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CJLF Website Maintenance

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CJLF's main website, www.cjlf.org, may be inaccessible at times this evening and weekend due to a system configuration change.  It should be fully accessible by Monday morning.

Irresistible: Bills seek transparency on resisting arrest

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Texas state Rep. Harold Dutton has filed a sweet little bill, HB 1219, with the sole purpose of requiring prosecutors who charge a defendant with "resisting arrest" to say what was the underlying offense for which they were originally being arrested. State Sen. Konni Burton has filed similar legislation, SB 494, which would require that information to be included in police offense reports when resisting arrest charges are filed.For example, Sandra Bland was eventually booked for resisting arrest, but the arrest she was resisting was for failure to signal a lane change. Burton's bill would require that information to be included in a police report and Dutton's would require its inclusion in the prosecutor's charging document.These bills speak to an issue that came up repeatedly when your correspondent was ACLU of Texas' Police Accountability Project Director from 2000-2006: Some police officers use "resisting arrest" charges essentially as…

Lawyers: Security Too Tight on El Chapo

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It does not get much better than this...Lawyers for the notorious drug kingpin and murderer Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is in the U.S. because the highest security Mexican prisons could not hold him, whined to a federal judge today about the security at a federal prison in Manhattan being too tight. Tom Hays at the AP reports that Guzman's lawyers complained that the restrictions placed upon their client are making it difficult for them to make decisions about this defense.  Guzman is allowed to talk with his lawyers on the phone, and has met with them. But the lawyers complain that guards won't allow him to meet with his common-law wife, keep him in his cell 23 hours a day, and did not bring Guzman water during one meeting with them.  They also complained that the guards violated his rights by denying him a shovel (just kidding).  The judge turned them down.  

We are all Groia: in defence of the defenders

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We are Groia. "What's an advocate?" In part, this is the question that the Supreme Court of Canada will have to answer after granting leave in the case of Groia vs. The Law Society of Upper Canada.  For Canadian litigators, this will be one of the most important decisions in decades as it will define the ethical limits of "zealous advocacy", [...]

Capital Punishment and the Great Unwashed

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The Federalist Society teleforum with Bill Otis and Carol Steiker is going on now.  See Bill's post earlier today.  Explaining the difference between legislative action on this issue and popular votes, Professor Steiker actually said, in essence, that the ignorant regular people don't know what they are doing, unlike their enlightened and informed representatives.Actually, I think it tends more the other way.  The anti-death-penalty movement has the benefit of funding to create an entire organization just to do [dis]information, plus they have left-wing academia on their side.  With these advantages, they have snowed the legislatures with a lot of misleading half-truths.  The pro side has no such organization.  (CJLF's budget is comparable to DPIC's but death penalty information is maybe 5% or our work versus 100% of theirs.)  The few academics who publish articles refuting the anti-DP myths are bullied out of the…

Un poema para no perder la costumbre

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La belleza lozana, frágil, dulce, encantadora, subyuga el  corazón y  atiza la pasión del hombre en su camastro tendido, las delicadas líneas trazadas por el pincel del  experto amante de la armonía,  no puede remplazar la llama ígnea e incontrolable del atractivo femenino, su esplendoroso empeño le rinde pleitesía a la verdad todas las noches con sus días.

Man Pleads Guilty to DUI 17 Years After Crash

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According to a recent news report from the Times Herald-Record, a man has pleaded guilty to a drunk driving accident that killed his friend 17 years after the accident occurred. He pleaded guilty to drunk driving, second-degree manslaughter, and charges related to violation of the bail statute by not coming back to court when he was out on bail during the pendency of his court case. Prosecutors have said the defendant, who was in his late 20s at the time of the accident, lost control of the 1988 station wagon his was driving and crashed.  His friend, who was a 24-year-old passenger in the car, died as a result of his injuries sustained in the crash. During the court case in 2000, the defendant attempted to plead guilty. Unfortunately, he was too drunk to remember what happened that night and could not plead guilty.  The reason for this is because the United States Supreme Court has held that in order to plead guilty to a criminal offense, the plea must be knowing and…

Detailing regulatory realities and challenges for marijuana reform states

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A busy week prevented me from finding time earlier to blog about this notable Stateline piece headlined "As More Voters Legalize Marijuana, States Left With Regulatory Hurdles." Here are some highlights: The battle to legally grow, sell, buy and smoke pot in California has been a long one. Voters in...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/7tePiU8jV-E" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

When Does a California DUI Become a Felony?

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Generally, when a person is arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in California, it is a misdemeanor charge. Misdemeanors are punishable by no more than a year in jail. Sometimes, however, a California DUI can be charged as a felony, meaning that it can be punishable by more than a year in jail. So when does a California DUI become a felony? The first way that a California DUI can become a felony is if a drunk driver causes death or injury. California Vehicle Code section 23153 makes it unlawful for any person, while under the influence of any alcoholic beverage or drug, or under the combined influence of any alcoholic beverage and drug, or with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or higher to drive a vehicle and concurrently do any act forbidden by law, or neglect any duty imposed by law in driving the vehicle, which act or neglect proximately causes bodily injury to any person other than the driver. A California DUI causing injury is known as a…

Thailand considers death penalty for officials convicted of graft

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Source: Japan Times (9 January 2017)http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/01/09/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/thailand-considers-death-penalty-officials-convicted-graft/#.WJTvCFPaeUmClick headlines to visit the site.

Voigt & Wulf on The Independence of Prosecutors

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Stefan Voigt and Alexander J. Wulf (University of Hamburg - Institute of Law & Economics and SRH Hochschule Berlin and Institute of Law and Economics, University of Hamburg) have posted What Makes Prosecutors Independent? - Analyzing the Determinants of the...

Oklahoma Governor's task force urging significant sentencing reform to deal with surging prison population

Kuwait: First Executions in 4 Years

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Source: Human Rights Watch (26 January 2017)https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/26/kuwait-first-executions-4-years(Beirut) – Kuwait carried out seven executions by hanging on January 25, 2017, the first time the Gulf state carried out the death penalty in four years, Human Rights Watch said today. Kuwait’s decision reflects a growing trend in the region to increase the use of, or lift moratoriums on, the death penalty.Kuwait executed two nationals, including a member of the royal family, an Ethiopian woman, a Filipina woman, two Egyptian men, and a Bangladeshi man in Kuwait’s central prison, according to KUNA, Kuwait’s state news agency. The executions were the first in Kuwait since 2013, when Kuwait executed five people. The 2013 executions ended a de facto death penalty moratorium that had been in place since 2007.“Executing seven people in one day shows Kuwait is moving in exactly the wrong direction on the death penalty,” said Sarah Leah…

Pakistan: Senate Committee on Human Rights to Debate Misuse of Blasphemy Laws

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Source: The Wire (13 January 2017)https://thewire.in/99465/pakistan-senate-committee-human-rights-debate-misuse-blasphemy-laws/Islamabad: A Pakistani senate committee is set to debate how to prevent the country’s blasphemy laws being applied unfairly, despite opposition from religious conservatives who support legislation that carries a mandatory death penalty for insulting Islam.Senator Farhatullah Babar told Reuters that the Senate Committee on Human Rights, of which he is a member, will start discussions on blasphemy laws as early as next week, based on recommendations from a 24-year-old report.He said it would be the first time in decades that any parliamentary body had considered a formal proposal to stop the abuse of the blasphemy laws.According to Babar, the committee would consider a proposal making it binding to investigate complaints before registering a case, to ensure “genuine blasphemy” had been committed and the law was not being used to settle…

Nevada attorney general wants tougher lifetime rules for sex offenders

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2-3-17 Nevada: CARSON CITY — Attorney General Adam Laxalt said Thursday he has requested legislation to allow the state’s parole system to impose additional lifetime conditions on sex offenders. Assembly Bill 59, drafted by Laxalt’s office, comes because of the McNeill v. State Nevada Supreme Court ruling in which the state Board of Parole Commissioners was found to not have the authority to

You Go Back, Jack, Do It Again

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Guillermo Contreras reports for the San Antonio Express-News:Robert Gill, whose life sentence for cocaine and heroin distribution conspiracy was commuted by President Barack Obama and expired in 2015, was back before a federal magistrate on another drug charge.*                   *                  *Gill is charged by Homeland Security Investigations with possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. He faces 5 to 40 years in prison now.That's the steely reality of clemency.

The Aoudad Sheep, Facebook and Criminal Trespass

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This post examines an opinion from the Court of Appeals of Texas, El Paso: O’Brien v. State, 2017 WL 360691 (2017).  The court begins the opinion by explaining how, and why, the case arose:Appellant Jacob O'Brien, his brother Christopher O'Brien, and their friends Seth Winkler and Tyler Bumpers went on a successful hunting trip and returned home with the heads of two aoudad sheep. They posted pictures of their bounty on Facebook. Unfortunately, their hunting trip occurred on the property of Nathan Pickett, who, Appellant admitted, had not given them permission to hunt. Appellant claimed he had been informed that Seth Winkler's father owned the property. The jury disbelieved Appellant's assertion and found him guilty of criminal trespass. The trial court sentenced Appellant to 60 days' in jail and imposed a $500 fine.O’Brien v. State, supra. In a footnote, the court explains that “Christopher O'Brien was also charged with…

Democrats Must Not Normalize Trump By Opposing His Policies Only On Their Merits

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Abby SomethingAs I argued here, the Democrats need to oppose everything Trump does in order to undermine his presidency.  Every political victory he claims bolsters his legitimacy and increases his power.  But in challenging his nominations, orders, directives and policies it is critical not only to attack them on their merits but to frame them in the context of three things:  (1) his conflicts of interest stemming from his un-divested business empire and his failure to release his federal tax returns; (2) his affinity for white supremacists including, but not limited to, his bff Steve Bannon; and (3) his relationship with his other bff, Vladimir Putin, and other Russian officials and oligarchs.  For example, the fact that Trump will seek to roll back the protections of Dodd-Frank should certainly be challenged as an abdication of his campaign promise to protect the public against Wall Street -- and an…

Pennsylvania Appeals Court Vacates Illegally Enhanced DUI Sentence

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The Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently remanded for re-sentencing an appellant’s DUI conviction because he was subjected to enhanced penalties provided by sections 3803 and 3804 for refusing to provide a blood sample, in contravention of the United States Supreme Court’s recent directive. In the early morning of February 12, 2015, an officer witnessed a driver’s vehicle sideswipe a legally parked car. The officer initiated a traffic stop. When the driver rolled down the vehicle window, a strong odor of alcohol emanated from the vehicle. The officer and his colleague noticed that the driver had red, glassy eyes, and his speech was slurred. When the driver exited the vehicle, the officers noticed that he was unsteady on his feet. At that time, the officers arrested the driver for suspicion of DUI. The officers requested that the driver provide a blood sample; however, the driver refused to provide a blood sample. At the police station, he…

UN ARTÍCULO DE PESO, JAMÁS DEFINITIVO

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Cuando estaba en el primer año de Derecho (UPSMP) corría el año 1980, una noche al salir de clases abordé el transporte que me conduciría a casa, en la puerta esperaba mi esposa aunque fueran las doce de la noche menos un cuarto aguardaba mi llegada. Recuerdo esa noche en particular porque tuve como compañeros de viaje a un  profesor y estudiantes de la Universidad a los que no conocía, el profesor hablaba de los méritos de un joven Abogado con un porvenir fantástico. ¡No se equivocó! Tiempo después escuchaba su nombre con mucha frecuencia y hoy 03 de febrero de 2017 acabo de leer en El Comercio un artículo suyo comentando el “matrimonio” entre dos homosexuales celebrado en México, criticando a Federico Salazar por sus desatinada posición frente a la sentencia  del 7º Juzgado Constitucional que ordena a la RENIEC inscribir ese…
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