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When a potential client calls our firm and tells us that they are charged with a criminal offense, one the first things we generally ask them is whether they are charged in state or federal court. There have been several instances where we have represented two individuals at the same time who are charged with similar offenses but one has been charged in federal court and one has been charged in state court. Indeed, this has happened several times where we have simultaneously been representing two individuals charged with drug offenses but one is charged in state court and one is charged in federal court. It also happened very recently where we simultaneously represented a defendant charged with a child pornography offense in state court and also represented a defendant (actually he was the spouse of an FBI agent) charged with a child pornography offense in federal court.

The reason that this is such a concern is that, often, the results for the defendants charged in state court are dramatically different than the results for the defendants charged in federal court. Indeed, it is not unusual for a defendant charged with a drug offense or child pornography offense in state court in Dallas County to be placed on probation and a defendant charged with the same or similar offense in federal court to be sentenced to ten year or more in prison.

Why is this? In state court in Texas, regardless of the offense with which a defendant is charged with, he can be placed on some type of community supervision. For example a defendant can commit murder and be placed on community supervision in state court. On the other hand, federal court sentencing is done under a system of guidelines that score a defendants offense and criminal history using a grid system. This grid system can lead to very harsh sentences even for first time offenders. Moreover, most drug offenses in federal court require mandatory minimum sentences under the federal, drug statutes. I recall one time many years ago representing a client charged with counterfeiting in federal court who faced a two year sentence under the federal sentencing guidelines and his wife bringing me a newspaper article about a murder defendant in state court being placed on probation and me having to explain to her the unfair differences between state court sentencing and federal court sentencing.

The differences result from being charged in state court versus federal court is not only limited to the ultimate sentences imposed.

First, in many Texas counties, a defendant charged in state court can make a presentation to the grand jury in an attempt to convince the grand jury not to indict him in the first place. Such presentations cannot be made to federal grand juries and it is rare that a federal grand jury will refuse a prosecutors request to return an indictment.

Second, often the chances of winning a case at trial or having the case dismissed prior to trial in state court can be significantly higher than in federal court. One reason is that the offenses prosecuted in state court are investigated by local police departments who are not nearly as well trained as federal agents who normally investigate the offenses prosecuted in state court. Consequently, sometimes mistakes are made by the local police officers that can be used to a clients advantage. Likewise, federal prosecutors tend to be more experienced and have more resources than state prosecutors. Another reason that the chances of winning a case in state court can be significantly higher than in federal court, at least in Dallas County, is that state court juries are selected from Dallas County residents only and tend to be lest prosecutorial oriented. On the other hand, federal juries for the federal court that sits in Dallas (the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas) are chosen from residents of several of the surrounding Texas counties (some over an hour away) including many of the more conservative law and order areas. Still another reason that the chances of winning a case in state court can be significantly higher than in federal court is that Texas state law permits the suppression of evidence in more circumstances than federal law.

Third, suppose a defendant receives a ten-year sentence in state court and a different defendant receives a ten-year sentence in federal court. The defendant in state court might be paroled after serving only a couple of years of his sentence. On the other hand, parole has been abolished in the federal system and defendants serve 85 percent of their sentences.

Fourth, in state court, if a defendant enters a plea agreement with the prosecution, he will know exactly the sentence he will receive if the judge accepts the plea and he will often be sentenced on the same day they enter their guilty plea. On the other hand, most plea bargains in federal court require a defendant to plead guilty not knowing the sentence he will ultimately receive and the sentence will not be imposed until two-three months after the defendant enters his guilty plea. A defendant in federal court must rely upon the skill of his defense lawyer to accurately calculate the sentencing guidelines and, even then, the judge might give a harsher sentence than is provided for under the guidelines. Also a defendant in federal court will not be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea if, at the sentencing held a few months later, the sentence is harsher than his lawyer predicted.

Fifth, because the federal system is a lot more complicated, only a small percentage of criminal lawyers can effectively represent a defendant in federal court. Indeed, as we have explained elsewhere, a defendant charged with a crime in federal court must carefully question his lawyer regarding that lawyers experience in federal court and should ask the lawyer to give them a print out from the PACER system as to the number of defendants the lawyer has represented in federal court. Selecting a Criminal Defense Lawyer In any event, given the limited supply of criminal lawyers that can effectively represent a defendant in federal court, legal fees tend to be significantly higher for defendants charged with crimes in federal court.

There might be some advantages to being charged in federal court.

First, while this is a gross generalization, federal judges tend to be smarter than their state court counterparts. State court judges in Texas are elected and anybody with a law license is eligible to run. The President of the United States appoints federal judges for life. Thus, if a defendant has a technical legal argument, a federal judge might better receive it. Likewise, a federal judge does not have to run for reelection and might be less likely to make decisions based on public perception. Still, remember that, when it comes to sentencing, federal judges must give significant weight to the harsh federal sentencing guidelines.

Second, in state court, a defendant is required to post bail to secure their release prior to trial. In federal court, many defendants are released without being required to post bail. On the other hand, in state court bail is set in all cases, whereas, in federal court, if it is determined that a defendant is a danger to the community or a flight risk, bail might not be set at all and a defendant will be detained pending trial.

Generally speaking, a person has no control over whether they are charged in state court or federal court. Many crimes can only be prosecuted in state court (for example, except in limited circumstances or in cases involving federal lands, murders and assaults are only prosecuted in state court). For the most part, the type of offenses that generally overlap are: drug offenses, child pornography offenses, fraud offenses involving banks and embezzlement schemes. Usually it will depend on what agency investigates the case (e.g. the local police as opposed to the FBI, DEA, IRS and alike) as to where the case is brought. Nevertheless, on some rare occasions, if a lawyer gets involved prior to formal charges being brought, that lawyer might be able to influence the forum in which the charge is brought. This is an important reason to retain an attorney as soon as you find out that you are being investigated for a criminal offense.

The annuities will increase as being major portions inside the retirement plans in the case of most people. Even though a large amount of people are using benefits derived from the annuities and thus, you will have to secure the future financially especially or you. There are several options available for the annuity plans and that then you can sell to the other. The sellers have the possibility to use two methods in order to be selling the annuities. The first one would be to sell annuities and the other would mean that the financial agent will take care of the sale.

The annuities will be received for the retirement can be created in two way. The first one is to apply the 401 plans or the plans from the Ira. In a usual way, the funds that are withdrawn from the annuities cannot be removed from the owner, until owner has reached sixty years old. Once this age is reached, the owner has the possibility to do something with the annuities but he or she would still need to have the funds readily available. Once this is done, the profits will be levied annually and this depends on the rates that the person will receive.

Individuals who already some experience in money matters will not find the annuity thing too hard and the thing is that they will be able to manage their money in a wise way. Their only aim in doing so might be the one to receive money from the interested parties. While you need to keep some in case you will need them later, you might want to invest some and be able to get the earnings from the investments that you have made. If you make the annuity connections work, then you will already have one wonderful way to obtain financial foundations in case of retirements. This , plus the income that you already have will ensure that you are doing well from a financial point of view/

The annuity sales that you will be making could sound initially like a good idea but remember that you need to have some profits there for your own gain. Also, you need to establish price quotes and decide whether you want to keep them low or high in order to be able to derive the profits for your annuities. Also, the decision might be yours but you might want to consult with some financial advisors before doing anything, especially if you feel you are not that experienced. At the end of the day, you might want to sell an annuity or keep for the time being.

Nonetheless, if you start thinking about the services that are being offered by financial agents, you might think the strategy is advantageous. For one thing, you will reliving one burden regarding financial circumstance and you will also not have to do any kind of transfer. The agents or the agency with whom you will be working will ensure that you needn't have to do any work and thus, you won't have to run over for agreements, paper work and over things. On the other side, some fees will be deducted out of your revenues for your earnings and thus, this is going to be the price you pay for the services offered.

Moreover, potential buyers might want to purchase your annuities so one of your obligations is to manage to attract as many as you can. Selling annuities will be able to garner you a lot of profit and you will be able to ensure you receive potential clients by doing so. Having services at the operation, your transaction will have a higher rate of succeeding because you will be able to make proceeds even though you will not put too much effort it. Therefore, if you are thinking or making annuity sales then you might have to wait because everything depends on many potential buyers you can attract and how many people will be interested in obtaining your deals.

For one thing, when you have company or some agents doing the job for you, you will not have to go to great lengths in order to make profit because you won't be putting any actual effort. Another thing to keep in mind is what happens when agencies are left to do the job for you. The thing is that when sales are due, then you will receive notice immediately and you might want sign the papers and choose to wait a little because there are a lot of fluctuations in the market that you need to be aware of.

When there is a company doing the transactions for you, then you do not need to have the option to sell annuity. In that way, you will be in accordance to the things happening and thus, you won't have to pay intermediaries or commission for it. Therefore, making less profit that you are expecting is not something to be desired and thus, you need to prepare a large amount of money so that you can pay for the initial investments that you have made.

1. Pedestrians wearing headphones from a music player.

2. Heavy pedestrian traffic in a place like the Las Vegas Strip.

3. Frustrated drivers.

4. Pedestrians ignoring red lights and holding up traffic wanting to turn.

5. Long distances between crosswalks around entertainment facilities and busy restaurants.

6. Drinking holidays like Memorial Day.

7. Events with heavy alcohol sales, like concerts and sporting events.

8. Locations near high schools and high school age hangouts.

9. Shopping mall parking lots.

10. Shopping districts at Christmas time.

Here are ten actual tips of advice from a pedestrian accident lawyer to follow if you have been in an accident. You can also learn more about how to handle a personal injury in Fullerton, or any city, by calling the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers which can be found on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and learning how we can assist you.

Obviously, if you have had an accident, and you are reading all of this advice, it may have been a few hours since the accident. However, if you ever have another accident, or if its only been a few hours since you were hurt, heres what you should do from the start.

First, take a look around and determine if you or anyone, are hurt. If so, taking steps like trying to prevent further injury or loss of blood are the most important thing you can do. Even if some other driver caused you to be injured, its just good manners to help the other driver if they are hurt. They may even be so thankful that they admit their fault to you. The worst thing you can do is get angry or start a fight.

Second, make sure everyone is safe from being injured further. If you are in the middle of traffic, and you are dizzy, sit down away from traffic. If your vehicle is a traffic hazard and you have accident warning devices like flares or triangles, put them out on the road to warn other drivers and get away from the car. Let the police an other emergency personnel investigate the scene with the vehicles in place and move them more safely at a later point.

Third, call the police. Accident reports are extremely helpful if the police will do such a report. Let the police know you are injured immediately. Answer the police questions honestly. But if you are dazed or confused, let them know you need medical treatment and answer only what you feel sure about. Remember, your statements can and will be used against you if you admit fault, and it will be too late and too fishy to later say you didnt know what you were saying at the scene. Police know that your best recollection is immediately after an accident.

Fourth, get the other drivers information including their names, addresses, drivers license numbers, make and model of their vehicles, license plate numbers, and their insurance company name and policy number. If there are witnesses, get their names, addresses and telephone numbers as well. If the other driver makes any admissions of fault, write those down as well.

Fifth, if you have a camera on your cell phone or in the car and you arent too injured, take some photos of the vehicles and the scene. If you cant do it right away, do it after you are released from the hospital.

Sixth, if you are hurt, obtain medical treatment. Dont decline the ambulance or hospital examination to save your insurance company money or to be stoic. Take your valuables out of your car if you can and get checked out at the hospital. If you are not hurt, dont get treatment you dont need. However, remember, after an accident, you may feel a rush of adrenaline that causes you to only start feeling symptoms of pain a few hours later. If you have a health plan that requires you to obtain permission first, call them and find out where you are allowed to seek treatment.

Seventh, call a good pedestrian accident lawyer as soon as you have had your initial treatment, so the attorney can gather other important evidence and prevent the insurance company from taking advantage of you and obtaining such things as recorded statements that you feel fine, when many of your symptoms have yet to manifest themselves. A good pedestrian accident lawyer can save you from making a great deal of mistakes and can shoulder much of the hassle of knowing what to do about car repairs, car rentals, medical treatment, witness statements and the like. If you think you will save money by not having an attorney, think again. A good pedestrian accident lawyer can almost always obtain much higher settlements, obtain reductions of medical bills and insurance liens and prevent you from making costly mistakes. Also, most pedestrian accident attorneys advance costs of obtaining police reports, medical records and the like and are paid and reimbursed for these costs only out of any settlement.

Eight, you will need to report the accident to your insurance company, but since they will want to take a recorded statement from you, just like any other drivers insurance company, its good advice to retain an attorney first. And if the other driver did not have insurance, remember that it is your own insurance company that will be your adversary. You will also need to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles and your lawyer can give you the form for this.

Ninth, do not agree to settle your claim privately with the person at fault for the accident. This almost never works out to your advantage. Dont agree not to call the police. Police reports that determine the fault for an accident are golden. Your agreement to not involve the police only affords an opportunity for the other driver to change his story and blame you when the police will no longer investigate the accident.

Tenth, dont pay a traffic ticket without a fight if you werent at fault or agree to accept a small payment for your vehicle repairs without knowing that the amount will in fact cover the cost of all the repairs.

If youve had a pedestrian accident in Orange County, Newport Beach, Anaheim, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Santa Ana, Orange, Fullerton, costa Mesa, Westminster, Buena Park, Mission Viejo, Garden Grove, Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, Chino Hills, or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your Fullerton Pedestrian Accident Lawyer and your Orange County Pedestrian Accident Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with auto, motorcycle, truck, bicycle, pedestrian, car, bus, train, boat and airplane accident experience, wrongful death experience and insurance law expertise who can ensure you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.

Life insurance is an interesting product. It can be looked at as a commodity and also have similarities to an investment vehicle.

Term life insurance is most similar to the commodity concept. You can shop for it like you would for a can of beans or a car. It used to be harder because you had to go to various agents or brokers and hope theyd find you the lowest prices.

Now you can go to an online service such as lifeinsure.com and access the database directly and even anonymously and get online life insurance quotes. Instead of making a bunch of calls or seeing people in person you type in your birth date, a few other questions including how long youd like the term life insurance to last (10, 15, 20 or 30 years) and then voila, you get to see the whole range of quotes from the life insurance database in order of price. If you looked at 20 year term and want now to see 30 year term, you just go back and recalculate. All this in about 30 seconds instead of hours of calls or visits the power of the net!

If you see something you like, click the button to apply and youre off to the races.

Shopping for permanent life insurance such as universal life or whole life is a little more complex. These policies last for a lifetime and thus are more valuable, requiring premiums that reflect that lifetime value. These require the assistance of an expert. They are usually put together in consultation with an agent or broker. The web can be of assistance here as well for these kinds of life insurance quotes. You can get educated and read up on how these plans work. Also, use an agent or broker who serves more than one or a few companies. A comprehensive online insurance agency such as lifeinsure.com has advisors who are not only experts on term life insurance but on all the types of permanent life insurance including whole life, universal life and the special type of permanent life insurance, survivorship life insurance, that is used for estate planning and special needs children situations.

Author, Neil Willner, on behalf of Life Insure.com, Life Insurance Direct, provider of life insurance quotes and information, writes articles on life insurance, whole life insurance, and term life insurance for LifeInsure.com. For more information, visit www.LifeInsure.com.

There is an Act in New Jersey, called the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act, which allows New Jersey drivers the ability to buy basic car insurance policies in New Jersey, for cheaper than all of the other available car insurance policies in the state.

In all honesty, there isn't much that will beat the most inexpensive car insurance policy plan available, however there are some things that you should know about the insurance plan which is being offered before you eliminate all of your other options.

The Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act is useful in that it allows all drivers to obtain inexpensive car insurance in New Jersey, because the policy that is offered is significantly cheaper than what you will pay for a standard automobile insurance policy. This basic car insurance policy includes $15,000 per person, for personal injury protection, and $250,000 for significant or permanent injuries. This plan also includes $5,000 of property damage per accident.

Unfortunately, liability insurance for bodily injury is not included in this basic insurance policy, however, it is an option that can be added, to the tune of $10,000 per accident for the policyholder.

This basic car insurance policy also does not include uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, nor does it include collision or comprehensive coverage. Collision and Comprehensive coverage are options which can be added on, but it depends on which form of the basic car insurance policy was issued to the policyholder.

Although this basic car insurance plan is the cheapest available, it offers very minimum coverage. This coverage is enough to get you by if you simply need a cheap insurance plan, but there are much better plans with better and more comprehensive features and even though these plans are more expensive, they are well worth taking a look at when you are considering all of your options.

The basic car insurance is a quick and inexpensive fix for people who are currently driving without insurance, or who cannot get regular automobile insurance coverage because of their credit rating, or their driving record. However, this basic car insurance policy is not for everyone, because the coverage offered is not exactly desirable.

When it comes to choosing the right automobile insurance plan for your situation, it is absolutely imperative that you really shop around. Affordable car insurance in New Jersey can be easy to find, as long as you understand where to look, and how to properly compare quotes in order to ensure that you are receiving the best available policy.

There are many different approaches that you can take when it comes to obtaining car insurance quotes, but the method which is generally quickest and the most effortless is simply to do a search online for car insurance companies with offices located in New Jersey. Most websites dedicated to car insurance will offer you the ability to obtain a free quote simply by inputting some information about yourself, your vehicle and your driving record.

Once this information is sent in, the insurance company will respond with a free automobile insurance quote. There is no limit to how many free car insurance quotes you can collect, so you should make a point to spend a great deal of time researching before you come to any conclusions. You should collect car insurance quotes from every local insurance provider that you can find, then sit down and really weigh your options before coming to any conclusions.

Just because an insurance company offers you an extremely low quote, this does not mean it is the best available insurance for your situation. The basic car insurance policy offered by the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act is proof of this, because even though the insurance quote seems great, the coverage is not really worth the price that you pay for it.

In addition to price, there are some other factors that you should consider when you begin to shop around for insurance providers. There are a large number of different insurance companies and agents available on the internet, each competing to give you the best possible quote for your automobile insurance. Many of these insurance companies have offices in various states, but they may not have a local office in New Jersey. What this means, is that if you ever have questions or concerns pertaining to your insurance policy, you will not have a local insurance provider to turn to in order to address these problems.

This is one of the largest problems associated with doing your automobile insurance shopping on the internet. Before you choose an insurance provider, make sure that there is either a local office that you can visit when you have questions, or that there is a toll free 1-800 that you can call, with a friendly voice on the other end who will walk you through your concerns. Large insurance companies do not always have your best interest in mind, so make sure that you are opting for insurance coverage through a company that will continue to be helpful and easy to work with after you buy your insurance plan.

Something else that you need to keep in mind while shopping for insurance is that there are providers who will offer special discounts and rates if you ask for them. While you are weighing all of your options and considering all of your choices, ask the local agencies that you are considering if they offer any special rates or discounts. In an attempt to be competitive, and to make sure that you choose them as your insurance provider, most insurance companies will discount your rate, or offer you a special deal.

You should also make sure that you are obtaining the right kind of insurance for your situation. For example, there are special insurance plans designated for young or new drivers in order to offer them discounted rates. Additionally, vehicles that are older than fifteen years may qualify for antique car insurance, which entails a discounted rate for cars which are appreciating in value rather than depreciating as a normal vehicle would.