Articles Posted in Criminal Penalties

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If you are a physician, nurse, advanced practice provider, dentist, or other licensed healthcare professional in Michigan, an OWI charge may threaten your license, your job, and your reputation. But Operating While Intoxicated with a minor passenger, often called OWI child endangerment, is uniquely dangerous for many licensed health care professionals is because it can be treated as “endangering others,” in this case children, and that framing can trigger Medicare and Medicaid consequences that do not typically attach to other misdemeanor OWI offenses.

The criminal case is only the beginning. A single misdemeanor conviction under Michigan’s OWI with a minor passenger enhancement can create a domino effect involving Medicaid termination for a minimum period of five (5) years, Medicare enrollment revocation, licensure emergency action, controlled substance and DEA consequences, national reporting, and exclusion from federally funded healthcare work.

This article explains why this charge is different, what the most dangerous collateral consequences are for healthcare professionals, and why time is the enemy if you hope to protect your ability to practice and bill.

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Every criminal case begins the same way. The government tells a story. Sometimes that story is short, a police report describing a traffic stop, a few observations, followed by an arrest for operating while intoxicated. Sometimes it is sprawling and extraordinary, a federal superseding indictment naming a sitting head of state, Nicolás Maduro, and alleging decades-long conspiracies spanning continents, governments, and criminal organizations. The difference between the two is not as great as it seems.

The recently unsealed superseding indictment against Maduro is a useful illustration, not because of politics, and not because of the individual accused, but because it shows, in its most extreme form, how prosecutors construct narratives, and alludes to the critical importance of storytelling.

The document reads less like a tentative accusation and more like a completed moral history. It is detailed, chronological, confident, and seemingly comprehensive. Long before any evidence is tested in court, the story feels finished. None of this happened by accident. The prosecutors have crafted this story with great care because this is exactly how criminal charging documents are designed to function.

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If you’ve been charged with a crime in Michigan, you are probably wondering what will happen to you when you go to court. Understanding the the rules of criminal procedure in Michigan will help lower your anxiety and this guide is designed to give you a basic reference about what to expect after your case gets started in court.

Also covered in this comprehensive guide to criminal procedure are the steps that the case will go through before it ever gets to court. Understanding how cases begin is essential for anyone facing criminal allegations. The following information is for Michigan state cases.  For federal case procedure please see our companion article – What Are the Steps in a Federal Criminal Case?

Frequently Asked Questions About Michigan Criminal Procedure:

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Michigan and Federal criminal and Constitutional law provides that when a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they have the opportunity to seek release from custody by posting bail or bond. Your bond and any conditions of your pretrial release will be considered when you are first brought to court for your arraignment.

By posting bail, you provide a monetary guarantee that you will attend all future court hearings. If you fail to appear, you risk forfeiting the bail amount.

While granting temporary release, the court must also consider public safety. The court does this by imposing conditions on your pretrial release. The conditions of bond aim to minimize potential risks to the community while you are at large rather than in jail.

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What is HYTA in Michigan? Michigan’s Legislators recently passed a bill that (in some states) is called a “youthful offender’s law.” The new Legislation in Michigan is Called the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act (HYTA).

Under the new law, if you are more than 17 years of age, but less than 26 years of age. Plus, you must be charged with a crime in Michigan. If not brought up by the criminal attorney you are consulting, be sure to discuss with a criminal law attorney whether you can avoid a criminal conviction by being given youthful trainee status.

The Michigan HYTA Probation Law allows defendants under 26 years old to avoid their criminal record being shown on MI state records.
This HYTA Probation Law allows most people who are under 26 years of age and charged with a crime to avoid a permanent criminal record from being shown on Michigan state records. The new HYTA Michigan law — relating to certain criminal charges for some youthful offenders — was signed into law by Governor Gretchen Witmer October 1, 2021.

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Jury nullification in Michigan can and does happen, which is when a jury judges the law instead of determining if a defendant is guilty of breraking that law.
Jury nullification occurs when a Michigan jury returns a verdict that is contrary to the law given them by the Judge. In a criminal case, jury nullification occurs when the jury, while believing the accused to be guilty, nevertheless return a verdict of not guilty.

In Michigan criminal defense cases, jury nullification can be both a fascinating and controversial topic. Many people are surprised to learn that a jury can essentially reject the law as it’s written if they feel applying it would result in an unjust outcome. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it can be a powerful reminder that our justice system includes a human element. Jurors are instructed to follow the law, but they also bring their own values and perspectives into the courtroom. For people facing serious charges like OWI or other criminal offenses in Michigan, understanding how a jury might respond to the facts—and the law—is an important part of legal strategy.

Usually this happens when the jurors either don’t like the MI criminal law in question or don’t believe that the criminal law is being appropriately applied. When a jury does this they are thought to “judge” the law.

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Michigam OWI lawyer Patrick Barone owns Barone Defense Fir m in Birmingham, MI. Here he discusses the age of consent (the legal age that a perron must be to have consensual relation with another human being.Your Michigan defense lawyer may ask you to obtain a character letter for court purposes.  This article explains how to format and write such a letter. You can share a link to this article with those you ask to write such letters.

While there are many suggestions here, what’s missing is a sample character letter or a form character letter.  This is because utilization of a form will cause all character letters to look substantially the same, and this defeats the whole purpose and is counter-productive.  Use of such forms is strictly discouraged.

Character Letters for Use During Plea Negotiations

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The news stories covering the extremely tragic school shooting in Oxford, Michigan has brought the issues of gun safety and gun storage to the forefront in the Great Lakes State once again. As the unfortunate story goes, it is alleged that 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley opened fire on his fellow students at Oxford High School on November 30th, 2021.

It is alleged that he killed four students and injured seven others including a teacher. Crumbley is facing four counts of first-degree murder, one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to commit murder, and 12 counts of possessing a firearm while committing a felony.

The Parents of the Oxford Shooter Are Also Being Charged With Crimes

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A drunk driving conviction has lifelong consequences. Long after your driver’s license has been restored, you’ll still have the DUI conviction on your permanent record. The good news is that the expungement laws in Michigan for DUI cases have recently been changed.

Michigan DUI expungement lawyer Patrick Barone leads the Barone Defense Firm and is partners with some of the best DUI attorneys who handle the toughest DUI cases.
This means your conviction involving an operating while intoxicated OWI offense can now be removed. And this removal or expungement comes with many benefits. Many kinds of DUI convictions are eligible, sometimes even those drunk driving convictions involving injury or death can be expunged.

What Does DUI Expungement Actually Mean?

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Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct, commonly referred to as CSC, is the unlawful sexual assault or touching or penetration of another. In Michigan, there are four separate sexual offenses each defined by the acts of behaviors of the alleged offender.

Each level of sexual act offense is called a “degree.” Within each of these degrees are multiple variables or legal theories that the state must prove in order to support the allegation. Such variables may include the age of the victim, the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim, and whether force or coercion was used in the commission of the alleged crime.

What Must Prosecutor Prove to Establish a Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree?

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