Criminal Defense

April 3, 2015

Complaint Alleges SFPD Officer Broke City Law While Investigating With FBI

Recently, two civil rights groups (the San Francisco branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Asian Law Caucus) filed a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco Police Department alleging that a police inspector not only violated department rules and city law whilst working with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, but the SFPD also failed to report it. The two groups, which represent Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities, specifically claim that Sgt. Inspector Gavin McEachern violated software engineer Sarmad Gilani’s civil rights back in July 2014. In that instance, the FBI’s Counterterrorism unit approached the plaintiff’s workplace at Google and asked him a handful of questions regarding his travel plans, personal blog, and political expressions on social media. None of those questions actually had anything to do with a criminal investigation, because Sarmad Gilani had not committed a crime.

The groups are specifically concerned over the violations of Gilani’s privacy guaranteed by Article 1, Section 1 of the California Constitution, as well as the laws and policies of the City and County of San Francisco and, as applicable to the police department, that department’s policies and procedures. They also filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request on Gilani’s behalf to obtain discovery over the subsequent travel issues Gilani had due to the investigation(s) on him.

The Use of the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for Criminal Cases

March 25, 2015

Teen Suspected of Making Online Threats Through the Burnbook App

by David M. Boertje

Early in March, San Diego Police investigated two threats of violence to high school campuses using social media. On March 5, they investigated a threat made to to Del Norte High School through the Burnbook app. On March 11, another threat on the Burnbook app was made against Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, Ca, indicating that the poster was building a firearm. The Burnbook app allows users to post pictures and texts anonymously, modeled after the “Burn Book” made famous by the notorious movie “Mean Girls.” Students in other schools also claim that the app is being used for cyberbullying. In these two instances, parents and the school principal contacted the SDPD immediately after discovery, but in both instances, it was found the threats were not “credible” because they were not specific enough.

This is just one of the many times the legal question of when “free speech” becomes an illegal threat not protected by the First Amendment has come up, given current events. Just recently, a Seattle man was sentenced for making Facebook threats against Officer Darren Wilson, though the judge believed he was merely expressing a strong reaction.

When Does “Free Speech” Rise to the Level of a Criminal Threat?

March 23, 2015

Gang Conspiracy Case Defendant Says ‘They’ve Got the Wrong Guy’

by David M. Boertje

In the beginning of this month, a group of 15 young people from Lincoln Park, San Diego, who were alleged to be part of the notorious Lincoln Park gang, were charged with criminal conspiracy related to two dozen local shootings within San Diego County. The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office (“DA”) charged the group for nine different gang-related shootings under CA Penal Code 182.5. One of the defendants, Aaron Harvey, 26, was arrested for murder, but maintains that he is innocent. Specifically, he was not involved in the shootings, but in this case the DA’s office claims that Harvey promoted the crimes by posting gang-related affiliations and threats on social media pages, and benefited from the ‘crime’ by gaining “street credibility.” Another defendant, local rapper “Tiny Doo,” whose lyrics reflect gang activity, is headed to trial.

As of now, five of the 15 defendants had their charges dropped at a hearing. There is still some confusion as to why the charges were dismissed for some defendants but not others and whether the judge can still dismiss charges for the remaining defendants. Harvey, who has no prior criminal conviction, now faces life in prison. He still maintains he is not part of a gang.

What is Criminal Conspiracy?

March 16, 2015

The Police Want Me to Voluntarily Go Down to the Station to “Answer Some Questions.” What Do I Do?

by David M. Boertje

Imagine that you are about to sit down with your family for dinner, and somebody knocks on the door. It is the police, and they were hoping you would go down to the station to “answer” some questions about a homicide next door. You think nothing of it, because you are just trying to be a good member of the community by giving as much information as you can, as to any noise or suspicious activity you may have seen. Scenarios like this play out daily. Sometimes there is a genuine need for help in a case, and sometimes it is a ploy to coerce a confession. Police often ask people for voluntary statements for various matters- sometimes one is a “person of interest” in a crime, or simply an eyewitness to an event or a crime.

In the case of ‘persons of interest,’ one should never voluntarily go down to the police station, because anything you say may be used against you, or to charge you. While you may think that because you are innocent and that you should go down to the station to ‘clear your name,’ keep in mind that the reason police ask persons of interests or people they suspect to voluntarily go to the station is because they do not have enough information to arrest them, take them into custody, or to charge them, and they are trying to get more information in order to do so. In order for the police to charge you with a crime, they must have probable cause, which is defined as the reasonable belief based on the facts articulated, that you have committed the crime. Do not give them this probable cause. If you are requested to go down to the station, respectfully decline and inform them that you want to speak to an attorney first.

At the Station

March 4, 2015

The Prosecutor Wants me to Take a Polygraph Test! What Do I Do?

by David M. Boertje

What Exactly is a Polygraph Test?

In tv shows and movies, polygraphs (or “lie detector tests”) are often painted as mechanisms by which a defendant “gets off” or proves his or her innocence. Polygraphs are machines that hook up to a person to measure their physiological indicators such as perspiration and heart rate. It was once thought that when a person tells a lie, their heart rate and blood pressure change to indicate so. However, what many people do not know, is that polygraph tests are generally unreliable (ie. there are “false positives” or negatives), and their use has decreased. For example, if a person is nervous simply by virtue of taking a lie detector test, their heart rate will increase regardless and their test results will be inconclusive, rather than “passing.” Polygraphs may also be fooled if one is just able to control their physiological responses.

Rules on Polygraphs