Michigan State Police Extracting Cellphone Data During Traffic Stops

Since 2008, the Michigan State Police apparently have used devices in their patrol cruisers capable of extracting data from a driver's cell phone.  The troubling part is that it may be possible to tap your cell phone during a routine traffic stop.The data extraction device, Cellbrite UFED, can pull existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including your call history, text messages, contacts, and images; even your geotags. It can also extract ringtones which can be highly incriminating in some situations. These devices can crack into more than 3000 cellphone models and easily blow-thru passwords.All this, of course, raises some legitimate concerns under the Fourth Amendment's "search and seizure" clause.   Do...

Read more »

Posted in: ACLU,American Civil Liberties Union,Cellbrite UFED,FOIA,Fourth Amendment,freedom of information act,Michigan State Police,MSP,search and seizure

Court of Appeals Rules that MERS Cannot Foreclose Via Advertisement

Do you know if MERS owns your home?  MERS [you know, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System] has been getting drawn deeply into the nationwide mortgage meltdown.The Michigan Court of Appeals recently handed MERS some more bad news here in Michigan: they cannot foreclose by advertisement because the COA ruled they do not hold an interest in the indebtedness under the applicable Michigan statute.In the 2-1 decision in Residential Funding Corp v Saurman, two cases were consolidated which posed the same legal question: whether the mortgagee, MERS, could foreclose by advertisement rather than filing a foreclosure lawsuit (a "judicial foreclosure").  The respective home owners in these consolidated cases each defaulted on...

Read more »

Posted in: foreclosure,MERS,Michigan Court of Appeals,Oakland County,Oakland County Foreclosure Prevention Initiative,University of Cincinnati Law Review

High Court Rules Religious Mom Cannot Homeschool

Admittedly, the New Hampshire Supreme Court's recent decision favoring public school over homeschooling by Mother does not bind any of the courts in our jurisdiction.  Nevertheless, the ruling is instructive for anyone wrangling with family court issues.This blog tracked the dispute in an earlier post as the case was submitted to the High Court following oral arguments.Here are the basic facts: Post-divorce, Mother was homeschooling her daughter over Father's objection.  The religious component of Mom's in-home curriculum gave Dad indigestion, so he made an appointment with his divorce lawyer.The family court appointed a Guardian Ad Litem to review the matter and make a recommendation to the judge.  The GAL concluded that public...

Read more »

Posted in: divorce,family court,family law,First Amendment,GAL,Guardian Ad Litem,homeschool,religion,SCOTUS

Internet Gambling Stung by Feds

Like the "war on drugs", there has been much federal focus on eradicating those ubiquitous illegal gaming sites.  Yesterday, the feds moved against the owners of two of the biggest sites on the web.Indictments were unsealed by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan against the owners of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.  The feds have seized all their holdings in the United States.You may recall that back in 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, an anti-gaming law prohibiting banks from processing winnings from internet gambling sites.  PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, among other sites, developed ways around the law, disguising gamblers' payments as sales for jewlery, flowers and other goods.The U.S. Attorney...

Read more »

Posted in: FBI,federal,federal court,Full Tilt Poker,internet gambling,interpol,Las Vegas,PokerStars,U. S. Attorney

Collateral Consequences of a Guilty Plea

When an accused pleads guilty to a crime, the complexity of our modern legal system often leaves some of the significant consequences of the plea undetected.  After all, that's why you hired a lawyer in the first place, right?These undetected consequences include quasi-criminal matters such as immigration as well as less obvious examples like disqualification from certain career paths or professional degrees; or affecting a client's parent-child relationship.Recognizing this growing problem back in 2006, the State Bar of Michigan's Criminal Issues Initiative sought to educate criminal defense lawyers and the public by developing material useful to making a fully informed decision.In addition, the SBM's website provides useful and current...

Read more »

Posted in: collateral consequences,Criminal Issues Initiative,criminal law,defense attorney,guilty plea,immigration,Michigan Re-entry Law Wiki,misdemeanor

Michigan Attorney General Files Amicus Briefs in Medical Marijuana Cases

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed amicus briefs in two medical marijuana cases pending in Michigan appellate courts; one case is from Oakland County, the other from Isabella County.The Oakland County case, the well-known People v Redden debacle, involved whether an unregistered marijuana user could nevertheless assert the defenses set forth in the Medical Marijuana Act. That case is pending before the Michigan Supreme Court.In the AG's Redden brief, the assertion is that only qualified patients may avail themselves of the statutory defenses set forth in the MMA. The Court of Appeals held otherwise.The case from Isabella County tests whether anyone can earn a profit from their pot-growing efforts.We will monitor each of these...

Read more »

Posted in: Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette,Michigan Medical Marijuana Act,Oakland County Prosecutor,Robert Lee Redden