In Geauga County, Ohio, Rita Greifenstein, a 66-year-old woman, shot and killed her 68-year-old husband in their kitchen. Mrs. Greifenstein claimed that she shot her husband in self-defense. The police stated that the two had been arguing for hours before the gunshot. The prosecutor decided to charge her with voluntary manslaughter after determining that… Read More »
In Ohio (and probably most other states) the run-of-the-mill DUI or OVI is a misdemeanor traffic offense. That means it is not a criminal offense. Notice the italics in traffic and criminal. They are in italics because those are terms of art. That means they have a specific legal definition.…...Read More
One of the main philosophies of our justice system is deterrence. The idea is to impose enough of a punishment for crimes to make others (who haven’t yet committed a crime) think twice. This happens in two ways. First, some laws have mandatory penalties. Anyone who reads the law should…...Read More
“The impression that serious scientific problems are far beyond the understanding of the average man constitutes a serious obstacle to the growth of this public interest. A caste system of specialists has been created, and it has produced a sort of intellectual defeatism, so that the layman tends to think…...Read More
Any case can go to trial. Although we often see the most serious matters in trial, that is not always the case. Sometimes the more serious offenses carry the risk of greater consequences. We commonly have trials on all matters, including OVI, traffic, and complex criminal cases.
Trials are rare, with just 2.5% of Ohio criminal cases in common pleas court going to trial in 2012. Most cases resolve by plea negotiations. However, every case is unique and you need a lawyer to help you figure out all your available options.
Civil law deal with disputes between individuals, organizations or both. Yavitch & Palmer deals with criminal law— crimes and legal punishments of criminal offenses, like assault, robbery, drug trafficking and much more.