Our office does a substantial amount of work in the area of sex offenses. The consequences of being convicted of a sex offense can be severe and not only because of a potential jail or prison sentence. In Wisconsin, as in many other states, individuals convicted of sex offenses, as defined by the law, must comply with the requirements of the sex offender registry. The court also has the discretion to order a person to register as a sex offender if he is convicted of other crimes if the court finds that the offense was sexually motivated. That is, there are some crimes for which sex offender registration is mandatory, and there are others for which the court may, but is not required to, order registration.
What's a Year Worth?
How much money would it cost you to voluntarily spend a year of your life living in a cage, prohibited from earning even minimum wage, surrounded by criminals, and being branded a criminal yourself? Would $5,000 do the trick? Well, according to the State of Wisconsin, that is "fair and equitable" compensation.
Today a misdemeanor; Tomorrow your right to bear arms
Many people know that a felony conviction can have serious consequences, including the lifelong loss of one's right to possess a firearm. But what most people are surprised to learn is that many misdemeanor convictions, even for such crimes as disorderly conduct, can result in a lifetime firearm ban as well. This is because federal law makes it a crime for anyone to possess a firearm or ammunition if they have previously been convicted of "a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence." Doing so is punishable by up to 10 years in a federal prison, and is routinely punished with prison sentences rather than probation.
Text Messages and the Law
The text message has become a frequent method of communication. It is quick, easy, and you can do it from almost anywhere, whether you're on the phone, at the movies, or in the middle of a conversation. In the legal world, text messages can be extremely useful. Two individuals who have conflicting statements about what was said in a phone call, are stuck in a he said/she said type of situation, but with text messaging, we have a written record of what was actually said. While there can still be some confusion about how he messages could be interrupted, often times this allows us to clear up issues of what was really said.
