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The Chetson Firm

• The Right to Counsel of Your Choosing May 17, 2012
  The United States Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantees a Defendant’s right to counsel. That right to counsel attaches at the first hearing – Rothgary v. Gillespie – where the Defendant’s liberty interest is at stake: …a criminal defendant’s initial appearance before a judicial officer, where he learns the charge against him and his liberty is subject... […]
  Damon Chetson
• Wake County Criminal Video: SFST Tests May 17, 2012
  This 10 minute video explains some of the basics of Standardized Field Sobriety Tests in a Wake County DWI case. […]
  Damon Chetson
• Stop and Frisk – Reasonable, Articulable Suspicion on City Streets May 13, 2012
  Last year New York City police stopped and frisked 685,000 New Yorkers, the majority of which were minorities – either black or Hispanic. Nearly 90 percent of those 685,000 were innocent and the stop and frisk achieved nothing, except to interfere with their right to go about their day unhindered. In fact, according to the... […]
  Damon Chetson
• Driving While Drugged… Safer than You Thought? May 11, 2012
  Driving While Drugged is taking on increasing importance, especially as the incidence of Driving While Impaired has declined dramatically over the past 30 years. Local agencies in Wake County have been training increasing numbers of Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) whose job it is to come to a scene and use various observational skills to identify whether... […]
  Damon Chetson
• Collateral Consequences of a Domestic Violence Conviction May 10, 2012
  Most people are aware that a felony conviction will result in a loss of the right to keep and bear arms. It is a felony in North Carolina for a convicted felon to possess a firearm. It is also a felony under federal law with a possible sentence of up to 10 years for a... […]
  Damon Chetson
• Wake County Possession Lawyer May 6, 2012
  Recent changes in North Carolina drug laws make hiring a Wake County possession lawyer important when dealing with a PWISD, simple possession charge, or trafficking charge. For first time offenders, a person charged with certain kinds of misdemeanor or felony possession charges may be eligible for drug diversion programs where, at the conclusion of the program,. […]
  Damon Chetson
• North Carolina Misdemeanors and Your Future May 3, 2012
  Everyone knows that a felony can be a life-changing event, that can result in all kinds of collateral consequences. But too few people take misdemeanors seriously enough. In North Carolina, misdemeanors can have significant consequences. For instance, the first criminal conviction of any sort (whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony), will have life-altering […]
  Damon Chetson
• Police Tracking of Cellphones April 10, 2012
  What was originally a very rare practice and largely limited to federal authorities – the tracking of cellphones by police – has now become more common, and has spread to state and local police agencies. The New York Times reports that: With cellphones ubiquitous, the police call phone tracing a valuable weapon in emergencies like... […]
  Damon Chetson
• Dog Sniffs and Drug Detection: Probable Cause? April 8, 2012
  The Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower ruling involving whether drug detection dogs – which are notoriously poorly trained and poorly handled – can serve as a pretext for a warrantless search. As the Florida Supreme Court wrote in Harris v. State: When will a drug-detection dog’s alert to the exterior of a... […]
  Damon Chetson
• Can Sober Drivers get DUIs? April 6, 2012
  A California lawmaker is proposing a DWI law that would make it illegal to drive while sober. The bill would make it: Because she wants to make it “unlawful for any person who has any level of cannabinoids or synthetic cannabinoid compound in his or her blood or urine to drive a vehicle.” Cannabinoids —... […]
  Damon Chetson