Hawkins & Hawkins, PLLC

Recent cases or issues of note handled by our attorneys:

Probable cause for search of a residence based on information in an FBI or NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) databases.
Primary issue: A victim of identity theft can have his or her name and home address used by the identity thief  to register a child pornography web site. Law enforcement may then attempt to justify a search warrant on the basis of information input by the thief. There is a growing body of case law addressing probable cause and search warrant issues nationwide.

Primary issue: The prosecutor may refuse to allow the defense attorney and defense computer forensic expert access to the data containing child pornography images.

Illegal immigration
A federal case published recently upheld a six year prison sentence for an illegal immigrant who used a social security number that wasn't his to obtain a job.
Primary issue. Is such a sentence excessive?

The State of Arizona adopted a federal statute for defining an illegal alien as a prohibited possessor of weapons. The legislature included as a necessary element a showing the the weapon or parts were transported in interstate commerce. The court of appeals ruled that the state was required to show an interstate nexus.