Soccer Coach Sentenced for Attempted Rape of Minor in Las Vegas
Earlier this week a thirty-six year old man was sentenced to twenty-three years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old member of the youth soccer team he coached. He had pleaded guilty to attempting to commit the Nevada crime of sexual assault of a minor and other related charges. If he's ever released, he has to register as a sex offender and submit to lifetime supervision.
The Nevada crime of sexual assault (rape) occurs when someone has sexual penetration with another against that person's will or while that person isn't able to consent. The most common defenses to this crime are that the victim did consent to the sexual act or that the victim falsely accused the defendant. Sexually touching another without penetration and without consent is not considered "sexual assault" but rather "open or gross lewdness" in Nevada.
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Yesterday the Nevada State Assembly passed a bill that would mandate law enforcement to procure DNA cheek swabs of any person arrested for a felony. Now the Nevada State Senate will consider the bill, nicknamed "Brianna's Law." Opponents of the bill believe that it sanctions unreasonable searches and seizures, especially in non-violent felony situations.
A twenty-five year old person has been arrested in connection with five deaths in Northern Nevada. Yesterday law enforcement found two people dead in one Fernley house, two others in a nearby house, and another in a ditch on the I-80. The suspect was ultimately found hiding out in a garage. He faces charges for homicide and the
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that every state including Nevada impose stricter blood-alcohol content (BAC) standards for drivers. Specifically, they prescribe that the minimum illegal threshold be lowered from .08 to .05. They believe enforcing tougher DUI rules will result in fewer DUI-related deaths.
Various Nevada state and local teams have made 17 recommendations in an effort to stem domestic abuse-related homicides. The Nevada Attorney General made public the first annual report last month. Among the suggestions is prohibiting domestic violence charges from being pleaded down to less violent offenses.
Last month's infamous car crash into Las Vegas' Egg & I called public attention to the lesser-known DUI crime of "Drugged Driving." The teenaged driver reportedly took Xanax before passing out at the wheel and colliding into the restaurant, which injured ten people. Highway authorities say people grow tolerant to medication, which then causes them to increase the dosage, which in turn leads to drugged driving. The Egg and I reopened today.
Last week the Nevada Supreme Court held that suspects who've been read their Miranda rights that then ask if they can have an attorney must immediately be relieved of further police interrogation. Police merely rereading the suspects their Miranda rights does not permit police to resume questioning. Anything the suspect says afterwards would then be inadmissible as evidence against them.
DUI laws in Nevada prohibit driving while impaired by alcohol or while having a blood-alcohol-level of .08 or above, irrespective of whether the driver is impaired. Similarly, it's also a crime to drive under the influence of drugs or with drug levels in the driver's blood that exceed statutory minimums. Typical defenses to this crime are that the police's chemical test equipment was faulty or that the defendant suffered from a condition that caused false positive DUI test results.
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that in general police must obtain a warrant before requiring a suspected DUI-offender to submit to a blood test. Justice Sonya Sotomayor argued that modern technology and night courts allow police to obtain warrants quickly and without unduly delaying the blood test. She also explained that whether emergency situations permit warrantless blood tests should be judged on a case-by-case basis to be later justified in a court of law.
Yesterday a man was arrested for committing the 
The suspect in the February 21st Strip shooting has been transferred from a Los Angeles jail back to Las Vegas. He has been accused of shooting another man on the Strip, which directly led to a fatal taxi cab crash. The suspect is now in custody at the