Tracking child pornography through the internet

The Federal Adam Walsh Act created a FBI department responsible for the identification and tagging of all possible videos containing child pornography with hidden computer codes which can be searched for from remote FBI locations through out the country.

State and Federal authorities will execute a search over the internet for the hidden codes they have imbedded in the videos which that have positively identified as actual abducted, or missing children who are performing the child pornography. Once their pier to pier searches identified IP addresses that contain the coded files through KAZA and LIMEWIRE and other file sharing programs, the law enforcement community will obtain search warrants to learn the identification of the owner of the IP address. Law enforcement will then come to the home with a search warrant, seize the computer in questions, and arrest the owner(s) for possession of illegal pornography.

Please call the Law Office of Hark & Hark at 866-HARK-LAW to discuss the ramifications of your actions in greater detail or visit our comprehensive sex crime website.

File Sharing and child pornography

File Sharing: What it is and why it can lead to criminal charges related to Child Pornography

Federal & State law prohibits the possession of child pornography. In addition, the laws absolutely prohibit the distribution of any pictures. Current file sharing programs that allow the use of remote connected computers to act as pier-to-pier networks which distribute child pornography over the internet create a means of distribution of child pornography. If anyone has downloaded 'free' programs, such as KAZA, or LIMEWIRE, with the intentions of downloading music or adult porn, but also download child pornography, they will be subject to criminal charges.

Please call the Law Office of Hark & Hark at 866-HARK-LAW or visit our criminal website to discuss the ramifications of your actions in greater detail.

NJ Voluntary Prescription Monitoring Program ( PMP)

Effective September 1, 2011 New Jersey has instituted a 'voluntary' prescription monitoring program (PMP) for all licensed medical providers who are empowered with the ability to prescribe CDS and Human Growth Hormone dispensed on an out-patient basis. The intent of the program is to monitor those individuals who are attempting to obtain prescription medications through more than one source with the same single CDS prescription. Although the Medical Board and the Division of Consumer Affairs is couching this program and one to protect the patient, the real motive is more along the lines of BIG BROTHER.

The PMP will allow the Board of Medical Examiners and Attorney General's Office to monitor (1) ALL narcotic prescriptions any one doctor written based on your DEA AND NPI number, (2) the volume and regularity of the NARCOTIC prescriptions being written to any one patient, and (3) who and where the NARCOTIC prescription are being filled. Also, the program will allow a physician to investigate who else is writing any prescriptions for the patient under the doctor's care.

The effects of this monitoring program are significant in two ways. On the surface it looks like the patient will now not be able to lie to the doctor about his prescription history. Secondly, the doctor will be able to see who else is writing the narcotic prescription for the same patient. However, the monitoring program and access to this clearing house of patient information has created an additional standard of care. Now an attorney will be able to argue that if the patient's prescription history is not checked prior to any narcotic medication being prescribed, and there is an overdose or other illegal activity, the doctor may have criminal or civil culpability.

This clearing house location will primarily assist the DEA, FBI, Board of Medical Examiners, Attorney General's Office and local law enforcement prosecute doctors for writing illegal prescriptions which are filled by different locations and at a greater frequency that indicated by the medication in questions. FBI and DEA can not get the patient info, especially when cash is involved, as a result they are seeking to obtain the info from the source; where the narcotic prescription is originating.

For further details on matters such as these, please visit our Professional License Defense website.

NJ Lawyers Soliciting Traffic Ticket Offenders

In the last ten years New jersey lawyers have been soliciting citizens who have been
issued traffic tickets though computer access to the NJ court system  records.
This week several local representatives have prepared a bill that would criminalize
any such solicitation.

The legislative intent reflects that that public has come to dislike the intrusion
to private lives the  solicitation of attorney services when none have been sought
after.   Unfortunately, this bill will not past constitutional muster because there
are several significant free speech issues involved.  Commercial advertising  has
helped to be a constitutionally protected form of speech by individuals  and
corporations alike.  As well, other states have attempted to regulate this type
of advertising and those state supreme courts have run into the same  issues!   

Stop and Frisk

State v. Privott, 203 N.J. 16 (2010)

In this case, the Supreme Court of New Jersey made three essential holdings. The Court ruled that: 1) the police officer had specific and particularized reasons for conducting an investigatory stop of the defendant, 2) the totality of the circumstances justified the officer’s decision to frisk the defendant, and 3) the officer’s conduct in lifting up the defendant’s shirt to check for weapons in the waistband of defendant’s pants exceeded the scope of the type of intrusion a Terry stop allows for.

The 5-2 decision was authored by Justice Wallace and it was joined by Chief Justice Rabner, Justice Long, Justice LaVecchia, and Justice Hoens. However, Justice Albin and Justice Rivera-Soto dissented.

The most relevant language seems to be:

“... the police officer lifted defendant’s tee-shirt to expose defendant’s stomach, and in doing so, observed a plastic bag with suspected drugs in the waistband of defendant’s pants. That maneuver exceeded the scope of the pat-down search needed to protect the officer against defendant having a weapon and was akin to a generalized cursory search of defendant that is not condoned.” Id. at 31 (emphasis added).

Unpaid Child Support

In 1995, NJ Legislation (Chapter 334) attempted to increase the collection of unpaid child support by requiring plaintiffs or their attorneys in all civil lawsuit actions to do one of the following:

• File a certificate with the Probation Department identifying the plaintiff, requiring that staff in the Probation Department search that name in the ACSES computer system, confirming whether the plaintiff was a child support judgment debtor. If no response was received from the Probation Department within 30 days, the proceeds could be distributed.
• Conduct a child support judgment search through a private abstract company.

Major implementation problems immediately ensued. Due to 500,000+ annual suit filings, Chapter 334 promptly overwhelmed the NJ court infrastructure since no dollar threshold was specified, certificates were consistently filed with the wrong office of the court, lawsuit proceeds were unnecessarily delayed to the 95%+ of lawsuit plaintiffs who were not child support judgment debtors, resulting in generally poor compliance with the existing statute.

Work began immediately on amending Chapter 334, resulting in a P.L. 2000, c. 81, which both greatly expands the scope of the priority lien process and simplifies the compliance requirements.

Federal welfare reform legislation (PRWORA) requires that all States intercept and seize lump sum payments from judgments, settlements and worker's compensation, by imposing priority liens on those payments to pay off unpaid child support judgments. P.L. 2000, c. 81 is New Jersey's response to the Federal mandate.

State v. J.A.C.

Background:

In a criminal sexual assault case, Defense Counsel attempted to introduce sexually explicit instant message (IM) conversations between a girl who was a minor and several adult males who were not charges with any offense or were related to the criminal case in any manner. Defense Counsel intention was to prove that the alleged victim, the girl, was fabricating her story, she had specific knowledge of sex acts from another event or events, and the IM’s reflected her sexual activity. (Obviously, for the jury to evaluate her credibility when they were to deliberate.) A forensic analysis of the girl’s computer revealed sexually explicit IMs between her and an adult male. A trial judge found that the IMs constituted “sexual conduct,” as defined by N.J.S.A. 2C:14-7f (New Jersey’s Rape Shield Law), and their prejudicial effect outweighed their probative value. However, based on the significant number of IM’s and the sexually explicit content the trial judge allowed the defendant to mention them in order to show that the victim may have fabricated her story “in order to deflect criticism or discipline for having engaged in such behavior (the sexually explicit IMs that is, not the allegations against JAC the defendant).”

Appellate Review:

On appeal, the Appellate Division ruled that the contents of the IMs were not relevant to the offense charged since they did not refer to or involve the defendant or bear any relation to a motive to fabricate. Nevertheless, the Appellate Division held that the existence of the IMs was relevant to show that the victim had a motive to fabricate the allegations. Although explicit IMs cannot be introduced to prove the sexual disposition of an alleged victim, this groundbreaking decision makes it possible to introduce them in order to establish motive for an alleged victim to lie in order to avoid punishment for this behavior from the mom or dad or paramour who is in the house in charge of discipline. In addition, the court;s same reasoning can be applied to cross examination issues an alleged victim’s lack of credibility without running afoul of New Jersey’s rape shield statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:14-7. The Appellate Division’s decision can be found here.

UPDATE - New Jersey Supreme Court Review:

The Appellate Division’s decision has been appealed and the New Jersey Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case. The Court plans to rule solely on the limited issue of whether the contents of IMs sent by a minor victim to adult males are admissible. If the Court determines that they are, explicit IMs could become a powerful tool to defend against wrongful convictions and protect the constitutional rights of criminal defendants.

The key issue in this case will be the use of and existence of any IMs from one teen to another! Counsel must investigate these issues because the content will surely come into play in one way or another. IMs from one friend to another, and for that matter, texts, emails, web pages, tweets, that are memorialized FOREVER, are nothing more than a conversation between friends that has been preserved! While Teens used to talk on the phone; now with the number of IMs, text, emails, and tweets, reaching millions and millions per day, more often than not serious sensitive teen communications will probably be saved on a server somewhere that can be retrieved from trial in these case. More importantly, the content of those emails, text, IMs, tweets, and the like will make or break your defense at trial.