LANSING - Alan Blanchard has met the requirements set forth by the Michigan Court Officer, Deputy Sheriff and Process Servers Association, and has successfully passed the required examination and is hereby certified as an Eviction Specialist and as a Process Server and is awarded the rights and privileges associated with that achievement, it was announced by Timothy Sutherland, president of MCODSA.
     Blanchard is owner of Sentinel Investigations, LLC, and provides professional investigation services as well as process service to Grand Rapids and West Michigan.
     www.sentinelinvestigation.net

By Emily Lawler | [email protected]
on December 25, 2014 at 5:33 AM, updated December 25, 2014 at 5:37 AM

LANSING, MI -- The legislature last week passed a bill that standardizes the cost public bodies can charge under the state's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

HB 4001 standardizes fees that public bodies charge for FOIA requests by putting standards in place for things like copying fees and how much can be charged for labor. Proposed in January of 2013, the legislation had been stalled in the Senate Government Operations Committee since March of 2014.

READ FULL STORY AT:
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/12/information_advocates_say_fina.html

By Jennifer Rubin September 5 Virginians are still reeling from former governor Robert F. McDonnell’s conviction on 11 corruption charges. If the indictment seemed unreal, the number of counts, the potential length of the sentence, the unseemly details about his marriage and the magnitude of the lapse in judgment are nearly incomprehensible. At times it has seemed as if there is some other governor, not the former Army officer and sober politician who has been a fixture in state politics for 20 years, at the center of the storm. When one considers the generous terms of a plea bargain (his wife, Maureen, walks and he pleads to a single non-corruption count) he rejected, McDonnell’s plunge from the political stratosphere is akin to a Shakespearean tragedy. Pure hubris has ruined a lifetime of achievement and sterling reputation.

Read rest of story at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/09/05/a-tragedy-for-robert-mcdonnell-a-nightmare-for-the-political-system/

The Supreme Court’s terrible—and dangerous—ruling this week on the Fifth Amendment.

By Brandon L. Garrett

On Monday, in a case called Salinas v. Texas that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, the Supreme Court held that you remain silent at your peril. The court said that this is true even before you’re arrested, when the police are just informally asking questions. The court’s move to cut off the right to remain silent is wrong and also dangerous—because it encourages the kind of high-pressure questioning that can elicit false confessions.

Here are the facts from Salinas: Two brothers were shot at home in Houston. There were no witnesses—only shotgun shell casings left at the scene. Genovevo Salinas had been at a party at that house the night before the shooting, and police invited him down to the station, where they talked for an hour. They did not arrest him or read him his Miranda warnings.  Salinas agreed to give the police his shotgun for testing. Then the cops asked whether the gun would match the shells from the scene of the murder. According to the police, Salinas stopped talking, shuffled his feet, bit his lip, and started to tighten up.

read rest of story at:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/06/salinas_v_texas_right_to_remain_silent_supreme_court_right_to_remain_silent.html

When officers in one California town wore body cameras, complaints against police fell 88%. http://on.wsj.com/1q5nWyy 

What do you think? Would it be a good idea for all police officers to wear body cameras?

Michigan licensed Professional Investigators receive new cases in a variety of ways. Here at Sentinel Investigations, LLC, we are contacted by attorneys as well as their clients seeking our investigative services in criminal and civil cases. Often the attorney will contact us and say they need our services for a client, but that the client will be hiring us directly. Whether taking on a criminal or civil case, we recommend that the attorney hire us and not the client.

When the attorney hires the investigator as opposed to the client, the investigator becomes part of the attorney’s legal staff and as such written reports containing the investigators opinions, theories, strategy and conclusions are considered “Attorney Work Product”.

In an article written for PI Magazine by Susan Carlson, CLI, CRT entitled  "Attorney Privilege vs. Work Product: What Is Privileged and What Is Not," Carlson details the concept of  the attorney work product privilege in detail. She also sites relevant case law such as:

The Work Product Doctrine casts a wider tent of protection than the attorney – client privilege. Its purpose is to allow an attorney to prepare for his/her case without fear of the other side knowing what his/her evidence is. Waste Management, Inc., v. International Surplus Lines Insurance Co., 144 Ill2nd 178, 579 NE 2nd 322,329, 161 Ill.Dec. 774(1991), citing Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 91 L.Ed. 451, 67 S.Ct.385 (1947).

Here are a few suggestions for attorneys and investigators from this article

It is generally accepted that any communication which discusses strategy or which is a continuation of a thought expressed by the attorney is privileged. There are steps to take to assure that your material is not discoverable.

1. On the subject line of your e mail, insert the words ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT -STRATEGY MEMO”. This may serve as a cloak for what is to follow should the communication be called into question. Do not copy email to non- attorneys or others.

2. Work directly for the attorney and not for the ultimate client.

3. Use a service retainer agreement and collect your fees from the attorney- client fund. Include in the service agreement specific direction at the outset, either by separate letter or included in the service agreement, which outline the investigation and expected results.

Carlson’s entire article can be read in the issue of PI Magazine

You can also contact me at: [email protected]

Sentinel Investigations, LLC, provides dependable and timely process service, courier services, court file research, private investigations and more. We offer delivery of legal documents to attorneys, businesses and landlords. We provide electronic proofs of service via email or traditional hard-copy proofs upon request.

Let our proven experience help you with prompt, effective process service in Kent, Ionia and Montcalm Counties, and other locations in West Michigan upon request. See below for details on our levels of service: regular, priority rush and same day service of legal documents.