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Is Florida really going to conduct full post-Hurst resentencings for hundreds of condemned murderers?


Enhanced sentence imposed for sexual encounters with the same minor on separate occasions

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  In U.S. v Nagel the defendant appealed his 292 month sentence imposed after pleading guilty to a charge of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 2422(b) His appeal centered around the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his sentence specifically whether the district court was correct in not grouping count one and count two of the defendant’s conviction in accordance with section 3D1.2 of the federal sentencing guidelines because the conduct underlying each count caused a separate and distinct harm to the victim. The facts leading to this conviction resulted from the defendant contact with the minor through Facebook leading to the defendant convincing the minor to meet him at the store where he was employed and there they had a sexual encounter on one occasion.   The facts leading to the second count arose from separate sexual activity with the minor as his residence. The presentence investigation report…

SHAME ON OUR COPS & DEPUTIES: PINELLAS COUNTY DRUG ARRESTS ARE AMONG THE HIGHEST IN FLORIDA

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New data proves what many of us who are plugged into the criminal justice system in Tampa Bay have long suspected, Pinellas County has more drug arrests per 100,000 people than most other counties in Florida. This is especially disheartening when you consider that Florida itself has more drug arrests than other parts of the country. Contrary to the response from the Pinellas County Sheriff most of these arrests are not felonies. Nor are most of these arrests having anything to do with oxycodone, synthetic drugs, opiates, methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin or doctor shopping or forged prescriptions. No, most of these arrests involve small amounts of misdemeanor marijuana possession which is not even a crime in more civilized portions of America. Nor does our Sheriff want to decriminalize pot possession. Instead he still wants to make his arrests but allow citizens to go thru a burdensome process to have charges dismissed. It begs the question as to why small…

The Juvenile, the Criminal Threat and the Emojis

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This post examines a 2015 decision from the California Court of Appeal – First District: In re L.F.,2015 WL 3500616.  As Wikipedia explains, injurisprudence, in re: is used to indicate that a judicial proceeding may not have formally designated adverse parties or is otherwise uncontested. The term is commonly used in case citations of probate and  bankruptcy proceedings. . . . It is sometimes used for consolidated cases, as with In re Marriage Cases. It was adopted by certain U.S. states like California when they adopted no-fault divorce to reflect the fact that the modern proceeding for dissolution of marriage was being taken out of the adversarial system. It is also used in juvenile courts, as, for instance, In re Gault.Getting back to the opinion this post examines, the Court of Appeal begins by explaining thatMinor L.F. appeals after the juvenile court sustained a wardship petition alleging she committed a criminal…

Two More Minnesota Vikings Earn DWIs

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The Minnesota Vikings may be the hottest team in the NFL right now, but their public image has taken a slight hit after the news that both a player and a coach recently earned DWIs. The most recent arrest was that of practice squad player Isame Faciane, who was booked for driving while intoxicated last Wednesday. According to the police report, Faciane was operating a motor vehicle in St. Louis Park when he got a little turned around. Police say he illegally entered a construction zone and attempted to exit the wrong way down a ramp when he was spotted by authorities. He was pulled over and asked to take a breathalyzer, which revealed that he had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.13, more than one and a half times the legal limit. As a practice squad player, Faciane was already walking a fine line, so it’s not surprising to learn that the Vikings released him earlier this week. Interestingly, the Star-Tribune noted that it was the first known off-field incident for…

The Denver Post: Colorado Needs Tougher DUI Laws

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Many state legislators hope that the new DUI law in California, which mandates ignition interlock devices for anyone convicted of a DUI in Los Angeles or any other part of the state, will help reduce the number of repeat offenders. California Vehicle Code 23152 already requires tougher penalties for anyone with multiple DUI convictions on their record. In some states, however, new laws have failed to discourage repeat DUI offenders. On September 14, the Denver Post published an editorial entitled. “Colorado’s new felony DUI law needs another look.” The editorial pointed out that “long-overdue” legislation passed in 2015 brought Colorado in line with 45 states that already had felony DUI laws. But it said that the new law “too often results in letting repeated drunk-driving offenders get away from serving any real time—and away from the roads and the lives they put at risk.” Under the 2015 law, a fourth DUI conviction in a…

Do Insurance Rates Always Rise After DUI?

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The WalletHub website says that drivers who convicted of a DUI can expect a rate increase of as much as 30 percent on their vehicle insurance. But all drivers who have a DUI in Los Angeles on their driving record may not face that same increase. Different insurance companies handle such infractions differently and consider several factors when making their decisions. The Consumer Federation of America has released a study saying that one big factor is how rich a driver is. In a study that tested premiums quoted by five large insurers in 10 different cities, the group found that: •    Upper-income drivers with DUI often pay less than good drivers of moderate means with no accidents or tickets on their driving records. (70 percent of the 30 test cases.) •    Moderate-income drivers with perfect records pay more than upper-income drivers who caused an accident in which someone was interested. (53 percent of the 38 test cases)…

Fatal Crash Nine Mile Rd, Wallace, ID

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Idaho State Police Regional Communication Center - North 615 W Wilbur Ave Suite A Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83815 Please direct questions to the appropriate District Offices District 1 (208) 209-8620 Fax (208) 209- 8618 District 2 (208) 799-5150 CASE #: C16002494 District: One --------------------- PRESS RELEASE ----------------------------- DATE: 10/19/16 TIME: 9:59 PM LOCATION: Nine Mile Rd, Wallace, ID ASSISTING AGENCIES: Shoshone County Sheriff's Office ------------- VEHICLE #1 DRIVER: John H. Giachino AGE: 41 ADDRESS: Wallace, ID INJURIES?: Fatal LOCATION TAKEN?: Shoshone Funeral Services VEHICLE YEAR: 1976 VEHICLE MAKE: Ford VEHICLE MODEL: F150 Pickup WRECKER: Don's Towing SEATBELTS WORN?: No ------------- INCIDENT NARRATIVE: Giachino was travelling northbound on Nine Mile Road when he lost control of his vehicle and crossed the southbound lane. He struck an embankment, the vehicle…

What’s “Private” about the Rule of Law?

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Gillian K. Hadfield & Barry R. Weingast, Is Rule of Law an Equilibrium Without Private Ordering? (USC L. Legal Stud. Paper No. 16-18; Stan. L. & Econ. Olin Working Paper No. 493, 2016), available at SSRN. Lisa Austin In their new paper, Is Rule of Law an Equilibrium Without Private Ordering?, Gillian Hadfield and Barry Weingast make a provocative claim about the rule of law: that private ordering is what produces and sustains it, not the institutions of government. This is an important contribution to rule of law debates, which are so heavily focused on public institutions and public law while leaving the role of private ordering and private law undertheorized. But see Private Law and The Rule of Law (Lisa M. Austin & Dennis Klimchuk eds.). Hadfield and Weingast are social scientists, not legal philosophers. However, their work engages with many different strands of theoretical literature on the rule of law, including analytic jurisprudence, and generates…

Grace And The Bloodless Coup

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The third and final debate between the presidential candidates went off as expected, with each side certain that their candidate was obviously the winner, rationalizing the flaws and ridiculing the opponent’s, but for one huge distinction. As the New York Times’ headlines screams: Trump Won’t Say if He Will Accept Election Results Instead, he will keep America in suspense. As for the suspense part, few will lose sleep wondering how this will turn out. I don’t think suspense means what he thinks it does. There is no constitutional duty to concede. There is no law that dictates that the loser of an election give a speech, a press release, anything, congratulating the winner and, something, something, ‘Murica. Whether or not Trump “accepts” the election results isn’t, in itself, of any importance whatsoever. The results are no different if he accepts them or not. Results are results, and if he chooses to be the whiny bitch of the…

The Price of Logic (In The Age of Emotion)

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If you’re in that lower half of the socioeconomic spectrum, you ought to be outraged on the slur to your intelligence reflected by Caroline Kitchener’s post in The Atlantic. While law schools are steadily becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, they remain overwhelmingly upper-middle class. Only 5 percent of students at elite law schools come from families that fall in the bottom half of the socioeconomic spectrum—a number that has hardly changed since the 1960s. The Logic Games section contributes to this lack of socioeconomic diversity. Calling it the logic “games” suggests that’s just another ploy of the elites to keep the maginalized down. After all, it’s a game. It games law school admissions. And as the post URL says, the game is “rigged,” a word that’s bandied about a lot lately. So what is this “Logic Game”? As soon as I told my friends and family about my plans to take the LSAT, the…

Georgia completes its seventh execution of 2016, bringing national execution total for year to 17

"The United States needs a defender general"

Local Montana judge being assailed for short jail sentence given to father who raped 12-year-old daughter

Jacksonville mother charged with child abuse after child found in car

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A woman in Jacksonville was arrested on the charge of child abuse after being accused of leaving her child in a hot car with no air conditioning.  According to a report in a report from News4Jax, the woman allegedly left the small child in the car for a minimum of forty minutes outside the woman’s place of work.  A passerby saw the child in the car and noticed she was unattended and sweating.  The witness contacted police.  Officers noted that while the child was very sweaty and hot, the child did not appear to be physically harmed.  After being arrested, the woman’s bond was set at $20,003.00. In order to be convicted of child abuse in Duval County, the State Attorney’s Office must prove certain things.  The defendant must have knowingly or willfully:  1.  intentionally inflicted physical or mental injury on the child or 2.  committed an intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or…

A Supreme Court that Takes Sides? Part II

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Paul Mirengoff of PowerLine saw the same zinger in Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court answer that I did.  With characteristic insight, Paul quotes the oath of office Supreme Court Justices are required to take, and notes that anyone appointed under the partisan, agenda-laden criteria Ms. Clinton set forth last night could not possibly be faithful to the oath, which is as follows (emphasis added):I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. The question, which Paul then addresses, is whether Clinton appointees are likely to be, not merely misguided, but illegitimate in a deeper sense when seen through the lens of the neutrality Americans historically (and rightly) demand of judges. The…

Disappointingly, <em>New York Times</em> editorial board tepidly notes how "Marijuana Lights Up State Ballots"

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More than two years ago, as first reported here, this seemingly historic new New York Times editorial called for the legalization of marijuana under the bold headline "Repeal Prohibition, Again." At the time, I had thought this action by the Gray Lady's editorial board would mean that the marijuana reform...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/WuBtOzAUzoY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

Prosecutorial Treatment of Witnesses

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When it comes to our statutes dealing with threatening and intimidating witnesses, how do our prosecutors fare.How often are they prosecuted?Do you believe it happens?  Every experienced defense attorney will tell you it happens a lot.Let's take a look at one clear cut version of a prosecutor and her cohorts working in a pretrial interview with a witness.Here's the case:  Please read it, and come back to join me.http://caselaw.findlaw.com/nm-supreme-court/1675125.htmlNow, that you have read it, let me ask you.  Do you think that the prosecutor's office began an investigation on that prosecutor for threatening or intimidating a witness.  Trying to change the witness's testimony?No.Do you think the prosector's office called out state police to begin an investigation on the prosecutor for violation of criminal statutes such as threatening or intimidating a witness?No.Do you think the prosecutor was trying to sway the testimony?I do, but…

The Police Interrogation

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Like most defense attorneys, I've watched numerous police interrogations on video and listened to them on audio.They can be, in fact, intimidating, deceptive, and/or extremely confrontational.So why are these interrogations not considered to be intimidating and threatening to a witness under our statutes.  Does it have to do with criminal intent?There can be no denying that during many interrogations, law enforcement is trying to sway (or even change) how a witness first informs law enforcement of how they are going to testify if left to their own devices.But law enforcement is given leeway to angle the witness, to remind of them law of perjury, to remind them of what it means to be an accessory to a crime.Furthermore, I've seen law enforcement get very angry with witnesses, threatening to take them to jail, threatening to make an arrest,threatening....threatening.....threatening....intimidating...intimidating....and intimidating.Maybe law enforcement believes…

What Does It Mean To "Accept" an Election "Result"?

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Last night, when I heard Donald Trump decline to pledge to accept the result of the election, I understood him to mean that in the event we have an outcome like 2000 he reserved the right to file a challenge like Al Gore did in Florida.  Reading the papers this morning, one would think that he threatened a violent overthrow of the government.Al Gore did not "accept" the "result" announced by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.  He took the case to the Florida courts.  George Bush did not "accept" the "result" of the Florida Supreme Court decision.  He took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.Two presidential elections in living memory have been close enough to be within what John Fund called the "margin of litigation":  1960 and 2000.  Richard Nixon chose not to litigate; Al Gore chose to.  I consider it extremely unlikely that 2016 will be anywhere near that close, but this year has…
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