Criminal Law

Law enforcement officers provide a beneficial service to our community. I appreciate their service, especially when it involves responding to a call that I have placed requesting assistance. However, I am writing today from a different perspective; I am writing as a lawyer practicing criminal law in an effort to educate you about an individual’s

I appeared in the United States Court of Appeals yesterday to argue an issue addressing the continuing erosion of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fourth Amendment protects our rights as individuals to be free from unlawful searches and seizures by law enforcement. A search of a person’s home without a search warrant

Yesterday I served as a lecturer for a Missouri Bar continuing legal education course regarding traffic stops for lawyers. Lawyers, like most professionals, are required to obtain a set number of continuing education hours each year. The course material covered a variety of topics involving traffic stops, to include an officer’s authority to initiate a traffic stop

On October 30, 2014, I will be speaking at a Missouri Bar Continuing Legal Education Seminar concerning Missouri Auto Stops – Practical Strategy and Analysis For New and Experienced Practitioners.  This seminar will include discussion of various searches and seizures, DUI/DWI stops, drug searches, field sobriety checkpoints, and many other matters. We recommend you to

As we celebrate Independence Day, I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the rights established early in our country’s history which continue to exist and evolve. It wasn’t until 1791 that the first ten (10) Amendments to the United States Constitution were adopted. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution has

The Jefferson City News Tribune published an article yesterday indicating that the Miller County Prosecutor’s Office is implementing a new policy known as a “no refusal” policy for people arrested for driving while intoxicated (“DWI”). The idea for the policy is to assist law enforcement officers to obtain search warrants for blood samples to determine the

Prosecutors do not dismiss felony charges simply because the defendant wants a dismissal. Let’s be honest, who actually wants a felony conviction on their record? Every person charged with a felony would like the charge dismissed. Attempting to persuade a prosecutor to dismiss a criminal charge following a felony arrest is not easy. A good

It’s not always easy to convince a prosecutor to amend a felony charge to a misdemeanor. The prosecutor may never consider the idea. But I was again successful recently in obtaining such an amendment from the local prosecutor’s office. My client was charged with the class C felony offense of stealing. After months of meetings and

Scott Hamblin, lawyer and shareholder at Brydon Swearengen & England P.C. obtained another win for his client in the circuit court of Cole County, located in Jefferson City, Missouri. The judge dismissed the criminal assault charges filed against Scott’s client at trial. The assault charges were dismissed at the close of the State’s case after Scott