Final Sentence In Drug Robbery
The Capital Times :: LOCAL/STATE :: 3A
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
By Mike Miller The Capital Times
The last of four young people charged with a drug-related shooting and robbery
at a Brooks Street apartment on Dec. 30, 2001, was sent to prison for five
years Monday.
In addition to the prison term, Joseph Green, 21, who was considered by the
prosecution to be the most culpable of the group that invaded the home and
tried to rob the occupants of drugs and money, must also serve five years
of extended supervision when he is released from prison, Dane County Circuit
Judge Gerald Nichol said.
Green was with Nebuchanezzar Wright, Edward L. Burton and Britney Langlois
when the four went to the Brooks Street apartment looking for marijuana.
Once in the apartment, "all hell broke lose," in the words of Green's attorney,
John Koberstein.
Woman Gets Probation In Beating
Wisconsin State Journal :: LOCAL/WISCONSIN :: B4
Tuesday, July 9, 2002
Ed Treleven Courts reporter
On Monday, before Alawiye grudgingly entered her no-contest plea, she complained to Circuit Judge Gerald Nichol that she hadn't been allowed a bail hearing so that she could be free while awaiting a trial she had requested in the case.
But her attorney, John Koberstein, reminded her that no judge would have allowed her bail because she had twice before failed to appear for court during the case.
Nichol granted Koberstein's request that Alawiye be allowed to transfer her probation to Illinois.
Woman Guilty In Bar Beating
Plea Deal Reduces Charge To Battery
The Capital Times :: LOCAL/STATE :: 3A
Tuesday, July 9, 2002
By Mike Miller The Capital Times
In court Monday it appeared the case would be resolved, but once again she expressed reluctance at taking the plea deal, which called for her to serve two years of probation. She told Dane County Circuit Court Judge Gerald Nichol that she felt put upon because she had to sit in jail for two months while the plea deal called for probation.
But she relented after her attorney, John Koberstein, reminded her that she was in jail for missing court dates. Alawiye then entered a no contest plea and Nichol imposed two years' probation.
| The Capital Times, Madison Wisconsin
Smoker picked wrong bar to pick legal fight Mike Miller — 10/02/2007 8:05 am Madison attorney John Koberstein might have lit up in the wrong place. Late last year Koberstein started out to challenge Madison's ban on smoking in most public places, including taverns, by getting himself arrested while having a beer and a cigarette at Mr. Roberts on Atwood Avenue. After at least two days of calling police to tell them he was openly breaking the law and they should come and arrest him, he finally got a ticket. And he immediately challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance on the grounds it violated the equal protection clause because it allowed exemptions for some private clubs and for the Maduro Cigar Bar at 117 E. Main St. After losing at the municipal court level, Koberstein appealed to the Dane County Circuit Court where Judge James Martin heard oral arguments on the issue Monday. And told Koberstein he picked the wrong bar. "My initial thought is you should have gotten your ticket in the cigar bar," Martin told Koberstein. Initially Koberstein said the city violated the equal protection clause both by allowing exemptions for private clubs and by allowing smoking at the Maduro Cigar Bar. But he has now limited his argument to just the exemption granted to Maduro, dropping his argument on private clubs when the city sent warning letters explaining they could not change membership policies to allow for all the city's disgruntled smokers in their buildings. Now that Koberstein is focused on the Maduro exemption, Assistant City Attorney Marci Paulson argued that Koberstein did not have legal standing to challenge the ordinance, because he is not affected by the Maduro exemption. She also pointed out that since the ordinance contains a severability clause, Martin could rule the Maduro exemption as unconstitutional but the rest of the ordinance would stand. Martin, in questions put to Paulson, seemed to think the exemption for the cigar bar had no rational basis. Paulson said the fact the ordinance requires that to be a cigar bar a tavern has to show it makes at least 10 percent of its profits from tobacco sales, but that did not seem to impress the judge. "My problem is," Martin said, "what's the justification," for allowing smoking in cigar bars but not other places. "Cigars are more noxious and obnoxious than cigarettes," the judge said, "and potentially a greater hazard."
Koberstein, meanwhile, told the judge that if he was denied legal standing in Circuit Court, as the city argued, he would go to Maduro and light up a cigarette in hopes of getting another ticket and challenging that. His current fine and court costs are $172 if Martin upholds the ordinance. The judge took the arguments under consideration and will issue a written decision in the next 90 days. By that time the whole issue could become moot if the Legislature passes current legislation which would outlaw smoking in public places, including taverns, statewide. Some 17 states have currently passed such legislation. E-mail: mmiller@madison.com Mike Miller — 10/02/2007 8:05 am |