Mr. Beach’s client was accused of selling stolen property. There was no question that the property was sold by his client, that the property was stolen and that Mr. Beach’s client had prior convictions for burglary and robbery. If convicted, the law imposed a prison term for this client under these circumstances. Mr. Beach needed to demonstrate to the jury that his client could have legitimately come into possession of the property and legitimately believed that he could lawfully sell that property. Mr. Beach did it. Through rigorous cross examination of the prosecutor’s witnesses every possibility was explored. Ultimately, the jury returned a Not Guilty verdict!
Congratulations to Thomas Goldman on Juvenile Dependency (Child Abuse and Neglect) Trial Win
Mr. Goldman represented a father in Juvenile Court. DHS had initiated this case in juvenile dependency – this is where the government wants to have power over a family’s children due to allegations of abuse or neglect. In this case the issue at the trial was whether the government should have power over kids (and thus the father Mr. Goldman represented) because the father smoked marijuana. Although Oregon law no longer criminally punishes recreational use or possession of marijuana, the government can still argue that a person who uses marijuana shouldn’t care for a child. At trial, Mr. Goldman stressed the lack of any harm to the children. The phrase in court is that there was “no nexus” between the father’s consumption of marijuana and any identified harm to the children. The judge agreed!
Congratulations to Jennelle Johnson in keeping her client home in Juvenile Court
Ms. Johnson represented a 14 year old girl who lives with her grandparents. This is this girl’s home and the grandparents have been raising her. Ms. Johnson’s client loves this home and her grandparents and wishes to stay with them until she goes to college. Sadly, her grandfather is showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Because of the grandfather’s illness, DHS Child Welfare decided to remove Mr. Johnson’s client from her home and place her in foster care because DHS believed it was unsafe to have a caregiver for a child if that caregiver is showing signs of Alzheimer. Naturally, Ms. Johnson’s client disagreed and wanted to say at home with her grandparents. Ms. Johnson went directly to court and got the judge to prevent DHS from removing this girl from her home, to dismiss DHS’ involvement with this family and grant the grandparents guardianship of Ms. Johnson’s client.
Congratulations to John-Michael Thiesen on a Juvenile Court Trial Win
When the government removes children from a family the court proceeding that reviews the government’s actions is called ‘Juvenile Dependency.’ Mr. Thiesen represented a father in one of these proceedings. The government alleged that 9 years prior to this case, the father committed a sex crime. The government also alleged that there was domestic violence between father and mother.
Mr. Thiesen proved that after Father was convicted, he then completed sex offender treatment and all of his terms of supervision. Finally, on this issue, Mr. Thiesen proved that the prior conviction did not create any danger at all for his children. Additionally, since the government was unwilling to comply with the court order Mr. Thiesen obtained requiring the government to share what interview reports they claim to have had regarding the allegation of domestic violence, the government could not offer such evidence at the trial – this is only fair, it is expected in all Oregon trials that if we have a report of an interview of a witness we must give a copy of that report to the opposition.
Accordingly, the case against Mr. Thiesen’s client and his family was dismissed and the family reunited.
Congratulations to Tyler Beach on another Jury Win
Mr. Beach’s client was charged with Assault 4 and Interference with Making a Report. Each of these charges carries up to 1 year of jail and a fine of up to $6,250.00. This was classified as a domestic violence case. After strong cross examination of the prosecutor’s witnesses, the jury returned another Not Guilty verdict for Mr. Beach.
Congratulations to Jennelle Johnson on a Violation of Restraining Order Win!
Washington State routinely issues no contact orders between defendants and alleged victims in criminal cases. Our state will enforce those orders as being the equivalent to a restraining order under our state’s laws. However, Ms. Johnson proved that the Washington State order failed to meet our standards and had in fact been dismissed. The judge was left with no option at that point but to dismiss the case against Ms. Johnson’s client.
Congratulation to Thomas Goldman on another Jury Win
Mr. Goldman’s client was accused of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants. This charge carries up to 1 year of jail (there is another form of this charge that carries up to 5 years), up to $6,250.00 in fines and an automatic minimum 1 year driver license suspension. The police testified that they saw Mr. Goldman’s client drinking alcohol in the car, that the car had both empty alcohol containers and an open container. Our client was also not supposed to be driving because our client’s driver license had already been revoked. Finally, our client refused to submit to the breathalyzer test.
Despite all of the above, Mr. Goldman successfully convinced the jury that the prosecutor could not prove whether his client had been drinking before driving or how much the alcohol might have affected hisclient while driving. Accordingly, the jury found Mr. Goldman’s client Not Guilty.
Argument Win by Tyler Beach on a DUII Diversion Case
Our office handles many DUII diversion cases. We, of course, also handle many non-diversion eligible DUII cases. Mr. Beach had a DUII case where the district attorney objected to eligibility to diversion because our client obtained the DUII charge while on a release agreement for a felony domestic violence case. At the initial hearing before the judge who handles all Washington County DUII diversion cases, the judge agreed to schedule a contested hearing to consider Mr. Beach’s argument; but the Judge also said he was probably not going to allow Mr. Beach’s client into diversion. For the hearing, Mr. Beach prepared many argument and examples from other cases to present to the court. The result: the judge agreed with Mr. Beach and let Mr. Beach’s client into Diversion. By the way, if you are out of jail on a release agreement, please don’t commit a crime – doing so really creates a lot of problems.
Another Jury Win by Tyler Beach
Our client was accused of Assault IV (punishable by up to 1 year of jail) and Harassment (punishable by up to 6 months of jail). The allegation was that while our client was in the front passenger seat of a car he began punching the driver and then climbed onto her lap while she was still in the driver seat. Amongst the many issues Mr. Beach challenged at trial were the facts that the injury to the driver’s face was on the left side of her face (thus he would have had to punch around her head to hit the left side) and that our client (who is very tall) could not fit physically between her lap and the steering wheel. Accordingly, the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty on both charges!
Children can stay with Mom thanks to John-Michael Thiesen
Mr. Thiesen represented a mother in juvenile court. The Department of Human Services (DHS) asked the judge to remove the kids and to place them into stranger foster care because the mother was the victim of domestic violence and has mental health problems due to trauma she has experienced. DHS feared that mom might allow the abusive dad into the home. Mr. Thiesen convinced the judge to allow the kids to stay with their mom so long as she lived with her dad (the kid’s grandfather). This is a temporary fix. However, while Mr. Thiesen and his client work on resolving the long term concerns, the kids can stay with mom.