with dozens of drunk driving cases he was hired to defend. Four other attorneys and a former clerk of court have also been charged.
Many courthouse officials have noticed Lee's absence in recent weeks. On Monday, Lee did not show up in superior court to defend a client at trial. A judge appointed another attorney to take up the case.
Bizzell has assigned two detectives to the case. They will sift through credit card charges and cell phone records in hopes of finding Lee.
Source
His father, retired prison warden Roby Lee, reported him missing to Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell on Tuesday. He last saw Lee's Toyota truck June 25 outside a Holiday Inn in Warsaw, Bizzell said. Roby Lee waited for his son to come outside the hotel. Eventually, Roby Lee went into the motel office. When he came back, Chad Lee's truck was gone.
Chad Lee was a well regarded criminal defense attorney who had fallen hard this year. He was indicted in March for obstructing justice by filing fraudulent dismissal forms with dozens of drunk driving cases he was hired to defend. Four other attorneys and a former clerk of court have also been charged.
Many courthouse officials have noticed Lee's absence in recent weeks. On Monday, Lee did not show up in superior court to defend a client at trial. A judge appointed another attorney to take up the case.
Bizzell has assigned two detectives to the case. They will sift through credit card charges and cell phone records in hopes of finding Lee.
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