Tucson DUI & Criminal Defense Blog

You may have seen in the news recently that one of the charges that Paul Manafort pled guilty to was failure to file foreign bank account reports. In today’s global economy, it is increasingly common that individuals who are obligated to file U.S. tax returns also have foreign bank accounts, which must be reported to the IRS. This includes U.S. citizens living abroad and foreign citizens residing in the U.S. with foreign bank accounts. Criminal and civil penalties can be levied solely for failure to file a form that discloses the existence of money on which an individual may not even owe U.S. taxes.

What follows is quick guide that focuses upon the immigration consequences of Arizona DUI’s for LPR’s, VISA holders, and DACA recipients.

Classes just started on Tuesday, three days ago, and already we have received calls from students and parents. Here’s a quick guide to common University of Arizona citations and arrests, especially for undergraduates, based on our many years experience representing students.

The so-called “Ambien defense”, while not new, has been in the headlines recently because Roseanne Barr blamed the drug for her racist tweets. The pharmaceutical company that makes Ambien responded by tweeting, “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.

In Arizona, drug paraphernalia is a broad term used to describe a vast array of objects that can be used for growing, harvesting, manufacturing, testing, storing, containing, or concealing an illegal drug or used for injecting, or ingesting an illegal drug into the human body.

This blog will discuss how the career criminal designation affects drug offenders and a recent holding in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals case, U.S. v. Winstead, that could reduce the number of drug offenders who are sentenced as “career criminals.”

If you are pulled over, you will need to decide what to do, based on your individual circumstances. Whether you decide to politely exercise your rights to remain silent and to counsel before making any decisions, or comply with all the officer’s requests, if you are truly impaired then it is highly likely you will be charged with DUI.

There has always been some uncertainty as to what crimes could constitute a “crime of violence” and thus an aggravated felony, for immigration purposes. This is a serious issue because an alien that is convicted, at any time, of an aggravated felony is deportable. In a long awaited decision, the Supreme Court recently held, in Sessions v. Dimaya, that one of the statutes affecting deportable aggravated felons is vague enough to be unconstitutional.

At the U.S./Mexico border, CBP has extremely broad powers to search vehicles. At primary inspection, the officer will assess not only your legal status to enter the U.S., but also whether you are bringing any type of contraband into the U.S. Your vehicle may be subjected to radiation detection, a dog may sniff your car, and an officer may also look around your vehicle or knock on your vehicle to check for hidden contraband or compartments.

It is firmly established in case law that when a suspect is arrested, their cell phone cannot be searched without a search warrant, subject to some very narrow exceptions. However, the rules regarding cell phone and laptop searches at the border are much less restrictive.