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Using Rule 32 to set aside a guilty plea in Alabama – Part 2

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 29, 2010

This is the second in a series of articles on using Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure to set aside a guilty plea. To read Part 1, click here. A defendant who enters an involuntary or coerced guilty plea has the right to petition the court to set aside his plea and [...]

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First Circuit rejects asylum petition of Chinese woman alleging religious persecution

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 28, 2010

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the appeal of a Chinese woman, Jin Weng, who fought deportation on the grounds of religious persecution. In the case of Jin Weng vs Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, the 1st Circuit reviewed an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) which had affirmed the [...]

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Never talk to the police (video)

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 28, 2010

One of the most amazing aspects of the practice of criminal defense law is the number of people who would never be arrested if they simply exercised their right to remain silent.  Even after being advised of their Miranda warnings and knowing they don’t have to say anything, many people still cannot resist running their [...]

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Using Rule 32 to set aside a guilty plea conviction in Alabama – Part 1

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 26, 2010

Many people are familiar with using Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure to attempt to obtain a new jury trial in Alabama after being convicted in a criminal trial.  Not as many people are aware that, in some limited circumstances, Rule 32 may also be used to set aside a conviction after [...]

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How to calculate child support in Alabama – a guide to Alabama Rule 32 guidelines

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 26, 2010

Alabama, like most states, provides a very specific method for determining the amount of child support to be paid by a noncustodial parent.  While there are situations where the standard formula may not apply, most cases will be controlled by Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Procedure.  Commonly known as “Rule 32 Guidelines,” [...]

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New updates coming this week.

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 11, 2010

Last week we launched a major revision of our website, www.WilliamPfeifer.com.  The main pages of the old site have been migrated over to the new system, though some of the pages are still having some quirks.  Some resource pages of the old site are still appearing under the old website design, but that will be [...]

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Will your child be raped or sexually molested in juvenile detention?

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 8, 2010

Yesterday I posted an article about the shockingly high rate of sexual abuse of minors committed by staff members of juvenile detention centers.  The overwhelming majority of the cases are incidents of female staff members having sexual contact of various kinds with boys incarcerated in juvenile detention centers. Today I wrote a follow-up to yesterday’s [...]

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Juvenile inmates sexually abused by female guards and staff members

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 8, 2010

The Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report on Thursday indicating a surprisingly high rate of sexual abuse of juvenile inmates.  The new study indicates that the rate of sexual abuse in juvenile detention facilities is far higher than previously reported by either the federal government or the states. In some facilities, more than 30 [...]

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Another Playboy model murdered, burned, and thrown in a trash bin: Paula Sladewski identified as murder victim

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 7, 2010

Last year I wrote a series of articles for Examiner.com on the murder of Playboy model Jasmine Fiore.  Fiore’s body was found in a trash dumpster burned beyond recognition, and she was identified through her breast implant serial numbers. Her alleged killer, reality tv star Ryan Jenkins, was later found dead in a Canadian motel [...]

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Free legal research using Google Scholar

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 7, 2010

Those seeking an alternative to the overpriced legal research tools offered by companies like Thompson West Publishing (Westlaw) and Lexis-Nexis (Lexis) need look no further than their Google web browser. In November of 2009, Google announced on their blog that the Google Scholar tool now includes the full text of legal opinions issued by state and federal [...]

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Making progress and adding courthouse photos, but still more work to do on our website upgrade.

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 6, 2010

Thank you for your patience as we transition our website over to a new publishing system.  While the primary pages are working now, there are still some spacing and formatting issues to be resolved.  For example, some pages are recognizing paragraph breaks while others are not.  Outbound links and crosslinks which existed under the old [...]

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Site upgrades in progress.

by William L. Pfeifer, Jr. January 5, 2010

Site upgrades in progress. We are currently upgrading our website with new software and moving our files to the new site.  Please pardon any glitches, oddities, or unusual aspects of the site (like the random photos currently appearing on the pages) while we are transitioning to the new program.  Once this is completed, our site [...]

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