Many people believe that if they seal their record, they are then legally allowed to own a gun. However, this is simply not true. Sealing your record does not give you your gun rights back. Sealing your record does restore the following civil rights: (1) The right to vote; (2) The right to hold office; and (3) The right to serve on a jury. Additionally, the benefit to sealing your record is that you can legally answer any questions surrounding the arrest and court case, as if it never happened, “including, without limitation, an inquiry relating to an application for employment, concerning the ..read more

A car mechanic in Alabama was working on a customer’s car in the parking lot of a church when he was illegally arrested by a police officer for failing to provide the officer with any identification. A portion of the video of the arrest can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSY_jhhMlIA. The video shows a police officer approaching the mechanic as he was jacking up a red Toyota Camry in the parking lot of the church. The mechanic’s stepson was standing nearby. The officer began questioning the mechanic, who responded that he was fixing a car for his customer. The officer then demand ..read more

Recently, you may have heard the terms “grand jury” and “preliminary hearing,” in the news and crime television shows. What do they mean and what is the difference between the two? In Nevada, in order for the prosecution to take a defendant to trial they have to establish probable cause that a crime was committed and the defendant was the person who committed the crime. The prosecution does this by taking its case either to the grand jury or to a preliminary hearing. Nevada law gives a prosecutor the power to decide which of the two to pick from. Grand Jury In general, a Nevada grand jury is c ..read more

In our last blog, we discussed the promise of Assembly Bill 160, which at the time was being considered by the Nevada Legislature. The new law would have prohibited a police officer from lying to a juvenile suspect during an interrogation in an attempt to get an incriminating statement from the child. Of course, the police and District Attorney’s Association were opposed to this common sense law (https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2023/03/01/police-das-oppose-bill-to-prohibit-lying-to-juveniles-during-interrogations/) because apparently they still want the legal right to lie to children who are que ..read more

We have previously discussed in this Blog how Nevada law allows the police to question (i.e., interrogate) juveniles without a parent being present. Read here: https://noblesyanezlaw.com/does-a-juvenile-have-a-right-to-have-a-parent-present-during-police-questioning/ The Nevada Legislature is very close to passing a law that would go a long way to lessening the coercive nature of police interrogations when it comes to juveniles (i.e., anyone under the age of 18). If passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Lombardo, Assembly Bill 193 would prohibit a police officer from lying to a juve ..read more

We’ve probably all seen a parking enforcement officer placing a chalk mark on a parked car’s tire. The act of “tire chalking” involves marking a car’s tire using chalk to determine the time for which it remains parked in a parking spot. Naturally, many people feel that this is some type of unlawful interference with a person’s personal property. However, our court system has recently entered a heated debate over whether this act is an illegal search under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held the act of chalking a car’s tire wi ..read more

Last week the United States Supreme Court shot down (no pun intended!) a New York State law that required a person to get a government-issued license to carry a concealed gun in public by providing “proper cause” to carry the gun. New York courts had defined “proper cause” as an applicant showing “a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community.” Read more about the case here: Supreme Court expands gun rights, with nation divided | AP News Read the decision here: 20-843 New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen (06/23/2022) (supremecourt.gov ..read more

One of the common complaints we hear from our clients is: “The police never read me my Miranda rights!” Unfortunately, after hearing this, we have to break the bad news to our clients: “It is not illegal for the police to not read you your Miranda rights.” However, to be clear, if you are in police (1) custody and (2) questioned by the police, then the police do have to read you Miranda rights for the prosecutor to use your statements against you in court. If you are not “in custody,” or not “questioned” by the police, then your statements will be used against you in court. So, for example, i ..read more

If you go to trial for a felony, gross misdemeanor, or Battery Domestic Violence charge, you are entitled to a jury trial pursuant to both the United States and Nevada Constitutions. This is commonly called a “jury of your peers.” But who is considered a jury of your peers? The first step of a criminal trial is picking a jury. This process is called “voir dire.” Typically, a large panel of prospective jurors will be brought into the courtroom and the Judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney will ask all sorts of questions about the prospective jurors’ life, background, job, hobbies, and views o ..read more

With almost everyone nowadays having a cell phone with a camera, it is likely that a person may come across an on-duty police officer interacting with people of our community. This interaction may include the officer speaking to a person face-to-face on the street, pulling a person’s car over, or maybe even arresting a person suspected of a crime. Is it okay to film the police while they are on duty? If you come across police officers performing their official duties, do you have the right to pull out your cell phone and take a video of the incident? The short answer is: It depends. Specifical ..read more