New York Criminal Attorney Blog

Senior Partner Peter H. Tilem of the White Plains law firm, Tilem & Campbell recently passed the test to become an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor. Mr. Tilem, who is a senior criminal defense lawyer, NRA member and handles much of the firms firearms law practice together with law partner John Campbell, was an experienced and avid firearms enthusiast before passing the National Rifle Association's instructors' test.

Besides being a lifelong shooter, Mr. Tilem has been handling gun and weapons cases for decades. Initially, as a prosecutor, in one of the most anti-gun counties, in one of the most anti-gun states in the United States, Mr. Tilem handled the prosecution of countless gun and knife cases as well as cases involving a variety of other weapons. After several years as a prosecutor, Mr. Tilem was asked to join the District Attorney's Office's Firearms Trafficking Unit where he handled large scale, gun trafficking conspiracy cases in addition to other gun cases and violent crimes and became an adviser to other prosecutors in the handling of gun cases.

After leaving the District Attorney's Office and entering private practice, Mr. Tilem put his experience and knowledge of New York gun laws to work helping law-abiding citizens who got caught in the web of New York's criminal justice system which treats law-abiding citizens with firearms (or knives) as criminals. In New York, a law abiding citizen who carries his (or her) pistol into New York with an out-of-state permit (ccw) faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 and 1/2 years in prison. In addition, New York still has on the books the functional equivalent of the since repealed Federal Assault Weapons ban which punishes as a felony possession of rifles or shotguns that have cosmetic features that are deemed to look offensive. The outdated and ill conceived assault weapon ban in New York is so poorly written and hard to understand that neither the police, prosecutors nor civilians can be sure of what is felonious conduct and what is perfectly legal.

In addition to New York's bizarre gun laws, New York bans virtually any weapon imaginable including brass knuckles, billy clubs, "sand bag[s]" (whatever that means), wrist-brace type sling shots, nun-chucks and kung fu stars just to give some examples. As Mr. Tilem has written about extensively, New York's ban on knives is so complete that it seems to ban steak knives in restaurants (at least in the five boroughs of New York City) and virtually any lock blade folding knife as a "gravity knife."

Mr. Tilem's experience in gun cases has led to very successful defenses of individuals accused of possessing handguns at New York area airports, application of the federal travelers defense to successfully defend individuals driving with handguns and individuals accused of selling guns. By receiving this very important certification from the National Rifle Association, Mr. Tilem hopes that the training and certification will assist him in defending more individuals accused of weapon's possession in New York. In addition, Mr. Tilem will be available to testify as an expert witness in gun trials throughout New York State. Mr. Tilem can always be reached by calling 877-377-8666 or visiting handgunattorney.com.

Recently we reported in our blog that a DWI conviction was vacated on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel where the lawyer simply had his client plead guilty to Driving While Intoxicated without conducting an investigation into the evidence in the case. Now, just last week, the United States Supreme Court reversed a conviction where a defense attorney neglected to tell the defendant about a plea offer and the defendant was later sentenced to a much more lengthy prison sentence than he would have gotten if he accepted the plea deal.

In the case of Missouri v. Frye the United States Supreme Court for the first time recognized that the 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution ensures that a defendant's right to effective representation extends to the plea bargain process and that if the lawyer is ineffective during the plea bargain process, the defendant may be entitled to reversal of his conviction.

In the Frye case, Galin Frye was accused of driving with a revoked license. Since he had been convicted of this same offense three times in the past he was facing a felony charge which carries up to 4 years in prison. During the pendency of the case, the prosecutor told Frye's lawyer that Frye could plead guilty to a misdemeanor and receive a sentence of 90 days. Frye's lawyer never conveyed that offer to him and he subsequently plead guilty and received three years in prison. On appeal Galin Frye argued that that we was denied his right to counsel because of ineffective of assistance of counsel. His conviction was reversed.

In the second decision, issued the same day last week, the United States Supreme Court agreed with two lower Federal Courts that reversed the convictions of a defendant who rejected a plea deal because of his lawyers erroneous advice.

In Lafler v. Cooper, Anthony Cooper shot the victim and was charged with Assault with Intent to Murder under Michigan Law. The prosecutor offered a plea deal that carried a sentence of 51-85 months in prison. Anthony Cooper on the advice of his attorney refused the plea deal and was subsequently convicted after trial and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 185-360 months, more than three times the plea offer. Cooper's lawyer had erroneously advised him to reject the plea deal because in the opinion of the lawyer the prosecutor could not prove intent to murder since all of the gun shots landed below the waist. This advice was wrong.

In the Cooper case, as in the Frye case, the Supreme Court recognized that the right to effective representation includes the right to effective representation during plea bargaining. According to a recent New York Times article 94% of cases in State Court and 97% of cases in Federal Court are resolved by plea bargains. In a system where the overwhelming majority of cases result in plea bargains, it seems that these two cases offer defendants critical constitutional protections that are at least as important as trial rights.

As these cases make clear, a criminal defense lawyer must not only communicate with his or her client, particularly about plea offers but must also offer competent advice about whether or not to accept those offers.