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For many gun owners, the reason for purchasing a firearm is to keep your family and property safe. And trespassing is against the law. Still, police are pretty adamant that citizens not take the law into their own hands. So what happens if you have a gun and you have a trespasser on your property? Are you allowed to point your gun at that trespasser? What’s the Point? As lawyers will say, the only answer that is 100 percent correct in 99 percent of legal cases is: “It depends....

Being locked up in jail or prison can be pretty inconvenient, especially if you’re far away from family members. So can you transfer to a different correctional facility? Jail or prison transfer requests can be based on a variety of factors, but they’re not always granted. Generally, county, state, and federal prisons set their own rules for the administration of the correctional facilities they control. Here’s what you need to know about transferring to a different jail or prison:...

Two New York deli owners who allegedly tried to steal a man’s winning million-dollar lotto ticket are now facing felony theft charges. The owners of the Peninsula Deli and Grocery in Hempstead – Nabil Jabhab, 57, and his son Karim, 26 – are charged with grand larceny on allegations that they attempted to scam a customer out of his million-dollar winnings, reports The Associated Press. Is stealing a lotto ticket (which cost the customer $10) really grand larceny?...

Dharun Ravi was convicted of all counts including hate crimes in the Rutgers webcam case. The ex-Rutgers University student’s use of a webcam to spy on his roommate Tyler Clementi’s sex life preceded Clementi’s suicide. Ravi, 20, shook his head as 15 guilty verdicts were read aloud in court Friday morning, the Associated Press reports. The charges include invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, and witness and evidence tampering. Ravi could now face 10 years in prison for the cyberbullying....

The New York Attorney General’s office today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with President-elect Donald Trump in a series of lawsuits regarding his eponymous Trump University. According to a statement from Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, Trump has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations of fraud after thousands people across the country were duped into paying for Trump University courses, which more often than not left students “worse off financially than they had been before....

The theme for Black History Month 2008 is “Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism.” Known as the “Father of Black History,” Woodson was an intellectual leader of the early twentieth century who created the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History and sought to educate society on the importance of cultural diversity in democracy. FindLaw’s Black History Month page includes information and resources from the Library of Congress, the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, biographical information on Carter G....

The Trump administration is not a fan of sanctuary cities and states. One of the new president’s first executive orders called for the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to “ensure that jurisdictions that willfully refuse to comply with 8 U.S.C. 1373 (sanctuary jurisdictions) are not eligible to receive Federal grants.” And those sanctuary jurisdictions were not fans of that executive order. Four California cities, along with the state and the city of Chicago, have filed lawsuits against President Trump and Attorney General Jefferson Sessions, calling such bans on federal funding unconstitutional....

In April, Jim Marchese was arrested for domestic violence after an incident with his wife Amber on a Virgin American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York. Both Marcheses, famous for their roles on Real Housewives of New Jersey, vehemently denied the charges at the time, with Jim threatening a $100 million lawsuit for “this disgusting, hurtful defamatory act which cause the police to take such extreme action resulting in horrible rumors about the happily married couple that hurt them both personally and professionally....

While the crimes of grand theft auto and joyriding may seem like the same thing, there is an important distinction between the two. The amount of time that the thief intends to dispossess the owner of their vehicle makes all the difference. Simply put: joyriding is when a person takes a car without the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the vehicle. Grand theft auto (GTA) requires the intent to permanently deprive the owner of their vehicle....

Want to know how to get a public defender? It’s a common question for those in the criminal justice system, especially if you’ve just been accused of a crime. Public defenders exist to represent and defend in criminal court those persons who cannot afford a private defense attorney. If you find yourself in need of legal representation after an arrest, follow these general steps to get a public defender: Once arrested, you will either be given a notice to appear in court, or you will be held in a local jail cell until your arraignment....

From posting a video abusing an animal on Facebook to “joking” about gun violence on Instagram, it seems that people think they’re untouchable when it comes to their activities on social media. For example, sending someone a threatening text could result in criminal charges being filed against you. But, what about texting about doing something illegal, like using drugs? Well, although texting about drug use isn’t necessarily illegal, there are circumstances where it could end up involving you in a criminal investigation....

Go to jail, get strip searched. This may soon be the new norm as jails begin to implement the U.S. Supreme Court’s Monday ruling in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington. The Court has ruled that jail strip searches are legal – even when an individual has been arrested for a minor traffic offense or failing to pay a fine. The 5-4 ruling found that a suspect’s Fourth Amendment privacy rights are outweighed by jailhouse security concerns....

Renita Hill, one of the many women who came forward to allege that world famous comedian Bill Cosby drugged and raped her, appealed the dismissal of her defamation case against Cosby. Arguments were heard in the appeals court last week. Due to the statute of limitations for the alleged crime, Ms. Hill, like many others, was unable to have criminal charges pressed against Cosby. However, when Cosby, his wife and lawyers, made public statements about Ms....

Kmart Corporation has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it engaged in deceptive practices in advertising and selling its Kmart gift card, according to an FTC announcement. As part of the settlement, Kmart will implement a refund program and publicize it on its Web site. This is the FTC’s first law enforcement action involving gift cards. According to the FTC complaint, Kmart promoted the card as equivalent to cash but failed to disclose that fees are assessed after two years of non-use, and misrepresented that the card would never expire....

Tara Driscoll, 33, a teacher at Campus Magnet High School in Queens has been arrested for having sex with a 16-year-old student in a Long Island hotel this past March. Police were tipped off when the teen confessed after being confronted by his mother, leading investigators to a video tape showing the pair mid-encounter. Driscoll is now been charged with third-degree rape and third-degree criminal sexual act. It’s unclear whether the unnamed student was assigned to Driscoll’s classroom, or if they met under different circumstances....

An off-duty police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old man in St. Louis on Wednesday, prompting many to draw parallels between this shooting and Michael Brown’s controversial death. The killing occurred in St. Louis, the teen was black, and the off-duty officer (who fired 17 shots) was white. But as CNN reports, “the commonalities end there.” The teen was reportedly armed with a 9 mm handgun, and after a scuffle with the off-duty officer, he fired three shots before the off-duty officer returned fire and killed him....

New York City is settling a lawsuit with a police officer who blew the whistle on illegal practices in his precinct and was punished, despite being a hero cop. If the $280,000 settlement is approved by the federal court, the city will pay 17-year NYPD veteran Craig Matthews for retaliating when he exposed wrongdoing, reports the New York Daily News. Matthews was considered a hero after shooting down a crazed gunman near the Empire State Building in 2012....

When a group of teenage girls attending Churubusco High School in Indiana spent a summer sleepover posting racy Facebook photos of themselves interacting with multicolored phallic lollipops, they had no idea that their behavior would soon be the subject of a lawsuit. But when the school got wind of the photos, the girls were suspended from extracurricular activities for part of the upcoming school year, forcing them to file suit....

Actor and Pulitzer Prize-winner, Sam Shepard, was recently arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI). Police were alerted to the actor’s alleged drunken driving after restaurant security where Shepard had eaten complained about a possibly intoxicated driver. Security told officers that a man was trying to leave the parking lot, but his emergency brakes were engaged. Police reportedly caught up to Shepard and pulled him over. The Arrest When police made contact with Shepard, they allegedly smelled alcohol on Shepard’s breath and his eyes were bloodshot....

Talk about light sentences. Texting driver killer Nechama Rothberger will avoid jail time for striking and killing 53-year-old deliveryman, Tian Sheng Lin. Rothberger crashed her Toyota Camry into Lin in Brooklyn in 2010. At the time of the accident, Nechama Rothberger was texting on her cell phone when she struck Lin who was riding a scooter. The texting driver killer agreed to plead guilty to negligent homicide. Ordinarily, this charge is considered a class E felony in New York and may require a four-year prison sentence....