February 23, 2018 | Patch
A mother who pleaded guilty to killing her newborn son in 2013 is facing nearly 20 years in prison, according to reports.
Tiona Rodriguez, 21, was sentence to 16 years in state prison Thursday, the New York Post first reported. Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter in January, admitting that her son was born alive before his death from asphyxiation.
PatchFebruary 22, 2018 | NY1
The Manhattan DA has announced a major takedown of an illegal enterprise that domintated the city's towing industry.
Cyrus Vance says more than a dozen people and companies, including Tow-arrific Inc. in East Harlem, have been indicted and slapped with a slew of charges, including enterprise corruption, scheme to defraud and conspiracy.
NY1February 22, 2018 | New York Amsterdam News
With momentum toward closing the dysfunctional jails on Rikers Island and continuing reductions in crime, New York City is making progress toward a better justice system. Despite steps in the right direction, the road to shuttering Rikers is paved with hard decisions and, most importantly, the recognition that our criminal courts are not the solution for all of society’s ills. This reality is in the spotlight because of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s recent decision not to prosecute most people who are arrested for jumping subway turnstiles.
New York Amsterdam NewsFebruary 22, 2018 | amNewYork
Legislation that would give concealed carry permit holders from other states the ability to walk the streets of New York City with a gun at their hip would cause major complications for the NYPD, according to a Second Amendment expert.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act was passed by the House of Representatives in December and is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate, but Congress would be “foolish” to approve it, said Saul Cornell, Fordham University’s Paul and Diane Guenther Chair in American History.
amNewYorkFebruary 16, 2018 | RealDaily
Cryptocurrencies promise to make all kinds of payments easier, including, it now appears, paying a ransom.
In December the New York District Attorney announced an arrest in a kidnapping.
“This case demonstrates the increasingly common intersection between cyber and violent crime — the defendant is charged with coordinating an elaborate kidnapping, armed robbery, and burglary to gain access to the victim’s digital wallet and the significant funds it contained,” said New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.
RealDailyFebruary 16, 2018 | JDJournal
An 81-year-old former attorney pleaded guilty to grand larceny and scheme to defraud on Thursday in the Manhattan Supreme Court, according to a NY Daily News report. Paul Karan, a now disbarred attorney, stole roughly $2.6 million from his clients’ trusts and estates from April 2005 and August 2016.
JDJournalFebruary 15, 2018 | The Manhattan District Attorney
“Congress has outsourced federal gun policy to the NRA. The only way to disrupt what has become ritual slaughter is with gun controls based on public health and safety, not on the business interests of a single industry. There is a reason why the United States is the only country where these atrocities happen regularly.
The Manhattan District AttorneyFebruary 14, 2018 | New York City Patch
Three of New York City's five district attorneys joined calls Wednesday for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop arresting immigrants at local courthouses, arguing the practice threatens the city's justice system.
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez and Bronx DA Darcel Clark joined the recent push by public defenders and activists to protect immigrants who make legally mandated court appearances.
New York City PatchFebruary 12, 2018 | CBS News
Of all the political and cultural issues that divide red states from blue ones, none is more volatile than guns and who can carry them.
Conservative rural states like Arizona and West Virginia allow almost anyone to carry a loaded firearm in public, while in urban states and big cities, it can be a felony.
But a piece of legislation quietly churning its way through Congress may change all that by making gun permits more like driver's licenses, transportable across state lines. If you are allowed to carry a concealed weapon in your home state, you would be allowed to carry it in all of them.
CBS NewsFebruary 10, 2018 | The Associated Press
Fare beaters who hopped over grimy subway turnstiles back in the early 1990s were the first targets of a policing strategy that went after the smallest offenses and was credited with helping to drive crime down to record lows.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said his policy, which took effect Feb. 1, doesn’t prevent officers from stopping turnstile jumpers, and that those found to have weapons or an open warrant will be arrested and prosecuted. But a review by his office found that two-thirds of all those arrested in Manhattan for the crime had no prior convictions, and a judge posed no criminal sanctions on those who pleaded guilty, Vance said.
The Associated Press