Areas of Practice
Richard W. Benson has practiced law in many different areas. He has represented clients through a broad spectrum of legal issues ensuring that rights are fought for and exercised.
Traffic Law
The most obvious costs of a speeding or traffic ticket are the associated fine(s) and court costs. Often fines are spelled out on the face of a traffic ticket. But a speeding or traffic ticket can cost much more than the amount of the fine and court costs by causing your insurance rates to go up. And jail sentences and license suspensions can result. Indeed, Kansas rules are straightforward: Be convicted of three major moving violations in a 12-month period and your license will be either revoked or suspended, depending on the nature of the violation.
In Kansas, when you pay a speeding or traffic ticket, a conviction immediately appears on your driving record. And "because convictions are reported to the state" your insurance company finds out. The time to act to keep a moving violation off your record is before paying the ticket.
Traffic in English is taken from the Arabic word taraffaqa, which means to walk along slowly together. When you get a speeding or traffic ticket, do not be slow to call The Law Office of Richard W. Benson.
Drug Charges Law
Since 1791 the Fourth Amendment has said that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized". And since 1962 the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that being a drug addict is not a crime.
And yet here you are in 2010, reading this. Today, non-violent drug users are often locked up in prison for many years.
You need a lawyer who will look at the charge(s) and carefully examine the evidence. For successful defense of drug charges often involves calling the government on its conduct. Callous enough disregard by the government of your rights under the Fourth Amendment can lead a criminal court judge to rule that the government’s case cannot be admitted into evidence against you. Just as often, the government’s case breaks down when a jury finds itself unable to connect the evidence in support of the charges to the defendant (you).
Criminal Law
You sometimes hear a criminal defense lawyer say "they’re all guilty". That may be how that lawyer turns off the numbing pressure of defending an innocent, wrongly-accused person. Or turns off the numbing pressure of defending a guilty person. Or he may just think he sounds tough. It is unlikely that any experienced criminal defense lawyer actually believes that "they're all guilty". For every experienced criminal defense lawyer has defended an innocent, wrongly-accused person.
The thing that should concern you "whether you are innocent or guilty" when your lawyer seems to start out with a belief that you are guilty is this: If your lawyer thought you were guilty before even meeting you, will he ever even bother to closely examine the evidence in the case?
Richard W. Benson has represented factually, actually innocent persons. And he has defeated prosecutions by shedding light on disgusting police tactics like coercive interrogation and grossly unfair, arranged eyewitness identifications. And by persuading juries to see that what the government wants the jury to infer from the evidence is, as Benson has said, "a bridge (or two) too far" from what the evidence actually shows.
Damage control is very often the best defense tactic. But your lawyer should insist on a careful look at the evidence before settling on any particular tactic. Careful review of the evidence is standard practice at The Law Office of Richard W. Benson.
Benson has represented people with graduate degrees in felony criminal cases. And he has represented straight-up gangsters. (And everything in between.) Benson draws from a unique family history his own point of view about crime, mental disability, the police, race, and gang violence.
Appeals
In law, an appeal is a process for requesting a formal change to an official decision. A party who files an appeal is called an "appellant", and a party on the other side is called an "appellee". Generally appellant has available one of two types of appeals: (1) a trial de novo or (2) an appeal on the record.
A trial de novo resolves a matter earlier sought to have been resolved in an informal proceeding conducted by a minor judicial tribunal like a municipal court or an administrative law proceeding or a hearing before an administrative hearing officer. All issues and evidence are developed from scratch, as though never tried before.
An appeal on the record from a decision in a judicial proceeding is far different from a trial de novo. For "in an appeal on the record" both parties must base their arguments wholly on the proceedings and body of evidence in the earlier tribunal. To win, appellant must prove that the earlier court committed reversible error, such as errantly instructing the jury, permitting seriously improper argument, errantly admitting or excluding evidence, acting outside the court's jurisdiction, injecting bias into the proceeding or appearing to do so, juror misconduct, etc. It may also be possible to appeal where a finding of fact was entirely unreasonable on the evidence.
The deadline for beginning an appeal can be very short. It is measured in days, not years.
If you are considering an appeal and considering The Law Office of Richard W. Benson to represent you, then you should call now and tell the scheduler that your call concerns initiating an appeal and that you need an appointment today.
General Practice
There are many other areas of legal practice that are not on list list. If you have questions regarding other areas of law feel free to contact us.
Benson has a very strong preference for face-to-face relationships with his clients. Office hours are by appointment only. Please call for an appointment.
