Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog

Criminal Defense Attorney Meg Strickler comments on the murder trial of Jodi Arias.
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John McAfee’s legal situation has dramatically improved now that he has returned to the United States. As of the date of this blog, he is safer in the states than anywhere else. He fled Belize, snuck into Guatemala, and just came to the United States, after he was forcefully put on a U.S. bound flight by Guatemalan authorities. Belizean police still want to speak with McAfee about the murder of his American neighbor, Gregory Faull last month.

The key issue here is – does the U.S. have a MLA (Mutual Legal Assistance) treaty with Belize covering extraditions? And the answer is yes, Belize signed an extradition treaty with the U.S. in 2000. As with most treaties, there are exceptions to when a person is extraditable. This situation does not fit any of those exceptions. What is unique here, however, is that, at this time, McAfee is only a “person of interest” in Belize. No warrant has been issued yet in Belize. So, the discussion of extradition back to Belize is premature. 

Atlanta and Manhattan criminal defense attorney Meg Strickler is quoted in The Daily Beast, Newsweek magazine’s online website, discussing Micah Moore’s confession of murdering a prayer group leader’s wife, Bethany Deaton.

www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/30/a-confession-to-murder-quickly-withdrawn-rocks-religious-community.html

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-15/gupta-s-admirers-urge-mercy-as-insider-sentence-nears.html

The sentencing phase of a criminal trial is very important. It is always a good idea to get letters to give to the judge to influence his or her opinion as to what sentence to impose.

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.

“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.