Ashley D.Adams, PLS — (to main page)

Several events are being planned for the annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations across Phoenix, Arizona.  However, Arizona DUI lawyers would advise that this is also one the busiest times of the year for Phoenix law-enforcement officers and police officers, all of who will be out in full force to pull over intoxicated motorists.

According to some estimates, more than 500 people were arrested last year over the Cinco de Mayo holiday.  Arizona DUI attorneys tend to be busier during this holiday as on most other major holidays of the year.  The holiday cheer and ‘spirited’ celebrations mean more numbers of drivers bold enough to drive with alcohol in their system.  Unfortunately for many of them, the holiday ends with a DUI arrest, and possibly drunk driving charges. 

It's not difficult to enjoy the holiday safely, and without risk of being pulled over by a police officer.  Designate a driver before you leave for the evening’s festivities.  The designated driver must be responsible for staying sober the entire evening, and will be in charge of taking all revelers home safely.  If that's not possible, call a taxi to reach home safely.  If your celebrations will continue at a private venue, make arrangements to stay the night at the venue.

Being arrested for DUI in Arizona is a serious matter.  A conviction could result not just in fines and penalties, but you may also be required to get an ignition interlock device installed in your vehicle.  A DUI conviction can also result in a jail sentence of up to 6 months.  Moreover, a DUI conviction can remain on your record, possibly interfering with your prospects for higher education and employment.

A former Phoenix-based loan officer of Countrywide Financial Corp. will spend 15 years in prison, after she pleaded guilty to charges of mortgage fraud. Prosecutors had alleged that the officer Paige Kinney ran the mortgage fraud scheme between 2005 and 2007.

Kinney pleaded guilty to charges of mortgage fraud worth $40 million. According to the charges, she falsified documents, including pay stubs and bank statements in order to make homebuyers seem more financially stable than they actually were. This increased their credit worthiness, and made them eligible for loans that they had no intention of paying back. These so-called ‘straw buyers’ mentioned on the loan papers that they intended to live in the homes they bought. However, in reality they never intended to live in these homes at all.

Kinney, along with some of her helpers, was able to press upon the banks to grant loans that, in some cases, were in excess of the home’s actual value. The excess money from these loans allegedly went to Kinney and her partners in the crime. As a result of her efforts, Countrywide Financial issued more than $38 million in loans, based on falsified documents and fraudulent profiles. Out of this, close to $9 million went to Kinney and her partners.

The case was prosecuted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s office in Phoenix Arizona. Earlier, Kinney had pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and mail fraud. She has received a 15-year prison sentence, and will also be required to pay $22 million in restitution to the banks that she cheated in her scheme.

Since the recession, Arizona mortgage fraud lawyers have noticed an increase in the number of persons being charged with these federal crimes. The government has also begun to aggressively prosecute these crimes. Persons convicted of mortgage fraud can be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.

The Arizona Legislature has approved a bill that would ban the use or possession of medical marijuana on college campuses across the state. The ban will apply to community colleges, childcare facilities and public universities. The ban will include not just college students, but also faculty at these institutions.

The bill bans the use and possession of marijuana for medical purposes in higher educational institutions in Arizona. The bill will now go before Government Jan Brewer for her signature. Arizona medical marijuana attorneys have strongly opposed the bill, because it violates the medical marijuana rights granted by law in 2010. The American Civil Liberties Union also has opposed the bill.

The bill had strong support from university officials as well as Arizona prosecutors. Both the Arizona House and Senate had approved the bill by the three-quarters votes needed.

However, this might not be the end of the matter. Arizona medical marijuana lawyers expect challenges to the bill. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Association has indicated that there will be a challenge to the legislation, although it isn't clear where the challenge will come from. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Association has not confirmed that it will spearhead a challenge to the legislation, or any challenge filed on behalf of another group.

The basis for the lawsuit would be that the law violates protections laid down in the Constitution for bills passed by voters. In 2010, the people of Arizona voted strongly to allow the use and possession of marijuana for medical purposes in a voter-approved legislation called the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. Therefore, it’s reasonable to expect a solid challenge to this new ban on medical marijuana in colleges.

Fourteen hospitals in 7 states have agreed to pay more than $12 million to settle allegations that they defrauded Medicare by filing false claims. According to the US Justice Department which announced the settlement, the settlement will resolve claims that these hospitals overcharged Medicare for the cost of performing kyphoplasty procedures.

These procedures were performed over a period of 8 years, starting in 2000, and hospitals continue to overcharge Medicare for these procedures. Kyphoplasty procedures are used to treat spinal fractures.

The allegations of Medicare fraud against these hospitals were made as part of a 2008 whistle-blower lawsuit that was brought by 2 men, who had worked for Kyphon, the manufacturer of the surgical equipment used in the procedure. At least 4 hospitals in the settlement are associated with the Adventist Health System/Sunbelt Inc., and these hospitals will pay $3.9 million, the highest share of the settlement.

The whistle-blowers will collect $2.1 million as their share of the proceeds. The Federal False Claims Act allows whistle-blowers to bring lawsuits that expose fraud against the government, on behalf of themselves as well as the government. Whistle-blowers are allowed to share in the recovery of any funds that are recovered as part of their lawsuit.

In 1986, amendments to the Federal False Claims Act increased penalties and trebled damages payable by defendants. Individuals or entities who are sued under the Federal False Claims Act can expect increased penalties. Those amendments also increased the percentage of the settlement to be paid to the whistle-blower, to not less than 25%.

Since whistle-blower incentives were increased, Arizona criminal defense attorneys have found a substantial increase in the number of whistle-blowers coming forward to file lawsuits against corporations alleging fraud under the Federal False Claims Act.

An Arizona medical marijuana advocacy group has won a summary judgment in a case that could finally result in implementation of the state’s medical marijuana laws.

Judge Richard Gama issued the judgment in favor of the medical marijuana advocacy group, Compassion First AZ The advocacy group had filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona and state health officials, regarding implementation of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. That law was passed in November 2010, and legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in the state of Arizona.

However, implementation of the law has been sketchy. There has been plenty of confusion about what the rules include. According to rules by the Arizona Department of Health Services, people who are applying for a marijuana dispensing license must never have had a bankruptcy in their history. Judge Gama has dismissed that provision along with several others, including one that requires marijuana dispensary applicants to be a resident of the state for at least 3 years.

He has also dismissed a provision that required that applicants should have filed personal income taxes in the state of Arizona for the previous 3 years. A requirement that demands that marijuana dispensary applicants have no outstanding violations for child support, taxes, parking tickets, college loans, and unpaid debts has been scrapped too.

According to Judge Richard Gama, the voters of Arizona had intended the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act to be implemented within the agreed-upon 120 days. That has not happened. The judge has ordered that the law be implemented.

Arizona medical marijuana lawyers, who believed that that the ruling would quell the anti-medical marijuana crusade in the state, will be disappointed. Gov. Jan Brewer has indicated that she will reconsider other legal options.

The Obama administration is expected to soon report massive recoveries in Medicare and health care fraud in the fiscal year 2011. This year, recoveries from healthcare fraud cases have topped $1 billion. In 2008, lawsuits filed against individuals or businesses accusing them of Medicare fraud, had resulted in recoveries of approximately $384 million.

In fact, Arizona Medicare fraud defense lawyers find that healthcare fraud recoveries form a major portion of the recoveries from fraud against the government in 2011. Billions of dollars have been recovered since the White House launched an aggressive effort against government fraud. According to the White House, the Justice Department recovered more than $5.6 billion in fraud against the government in fiscal year 2011. More than $3.4 billion of this came in civil fraud recoveries, while $2.2 billion came in criminal fraud recoveries.

According to the federal administration, fraud recoveries are up about 167% since 2008. Since 2009 alone, the Justice Department has recovered approximately $8.4 billion in health-care-related fraud.

Medicare fraud is one of the most common forms of health care fraud. Medicare fraud can be of various types. For instance, when persons or health-care providers bill Medicare for services that were never provided, or bill for ‘fake’ patients, or bill Medicare several times for the same procedure, they can be charged with Medicare fraud. There are other forms of billing fraud. For instance, a healthcare provider who bills for a higher service than the one provided, or performs unnecessary services, can be charged with Medicare fraud. Doctors who prescribe unproven remedies, or over bill patients can also have Medicare fraud charges filed against them. Medicare fraud is a serious white-collar crime that can end in severe penalties. A conviction can result in prison time, and severe penalties.

Arizona's Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against several Phoenix-based telemarketing companies, alleging that these companies defrauded consumers of millions of dollars.

According to the lawsuit, the companies targeted consumers who were interested in home- based business opportunities, and defrauded them of $6 million. These allegations emerged about three years ago. The companies offered to help consumers earn an additional income by setting them up with an internet ‘web mall’ account. The consumers were told that they could earn commissions through products sold on the ‘web mall.’

The companies also promised them business coaching in order to help them obtain commissions. The consumers were under the impression that the program was risk-free, and that the companies would purchase the program back if the consumers were not satisfied. According to the Attorney General's office, most of the consumers in this fraud were elderly individuals who had little experience with the Internet.

Fraud involving business and income opportunities are some of the most frequent types of telemarketing fraud that Arizona criminal defense attorneys come across. Telemarketing fraud involves the conveyance of false or deceptive statements to encourage sales of a product or service. A person who uses the telephone to contact people to sell a product or service, without offering them any real benefit of any kind, can be accused of telemarketing fraud.

These white collar crimes are typically investigated by the Arizona State Attorney General's office, by federal agencies or the Federal Trade Commission. Conviction of telemarketing fraud charges can result in fines and penalties, and even prison time. Additionally, persons who have been charged with telemarketing crimes can be charged with a number of other federal crimes, like wire fraud and mail fraud.

Soon, individuals in Arizona who use marijuana for medicinal purposes will not be allowed to purchase firearms. The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency has issued a warning letter to firearms dealers, informing them that it is now illegal to sell firearms to a person who uses medical marijuana and possesses a medical marijuana card. However as with almost everything related to medical marijuana laws in Arizona, there is plenty of confusion here too.

Arizona has laws that allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and is one of sixteen states and the District of Columbia that allow persons who require marijuana for medicinal purposes to get a marijuana card. However, marijuana use is prohibited under the federal administration’s Controlled Substances Act. Therefore, the federal administration maintains that the use of marijuana, even for medicinal purposes, is illegal. This divergence between state and federal laws has contributed to frustrations among people who use, sell and distribute medical marijuana in states that sanction the use of the drug for medicinal purposes.

Under federal laws, an arms dealer cannot sell firearms or guns to a person who uses illegal drugs, in this case, marijuana. There are loopholes in this new law, however. There's nothing in the new law that requires gun dealers to ask a person specifically if they have a medical marijuana card before selling them a weapon.

Several questions now face Arizona medical marijuana lawyers :

• If a person fails to inform a gun dealer about his medical marijuana use, can he or she purchase a gun?
• If he fails to inform the gun dealer about the medical marijuana use, would he/she be committing a crime?

The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency doesn't have too many answers for us right now. According to the agency, currently, there aren't many officers out there enforcing this law.

No one would deny that Arizona has some of the tougher sentences for crimes. Even with federal data showing that crime rates across the country, including in Arizona, have been dropping, Arizona white-collar criminal defense attorneys see no signs that law enforcement authorities in the state will begin to go easy on the severity of sentences that are currently handed out.

These harsh sentences are the result of measures that lawmakers began adopting in the 1970s and were developed to serve as evidence of the state’s tough approach towards crime. Those laws did not just send more people to prison, but also kept them there for a longer time.

As a result, the present prison-population ratio in the state of Arizona makes for a frighteningly bleak picture. In 1980, one out of every 749 people in Arizona was imprisoned. In 2011, one out of every 159 persons in the state is incarcerated. Over the past thirty years, Arizona's population has increased by one and a half times to currently around 6.4 million people. However, the prison population has ballooned at least five times as fast.

Arizona’s lawmakers point to these high incarceration rates as reasons for the declining crime rate in Arizona. However, the fact is that Arizona continues to have some of the highest crime rates in the country. According to data provided by the FBI, Arizona's crime rates have consistently ranked at the sixth and seventh positions in the U.S. over the past ten years.

That high prison population has also meant increased spending that the state can barely afford. In 1979, Arizona spent 2.3% of its budget on corrections, and in 2011, that proportion of the budget swelled to 11.2%. This is even as spending on other areas like education, has dropped dramatically.

The federal administration's action against medical marijuana suppliers, growers and users in states that have medical marijuana laws in place, should make Arizona criminal defense attorneys and marijuana advocacy groups very uneasy. In California, federal law enforcement agencies have begun a crackdown against medical marijuana dispensaries, and there is no reason to expect that other states that have these laws in place will be treated differently.

Arizona's medical marijuana laws allow patients and caregivers to possess a maximum allowable amount of 2.5 ounces. For cultivation, the limit is twelve plants in enclosed facilities. Currently, 16 states have laws approving the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes. However, the federal administration has continued to threaten action against marijuana dispensaries and suppliers in the state.

In Arizona, health officials have been in a quandary. On the one hand, they have been threatened with legal action if they do not approve medical marijuana dispensaries, which have been mandated by Arizona's Proposition 203, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. On the other hand, if they permit the dispensaries, they run the risk of becoming the target of persecution by federal law enforcement.

U.S. attorneys have been sending out letters to several states, informing them that state laws will not preempt federal laws on this matter. In California, U.S. attorneys have already sent letters to several property owners, informing them that they are in violation of federal drug laws by leasing out their properties to medical marijuana dispensaries. Landlords in Arizona too have had received similar letters from U.S. attorneys. With sixteen states currently having medical marijuana laws in place, and thousands of people depending on medical marijuana dispensaries for their medical needs, this ambiguity cannot continue.