Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog

Sex Crimes – Removal from the sex offender registry

Published on: October 15, 2012 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

Sex Crimes – Being on the sex offender registry requires a person to abide by more requirements than someone with a conviction for any other crime, including murder. If you have a sex crimes conviction, you may be put on the sex offender registry.

Meg Strickler on CBS Atlanta discussing the perils of the sex offender registry

In the state of Georgia, it is possible to petition the courts for removal from the sex offender registry. Contact Conaway & Strickler, PC – we are Atlanta criminal defense attorneys focused on helping someone stuck on the registry who should no longer be on it.

Blame can be Found Everywhere in the Disappearance of Susan Powell and the Death of two Beautiful, Innocent Children

Published on: February 6, 2012 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

Josh Powell not only killed himself but two beautiful, innocent young boys.

Today, many are questioning the actions of the judge who allowed visitation to Josh Powell. Blame cannot be directed at just one person or one entity. Blame can be pointed in many, many directions. Back in December 2009, additional scrutiny should have been placed on Mr. Powell. What does “person of interest” even mean? It means that law enforcement has no clue what to do with the situation, and uses this term to placate the victims and the media. Clearly, such a definition has no teeth. Mr. Powell was able to leave the state of Utah with no issue. He was allowed to live with a sexual predator. And he was granted visitation when permanent custody was granted to Susan Cox-Powell’s parents. If sexual abuse is even hinted at, why wasn’t supervised visitation ordered? Clearly, the judge was concerned about this, because a psychosexual evaluation was ordered. If there was any teeth to this concept of “person of interest”, then the judge would have been extremely reticent to have those boys anywhere near Mr. Powell.

In my practice, I represent clients who are often times arrested first, then the situation is worked out. Am I advocating for this? No way. I am advocating for calling a spade a spade. Who the hell goes camping in below freezing temperatures? Arrest him. This then will allow the criminal justice system to figure out what transpired while keeping beautiful, innocent children out of the crossfire.

Children Back in School After Being Charged with Sex Crimes

Published on: October 30, 2011 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

CBS Atlanta recently learned that children who are charged with sex crimes like child rape and molestation are being placed back into Georgia’s classrooms. Hundreds of kids accused of sex crimes as juveniles have their records sealed and their identities hidden from the public and are returning to school.

For example, in Rockdale County, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in June for molesting a 5-year-old girl and the judge ordered for the child to be returned to school. The boy’s father argued “He’s not a bad kid. He just made a mistake”, but other parents were outraged at the judge’s decision. Georgia is one of eleven states that have not yet set up a sex offender registry for juveniles, and the state is currently passing up around one million dollars by failing to comply with federal regulations requiring it to do so.

If you or someone you love has been charged with a sex crime of any type, you need the legal assistance of an Atlanta criminal defense attorney. For almost two decades, Conaway & Strickler, P.C. has defended the rights of our clients with personal attention and skilled representation. If convicted, you could face serious lifelong penalties, so contact an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer today.

Conrad Murray and Michael Jackson, a deadly relationship

Published on: September 26, 2011 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

“Should Michael Jackson be blamed for his death?” that is what many people are asking because the Conrad Murray trial is starting tomorrow in Los Angeles. Does the public understand this case is much ado about nothing? Dr. Murray is ONLY charged with involuntary manslaughter which carries a maximum sentence of just FOUR years. The jails and prisons are so overcrowded, that even if Murray was convicted, he is more than likely to not serve a day.

What the media should focus on is prescription drug abuse and ALL of the doctors who prescribe it like candy. Why is it even remotely okay to have a doctor on personal salary for $150.000 a month? A cardiologist with money problems. Good choice, Mr. Jackson. Yes, Dr. Murray should be convicted. He was prescribing and dispensing medicine to Mr. Jackson at shocking levels.

We should put all of the doctors who are prescribing such hideous levels of medicine on trial. Please put them in prison.

Doctor Charged in Health Care Fraud

Published on: April 6, 2011 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

A Roswell, Ga doctor was charged with tax and health care fraud. Please see attached article: http://roswell.patch.com/articles/roswell-doctor-charged-with-health-care-and-tax-fraud

DUI costs

Published on: December 1, 2010 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

If you are charged with a DUI in the state of Georgia, you will be hit with several costs BEFORE you ever go to court to address the charges. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?! You WILL have to pay $150 to request a hearing re your driver’s license. Please see http://www.dds.ga.gov/rules/rules.aspx?chap=375-3-3&rule=375-3-3-.04&head=375-3. In addition, you will have to pay at least $25 or up to $75 to get a copy of your DUI video, depending on the jurisdiction. And finally, you will have to pay a few dollars to get a copy of the police report. Again, this is all before you go to court to address the charges. Conaway & Strickler, PC has been fighting DUIs since the 90’s – these changes have only come into effect with the downturn of the economy. The $150 just became effective in September, 2010. How ridiculous and how unconstitutional for the government to institute these charges – again, long before you actually get to court.

Death Penalty

Published on: November 30, 2010 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

please read this fascinating article re the death penalty: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/dec/23/death-sentence/?page=1

Getting arrested and thrown to the Wolves

Published on: October 23, 2010 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

Millions of American citizens are arrested by the police every year: detained, questioned, handcuffed, stuffed into the back of a police cruiser, and thrown in jail. Many of them never expected it to happen to them. These individuals are often shocked to find themselves fighting for their liberties, their reputations, and their futures in the clutches of The Beast – the impersonal, aggressive, bureaucratic, politically-charged, economically-motivated nightmare that is today’s criminal justice system. As America’s criminal justice system becomes ever larger and more powerful, it is time to ask ourselves: what should we be more afraid of? the criminals? or The Beast?

Popularized in a vast array of television shows – “Law and Order,” “CSI,” “Cold Case,” “COPS,” and “Nancy Grace,” to name a few – as white-knight police and prosecutors battling wily criminals with slick defense lawyers, the criminal justice system is widely misunderstood by the average American. The “good guy – bad guy” image is reinforced by politicians of every stripe vowing to be “tough on crime” and by special-interest groups promoting Zero Tolerance policies on the streets, in the schools, and in the workplaces. What most Americans fail to realize is that the effect of our law-and-order political philosophy has been the passage of many more criminal laws, broader definitions of what constitutes a crime, greater restrictions on civil liberties, and harsher punishments.

In the many years of defending individuals charged with crimes, Dan Conaway of Conaway & Strickler, PC has found that most of his clients have never been arrested before, or have had only minor previous infractions. Instead of hardened offenders who know how to “beat the system,” as they are portrayed on the television shows, many people questioned or arrested by the police are just ordinary individuals who have run afoul of the law. They are nearly always terrified, confused, and completely ignorant about what to do next. What’s more, because the ramifications of a conviction – even for a minor offense – have increased exponentially over the past two decades, a single misstep early on can lead to disastrous results.

Good Decent Law-Abiding Citizens Not Immune to Facing Georgia Criminal Charges

Published on: October 20, 2010 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

Life can be messy. This is the fundamental truth that being an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer has taught me. We all know what living in modern American society is like. Stressed-out, overworked, we all strive to pay the bills, raise our families, find love and happiness, maintain employment, stay away from abusing alcohol or drugs, and somehow keep juggling all the balls of day-to-day life. When a Good Decent Law-Abiding Citizen is arrested, it often means that one of these balls got dropped.

Working with my clients has taught me better than any philosophy class that as human beings we are all innately fallible. As a criminal defense lawyer I have no need to be reminded that “to err is human”- I see it every day. My clients are people like these:

· Sasha, on scholarship to an exclusive private college in Boston. Under pressure to conform to the lifestyles of her wealthy friends, she succumbed to the pressure to shoplift a party dress “just this once.” The store’s policy against selective prosecution landed Sasha in jail and sent her parents frantically seeking legal advice.

Zero Tolerance

Published on: October 20, 2010 | By Conaway & Strickler, P.C.

A basic flaw in many people’s thinking is that they can go to court and “talk to the judge about it” or “work things out with the prosecutor.” They believe that because they are not “one of those criminals” and their “case is the exception,” they can convince the prosecutor or judge to drop the criminal charges against them . The truth is very different. Due to Zero Tolerance policing, just about everyone who has been caught doing something the least bit illegal is now ending up in the courtroom. As a result, your general good character is not going to convince a judge or prosecutor to give you a break. When you walk into the courtroom, no matter who you are, the judge and prosecutor see you as just another criminal defendant, another piece of meat to feed to The Beast.

First, courtrooms are more crowded than ever before, and judges and prosecutors are often overworked and overwhelmed. America’s criminal justice system has grown into a huge industry – the “prison-industrial complex” — that provides millions of jobs and massive amounts of tax revenue for states and counties. Criminal justice is the one area besides the military where politicians today can advocate for bigger government and more taxes and get elected.

Second, prosecutors and judges no longer have the independence to exercise discretion in prosecution and sentencing that they had a generation ago. Powerful special interest groups spend millions of dollars monitoring conviction rates of judges and prosecutors across the country. Officials who do not live up to the conviction targets of organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) face a very real threat of losing the next election. If you appear in their courtroom and they show you any leniency, their jobs may be on the line.