Let's move those memorials to dead cops away from courthouses

The monuments to cops killed in the line of duty which are sprouting up all over the nation in front of courthouses need to be taken down. Here’s why:
In front of the Madison County Alabama Courthouse, indeed in front of the Huntsville City Municipal Courthouse, in fact in front of many courthouses all across the country, we are seeing gaudy monuments and memorials erected commemorating police officers who have died in the line of duty.
I think these memorials  are dangerous to our democracy and our judicial system and need to be removed and re-erected in front of police stations, where they belong.
Why? Because courthouses are the people’s forum, where people not only are tried for crimes, but go to have their lawsuits heard, their divorce trials, their names changed, to buy their marriage licenses, to buy their car tags, etc. It’s not cops who make all of that happen. It’s lawyers and judges and court clerks.
These monuments to dead cops perpetuate the notion that we are at war with crime and that police are the good guys and courthouses are only a place for convicting people accused of crimes.
Worse yet, it perpetuates the concept that cops are military defenders and we’re subject to their will. In fact, cops today often refer to the public as “civilians.” They’re civilians, too!
The monument in front of Madison County Courthouse has some prose about when a cop dies a part of America dies. What hooey! People die every day. A part of America dies only when a cop dies? What about when a pastor dies? What about when a doctor dies? What about when a nurse dies? A symphony conductor? An artist? An environmentalist?
The concept that America dies a little bit each time a cop dies is inane.
Here’s why this endangers our very freedoms: When honest taxpaying citizens  arrive at the courthouse for jury duty they have to pass these monuments. They are subjected to the not-so subtle notion that cops are the good guys and we’re at war with crime. These citizens are at the courthouse to rule not just  as to the guilt or innocence of a person accused of a crime, but also as to whether or not a plaintiff is entitled to money for some civil cause. All of these potential jurors have to walk past these giant monuments to the cops. 
When they get into the courtroom, they’re looking at cops as witnesses. Cops are on a memorial outside, so cops must be the good guys, right? Let’s give that cop more credibility than the average person because he’s a cop. Hey, he must be the good guy. There’s a memorial right outside the window! Let's forget that the courthouse is the people's house. It isn't the realm of cops. It's the realm of people having their cases heard, or their marriage license approved. Who could blame someone for thinking that the courthouse is for the cops? It’s a psychological thing. It’s a wink-wink hint that the cops are the good guys and the people on trial are not. It's a message that cops control the courts, not the people.
Why am I strident about this? I'm an ex-metro Atlanta cop. I wore a badge and I saw how bad cops abuse the law and the public. Good cops are a rarity. Yes. It's true. I became a lawyer because of the evil I saw cops doing. The bad news is cops are no longer the Andy Griffiths and Adam 12 types who police with courtesy and kindness. They haven't been for decades. 
         Cops are militarizing like crazy. They now view themselves as against the public. Cops tell us to trust everything they say and do whilst they don’t trust us at all. Cops say it’s because the world is a more violent place and they’re on the front lines of keeping America safe from criminals. The truth is crime is at an 20-year low. Crime has been cut drastically and not because of law enforcement. It's because of social programs for the poor and because we have cut the birthrate among the poor drastically thanks to birth control and -- eee gag! -- legal abortion.
Cops say they have to militarize because they have the most dangerous job in the country and they put their lives on the line daily.

Oh, really? Being a cop is not even in the top ten of the most dangerous jobs in America. They don’t need to militarize. They don’t need to carry semi-automatic assault rifles and dress in military-style garb. They don’t need to shoot first and ask questions later. They don’t need to beat down and handcuff people in the name of “officer safety.”
Look at the US Department of Labor statistics. Here is the list of the most dangerous professions. Cops aren’t even in the top ten.

#1: Logging workers: 127.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
#2: Fishermen: 117 deaths per 100,000 people.
#3: Aircraft pilots: 53.4 deaths per 100,000 people.
#4: Roofers: 40.5 deaths per 100,000 people.
#5: Garbage collectors: 36.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
#6: Electrical power line installation/repair: 29.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
#7: Truck drivers: 22.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
#8: Oil and gas extraction: 21.9 deaths per 100,000 people.
#9: Farmers and ranchers: 21.3 deaths per 100,000 people.
#10: Construction workers: 17.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

Cops aren’t even in the top ten.
# 11: Law enforcement 11 deaths per 100,000 people.

So, let’s build a monument in front of the courthouse to logging workers, who put their lives on the line every day so we can have paper to write on. Let’s build a monument to fisherman who put their lives on the line to make sure we have fresh sushi. Or farmers and ranchers, who risk death daily to make sure we have meats and veggies.
       Or, better yet, let's build a monument to the lawyers and judges and clerks who make the judicial system work for all of the people who enter the courthouse -- whether they're there to renew their car tags or win a lawsuit or get a divorce.
You get the point.

(Required by Alabama Law: No representation is made that the quality of legal services is greater than other lawyers.)

Alabama has new drug law that poses risks for convicted drug offenders

Alabama has passed a new anti-drug law that calls for jail time for convicted drug offenders, even misdemeanants, for buying over-the-counter ephedrine or pseudophedrine.

In 2012 the legislature passed a new drug offense law but didn’t publicize it so it’s not well known. 

Alabama now has a law that if you’re convicted of a drug offense, and that’s a drug offense anywhere in any state, you are prohibited from legally buying ephedrine in Alabama. In short, if you’re a convicted drug offender, including misdemeanor drug paraphernalia, and you go to a pharmacy or other store and legally buy ephedrine, you can go to jail.

The first offense is a misdemeanor, but subsequent offenses are felonies with hefty prison sentences attached.

So, beware. 

If you've got a drug conviction, avoid ephedrine and pseudophedrine like the plague. If you buy it legally, you have committed an offense which could land you in prison.

And if you do get charged under this law, remain silent, don't talk to the cops and demand your lawyer. 

Required by Alabama law: No representation is made that the quality of legal services performed is greater than other lawyers.

Don't cooperate or play informant with drug agents -- here's why.

For quite some time now drug agents with various state and local agencies have operated on a “bigger fish” mentality. They want to arrest up the food chain, they say. (Truthfully, I disbelieve cops want to go any higher than mid-level dealers, as I never see the big traffickers taken down. Why? They shoot back. Cops want the everyday user and the mid-level dealers in their clutches as users and mid-level dealers don’t represent a threat to police and their family the way a big trafficker would.)

The cops raid your house (usually because one of your friends is an informant) or stop your vehicle and find drugs and they “detain” you. They tell you “it’s not an arrest,” but it is. (The law says if you’re not free to leave you’ve been busted. It’s that simple.)

They use the old carrot and stick routine.

The cops have you in cuffs, usually in the back of their squad car. They begin the psychological pressure. They tell you you’re going to do 20 years or more in prison. They’re going to “make sure that you get maximum prison time.” They tell you you’re never going to see the light of day.

That’s the stick part.

Now, here comes the carrot. 

They suddenly soften their tone, and tell you that if you’ll become a snitch, an informant, if you “give us some good busts, all of this will go away. We’ll never arrest you. We’ll never press charges against you.”

You are terrified of going to jail, so they have you at a psychological disadvantage. You think, why not? If I give them some names, help them makes some busts, I’m off the hook! Right?

They sweeten the pot. They tell you they’ll turn you loose right now without arresting you if you promise to work with them. You see a way out.  You agree to work as an informant. The drug cops turn you loose! You’re free, but are you?

The truth is, you’ve just postponed your arrest, not stopped it. In fact, you’re about to make your situation worse.

Why?

Because the cops working drug interdiction today no longer live up to their word. 

They get you roped in as an informant. You give them good intel, you help arrange buys. You stick your neck out. You risk your life – and believe me if word leaks that you’re an informant you can very likely end up a target of drug pushers who will think nothing of silencing you.

The cops then say to you, “It’s not enough. You have to give us more. We need more names. We need more buys.” You’ve given them all you have. You’ve told them all you know. They’ve written down everything you’ve said and done for them in a file.

You begin to rethink your cooperation. Suddenly you’re way out on a limb and the cops are now making it clear they’re not happy with you. You panic. You stop working for them. They call and threaten you, give you ultimatums. Then silence. You hear nothing from the cops for weeks.

Then you get pulled over. There is a warrant for your arrest for the drugs the cops nailed you with originally weeks or months back. 

You realize right then you’ve been conned, lied to, tricked.

The cops take you to jail. You make bond. You hire a lawyer, or obtain a court-appointed lawyer. The prosecutor comes to the table with a file 20 pages thick of everything you’ve said or done as an informant, not to lessen the charge against you – but to prove you’re an even worse druggie that the original charge shows. In short, your cooperation will be used to enhance your prison sentence!

That’s right. After all you did to help the cops and get your butt out of trouble the cops are now using your cooperation as evidence against you!

How can this happen?

It happens because cops are allowed by law to lie to you. The courts have said so. It’s legal for cops to lie to gain advantage in the “war on crime.”

You fell right into their trap, made yourself look far worse and far more culpable than you are, and they pulled the rug out from under you – laughing at you the entire time.

Not only were they never going to drop the charge against you, they’re going to seek greater punishment using your cooperation as proof of your status as a big-time dope dealer.

So, why are they doing this?

Cops today have no integrity. They’re all about scoring busts and so they can thump their chests and claim brownie points for being a tough cop. Respect for the law among cops is at an all-time low.

I recently had an assistant district attorney testifying in a case in which we were trying to set aside what I believed was a wrongful conviction of a client on a drug charge. The client had been represented by another lawyer after his arrest. For an entire year he had worked as an informant for the drug task force until he had exhausted his ability to work with the agents. When he told them he could no longer provide any information, indeed word had spread he was informing, the drug agents had him arrested and he was sent to trial. Amazingly, all of the information he had voluntarily provided to the drug agents was now used against him to enhance his sentence.

When his former lawyer called the drug agents to find out why they broke their promise, they laughed at him. “He didn’t do enough,” they said.

This assistant district attorney was on the stand testifying and he let slip an important truth: It mattered not to prosecutors how much an informant cooperated – if the drug agents didn’t tell the prosecutors to drop the charges there would be no deal. In short, the cops can lie to people to gain their cooperation and then turn on the poor informant and the prosecutors don’t care.

“If the cops say they didn’t get what they want, I don’t care how much they cooperate,” this assistant district attorney said.

So, here’s something to consider: 

If you are caught with drugs, be smart. Stop talking. Don’t claim the drugs. Don’t say anything other than “I want a lawyer.” You have a 5th Amendment right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you – including anything you say thinking you’re going to cooperate and get out of the situation without an arrest.

Remember, demand a lawyer. The Supreme Court of the United States said recently that mere silence can be used against you. You have to demand a lawyer, too. So, demand a lawyer.

Then shut up. Say nothing. Nothing you say is going to prevent you from being arrested and everything you say is going to be used against you.

Once the cops have taken you to jail, make bond using a bondsman. Why? Cash bonds and property bonds aren’t always consolidated bonds that will carry you through the process. A bondsman will obtain a consolidated bond so you stay out while the trial is pending.

Then, call a lawyer. Do some research. Pick a lawyer with a track record of winning criminal cases. Hire that lawyer to win your case.

(Required by Alabama law: No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than other lawyers.)

Alabama prisons dodging lawyers for inmates

The Alabama prison system is constantly in the news these days because of civil rights lawsuits over prison conditions, maltreatment of inmates by prison guards, and – in the case of Julia Tutwiler State Prison for Women – sexual exploitation of female inmates.

In the 20 years I have been practicing law, I’ve seen another change for the worse. Prison wardens and personnel have become impossible for lawyers to deal with.

It used to be I could see a client in prison with a phone call. I’d tell them I was a lawyer, the name and inmate number of my client, and I’d ask for permission to visit my client at a certain day and time. I was always met with cooperative, friendly responses. All I needed to do was arrive at the prison at the appointed time with my driver’s license and my ID card from the Alabama State Bar and I was in. It was smooth. It was virtually effortless. I saw my clients, handled my business with them in short order, and left with smiles and expressions of thanks for their cooperation.

In the past two decades that collegiality has evaporated. Now it’s virtually impossible to see a client in prison without going through a ridiculous amount of stalling, red tape, obfuscation, double talk, and deliberate “forgetfulness.”

The prisons want lawyers to call for a permission sheet, which is faxed (who faxes these days?) or emailed to me. I fill it out, copy my driver’s license and ID from the state bar and send it via email or fax back. I then get a notice I have permission to come to the prison. Sounds easy, right?

Not so. The administrative assistants for the wardens seem to have a system of ignoring lawyers down pat. They never call back. This month I called Tutwiler Prison on May 11, 12 and May 20 seeking a permission form to visit a client. No calls back. None. Nothing.  This week I called Bullock Correctional on May 18, 19 and May 20 seeking permission to see a client. At Bullock, I was promised the form on Monday. No form. I called on Tuesday, where an irritated staffer told me she’d send it Tuesday. No fax. On Wednesday, same thing. So, I called the office of the director of Alabama Department of Corrections. His assistant promised to get to the bottom of it. She called me back to tell me the staffer at Bullock would get me the forms “in plenty of time for you to visit.”

I’ve talked to other lawyers, some who have practiced longer than I have, and they inform me they have the same troubles. 

Apparently there is a “circle the wagons” approach going on at Alabama Department of Corrections. With so many lawsuits flying against the system, they’ve gotten gun shy about lawyers coming to visit clients.

None of that matters. Incarcerated people have the right to visit with their attorney whenever necessary. It’s the law. It’s part of the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

(Required by Alabama law: No representation is made that the legal services to be performed are greater than other lawyers.)

Don't get legal advice from bondsman

If you are arrested, the first thing you will invariably do is try to get out of jail. That’s a good idea. (Remember not to talk to the cops or give a statement.)

You’ll call a bondsmen. That’s a good idea, too, because he’ll arrange for your release from jail. Unfortunately, there’s a downside. The bondsmen may try to tell you how to handle your case and that’s bad. That’s practicing law without a license.

Why do we care? Because bondsmen aren’t lawyers and the advice they give people as they bond them out is often so wrong as to endanger you.

Why? It’s simple. Bondsmen think that because they work in the criminal justice system – and often have years of experience writing bonds – that they know the law itself.

They don’t.

Let me give you an example: A guy who hired me for a possession of marijuana charge recently was told by his bondsmen to “just go to court and plead guilty because you’ll just get probation.” The guy didn’t want to go back to jail, because he’d get fired, and didn’t want to pay for a lawyer. So, he figured he’d take the bondsman’s advice and he’d be ok.

Thankfully, the guy’s wife had him seek out a lawyer and he called me. During our initial consultation he told me what the bondsman had said. I had heard it before. When I explained to him the ramifications of a guilty plea to marijuana, he was stunned.

I told him that in Alabama a drug conviction suspends your driver’s license. He was shocked. “But I have to drive to work and pay my bills.” I told him a drug conviction would prevent him from receiving some federal benefits. I also told him a drug conviction would prevent him from living in subsidized house. I told him that all employers now background check their employees and a drug conviction could impact his job. I told him a drug conviction requires mandatory assessment and attending and completing a drug treatment program.

“But, I’m guilty,” he said. “What do I do?”

I explained to him that there is a difference between being culpable and being guilty. The word “guilty” means you’ve been convicted by a court. The word culpable means you’re legally at fault, but that doesn’t mean you have to be found guilty. Every single day I help culpable people avoid being guilty people – with dismissals, diversions, pre-trial interventions, dismissals and not guilty verdicts. Bondsmen can’t do any of that.

Bondsmen don’t know how the system works, don’t have law degrees and a license to practice law, but they want to run their mouths and give people incorrect “legal advice.” They must think this makes them look “in the know.” Others want your money and know if you pay a lawyer you’ll struggle to pay the bonding company’s fee.

All bondsmen know how to do is fill out the bonding paperwork that gets a person out of jail.

Period.

If you’re arrested you need to talk to at least three good lawyers and then pick from those three which your gut instinct tells you is the one for you. Rely on your lawyer’s expertise to get you out of trouble, not your bondsman.

Oh, and I've been asked by several lawyers to add this to this blog: Bondsmen should never recommend lawyers to anyone, and vice-versa. You can't trust a bondsman's recommendation for a lawyer, as some lawyers give illegal kickbacks to bondsmen for the referral. This is illegal but it happens. The reverse is true, also. Some bondsmen give lawyers illegal kickbacks as well.

When a bondsman is asked for a referral for a lawyer or a lawyer is asked for a referral for a bondsman, the answer should always be, "I'm not allowed to make any recommendation by law." Any other answer should be considered as suspect.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.

Legalizing "sin" would benefit Alabama greatly.

Legalizing “sin” would benefit Alabama greatly.

The State of Alabama is constantly in a budget crisis. As a state, we are last or nearly last in every economic and life-style indicator because we’re broke. More people in Alabama are on welfare than work. We have little local revenue from taxation and we’re addicted to federal money to barely survive.

Politicians of both parties run and get elected on “no new taxes” pledges and then take office with no intent of actually running the state, balancing budgets, improving the state’s revenues and making Alabama’s economy competitive.

Alabama politicians ignore a wealth of revenue opportunities in the name of morality. 

Let’s be clear: Morality is not a political issue. Morality is a person’s internal code of ethics. Humankind is notorious for one thing: Morality espoused in public is often completely belied by actions which occur when no one is looking.

Let’s see how Alabama fails to measure up economically merely because Alabamians are hypocrites when it comes to “sinning.”

Marijuana —

Alabama is awash in drugs. Marijuana use is rampant. Crystal meth, cocaine, heroin and crack are land-office business here.

Marijuana is a cash crop.  According to the feds, the national average for marijuana use is 260 per 100,000 population. Alabama is higher than the national average with 273 per 100,000 population using marijuana. By the fed standard, 12,714 people in Alabama smoke weed. We know it's more than that because  a total of 13,349 people in Alabama used marijuana in 2014. How do we know? They were arrested for possessing it. Law enforcement will tell you that for every person caught using marijuana there are 8 people who are never caught.

So, that means the total marijuana usage, according to police statistics, in Alabama is 106,792 people. 

Sociologists claim this number is too low. Some studies show that as many as 88% of people nationwide have used marijuana at least once. 

So, if that number is accurate, then 4.3 million people in Alabama have used marijuana at least once.

If Alabama legalized marijuana the tax revenue that the state would earn is easy to calculate.

Let’s look at Colorado and do the math. Colorado has 5.36 million people compared to Alabama’s 4.89 million. We can simply take Colorado’s numbers since the state legalized marijuana and multiply those figures by .897 and come up with a projection of what Alabama would earn in tax revenues from marijuana.

Colorado’s legal marijuana is a $700 million a year industry. Colorado weed generated $53 million in tax revenue to the public coffers. Income tax off of Colorado marijuana sales is $140 million annually. 

Alabama legal weed would be a $627.9 million industry.  Alabama would reap $47.5 million in sales taxes off of legal weed annually. Income taxes off of marijuana would exceed $120 million.

What other industry could instantly generate nearly $50 million in taxes for Alabama? None.

Casinos –

To calculate what Alabama would earn from casino gaming we need only look at Mississippi.

Mississippi’s casinos generate $2.4 billion in annual revenues. The income tax from this industry exceeds $480 million yearly.

Mississippi projects it will collect $2.17 million in sales tax revenues from gambling in 2015. Alabama, a state of comparable size and population, would generate the same amount yearly.

And don't forget, there are already two casino/hotels operating in Alabama on Indian land. Both are doing land-office business and raking in hundreds of millions in profits but not paying a dime of tax to the state because they're on Indian land!

So, casinos are already here, but we're not benefiting from them statewide. There is a strong rumor that Gov. Robert Bentley is asking the Indian casinos to bail out Alabama. That would be the ultimate display that Alabama has needed casinos all along. 

It's time.

Prostitution – 

Legalized prostitution is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good thing for public health and policy reasons. Wrap your head around this. In the states and countries of the world where prostitution has been legalized the industry has brought women out of sex slavery and made them legal independent contractors who work in a safe, regulated industry that generates tax revenues.

If you’re outraged and are yelling at the computer right now – screeching that you don’t want prostitution in Alabama – it’s too late. It’s already here.

Right now in Alabama there are as few as 4,000 and as many as 30,000 prostitutes working illegally in the state. This is a booming business in Alabama run by organized crime.  Think I’m lying? Google “escorts” and “Alabama” and you’ll find several web sites chock full of ads for prostitutes in every corner of Alabama. 

While some of these illegal prostitutes are working independently, the majority of these prostitutes are virtual slaves in an industry controlled by organized crime. These women have no say in anything they do. They are sex trafficked in and out of Alabama. They suffer abuse, beatings. Many are murdered and those who survive usually suffer from horrible sexually transmitted diseases. They are forced to have sex with six to eight men nightly.

Unlike illegal prostitutes, legal prostitutes host one customer nightly, are allowed to turn away any customer they are not comfortable with, and don’t face severe beatings and torture and exploitation.

So, let’s be clear: If there are between 4,000 and 30,000 prostitutes working in Alabama and these women sleep with six to eight men each night, let’s do the math: That means there are between 32,000 and 240,000 men in Alabama sleeping with prostitutes each night.

Clearly, prostitution exists in Alabama.

Legalizing prostitution would be a step in the right direction both from a public health standpoint and from a taxable revenue standpoint.

Prostitution is a $200 billion industry in USA. Most states outlaw prostitution, so that is tax-free revenue for sex traffickers and organized crime. If the sex industry were legalized and taxed, the income taxes on that money would exceed $40 billion. Sales tax would exceed $1.6 billion.

In Nevada, legal brothers are a gold-mine in tax revenue.  The average Nevada legal prostitute, working only one week a month, makes $100,000.00 annually and pays income taxes of $20,000.00 yearly.  Her employment is regulated by the state, which conducts monthly health-screenings, regulates the brothel owners, making sure her employment is voluntary and that she is paid properly and taxed properly.

Nevada legal brothels gross $75 million annually. Illegal prostitution in Las Vegas (the only part of Nevada where it is not legalized) is $5 billion annually, completely untaxed. One has to wonder why Nevada would legalize brothels, but NOT in Las Vegas, its number one tourist Mecca. As a result organized crime profits mightily in Vegas.

The legalization of brothels has brought a tax windfall for Nevada, where legal brothels generate $600,000 in annual sales tax revenue and $1.5 million in income taxes annually.

Not one case of AIDS has been diagnosed among the legal prostitutes in Nevada since it was legalized. AIDS among illegal prostitutes is rampant.

Not only would legalizing prostitution raise enormous tax revenues, it would reduce law enforcement costs. The cost of policing illegal prostitution is $7.5 million annually. The number of organized crime figures prosecuted for sex trafficking is - 1%. Mostly cops arrest the abused, beaten and terrified illegal prostitutes, victimizing them further, while their masters get away scot free.

Recent studies have shown that women who work in legal brothels are there because they like their jobs, like the income, and like the control they have over their lives. Further, the customers of these prostitutes like that the industry is regulated and the brothels are safe and not run by criminals.

Crunching the numbers, Alabama would generate $1.2 million in annual sales tax revenue and $3 million annually in income tax revenues from legalized prostitution.

All-nude strip clubs –

Strip clubs are marginally legal in Alabama. They are regulated to death, and thus their survival is often tenuous. These clubs are regulated so that dancers are only allowed to be topless and not nude as in Georgia.

There are currently only 25 strip clubs in Alabama. Despite rampant over-regulation and downright predatory hostility from government, these clubs generate revenue of $37.5 million annually. Alabama currently earns $3 million annually in sales taxes off of strip clubs. Income tax figures are hard to calculate because the dancers work strictly for tips and many clubs don't report.

Compare that to Georgia, which has 61 strip clubs. Most of them feature all-nude dancers. The gross revenue of these clubs in Georgia is – you might want to sit down – $700 million.  All-nude strip clubs in Atlanta are credited as a major attraction for Atlanta's $5 billion annual convention business.

So, Georgia gains an incredible annual income tax benefit of $140 million directly from strip clubs and a sales tax gain of $56 million annually.

Sales and income tax from conventions which come to Atlanta to enjoy the strip clubs there exceeds $1 billion.

And get this, the federal courts have ruled that nude dancing is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. So, Alabama is actually violating federal constitutional law by prohibiting nude dancing.

So let’s look at Alabama compared to Georgia. This means that if Alabama legalized all-nude strip clubs, the potential economic impact is $350 million and the potential tax benefit annually to Alabama would be $94 million. We’d see income tax of $70 million and sales tax of $3.8 million each year. 

If we legalized marijuana, casinos, prostitution and all-nude strip clubs in Alabama, the sales tax revenue would exceed $55 million annually. 

It’s time we started recognizing that all of these industries are currently existing in some form or other in Alabama. Alabamians partake of all of these “sins.” The marijuana, casino, sex and strip club industries could be legalized, regulated and taxed to the benefit of all Alabamians. 

And get this: If you don’t smoke marijuana, use prostitutes, gamble or go to strip clubs, you wouldn’t pay a dime of this tax. You’d just get the benefit of the “sinning” of others!

Lastly, imagine how much the State of Alabama and tax payers would save on law enforcement and incarceration costs. It would be millions of dollars annually.

Required by Alabama law: These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore,,no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the services of other lawyers.