Brooklyn Criminal Law Blog

A New York Metropolitan Transit Authority worker is facing drunk driving charges and has been suspended from duty without pay after the bus he was driving allegedly crashed into a row of parked cars in Brooklyn during the early morning hours of Aug. 5. None of the nine passengers on board at the time suffered injuries according to media reports. Police say that the accident took place near the intersection of East 56th Street and Flatlands Avenue at approximately 1:30 a.m.

A 25-year-old woman was taken into custody after an altercation between a taxi driver and two other people. Authorities in Brooklyn say that they believe it began when the woman's taxi was cut off by a Nissan SUV. Authorities say that the woman fought with a man and woman, and the victims were treated at the scene of the scuffle. After the fight, the driver of the taxi got back into her cab and struck the SUV while two children were inside.

Popular rapper Juelz Santana admitted to a court on August 16 that he attempted to board a plane at a New York-area airport with a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage. The 36-year-old New Jersey resident is facing up to 20 years in prison on firearms charges. Santana faces more severe penalties because he is a convicted felon. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for December 12, according to media reports.

On Aug. 2, a 61-year-old man was taken into custody on charges related to a 1997 murder of a 29-year-old man in Yonkers. The man was charged with murder for hire, murder in aid of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. The first two of these charges carry a maximum punishment of the death penalty or mandatory life in prison while the racketeering conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

On July 31, it was reported that authorities were investigating a 27-year-old man who was accused of killing a New York nurse. The man was taken into custody in Los Angeles after he was accused of sexually assaulting another woman. He was then linked to the murder of the nurse.

A man previously convicted for securities fraud has agreed to settle charges leveled against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investigators took action after detecting his manipulation of stock prices for three microcap companies after he had been released under supervision for his earlier conviction. The director of the New York regional office for the SEC said that the agency had protected the investing public with this investigation.

A 52-year-old New York man was charged with two felonies following a traffic stop on the Taconic State Parkway on July 16. The incident occurred around 8 p.m. when New York State Police troopers observed the man in a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado committing a traffic violation.

Companies in New York that import fake merchandise or falsify records to avoid paying import duties generally have the upper hand with authorities. The sheer scale of imports entering the country makes comprehensive inspections nearly impossible, according to a recent study that examined trade fraud. Every year, $2.71 trillion worth of products enter the country. Researchers analyzed federal prosecutions of importers between 2000 and 2016 and calculated that prosecutions had increased by 900 percent. Their study concluded that cooperation among federal agencies and increased prosecution under the False Claims Act might hold more importers accountable.

On July 23, a New York jury acquitted one defendant charged in the death of a former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The jury remains deadlocked on two other defendants charged with the man's shooting in 2015.

A report from the New York State Police described the suspect in the deadly shooting in Waterloo as having self-inflicted cuts on his wrist and neck when they arrested him. A tip alerted law enforcement to the 58-year-old man's presence at the Cheerful Valley Campground in Phelps a few hours after a shooting that killed a 53-year-old woman and 45-year-old man and injured a 50-year-old woman.