Monthly Archives December 2017

LEGAL COMPETENCY IN ADOPTION CASES: DC ADOPTION LAWYER

The Court of Appeals in IN RE PETITION OF J.O. & P.O., decided on December 12, 2017, reversed and remanded the trial court’s grant of an adoption petition. The central issue in the case was the viability of the two competing adoption petitions filed at the trial level. The child was born to a mother who had known mental health issues and on the day of the child’s birth, the mother was admitted to a psychiatric ward for treatment. Shortly after birth, the child was placed in an Child and Family Services (CFSA) pre-adoptive foster home and over the course
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RECENT COURT OF APPEALS DECISION: REVERSAL OF ASSAULT CHARGE

The DC Court of Appeals on November 9, 2017 in Elaine Jones v. U.S. reversed the defendant’s conviction for simple assault and possession of prohibited weapon. Elaine Jones was charged with simple assault and possession of prohibited weapon a cigarette lighter as she had attempted to ward off another homeless person from her personal space designated by cardboard boxes. She has set a section of her cardboard box taken over by the intruder on fire momentarily to scare off her adjacent homeless neighbor intruding on her and not respecting her personal space. At issue here was employing reasonable amount of
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