The Law Offices of James E. Crawford, Jr. & Associates, LLC

To execute just one innocent person is too much, even if it means that people convicted of offenses like homicide will escape the ultimate punishment for their crimes.

Although Maryland is not currently one of the states looking to pass a marijuana-specific drugged driving law, there are similar laws under review in other states, and it’s likely only a matter of time before the debate makes its way to the Maryland state legislature.

We’re at the beginning of the debate on what’s legal and illegal when it comes to computers and pornography. Recent cases suggest that it’s only a matter of time before the state legislatures are forced to take a closer look at how the law impacts our activities online.

Several states across the country are moving to tighten the laws on choking and strangulation by making it a felony charge. Several states across the country are moving to tighten the laws on strangling. A much debated topic, choking and strangulation is one of the top domestic abuse crimes, but is not considered a felony by many states.

Children and teens convicted of crimes face the prospect of being unfairly labeled as an offender during a time period when many experts believe their brains – and their resulting actions – are still developing. People love to classify and apply labels. It’s a natural human tendency.

It’s generally against the law for most employers to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of race and national origin, among other characteristics. But these same employers routinely refuse to even consider hiring someone with a criminal record. The applicant with a record goes to the bottom of the pile – or doesn’t get into the pile at all.

All too frequently relatively innocent people are caught in a system that makes prison time the answer to a drug problem. Abandoning or modifying mandatory minimum drug sentencing in Maryland may be the only way to correct that injustice.

At sentencing, the judge indicated that he believed the defendant, yet because of mandatory minimum sentencing, he was obligated to sentence him to serve time behind bars anyway. A 45-year-old tow truck operator, searching for adult pornography on the Internet, claimed to have accidentally stumbled on a site linked to child pornography. The man then made a big mistake: he unintentionally downloaded 25 images of child pornography onto his home computer.

The Brady Rule requires prosecutors to disclose any evidence they discover that is favorable to the defendant – but all too often, prosecutors fail to comply, citing their duty to zealously prosecute the alleged crime. In a criminal case, prosecutors have enormous resources available, including police investigators to conduct in-depth interviews and research, extensive databases, and facilities and staff to analyze evidence with sophisticated (but not infallible) laboratory testing and analysis.

The U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon rule on whether sentencing young offenders to life without parole is cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Baltimore residents may recall the headlines when, in 1999, a 14-year-old youth participated in a video store robbery in which one of the other robbers shot and killed the store clerk.

The first American citizen to be arrested with the help of a pilotless drone in the U.S. is claiming his legal rights were violated when a drone flew overhead during a stand-off with police. Today’s citizens, including those in Maryland, have adopted as an integral part of their lives the new technology: the Web, mobile phones, tablets, etc. Much of this technology includes applications like GPS positioning.

In late January, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled to restrict law enforcement’s ability to use GPS tracking devices to follow the whereabouts of those suspected of crimes. The case represented an early test of the right-to-privacy in light of developing tracking technology.