Archive for March, 2011
10 Things You Shouldn’t Do In Las Vegas ? Inspired By Paris Hilton
March 31st, 2011 | 
Author: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…or does it? Paris Hilton found out the hard way that Sin City doesn’t tolerate certain vices when she was recently arrested and charged with a class E felony for possession of cocaine. She claims the cocaine in her purse was put there by a friend who had borrowed the bag earlier, but the “I didn’t know” defense typically doesn’t hold up well in court. Certain laws (like against cocaine possession) seem like no-brainers, but this is Las Vegas we’re talking about. So, since ignorance of the law is not a valid excuse, you might want to read up on Las Vegas statutes before your next visit. It’s also a good idea to check your bags and pockets. Just in case.
Have fun in Vegas, but keep in mind that…
1. Prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas. While Nevada is the only state in the USA where prostitution is legal, it’s not legal everywhere, and this includes Clark County, home of Las Vegas. If you’re driving through Nevada to get to sin city, you might be interested to know that Washoe, Douglas, Lincoln, and Carson City are the other counties that have outlawed ladies of the evening. Fliers and ads featuring escorts and nudes may suggest the availability of sexual services, but be warned: if you’re robbed or assaulted by these companies while seeking illegal sex, the police are unlikely to help.
2. You have to be 21 to gamble. This doesn’t mean you have to be 21 to step foot inside a casino, but it does mean those under 21 must keep out of gaming areas, stick to designated paths in order to pass through them, and are basically banned from gambling at any time under any circumstances. Casinos are very strict with their rules in order to keep their licenses, and they constantly check for IDs. If you are caught you could be escorted out of the gambling area, off the property, or even fined and arrested, depending on the offense.
3. The drinking age is still 21 years old. You may legally buy a drink in Vegas at the stroke of midnight PST on the date of your birthday, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to get into a bar or club before that moment. You cannot buy alcohol for anyone under the age of 21, as “corrupting a minor” is an arrestable offense. Most establishments that serve food and alcohol will allow someone underage to eat there, especially if accompanied by an adult, but they are not allowed to drink. There are under-21 clubs that don’t serve alcohol.
4. Walking and driving with alcohol. Bars are allowed to stay open and serve alcohol 24/7, so many people do their drinking indoors. While it’s technically in the law books that you cannot drink in public, this rule is rarely enforced (except in cases of disorderly conduct). Given that liquor stores are typically open 24 hours a day, it’s not uncommon to see people walking down the street with open containers of alcoholic beverages. What’s not accepted in Vegas is drinking and driving. DUI laws are strictly enforced, and can result in a minimum of one to three days in jail, thousands of dollars in fines, and a temporarily revoked license.
5. Smoking? Yes, no, and maybe. All floor-spaces inside large casinos, strip clubs, and no-food bars allow smoking, but you do have to be 18 to buy cigarettes. Any place that does serve food, however, like a restaurant or certain night-clubs and bars, does not permit smoking. If are caught smoking in a non-smoking area, you’ll probably be asked to leave but could face a fine.
6. There’s a curfew for minors. If you’re under 18, you’re not supposed to be out alone (i.e., without an adult or guardian over 21) in public from 10pm-5am Sunday through Thursday, and midnight to 5am Friday night through Sunday morning. The exceptions are for minors coming home from an event, meeting or public entertainment (e.g., a concert), coming home from work, engaged in parent-improved interstate travel, or on an emergency errand. Along The Strip and for the blocks on either side, the curfew starts at 9pm Friday, Saturday, and all legal holidays.
7. Those tricky taxis. You should always be on the lookout for drivers trying to take you on a “long haul” without your permission (i.e., the longest route from A to B), and you should always say no to “high flagging” (where the cab doesn’t run the meter but cuts a deal instead) since this voids the vehicle insurance for the ride. For the most part, you probably won’t run into these shady practices, but the one thing you will notice is that it’s illegal in Las Vagas for cabbies to drop off and pick up passengers along the Strip. The only way to get a taxi along the Strip is to go up to a hotel and have them call one for you (you’ll have to tip the concierge). It’s also illegal to enter a cab without sufficient fare, so either be sure you have the cash on hand, or make sure your cab company is one of the two that accept credit cards.
8. Love and Marriage and Divorce. Las Vegas is famous for its many quickie weddings, and used to be just as famous for quickie divorces. However, nowadays you must be a resident of Clark County for at least six weeks before you can file your divorce forms, which will take a minimum of six weeks before being finalized. Keep in mind that Nevada is a community property state, which means you and your spouse will split your assets and debts equally. This is why it’s a good idea to get a prenuptial agreement before you get married. Considering the amount of drunken weddings that take place, it’s a good thing fairly simple annulments are available to anyone who got married in Nevada or where either spouse lives there. Annulments aren’t guaranteed and must typically be filed for soon after the wedding. Grounds include: “underage, intoxication, insanity, blood-relatedness, and significant material misrepresentation.” Getting married, on the other hand, is much easier. It only requires that the two adults be over 18 and not related. You can even be 16 as long as a parent or guardian is present to consent. Divorced parties must provide proof of finalization of their divorce. Finally, the $55 license fee must be paid.
9. Counting cards is no good. The act of counting cards using only your brain is not in and of itself illegal. However, if casinos suspect you of counting cards, either mentally or through trickery such as teamwork or gadgetry, they are legally allowed to kick you out and revoke your winnings. As private establishments they can refuse service to anyone for any reason. Casinos also tend to share information on card counters with other casinos, so once you are caught in one, you are unlikely to be allowed entry in another. In Nevada, casinos can detain and question people suspected of cheating, but cannot force them to pose for photographs. Since casinos are the main Vegas industry, you may not get much help from police if caught cheating.
10. Illegal drugs. As the name implies, if a drug is illegal in the US, you can’t do it in Vegas. If you do take drugs in Vegas, you may be in for some of the harshest penalties for drug use in the US. As Paris found out, cocaine is illegal everywhere to buy or sell, and possession is a felony. “Softer” drugs like marijuana are allowed for medicinal use, and possession for non-licensed individuals may result in a misdemeanor rather than a felony, but even for marijuana there’s a mandatory minimum sentencing guideline.
Now, even if you follow all these rules in Vegas, there are still plenty of ways to have fun and get in trouble. To ensure that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, you might want to subject your friends to a confidentiality agreement.
Originally published here.
Juliana Olssen
Posted in 
How Innocent People Get Convicted of Dui
Many people are not concerned about DUI laws as they say they will never drink and drive. Such people assume their actual innocence immunizes them from arrest. Unfortunately, actual guilt is not a predicate for DUI arrest — all it takes is an officer who says you are drinking.
Police officers are not very good at discerning between people who are .08 and people who are .00. Indeed, few people are very good at determining who is “legally drunk” at .08 and who have no alcohol at all. The reason the police do not detect impairment in subjects with .08 is that there is usually no impairment to see. The .08 standard is an arbitrary standard — most people are not impaired at .08 despite what MADD, the media and the government tells you. For that reason, in today’s America, the police arrest anyone they believe smells of an alcohol beverage.
If this hypothesis is true, that smell by itself merits arrest, then there should be a lot of .00 people who are wrongfully arrested. People who smell of alcohol or the police believe smell of alcohol but actually have no alcohol in their system. Thomas Workman, an electrical engineer with many years of work experience who is also a patent attorney, has done a detailed analysis of Florida’s breath alcohol testing program results. Mr. Workman found that one out of every twenty Florida citizen tested for alcohol had two zero (0.000) samples. No alcohol was found. From April 1 2006 to November 30 2007 there are more than 3,900 citizens who provided two samples of 0.000, for DUI tests.
From April 1 2006 to November 30 2007 there are about 58,000 citizen tests with results above 0.000
This works out to 6.7% for Florida as a whole. But do some police officers arrest more innocent people than others?
When you look at the data and identify the arresting officer, some disturbing patterns emerge. The same officers are making these “double 0.000″ tests, over and over. While Florida Dept of Law Enforcement claims to be monitoring the tests, they do not look for these kinds of patterns, or if they are, they ignore what they see. This is not the whole story according to Mr. Workman.
For citizens who supply a first sample that satisfies all of the requirements set by Florida, and who then are charged with a refusal, because a second adequate sample is not supplied, it is shocking to look at what the first sample was measured to be.
Of all citizens who do supply a first sample, and then fail to supply a second sample, over 90% of these first samples measure to be 0.000. This means that a citizen is punished for a refusal, which includes the possibility of a jail sentence, when the officer knows that the citizen has no impairment. Why would a citizen with no alcohol in their system refuse to give a second sample?
These citizens, who represent 1% of all tests of citizens, are treated far worse, because they do not have the benefit of the 0.000 result, and they likely are prosecuted, and many convicted. They can also be convicted of the crime of failing to provide a sample, even though it is likely that the second sample was prevented by the officer (again, why would a sober person refuse to provide a second sample?)
Then there are the citizens who are tested with machines that are defective. Mr. Workman will be presenting his findings of these, who represent more than 10% of all tests (that is more than 1 out of ten tested is being tested on broken machines) at the annual NACDL conference in Las Vegas.
We are all indebted to Mr. Workman for his time consuming analysis which indicates that thousands of innocent people are being convicted of DUI with 0.000 blood alcohol. This result supports the hypothesis that since .08 is usually not physically distinguishable from 0.000, people with no alcohol in their systems are subject to arrest, prosecution and conviction for DUI.
If you get arrested despite being innocent and the officer decides that you refused the breath test, you can get convicted despite your innocence. Even the innocent need to be afraid of DUI laws.
Originally published here.
Robert Keefer
Citing Statistics, Reid Targets DUI Apps
Sen. Harry Reid and three other senators are asking the makers of smartphones — Google, Apple and RIM — to stop selling apps that alert drivers to DUI checkpoints.
Published Mar 23, 2011.
Read more: FOX 5 Las Vegas
