Criminal Defense Attorney representing clients in RI, MA, CT, NY, and FL

Press Releases

Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni, III

To File Appeal in Landmark Drunk-Driving Case

April 2011 – Providence, RI – On April 1, 2011, Attorney John L. Calcagni, III was interviewed for a Lawyer's Weekly article regarding the issue of language barriers and the rights of drunk-driving defendants.

The article details a December 2009 case, wherein Attorney Calcagni represented a non-English speaking defendant who had been arrested and charged with driving under the influence. The decision reached by the Court found, based upon testimony by the arresting officer, that the defendant was aware enough to submit to a field sobriety test, but that the blood alchohol test was given without his full awareness.

An excerpted portion of the interview, where the interviewer questions whether Attorney Calcagni has found any case law to support his appeal of the decision, had this response, "I haven’t found much guiding caselaw on this issue of language and field sobriety tests. I did find a couple of cases in New Jersey that weren’t exactly on point and some that held weight against me, basically saying that driving is a privilege, and in order to obtain that privilege people have to give up certain rights, such as complying to tests on the roadside. Obviously, I will not be citing those cases."

When asked about his appeal of the Court's decision, Attorney Calcagni responded, "Appealing this case is necessary to “right the court’s wrong” and to ensure an even playing field for both English-speaking and non-English speaking defendants alike. Every man is supposed to stand equally at the bar of justice, therefore, the police should treat everyone equally both on the roadside and in the course of their investigations. In some instances, this places the onus on the police to obtain the assistance of an interpreter or bilingual officer. Where the police fail to take these steps to accommodate less sophisticated, non-English speaking defendants, the defendants should not be penalized by the Court. That is exactly what happened to Mr. DaLomba, and appealing his case is necessary to correct this error.”

The full text of the interview by Phillip Bantz, entitled Language barrier at issue in drunk-driving case, can be found in the April 4, 2011 issue of Lawyers Weekly reprinted HERE.

 

 

Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni, III

Comments on 6th Circuit Email Seizure Decision

April 2011 – Providence, RI – The 6th Circuit Court, in a landmark decision, has applied the Fourth Amendment to an email seizure decision. The decision, U.S. v. Warshak, involved the secret seizure of the defendant's email from the Internet Service Provider, without a warrant.
Martin G. Weinberg of Boston, Attorney for the defendant, commented that in the 25 years the Department of Justice has been seizing emails with this practice, no appellate court has challenged it with the Fourth Amendment. He said, “It constitutes a seismic change in how the government is going to attempt to acquire the content of e-mails.”

John L. Calcagni, III, former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and RI Criminal Defense Attorney said,“I don’t think you’d find an American out there who would disagree with the fact that we have an expectation of privacy in communications we transmit through e-mail. Because of the changing technology, the law itself needs to evolve. This seems to be a case where the justices in the 6th Circuit have addressed those changes in a way that is consistent with the protections of the Fourth Amendment.”

The full text of the interview by David Frank, entitled Language barrier at issue in drunk-driving case, can be found in the April 4, 2011 issue of Lawyers Weekly reprinted HERE.