Alabama Criminal Lawyer Blog

Summer brings with it many opportunities for friends and family to get together for cookouts, concerts, and other festivities. Like it or not, many of these events include alcohol. Because drinking often causes people to make bad choices, it is important that the crucial choices, such as a designated driver, be made before the drinking begins.
I recently read this article that speaks about a group of friends who made some bad decisions which lead to the deaths of two of the friends. I was reminded of a similar experience when my best friend's younger brother was driving with some friends in his truck and was involved in a very serious accident. Fortunately, there were no permanent injuries to any of those involved, but the accident served as a wake-up call to my friend's brother.
In these situations, everyone involved suffers. The families of the deceased feel that their relative was blameless in the tragedy, but the reality is that bad choices were made by passengers and driver. The cost is unbelievably high for everyone. The best way to avoid this tragedy is to make better decisions, such as not getting behind the wheel if you have had too much to drink.

Continue reading "DUI Victims Are Not Always Strangers" »

Gabe Watson, an Alabama man who was accused of killing his wife in Australia in 2003, faces possible murder charges in Alabama for the crime. Watson plead guilty to manslaughter charges in Australia and subsequently served 18 months in prison in that country. He is accused of killing his wife while scuba diving in Australia on the couple's honeymoon.

Many people, apparently including Alabama Attorney General Troy King, have shown their unhappiness with the Australian sentence in this case publicly, and have searched for ways to punish Mr. Watson more severely for his alleged crime. Now it appears that the State of Alabama will be charging Mr. Watson again for apparently the same offense that he has already served a sentence for in Australia.

The obvious question that this turn of events brings to mind is whether this Alabama charge can stand up to Constitutional challenges. At first glance, it appears to fly in the face of the Double Jeopardy clause of the United States Constitution. This clause is found in the fifth Amendment to the Constitution and states "[no person shall] be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb."

There are several notable circumstances where this legal principle is seemingly not followed. One of the most common of which is the exception referred to as the "separate sovereigns" exception. A common example of this occurs when a person violates both state and federal law by the same actions and is therefore charged both by the state and the federal government. I think that in the current situation with Mr. Watson, the "separate sovereigns" exception could easily be applied.

Once the obvious hurdle of double jeopardy is avoided, the Alabama charges have another, much more difficult hurdle to pass. The state of Alabama generally would have no jurisdiction to prosecute behavior that occurred outside of the state of Alabama. It appears that the state of Alabama will attempt to navigate this hurdle by a claim that the crime was planned while Mr. Watson was in Alabama prior to the trip to Australia. It will be very interesting to see what kind of evidence the state will put on to prove this case. The state will be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements of the offense. This means that they will have to convince a jury that there was a plan to kill his wife, that the plan was made at least partially in Alabama, and then that Mr. Watson killed his wife as charged. This all seems like a tough case for the state to make.

Continue reading "Alabama Murder Charges for Man Accused of Killing Wife in Australia" »

Joseph Goolsby, 19, of Pinson, Alabama has been charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Edgar Perez and Yasmine Aguilar. The couple had two children in the car at the time of the crash and Yasmine Aguilar was 8 months pregnant as well. The baby was delivered before Ms. Aguilar passed away and the other two children appear to be ok as well.

Reportedly, Mr. Goolsby's B.A.C. (blood alcohol content) was more than twice the legal limit at the time of the crash. The accident occurred at around 2:45 in the morning on Saturday, July 24.

This is a situation that I would consider a "worst case scenario." This is something that we all wish never happened. Two lives have been ended and several have been forever changed by the horrible decision presumably made by Mr. Goolsby to drive while intoxicated. This certainly fits vehicular manslaughter since the outcome was predictable when Mr. Goolsby decided to drive after drinking alcohol.

As an Alabama criminal defense attorney, I am cautious to avoid convicting someone without having the whole picture of evidence, but if what is being reported turns out to be true, Mr. Goolsby stands a very good chance of being convicted of these deaths and serving some time even if it is his first offense. This type of situation often receives relentless prosecution from a district attorney due to the horrendous circumstances.

The legal limit in Alabama for a person's B.A.C. is .08. What this means is that if you are found to have a B.A.C. above that limit, you are presumed to be too intoxicated to drive safely. In other words, you are presumed to be guilty of DUI. Don't let the numbers fool you though, you can still be found guilty of DUI with a B.A.C. of far less than the "legal limit." For example, a 19 year old could be found guilty of a DUI if their B.A.C. is .02 percent or higher, due to the fact that the legal drinking age is 21. Additionally, a school bus driver can be convicted for having B.A.C. of .02 or higher. Any driver can be convicted of DUI if they are observed driving erratically by a law enforcement officer and that officer determines that the driver is under the influence of something to the point where it is unsafe to drive.

Continue reading "Alabama Drunk Driver Charged in Deaths of Kids' Parents" »