Anyone may be accused – even mistakenly – of committing a crime. We’ll discuss what everyone needs to know about being arrested, posting bail, and obtaining an attorney’s help in this state. If you are placed under arrest and accused of a misdemeanor or a felony in the state of Washington, the first thing you [...]
If a jury of your peers convicts you of committing a crime in the state of Washington, is that necessarily the end of the case? Can you appeal a conviction by a group of jurors? What if you accepted a guilty plea - can you appeal it? Keep reading - you are about to get [...]
If you are placed on trial for a crime in the state of Washington, or if you're asked to testify at a trial, and you are in the United States without documentation, should a jury know your immigration status? A new and unique evidence rule in this state will make the details of someone's immigration [...]
In the state of Washington, can a police officer search your cell phone? Like everything else in the law, the answer is "It depends." In some circumstances, the police may search your cell phone, but in others, they may not. What is the law, and what have the courts determined regarding cell phone searches? If [...]
Bullies will probably always be a fixture in our schools and on our playgrounds, but when bullies go online to commit cyberbullying, in most states, they will be breaking the law. Keep reading to learn how lawmakers across the country are responding to the growing concerns about cyberbullying, how to deal with cyberbullying if it [...]
If you are accused of any crime in the state of Washington, you should understand precisely what criminal penalties you may be facing, and you should also know the difference between parole and probation. Many people in Washington may not realize that, in the strictest legal sense, there is no such thing as parole in [...]
In the state of Washington, if you are charged with driving under the influence, one way to keep the charge off your record may be a "deferred prosecution." A deferred prosecution happens when the state agrees to withhold the prosecution of a DUI defendant in return for that defendant's pledge to complete a two-year alcohol, [...]
When someone is arrested by a King County law enforcement officer who does not have an arrest warrant, that person has probably committed a crime that the officer observed directly. Most arrests for driving under the influence, for example, are made without arrest warrants. In many cases, however, if no officer observes a crime being [...]
The words we use when we speak about crimes are important, and especially when we speak about sex crimes. Everyone understands, for example, what the word "rape" means, but what exactly does the term "sexual assault" mean? The phrase actually has different legal definitions in different states. Similarly, everyone knows what it means to "solicit" [...]
Substance abuse is still a major legal and societal problem in the United States. With the emergence of drugs like crack cocaine and Oxycontin over the last several decades, everyone now should know that drug abuse can be devastating. Lawmakers have expanded the drug possession and trafficking laws, which are now quite complicated. Drug crimes [...]
