3 different criminal attorneys stabbed by client

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Defendant Loses Right to a Lawyer After Allegedly Stabbing 3 of Them with Pencils or Pens in Court

Posted Nov 2, 2011 5:55 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Updated: A man has been convicted of drug charges after a judge in Washington state declared that pencil-and-pen-packing defendant Joshua Monson forfeited his right to counsel because of three attacks on his lawyers during court hearings.

None of the lawyers was seriously hurt. In the first two incidents, which occurred less than a week apart, Monson was accused of stabbing two different lawyers with pencils he smuggled from jail, HeraldNet.comreports. On Tuesday, Monson grabbed the pen being used by his defense lawyer, Jesse Cantor of Everett, Wash., and stabbed Cantor in the head, witnesses said.

The attack occurred Tuesday as prosecutors gave opening statements in Monson’s felony drug trial in Snohomish County. Corrections officers set off an electric stun cuff on Monson’s leg as he lunged for the pen and then piled on top of him, the story says. The first person to reach Monson was a police officer seated at the prosecution table.

Judge David Kurtz said Monson would have to defend himself without a lawyer and would be strapped to a special chair for the rest of the trial. Kurtz advised jurors to ignore the incident, the restraints and the lawyer’s absence.

HeraldNet.com reported that Monson was convicted of drug possession Thursday while in the restraint chair. “A standby defense attorney from King County sat through the hearings to answer Monson’s legal questions,” HeraldNet.com wrote. Monson was not allowed to sign court documents with a pen or pencil.

HeraldNet.com also notes that Monson will be back in court again to face second-degree murder charges and, separately, two fourth-degree assault charges for the alleged attacks on his attorneys.

Updated Nov. 4 to report that Monson was convicted.

World’s Youngest Judge?

LAW IN POPULAR CULTURE

Indiana Lawyer Who Started His Legal Career as a 17-Year-Old Judge Gets the World Record

Posted Oct 31, 2011 4:30 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Indiana lawyer Marc Griffin has claimed the title once held by a Texas man: Guinness World Records has declared that Griffin holds the record for being the world’s youngest judge.

Griffin was an enterprising 17-year-old high school graduate in 1974 when he persuaded county commissioners to appoint him to fill a vacancy for justice of the peace. Griffin later won re-election to the job that included presiding over some civil and criminal cases, as well as performing weddings. “I was marrying people, throwing people in jail, and fining people,” he recalls.

Griffin managed to snag the job at such a young age because of his realization that his township had a long-time vacancy for a justice of the peace. The last justice of the peace had died some 50 years before, and the position was never filled. Cases for the township were being handled by other justices of the peace in the county.

“I discovered this justice of the peace thing,” Griffin recalled in an interview with the ABA Journal, “and I thought, ‘Wait a minute, we need another court and I’m qualified.’ ” He requested a meeting with the county’s three commissioners, and persuaded them to recommend his appointment. The state’s governor concurred and gave him his commission.

Griffin learned of the vacancy because of his interest in the law while still in high school. “I knew I wanted to be a lawyer,” Griffin says, “so I used to sit and read statutory law. Some people read novels, some people read sports magazines. I would just sit and read Indiana law.”

Speeding tickets were a big part of Griffin’s docket because the highway speed limit had recently dropped from 70 to 55 miles an hour. He held court at all hours of the night when police needed authority to lock up suspected domestic abusers. But it was the weddings he performed and an attorney general’s opinion that garnered national news coverage. Griffin was marrying people even though he was himself too young to marry without parental consent, a fact noted by critics.

The state attorney general opined that Griffin was too young to hold office. An Associated Press “fun-sy” story reporting on the decision questioned whether the people Griffin had married were “living in sin” because their weddings were illegal, Griffin says. The legal dispute was put to rest when a circuit court found Griffin qualified to hold office, paving the way for a short-lived judicial career.

The state eliminated justice of the peace courts a year or two later. Griffin finished his education and got a law degree from Indiana University School of Law. He has a niche practice representing banks and insurance companies that obtain liens on properties through tax sales.

Griffin contacted Guinness after he read an article at ABAJournal.com about a Texas man who held the record for winning election as a justice of the peace at the age of 18. Griffin supplied Guinness with evidence verifying his appointment at age 17, and learned last Thursday that he is the new world record holder. A press release dispatched to the ABA Journal the same day announced his achievement.

Griffin says in the press release that he contacted Guinness 37 years after the fact because he didn’t realize the publication covered judicial records. “I thought they were just records of stunts, like doing the most jumping jacks,” he says in the release.

No insurance and no money – how to get medical treatment for my disability case?

Medical records and medical treatment are a critical component to your disability case.  Shane Henry & Associates has a databse of free or income based clinics all over Arkansas.  Additionally, we have contact information for key people at certain medical facilities which can provide free or income based treatment.

If you find yourself without insurance or funds to get treatment, do not hesitate to contact us.  It is very common for disability claimants to be in that position because you have not worked in months or years in many cases.

Please call or email today.

Importance of your treating physician in your disability case.

The Social Security Disability Determination process requires a legal conclusion to be drawn from medical evidence.  Without documented and available medical evidence, you have no case.  The rules do not allow Social Security to make a disability determination based solely on statements by you or by your appearance no matter how obvious your medical conditions may be.

Therefore, one of the most critical people on your winning team will be a doctor.  Especially a doctor who will take time to write down their opinion about your functional ability.

Good records and results from tests are critical, but without your doctor writing down his or her opinion about your functional capacity (how much you can lift / how long you can sit / how far you can walk / can’t use hands repetitively) then Social Security will have their own doctors who have never met you make a determination about your functional capacity.  Obviously you are going to want the doctor who knows you and has treated you to give their opinion.

Please write or call if we can provide more information on this topic.  We assist all our clients with very short and simple, yet very effective, forms for their doctors to complete.

501-329-3889.  Or disability@shafirm.com.

Keys to a disability hearing.

If you are waiting for your disability hearing, then you have been in the disability minefield for a minimum of 6-8 months with no income and often times without insurance benefits any longer.  Critical to every case is medical documentation.  The hearing is a step in your disability process where an attorney is often times necessary.

You must remember this Social Security Disability program in Arkansas is not just a “disability” program – it is a work insurance program.  You are hurt, sure, but we need to be able to show under the law that your particular medical evidence demonstrates functional limitations.  You can only sit or stand or walk for a limited amount of time, or only lift a certain weight, etc.

Remember, the attorney only gets paid if you get paid so you really have nothing to lose.  We provide free, no pressure consultations for every disability case.

Call or email today: disability@shafirm.com  or 501-329-3889.

Auxiliary benefits to children – effect on child support

Here is persuasive caselaw that may be applicable in Arkansas:

 

ANDERSON v. ANDERSON

TODD A. ANDERSON, Appellant,v.SHAUNA ANDERSON, Appellee.

 

No. 47A01-1104-DR-159.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

 

October 12, 2011.

THOMAS M. FROHMAN, TRACY T. PAPPAS, Indiana Legal Services, Inc., Bloomington, Indiana, ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT.
GREGORY F. ZOELLER, Attorney General of Indiana, ELIZABETH ROGERS, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana, ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE.

 

 

OPINION
FRIEDLANDER, Judge.
Todd A. Anderson (Father) appeals the trial court’s denial of his request to credit against his child support obligation Social Security benefits Shauna Anderson (Mother) received on behalf of their child, D.A., prior to Father’s petition to modify child support. Father presents that ruling as the sole issue on appeal.
We reverse.
The relevant facts are undisputed. Father and Mother were divorced by decree of dissolution in 1995. At the time, they had one child, D.A., who was born in 1994. Father was ordered to pay $25.00 in weekly child support. Father became disabled and in 2001 began receiving $771.00 monthly Social Security disability benefits (SSD). On November 16, 2010, Father filed a “Petition to Modify Support Obligation and Apply Credit.” Appellant’s Appendix at 22. The matter proceeded to a hearing on February 28, 2011. Later, Father submitted the following Verified Statement of Evidence summarizing the evidence presented at that hearing relevant to this appeal:
The parties have one child, [D.A.], born March 1, 1994. Todd Anderson is disabled with chronic pancreatitis and receives $771.00 per month in Social Security disability insurance benefits. He has been receiving benefits since May 2001. He applied for disability benefits in 2001 and was approved for benefits within three months.
[D.A.] has also been receiving benefits off of Mr. Anderson’s disability account. Her benefits started the same time her father’s benefits started. She currently receives $68.00 per month off of her father’s disability account. From 2001 until the date Mr. Anderson filed his modification petition, she received a total of $9,314.00 in benefits off of her father’s account, $240 of which was in a lump sum paid in 2001. She has received the rest of the benefits on a monthly basis from 2001 on.
Id. at 7-8.
At the hearing, Father sought a modification of his support, including, among other things, to have the $9,314.00 in SSD benefits paid to D.A. since 2001 credited against his child support arrearage. The trial court issued the following order relative to that request:
The Court, having taken this matter under advisement, hereby modifies Petitioner’s ongoing support obligation as follows: $19.00 per week, effective November 16, 2010.
Pursuant to Child Support Guideline 3.G.5.b, Petitioner’s arrearage as of February 28, 2011 is calculated at $12,838.23. This calculation credits Petitioner with the $240 lump sum Social Security disability benefit received by the child.
Id. at 6. Father appeals the determination that he is not entitled to credit the entire amount of disability benefits received by D.A. since 2001 against his support arrearage.
When the issue presented is a pure question of law and there are no disputed facts, we apply a de novo standard of review. Reese v. Reese, 696 N.E.2d 460 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998). “`A pure question of law is one that requires neither reference to extrinsic evidence, the drawing of inferences therefrom, nor the consideration of credibility questions.’” Id. at 462 (quoting Indiana Ins. Co. v. Allis, 628 N.E.2d 1251, 1252 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994), trans. denied.) In the instant case, the facts are undisputed and the determination of whether Father is entitled to credit the entire amount of periodic SSD payments received by D.A. against his child support arrearage is a pure question of law. We therefore review the trial court’s ruling de novo. See id.
Mother contends this case should be resolved in her favor by our Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Brown, 849 N.E.2d 610 (Ind. 2006). In Brown, a parent sought credit for a lump-sum SSD payment against an accumulated child support arrearage and also sought to credit his monthly SSD benefits against his future support obligation. Our Supreme Court denied that request, holding: “lump-sum payments of retroactive Social Security disability benefits to children cannot be credited against child support arrearages that are accumulated before the noncustodial parent has filed a petition to modify based on the disability.” Id. at 615. Also in Brown, the Supreme Court clarified that a disabled parent “with respect to whom Social Security disability benefits are paid to the parent’s child is entitled to petition the court for modification of the parent’s child support to reflect a credit for the amount of the payments. The credit takes effect as of the date of the petition.Id. at 614 (emphasis supplied). Thus, according to Brown, SSD payments to a dependent may not be credited against a support arrearage that accumulated before the filing of a modification petition — i.e., they may not be applied retroactively.
Effective January 1, 2010, Indiana Child Support Guideline 3 was amended to specifically address the subject of SSD payments. In relevant part, it affirmed the Supreme Court’s determination in Brown that SSD payments to a child may be credited against a noncustodial parent’s child support obligation. See Child Supp. G. 3(G)(5)(a)(2)(ii). On the other hand, the amended Guideline 3 effectively overruled Brown’s holding that lump-sum SSD payments could not be applied retroactively to arrearages accumulated prior to the filing of a petition for modification. With regard to arrearages and SSD payments, Comment 3(G) provides, in relevant part: “A lump sum payment of retroactive Social Security Disability benefits shall be applied as a credit against an existing child support arrearage if the custodial parent, as representative payee, received a lump sum retroactive payment, without the requirement of a filing of a Petition to Modify Child Support.” Child Supp. G. 3(G)(5)(b)(1). The Commentary to Guideline 3 clarifies that “[t]he Guidelines now allow the courts to apply the lump sum SSD benefits toward an existing child support arrearage if the custodial parent, as representative payee, receives a lump sum payment. This credit is appropriate without the requirement of a filing of a Petition to Modify Child Support.”
Read in conjunction with Brown and Child Supp. G. 3(G)(5)(b)(4),1 this commentary clearly indicates that lump-sum SSD payments to a custodial parent on behalf of the child may be applied against a support arrearage that predated the filing of a petition to modify support. It is silent, however, with respect to the issue presented here, i.e., whether periodic SSD payments may be applied against a support arrearage that accumulated before the filing of a petition to modify support. The parties advocate different interpretations of this silence.
Mother contends that a petition to modify support is still required in order to apply an SSD payment against an arrearage because “the Commentary to the Guidelines, when discussing the holding in Brown, do not indicate that the addition of section 5 was intended to change the effect of the holding in Brown.Appellee’s Brief at 7. Indeed, Mother argues that had it so intended, “the Guidelines would have stated that the holding with respect to filing a petition to modify set out in Brown was also superseded.” Id. Regardless of whether the relevant section of Commentary to Guideline 3 states it, the fact remains that the text of the Guideline itself overturns Brown in this regard, viz., “[a] lump sum payment of retroactive Social Security Disability benefits shall be applied as a credit against an existing child support arrearage if the custodial parent, as representative payee, received a lump sum retroactive payment, without the requirement of a filing of a Petition to Modify Child Support.” Child Supp. G. 3(G)(5)(b)(1) (emphasis supplied).
Father, on the other hand, contends in effect that the modified Child Supp. G. 3(G)(5) was intended primarily to overrule Brown on the issue of whether lump-sum SSD payments apply retroactively to arrearages accumulated prior to a petition to modify that was based upon SSD payments. Father contends:
Under the rationale given in the new guidelines and under existing case law, there is no reason to treat regular monthly payments any differently than a lump-sum payment that is merely the accumulation of regular monthly payments that the Social Security Administration did not pay earlier because of a delay in finding the person to disabled [sic]. In fact, those regular monthly payments present an even clearer case of “payments that do not technically conform to the original support decree”, Commentary to Child Supp. G., but for which a credit must be given.
Appellant’s Brief at 11. We find ourselves in agreement with Father.
The Commentary to Guideline 3(G) notes that Brown recognized that the SSD benefits paid to a child were recognized as earnings of the disabled parent, and therefore “[i]t follows … that the payment received for the benefit of the child should be applied to satisfy the disabled parent’s support obligation.” The Commentary further notes that the revised Child Support Guidelines change the law regarding the application of SSD benefits with respect to SSD lump-sum payments. Under Brown and Hieston v. State, Indiana Family & Soc. Servs. Admin. Child Support Bureau, 885 N.E.2d 59 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008), trans. denied, such payments were considered mere gratuities and could not be credited against existing arrearages unless the arrearage post-dated a petition to modify based upon the SSD payments. As is the case with respect to the current version of Child Supp. G. 3(G)(5), Brown and Hieston addressed only lump-sum SSD payments and said nothing about periodic SSD payments, at least so far as applying proceeds against an existing arrearage. We are therefore left to speculate as to how the Guidelines would treat periodic SSD payments in this regard. We believe the Commentary to Guideline 3(G)(5) foreshadows that periodic SSD payments would be treated the same as lump-sum SSD payments.
The Commentary provides that SSD payments for the benefit of a dependent child are regarded as income of the disabled parent and shall be credited as payment toward the disabled parent’s support obligation. The revision in Guideline 3(G)(5) is based upon the following rationale:
[T]he lump sum payment is merely a method of payment applied to a past support obligation not paid. The distinction is between modification of support which changes the rate of support, e.g. from $100.00 per week to $50.00 per week, as opposed to credit for an indirect payment. Modification of a child support obligation still requires the filing of a petition for modification as set forth in Guideline 4.
The lump sum payment is a method of payment that may not be specifically authorized by express court order but which should be recognized as a payment of support. Indiana case law establishes that credit can be allowed for payments that do not technically conform to the original support decree. For example, where the obligated parent makes payments directly to the custodial parent rather than through the clerk of the court, the Supreme Court has recognized these payments when there was sufficient proof to convince a trier of fact that the required payments were actually made. Proof of the lump sum SSD benefit payment is not difficult because the Social Security award certificate is a record easily admitted into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule under IRE 803(6) and (8) (reports of a public agency setting forth its regularly recorded activity) and trial courts are rarely burdened with an evidentiary dispute about what was paid, when or to whom, once the Social Security records are shared. By contrast, the informal arrangement disputes between parties to modify and reduce the actual amount of weekly support below that ordered in the divorce decree are actual attempts to retroactively modify the amount of support, which are prohibited. Similar to the nonconforming payment, the lump sum payment shall be applied as a credit to an existing child support arrearage.
Commentary to Child Supp. G. 3(G). For purposes of the foregoing rationale, we can see no meaningful distinction between SSD periodic payments and SSD lump-sum payments paid for the benefit of a dependent child.
In neither case does the petitioner seek a modification of the amount of support to be paid. As the Commentary makes clear, there is a critical distinction between seeking a modification of support and seeking credit for the receipt of SSD benefits. With the former, a party seeks to alter the amount of support that is to be paid. With the latter, the party does not seek an alteration in the amount of the child support obligation, but rather seeks to credit against that obligation payments made for the support of the child that are not in a form explicitly authorized by the original child support order. This distinction was not discussed in Brown, at least with respect to the question of whether SSD payments could be applied to an arrearage that accumulated prior to a petition to seek credit for those SSD payments. In fact, it would appear that the court viewed the distinction as irrelevant on that question, as it cited the prohibition against “`retroactively modify[ing] an obligor’s duty to pay a delinquent support payment’”, Brown v. Brown, 849 N.E.2d at 614 (quoting Ind. Code Ann. § 31-16-16-6 (West, Westlaw through end of 2011 1st Regular Sess.)), in support of its conclusion that no credit would be given for such payments that predated the petition to modify. The Commentary to Guideline 3(G)(5), however, clearly distinguishes between seeking modification of the amount of a support obligation and seeking credit for an indirect payment of support. In fact, it appears that the Commentary places great importance on this distinction in effectively overturning Brown on the matter of crediting SSD lump-sum payments against an arrearage that accumulated prior to the petition seeking that credit.
As the Commentary notes, the petitioner in cases such as the instant case seeks credit for an indirect payment that “should be recognized as a payment of support.” Id. With respect to both lump-sum and periodic SSD payments, the payments are considered income of the disabled parent and not mere “gratuities from the federal government.” Brown v. Brown, 849 N.E.2d at 614. Therefore, they should be credited against the disabled parent’s support obligation. As such, just as with lump-sum payments, applying periodic payments to an accumulated arrearage “is merely a method of payment applied to a past support obligation not paid.” Id. Proof of the periodic SSD benefit payment is presumably no more difficult than is the case with lump-sum payments because “the Social Security award certificate is a record easily admitted into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule under IRE 803(6) and (8)[.]” Id. Thus, we conclude there is no principled reason to treat periodic SSD benefit payments to a child differently than lump-sum SSD benefit payments, i.e., it “shall be applied as a credit to an existing child support arrearage” without the need to file a petition for modification. Id.
The trial court is reversed insofar as it denied Father’s request to apply all of the periodic SSD payments received to date by Mother on D.A.’s behalf against his existing support arrearage. This matter is remanded with instructions to calculate the amount of those payments and to adjust the amount of Father’s arrearage accordingly.
Judgment reversed and remanded.
DARDEN, J., and VAIDIK, J., concur.

Disability Form 3441 – Type In Version

Please find this link to a “fillable” version of the 3441.  Use of this version will require you to print the results, but it will assist for those who cannot hand write and will make answers more legible.

http://www.legisit.com/forms/SSA-3441-BK.pdf

 

Social Security Disability Compassionate Allowances in Arkansas

Compassionate Allowances

Social Security has an obligation to provide benefits quickly to applicants whose medical conditions are so serious that their conditions obviously meet disability standards.

Compassionate Allowances (CAL) are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. Compassionate Allowances allow Social Security to quickly target the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical information that we can obtain quickly.

CAL conditions are developed as a result of information received at public outreach hearings, comments received from the Social Security and Disability Determination Service communities, counsel of medical and scientific experts, and our research with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Also, we considered which conditions are most likely to meet our current definition of disability.

Commissioner Astrue has held seven Compassionate Allowances public outreach hearings. The hearings were on rare diseases, cancers, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disease and multiple organ transplants and autoimmune diseases.

On July 14, 2011, Commissioner Astrue held an event at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 106, at 10:00 a.m. in Washington D.C. to announce the addition of 12 new conditions to the Compassionate Allowances list of conditions. This addition brings the number of Compassionate Allowances conditions to 100.

Social Security Disability – A look at the numbers.

A look at Social Security’s disability program:See full story on WP site

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, August 22, 4:06 AM

WASHINGTON — A look at Social Security’s disability program:

About 13.6 million people receive federal disability benefits.

—7.6 million receive Social Security disability.

—4.4 million receive Supplemental Security Income.

—1.6 million receive both.

___

Social Security disability:

—Reserved for people with a substantial work history.

—Average monthly payment: $927

—Financing: A portion of Social Security payroll taxes (the rest goes to the retirement fund).

—Payroll taxes collected for disability program in 2010: $93 billion.

—Total benefits paid in 2010: $124 billion.

—Assets in Social Security disability trust fund at end of 2010: $180 billion.

—Year when trust fund projected to be exhausted: 2017.

___

Supplemental Security Income:

—Reserved for the very poor.

—Average monthly payment: $500.

—Maximum monthly payment: $674 for individuals, $1,011 for couples.

—Many states provide additional payments.

—Financing: General revenue funds.

—Total benefits paid in 2010: $48 billion.

___

Sources: Social Security Administration; Congressional Budget Office.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Social Security Disability Application in Arkansas.

If you live in Arkansas and feel unable to continue working full-time due to an injury, illness, disease, or condition of the body or the mind, then you should explore filing for your insurance benefits under the social security disability insurance program. You have paid into this system since you first had federal taxes withheld from a paycheck. The system does not require you to be completely unable to do anything, rather the system is a set of laws that provide a monthly benefit to you when you are no longer to sustain full-time work on a competitive basis.

The application process can seem overwhelming. It requires a lot of information and a good bit of your time. However, you should not delay because your social security benefits can be lost the longer you wait. Submitting your disability application as soon as possible is the best option.

If you have any questions or problems with applying for your social security disability benefits, or submitting an appeal, please give us a call. It will not cost you anything but a few minutes of your time.