Your Best Defense Podcast Jacquelyn Ford Law LLC

Jacqui Ford: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford and we’re continuing our series today on sex crimes involving children.

Some of the things we’ve been seeing in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area lately is several teachers from local school districts who have been charged with sex crimes for having inappropriate relationships with their students. Of course, it’s easy to find outrage in our teachers engaging with our students. But when we look closely at the law, what we realize is it can be a rather confusing situation for both the teacher and the student.

A number of times we see these students who are 16, 17, or 18-years-old who are otherwise legally able to consent. They believe that they are following the law when they’re engaging in activities with their teacher. They think that they have the legal, lawful authority to consent. And, sometimes, even by the government’s account, the children, if you will in these cases, the 16, 17, and 18-years-olds are the ones pursuing the sexual activity.

Not to make excuses for what’s appropriate and inappropriate, but the law says that a 16, and 17, and 18-year-old can, in fact, consent to sexual intercourse in certain situations. What they don’t understand, and what many people don’t understand, is that there are special circumstances for teachers. There is a statute, that is separate and distinct from all of the other rape cases, that defines having sex with a student, or an employee of a school. And what it says is that no student can consent to sexual intercourse with a teacher.

It arises with a bunch of questions – why is that so? If the teacher is a consenting adult, and the teacher can engage in a consensual sexual act. And the teenager is a consenting adult, for the purposes of this conversation, and can consent to a consensual sexual act. Why can they two of them not do it together?

Well, it’s not just because it makes us fell icky. Okay? The idea is that the teacher is in an authoritative position over the student. Whether they are actually in an authoritative position over the student, or they can be perceived by the community, or more correctly spoken, perceived by the student to be in an authoritative position. And that’s why the legislature has carved out this special set of circumstances.

It doesn’t always shake out to be fair. Because people are unaware of this law, and it’s only found in one little, tiny paragraph in a very complicated statute in Oklahoma laws. But because the teacher maintains an authoritative position over the student, the law just says under zero circumstances is this okay.

People in the community have different, varying opinions on this. And this is not a moratorium. I’m not ‘pro’ teachers having sex with kids, or ‘anti’ teachers having sex with kids. The fact of the matter is that we all owe a duty to each other, and to our children, to talk to them about what the law is. We have a duty to them so that they know when they engage that they think is fun and exciting and is meaningful to them because they’re not really being forced to do it by their teacher in an authoritative position. That they think they’re doing okay because they’re not being coerced, or threatened, or bribed, or promised good grades, or any of those things, that the student needs to know. Because in these cases the student, oftentimes, is not only a victim of the crime charged. The student becomes the victim of the media.

The student, especially when we’re dealing with young men, when they’re not seeking charges to be sought against the teacher, the damage to the teacher being charged is as great upon the child, as it is to the teacher. The child now has a reputation in the community of whatever the community wants to accuse him of. But, he’s oftentimes not brought back in and coddled and taken care of because he’s not a child and he’s not a victim of a rape as you and I know rape to be.

Of

Jacqui Ford, Jacquelyn Ford Law, P.C.

 

Jacqui Ford: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford, and today we’re going to be talking more about sex crimes. Today’s topics are going to include sex crimes involving children, but not as you might understand. The laws in Oklahoma have very strong protections for minors and children under the age of 18 from being exploited for the purposes of child pornography.

The problem the laws in Oklahoma have right now is that the law can’t keep up with technology. And what we see is that these children, who the laws were designed to protect from adult predators, are now becoming defendants charged with possession, and distribution, and procurement of child pornography. How is this happening?

There is a word that I imagine most of our parents are familiar with called ‘sexting.’ And I’ve learned this word from my teenaged clients and friends. Sexting is the act of texting in a flirtatious or sexual way. What we see more and more these days with cameras and videos on everyone’s phones is that our children, mostly our teenagers, but they’re still children under the law, are engaging in an act of exchanging photographs with their friends, and their boyfriends and girlfriends.

What they children don’t know is what they’re doing is a crime. It’s a felony crime in the state of Oklahoma to possess child pornography. It is a felony crime in the state of Oklahoma to manufacture child pornography. And it is a felony crime in the state of Oklahoma to distribute child pornography. Each and every one of those crimes is a registerable offense. How do our teenagers find themselves charged with possession, manufacture, or distribution?

Oftentimes, the situation is it’s a boyfriend/girlfriend, and one, or the other, for the purposes of our argument we’ll pick on the boys, sends a text to his girlfriend. They’re flirting back and forth and talking about all of the things they want to do to one another. And boyfriend says, “Hey, why don’t you send me a pic?” Girlfriend, whether she’s inclined to do so, or not, ultimately decides she’s going to send a sexy pic of herself to her boyfriend because, “Who wants to be rejected? Who doesn’t want to give their boyfriend what he’s asking for?” And she takes a photograph of herself. If she is under the age of 18, she has now manufactured child pornography.

Once she has that has that photograph, or video, on her phone she’s committed the secondary crime of possessing the child pornography that she manufactured. And the moment she hits ‘SEND’ she has participated in the distribution of child pornography.

These are very, very serious crimes. Possession of child pornography, including showing it, or publishing it to others, or sending it, are all registerable offenses. They carry a minimum of 30 days and up to 10 years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

We’ve talked numerous times on this podcast about this special kind of probation terms that you can receive in Oklahoma which include ‘deferreds’ and ‘suspendeds.’ And suspended sentences are, in fact, felony convictions. They will follow you for the rest of your life. A felony conviction cannot be expunged off of your record. Therefore, the law permits for deferred sentences. But in these cases, the state legislature has said that you are not entitled to a deferred. Which means that your precious 17-year-old child who was either the textor, or the textee, who is in possession of these sexy pics, is now a convicted felon for the rest of his, or her, life.

What a terrifying result for kids just doing what kids do. Unfortunately, ignorance of the law is not a defense. And, depending on where you’re located, and who your prosecuting agency is, the consequences can be quite grave.

If you solicit pictures of child pornography, ask for them, send out a request, it carries up to 20 years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

Jacqui Ford, Jacquelyn Ford Law, P.C.: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford. Today we’re going to be talking about assault and battery, and defending assault and battery cases in the state of Oklahoma. Assault and battery comes in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. The number of statutes dealing with assault and battery are very many. We’ll not be able to talk about all of them today, but we’re going to hit the big ones to be able to give you the information you need in case you, or a friend, or family member, is charged with assault and battery.

First of all, there’s the simple misdemeanor assault and battery. You think about the bar-fight guy. You know? And you’ve had a little bit too much to drink, and we get mouthy, and we put hands on one another. But there’s no major injuries, no broken bones, no weapons are used, it’s just fist-on-fist, ‘boys being boys’, or you know ‘girls being girls.’

Simple misdemeanor assault and battery is a very, very common charge. And as long as there’s not some sort of familial relationship that gives rise to a domestic violence case, then we’re dealing with generally just a misdemeanor simple assault and battery. Simple assault and battery is a misdemeanor, and it generally carries no time to up to 90 days in the county jail. Generally, up to a $1000 fine, the jury could assess prison, or jail time, or the fine, or both. So, it carries up to about 90 days. That’s for simple misdemeanor assault and battery.

Oftentimes, people get confused about the difference between assault and battery, or simple assault. The example that I generally give is if I’m pulling my fist back and say, “Oh, I’m going to hit ya!” That’s an assault. You’re threatening an act of violence. The battery doesn’t occur until actual contact is made. So, we could be charged in simple assault by threatening someone with harm. But to get to the rise of assault and battery actual contact must be made from the perpetrator to the victim, or some extension of their body.

Many times we see assault and battery charged as a felony. And people don’t understand how it goes from misdemeanor to felony. So, a misdemeanor means no major injuries, there’s no scarring, maiming, you know, and no weapons were used. But the minute you pick up a weapon, no matter how benign that weapon may be, you given rise to being charged with what we call assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. A dangerous weapon could be anything. It could be the stapler on your desk. It could be your shoe. It could be anything that you take in your possession to use as force against another person. Oftentimes, that item is being used in a manner it which it was not described to be used. So, if we pick up a trash can and throw it at somebody that’s assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. We just went from what should have been a very simple misdemeanor charge, to a felony charge. And it carries up to 10 years in The Department of Corrections. Many folks are surprised to know that.

If we use another kind of weapon, a weapon that is otherwise deemed deadly, and using it oftentimes has deadly results. Let’s think of a knife, a gun, nunchucks, a sword, something to that effect that is going to be used to cause serious, serious damage. Or, a car. Oftentimes, we see assault and batter with a deadly weapon with the use of a car. That is an 85% crime. This is a big deal. It’s a huge difference between assault and battery weapon with a dangerous which is deemed a violent crime, and assault and battery with a deadly when we’re attempting to use deadly force on another person. With no priors, that carries 0 to 20 years. And it’s 85% meaning if you’re sentenced to 10 years you must server 8.5 years before even being eligible for parole.

The real scary part about these felony charges is: if when you’re charged with these crimes you have prior felony conviction in your history, especiall

Jacqui Ford, Jacquelyn Ford Law, P.C.: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford, and we’re talking today about DUIs, DWIs, and what Oklahoma calls actual physical control. These are all crimes that you could be facing if you engage in an activity including drinking and driving.

There is a huge misconception in this world about what is legal, and what is not legal. There’s no law that says you cannot have a drink, and then drive a car. The law says you cannot drive a car while impaired or under the influence of alcohol. What does that mean in application?

Well, real briefly, we have three different types of drunk-driving in Oklahoma. The first one is DWI. We don’t see a whole lot of DWI charges because it’s a very limited number of folks. DWI stands for driving while intoxicated, and it’s something less than DUI. It generally applies when your blood alcohol content 0.05 to 0.07. So, it’s less than the mandatory requirement for DUI which is a 0.08 blood alcohol content. But it’s something greater than, “I’ve had a drink, and I got in the car.”

So, DWI is the first charge that you might see when dealing with DUI charges in the state in Oklahoma. Although, it’s not applied as often, it is certainly a nice benefit for individuals who were charged with DUI, and the scientific evidence comes back and says maybe they weren’t. It carries pretty much the same range of punishment. The consequences for probation are pretty much the same.

So, we’ll kind of skip over DWI for those purposes, and talk about what most of us know to be drunk driving in Oklahoma. It’s called driving under the influence – DUI. Sometimes, referred to as a ‘dewey.’ DUI simply means that you are driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, law enforcement believes that either by scientific evidence, or subjective evidence of their observations, that you’re body is under the influence, and therefore, you’re not safe to drive.

The range of punishment for DUI in Oklahoma is very great. Much like some of our other charges, like possession of marijuana, and domestic violence that we’ve talked about in the past. Your first time DUI is almost always treated as a misdemeanor, unless it has some aggravating characteristic. So, most folks first-time DUI is a misdemeanor. The range of punishment is a mandatory 10 days in the county jail, up to a year, and up to a $1000 fine.

Many people think about DUIs and they realize that a lot of their friends and family members have them. It has a very morally unsound connotation. And judges are harsh on DUIs. And prosecutors are harsh on DUIs. And our legislature, as we speak right now, are trying to make DUI charges and convictions enhanceable so that people will be charge with felonies in a quicker, more efficient way. So, they can be very, very dangerous. They’re also one of the most common crimes we commit, and also one of the safest crimes to commit.

What you have to know, if you’ve been charged with a DUI, or you’re being arrested for a DUI, is how to interact with law enforcement, and what to expect moving forward. So, if you’re pulled over, and you’ve had a few drinks, and you know that the police officer’s going to ask you a serious of questions. My first advice to folks is you’re not require to answer any of their questions. You’re only required to give your driver’s license and insurance verification. And if you can find a polite, respectful way to decline other questions, that’s my first piece of advice.

You have a Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. I strongly encourage that you use it. And you can do it in a simple way as saying, “Officer, I do not wish to engage in consensual contact, and answer any of your questions at this time.” That sounds a lot easier said than done. We want to engage with law enforcement, and we want to answer their questions, and they know that. They’re banking on the fact that we’re going to

Jacqui Ford, Jacquelyn Ford Law, P.C.: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford, and we will be talking about domestic violence in Oklahoma. So, if you are charged with domestic violence, or a friend or a loved one, is charged with domestic violence in the state of Oklahoma, here’s some information you must know. Domestic violence can be charged in a number of different ways. It can be charged as a misdemeanor, or a felony. And we’ll talk about the different reasons as it might be filed either way.

One of the first, and most important, things to know that domestic violence is different than simple assault and battery, based upon who the players are. So, you can’t have a domestic violence charge without the victim, or the abuser, being a spouse, or a former spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend, a parent, some sort of foster parent, a child, some sort of blood relative, or relative by marriage, parent of a mutual child. There has to be some sort of relationship there. And it even extends to someone who’s currently living in a house, even if there’s no familial relationship. So, you might see that in a roommate situation. So, domestic abuse requires some sort of pre-existing relationship before the crime occurs, to give rise, to enhance it from a simple assault and battery. You know? A stranger bar fight or something. To give it this extra bump of domestic violence.

And why does that matter? It matters because when you’re charged with domestic violence the community and the legislature has decided that that act is much more offensive than the act of getting in a fight with a stranger in a street. That we somehow owe each other a greater duty because we have this familial relationship, or dating relationship. That we should engage in behavior that’s even greater than the amount of respect guaranteed to strangers.

So, if someone has been arrested, and you know that they’re being charge with domestic violence you should know that that means the government believes there’s some sort of relationship there. As a general rule, the first-time offense of domestic violence, if there’s no great bodily injury, and no strangulation, and no aggravating factors, most likely will be treated as a misdemeanor. If it’s just a run-of-the-mill domestic violence case, then it will be treated as a misdemeanor.

What does that mean? A misdemeanor means that you’re only looking at up to a year in the county jail. In Oklahoma, it also carries a $5000 fine. Your first-time offense could be charged in a municipal court, like the City of Oklahoma City, or Mustang, or Yukon, or Piedmont. Or, you could be charged in state court. And oftentimes, dv cases do get transferred over to state court because they carry with them extra obligations, as opposed to a simple assault and battery.

First off, it’s important to talk about bond. If you’re arrested for domestic violence, especially if you’re arrested close in time to the allegations, the fight is on at the house, someone calls the police, the police come out and they remove you, and they take you to jail. You can almost guarantee that you’re going to be held in jail without bond. That means, unlike a DUI, or a simple possession of marijuana, where you know your bond is going to be set at $1000 or $2000, you call a bondsman and you pop on out. In a domestic violence case the law permits the government to hold you for 72 hours. They call it ‘cooling-off period.’ Allows emotions to calm down, and whatever gave rise to allowing the situation to get out of control will have an opportunity to subside.

Many say it gives the victim an opportunity to pack their bags and get out. But either way, there’s a 72 hour hold.

Does that mean your stuck in jail for three days? No. It does mean you’re stuck in jail for three days if you don’t hire an experienced lawyer to defend you on these domestic violence cases. How do we get that 72-hour hold lifted? Well, we go

Jacqui Ford, Jacquelyn Ford Law, P.C.: Welcome to Your Best Defense Podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford. And today we’re going to talk about defending murder charges. So, if you’re in Oklahoma City, or the Oklahoma state area, and you’ve been charged with murder you’ve big, big problems on your hands. Most likely, if you’re listening to this podcast you may have a friend or family member who’s been charged with some version of murder in the state of Oklahoma, and you need to know what their rights are and how we can move forward in defending them.

I’ve got good news. You’re listening to someone who happens to know a little bit about this. There are all kinds of different murders that we all think about – levels of murder. But, in Oklahoma, we really only have two: that’s murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree. There are lots of other homicide cases, and we’ll save those for another podcast, for another day.

But, let’s talk about murder. So, if we’re charged with murder in the first degree, one of two things the government is alleging. Either, this crime was committed with malice aforethought. Which means that you planned it, and you thought about it, and you executed that plan. Or, that this murder occurred during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony. You hear it on the news, and people use the language the felony murder rule. The felony murder rule picks up more murder charges than most other types of murders here in Oklahoma. And that’s because the legislature has decided if you are engaged in behavior that is so inherently dangerous, that you should be able to foresee a death occurring, and a death occurs, whether you did it, or your co-defendant did it, or the person that’s actually being shot at committed the homicide, the perpetrator of the underlying felony can, and will, be charged with murder in the first degree.

It’s kind of a head scratcher. It goes against what we naturally think about when we think about murder in the first degree. Most of us think when you’re charged with murder in Oklahoma, that you must have had some sort of evil intent, or malice aforethought.

One of the interesting things to know is that malice aforethought, and that intent, can happen in Oklahoma, in a second. There’s no need that you plan it, or think about it. You’re decision to take someone else’s life can happen in a moment’s time. And that is the same charge as if you were plotting and planning it for months on end. That’s incredibly scary, because in that very moment that you make a decision to either pull the trigger, or slash that knife, or engage in whatever activity that’s given rise to the death of this individual, you are now facing very, very serious punishment.

Punishment for murder in the first degree in Oklahoma is very simple – minimum life in prison. Maximum penalty – death. The only thing in between is life without the possibility of parole. We’ll talk about all three of those really briefly. Life, in the state of Oklahoma, is calculated at 40 years. Basically, you have to serve 38 years and three months of any sentence before you’re ever even eligible for parole. So, if you’re sentenced for murder, and you’re sent to The State Department of Corrections, and you don’t have an appellate relief anywhere, you are going to sit there day-for-day for 38 years and three months before the Parole and Pardon Board even looks at your case to determine whether, or not, you’re eligible for early release. That’s a pretty overwhelming number.

Many states in this country have a range of punishment. Our good friends down south, Texas, the wild, wild west if you will. In Texas, you can murder somebody, and murder in the first degree has a range of punishment of a minimum of five years, and a maximum of life. Why does that matter? Because, man it makes working these cases out on a plea deal next to impossible.

The same rule applies with murd