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ID: Officer writing ticket providing backup to drug dog abandoned traffic ticket making it a criminal investigation; suppressed

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The officer’s delaying of the traffic stop for 2½ minutes while performing a back-up function for a drug dog sweep violated defendant’s rights under the Fourth Amendment, because the seizure, initially valid based on a cracked windshield, became unreasonable after … Continue reading →

USCA9 Denies Rehearing in "Fast Track" Case

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Last March, as noted here, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the clearly erroneous ruling by Judge Claudia Wilken enjoining the implementation of the regulations for the federal habeas corpus "fast track."  See the earlier post for details.Today the Ninth finally denied the petition for rehearing en banc (i.e., to have the case reconsidered by an 11-judge panel).  The other side can ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, but it is unlikely they will.

WSJ: Cellphone Smudges Yield a Trove of Forensic Data

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WSJ: Cellphone Smudges Yield a Trove of Forensic Data by Robert Lee Hotz: Researchers say molecules and microbes left on phone, keys, credit cards can linger for months.

"U.S. Resident Population in States that Permit Medical or Recreational Marijuana Use"

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Via email, I received news of this new accounting (with some typos) of reform states and their populations recently produced by folks at Carnevale Associates LLC. In addition, the same folks previously produced a three-page Policy Brief headlined "Policy Debate Must Adjust to Changes in State Law and Public Opinion"...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/a64jyT5phpQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

News Scan

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Passerby Shoots, Kills Man Beating Deputy:  A man who physically attacked a Florida sheriff's deputy Monday morning was shot and killed by an intervening bystander.  Fox News reports that the incident began after Lee County Deputy Dean Bardes, a 12-year veteran of the department, attempted to make a traffic stop, prompting the driver to take off at unsafe speeds.  The car chase ended on an exit ramp, where the suspect got out of his car, pulled Bardes out of his car and repeatedly beat him.  Another driver then got out of his car and intervened, telling the suspect that he'd shoot him if he refused to stop beating the deputy.  When the suspect refused to comply, the bystander shot three times.  Bardes was not hit and sustained only minor injuries from the attack.  The unidentified suspect, who was unarmed, later died.  The bystander, whose identity also remains anonymous at this time, possessed a concealed weapons license. …

Civil Rights Restoration: Part 2 of 5

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Restoring Of Civil Rights And Civil Liberties In Florida How And When Is Restoring Civil Liberties And Civil Rights Possible? Civil liberties and civil rights are one in the same. Though it is a long and costly process that does take a lot of effort and does depend on the actual felony conviction itself, it is often possible for a person convicted in the state of Florida or in another state to actually have their rights restored. Continue reading The post Civil Rights Restoration: Part 2 of 5 appeared first on Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog.

WILL FEDERAL MARIJUANA INVESTIGATIONS & ARRESTS NOW BECOME MORE OF A PRIORITY WITH TRUMP?

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The federal government should no longer prioritize marijuana investigations and arrests in Florida now that voters have passed the Florida constitutional amendment allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana. In other parts of the country where the legality of marijuana within a state has been called into question either by complete legalization or by allowances for medical marijuana the federal government has faced a dilemma on how to proceed because cannabis is still technically outlawed federally. In other states the DEA, FBI and the United States Attorney's offices have deescalated investigations and arrests in marijuana cases in states that have taken direct action undermining marijuana legality.Will this be true in Florida as well? Will possession of marijuana continue to be draw federal interest? It should be, because otherwise even state sanctioned marijuana growers would be subject to conspiracy to traffic in marijuana laws that draw minimum mandatory drug sentences…

Fort Worth Woman Fights for Exoneration on Murder Charge Years After Being Paroled

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People who are wrongly convicted of crimes often struggle to come to terms with their ordeal, even when the case against them falls apart. A recent example is that of Sonia Cacy, whose flawed conviction was highlighted last month in Texas Monthly. Cacy was convicted in 1993 of dousing her uncle Bill Richardson with a flammable substance and setting him ... Read More The post Fort Worth Woman Fights for Exoneration on Murder Charge Years After Being Paroled appeared first on .

Cook on Utah v. Strieff

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Julian A. Cook (University of Georgia Law School) has posted The Wrong Decision at the Wrong Time: Utah v. Strieff in the Era of Aggressive Policing (Southern Methodist University Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: On June...

Update: Fatal Westbound On I84 Near Sand Hollow Exit

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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 11/15/2016 3:55 pm Please direct questions to the District Office ****Update**** The 1996 Honda Civic was a stolen vehicle driven by Anthony L. Villanueva, 23, of Caldwell. The female passenger was Shanna A. Porras, 19, of Boise. ln/do ******************************** On Tuesday, November 15, 2016, at 2:17 am, Idaho State Police investigated a crash westbound on I84 at mile marker 18.2, east of the Sand Hollow exit. An adult male was driving a 1996 Honda Civic westbound on I84. The male drove off the roadway, onto the right shoulder, overcorrected, and rolled. The vehicle came to rest on its top. A 19 year old female passenger succumbed to her injures at scene. The male…

State Docs Not Jumping Aboard Medical Marijuana

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Medical marijuana has had a tough time catching on in Maryland as roadblocks have sprung up each step of the way. First the legislature failed to craft a legitimate medical cannabis program, and a year later when a real program arrived they failed to adequately fund a commission to draft its rules. Then the underfunded and inexperienced commission drastically miscalculated the number of expected grower and distributor applications, which lead to massive delays in the awarding of licenses. When the licenses were finally awarded three potential growers sued for unjust denial of their applications, and their cases are pending in court. Many of these roadblocks were predictable, and could have been avoided with greater cooperation among politicians and more resources dedicated to the launching the program. However the latest roadblock was not expected and could end up disrupting the medical marijuana program if and when it finally gets rolling. A public records request revealed…

California Enacts Law Penalizing Secret Recordings at Planned Parenthood

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California governor Jerry Brown just signed into law A.B. 1671, which would punish the dissemination of secret recordings with health care providers. The bill was sponsored and lobbied by Planned Parenthood in response to the videos released by the Orange County-based Center for American Progress last summer. It is reported that the bill was intended to protect them after the scandal involving the organization’s alleged sale of fetal body parts from abortions. Last year, the Center for American Progress released a video featuring high-ranking Planned Parenthood employees haggling over prices for fetal specimens as well as describing altering abortion procedures to obtain more intact fetal body parts for tissue procurement agencies. The video has been alleged as fake by Planned Parenthood, but spread like wildfire on the internet. Because it is already illegal in the state of California to record someone without consent, the bill had been opposed by many civil liberties…

Avoiding jail time regarding drug possession charges in Georgia

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Many Georgia residents have experienced situations in life where they felt they were in the wrong places at the wrong times. In some cases, drug possession charges were involved. In building strong defenses, some have been able to show that mere circumstance led to their being charged, and evidence later proved they had not committed the crimes of which they'd been accused. Many drug-related charges involve serious accusations that carry possible severe penalties under conviction. Especially in situations where drugs like heroin, methamphetamine or cocaine are involved, those charged with possession may have a lot to lose if things don't go their way in court. Whether charges were filed at a state or federal level may have some bearing on repercussions that may be incurred, if convicted. Being convicted of a serious drug crime may not only affect the person accused, but if that person has a spouse or children, the whole family may suffer negative…

Appelman Law Firm Blog Again Voted Best Criminal Law Blog In Minnesota

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The votes are in, and we just want to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for Appelman Law Firm in The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog contest. Blogs were nominated across a wide range of topics, from Personal Injury Law to Educational Law, and we were fortunate to be nominated in the Criminal Law category along with 50 other criminal blogs from across the country. Overall, we ended up with 325 votes, and we want to thank everybody who took a little time out of their day to vote for us. All those votes resulted in a second place finish in the Criminal Law category, which was an improvement on last year’s third place finish. That being said, since the leading criminal law blog was from New York, we can take pride in knowing that we were selected the best criminal law blog in Minnesota! Thanks again for coming out in droves to vote for Appelman Law Firm. We blog because we love sharing legal information with people, especially when it can help them out of a…

New California Law Removes Statute of Limitations for Rape Charges

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Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation removing California’s 10-year statute of limitations for bringing charges against someone for rape.   The legislation, specifically Senate Bill 813 (also known as the Justice for Victims Act), amended the California penal code so that specific sex crimes, including rape, forcible sodomy, and molestation of a child can be prosecuted, regardless of how long ago the crime occurred.   California has an array of laws and code provisions related to rape and other sex crimes including: Date Rape Statutory Rape (Penal Code 261.5 PC) Spousal Rape (Penal Code 262 PC) The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2017 and does not apply retroactively. This means that cases brought prior to January 1 cannot rely on the new law. Other states have adopted similar modifications to their criminal codes. For example, Colorado doubled its statute from 10 years to 20 years, according to The Bottom Line. Nevada also extended its statute of…

Larsen and Devins on the "Amicus Machine"

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Scotusblog has this post by Allison Orr Larsen and Neal Devins on the rising number of amicus briefs, and the heightened focus on obtaining briefs from Supreme Court practitioners to maximize a case's chances of being heard and a successful outcome. The post begins:We are living in the age of the Supreme Court amicus. Last term, amici curiae, or “friends of the court,” filed 863 briefs at the court – an average of 13 per case argued – and the justices cited these briefs in 54 percent of the cases they decided. This is the new normal. Over the past six terms, as Anthony Franze and R. Reed Anderson have shown, approximately 800 amicus briefs were filed in 93-98 percent of all cases, with marquee end-of-June cases attracting briefs in the triple digits. That is over an 800-percent increase in submissions from the 1950s and a 95-percent increase from 1995. Although nobody can say for sure whether these briefs actually change case outcomes, it is clear…

Garrett & Mitchell on Forensics and Fallibility

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Brandon L. Garrett and Gregory Mitchell (University of Virginia School of Law and University of Virginia School of Law) have posted Forensics and Fallibility: Comparing the Views of Lawyers and Judges (West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 119, 2016, Forthcoming) on...

Maryland Attorney General Questions Legality of Bail Amounts

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When someone is arrested and is awaiting trial, bail and the ability to pay it is the difference between awaiting trial a free person, or doing it behind bars. Bail is intended to balance two important principles. The first is that we are innocent unless proven guilty, and thus, someone should not be imprisoned before he or she is convicted unless a danger to the community. The other is to avoid the possibility that someone accused of a crime may run away or flee in an effort to evade a trial. Thus, a system of bail allows someone arrested and awaiting trial to be free before trial, unless a court makes certain findings. How Bail is Determined Continue reading

Last Means Last

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A case involving charges of impaired driving is calendared on today’s district court docket. The defendant was charged more than two years ago; the case has been continued several times pursuant to motions made by the defendant and the State. When this case last appeared on the docket, the State moved for a continuance, and the defendant objected. The district court granted the State’s motion, but ordered that it be the last continuance for the State. Earlier this morning, the State again moved to continue the case. The district court denied the State’s motion, and directed the State to call the case or dismiss the charges. The State refused to take either action. What can the judge do? The judge may dismiss the charges pursuant to his or her inherent authority to manage the docket, a right that North Carolina’s appellate courts have recognized on several occasions and which the court of appeals reaffirmed yesterday in State v. Loftis, __ N.C. App. __…

Former FDLE Officer In Tampa Accused Of Sexually Abusing Two Young Boys

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A state investigator has been arrested on charges that he sexually abused two young boys. According to officials, the man was working on a case at a children’s home for boys who’ve been abused. Investigators claim two 8-year-olds allege the man inappropriately touched them and made them perform sexual acts on him. The man used to work for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) in Tampa investigating crimes against children. Investigators reported that the man has denied any allegations against him. The man is charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of two victims under 12 years old. He has also been placed on administrative leave. When a police officer or other law enforcement official is charged with a crime of any kind, it is absolutely vital that they speak with a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible to ensure that their rights are protected. When it comes to sex crimes cases against a law enforcement officer, prosecutors will…
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