Author Archives: Jay Butchko
When Men are Charged with Domestic Violence, Despite Women Being the Real Perpetrators
If you’ve been charged with domestic violence (DV), you are facing some serious legal penalties. But what if prosecutors have it backwards, and the violence in your relationship is directed at you, not emanating from you? When heterosexual couples have violent relationships, men are often blamed as the aggressor. But is that always accurate?… Read More »
Trump and Associates Face RICO Charges
The nation has been fixated on the legal issues facing Former President Trump, who is looking at criminal charges in several venues, not the least of which is Georgia, where he is facing charges under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which was originally written in an effort to fight against organized… Read More »
“Flipping” for a Better Deal
Rumor has it a number of defendants who are low on the totem pole in the Georgia case involving former President Trump are flipping on Mr. Trump. What, exactly, does that mean? In general, flipping is the act of revealing evidence that a prosecutor values, often related to a co-defendant. The prosecutor may have… Read More »
Decades Later, an Indictment in Tupac’s Murder
About 27 years ago Tupac Shakur was fatally shot while leaving a Vegas boxing match on the Strip. In the coming years, Duane Keith Davis admitted that he was in the car when another passenger took aim and ended the rapper’s life, but authorities were unable to use that confession at the time because… Read More »
Book Banning Behind Bars
When Lou Johnson was approached by an investigative journalist named Silja Talvi about sharing her experiences behind bars, she was happy to participate. Talvi was writing a book, and wanted women who were experiencing incarceration to tell their stories in order to shine a light on the abuse and trauma that was so common… Read More »
Criminal Justice Reforms on the Horizon
The criminal justice system in this country is fraught with problems, but things may be looking up. The United States leads the world in the number of incarcerated individuals with more than five million people behind bars or some other control, and up to 100 million living with a criminal record dinging their opportunities…. Read More »
Supreme Court Raises the Bar for Stalking Convictions
After Billy Raymond Counterman sent myriad Facebook messages over the course of years to performer Coles Whalen, Whalen finally had enough and filed stalking charges. The hundreds of thousands of FB comments left Whalen feeling untethered enough that she ultimately felt she must leave her Colorado home for her own safety. Counterman was sent… Read More »
Has Your Teen Been Accused of Dating Violence?
Whatever you think you may know about domestic violence, you may not realize that dating violence folds up into the umbrella of domestic violence, and many teens and young adults deal with it every day. Dating violence involves both victims and abusers. It may be difficult to imagine your child as a perpetrator of… Read More »
Are You Being Threatened with Double Jeopardy?
What comes to mind when you think of the 5th Amendment? Chances are your first thought is the right to remain silent, or maybe the right to have an attorney. But there is another important clause to this amendment to our constitution: protection from double jeopardy. What is Double Jeopardy? Thought to have originated… Read More »
What About That Speedy Trial?
The 6th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the accused the right to a speedy trial. Because defendants are presumed innocent, it makes sense that the Founders believed in giving the accused their day in court as quickly as possible. Otherwise, innocent people could be assumed guilty unless their names were cleared in a court… Read More »
