Hon. Paul L. Friedman moderated the judges panel. The judges on the panel were Hon. Gregg Costa, Hon. Charles Breyer, Hon. Nannette Jolivette Brown, Hon. Amy J. St. Eve, Hon. Kathleen M. Williams, and Hon. Carlos Mendoza. Does your life...
ABA White Collar Crime Conference - Judges Speak
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Maryland Nurse’s Opinion Testimony Triggers Conviction Reversal Because She Was Never Declared as an Expert Witness
There are several ways to get a criminal conviction in Maryland overturned on appeal. One way is to establish that the prosecution was allowed to introduce improper testimony on an essential issue of the case. This is what happened recently in one rape-and-assault case. A nurse, who was brought in as a lay witness, gave opinion testimony despite never having been authorized as an expert witness. That entitled the defendant to a new trial, according to the Court of Special Appeals’ ruling. In this case, the defendant was a stepfather who stood accused of raping his adult stepdaughter. The state’s case contended that the stepfather, who was at the stepdaughter’s home to take her to a doctor’s appointment, committed the assault, then took the daughter to the appointment, and later drove her back home. Allegedly, it was not until later in the night that the stepdaughter felt safe enough to disclose what happened. The stepdaughter went to a hospital in…
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Court Tosses Drug Conviction After Finding Illegal Detention After Traffic Stop
Vehicle traffic stops that lead to drug seizures pose a continuing problem for the courts to deal with. This is especially so in speeding cases. Law enforcement stopping drivers of speeding vehicles has increasingly resulted in seizures of marijuana, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methamphetamine in recent years. That’s because most foreign-produced drugs discovered in the United States are smuggled into the country overland, mostly from Mexico. Vehicle Stops Create Constitutional Problems But vehicle stops that lead to drug searches are a constitutional sticky-wicket. Two years ago the U.S. Supreme Court in Rodriquez v. United States held that they police cannot extend a traffic stop, even more than a minute, beyond the traffic violation without real reasonable suspicion that other criminal activity has occurred or is occurring. Police Need Reasonable Suspicion to Extend Traffic Stop Put simply, absent reasonable suspicion, the Supreme…
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Steps to Take If You’ve Been Convicted of a DUI
After a Happy Hour that turned into a couple of hours, you grabbed your keys, said goodbye to your co-workers, and walked to your car. Feeling “buzzed” you decided to take the route home you know well. Halfway home you saw flashing lights behind you and were pulled over by a cop. He said you didn’t make a full stop at the stop sign; you have no recollection.He asked you if you have been drinking, you tell the truth, “a few,” and he asked you to get out of the car. You passed the Field Sobriety Test but failed the Breathalyzer. You are now facing a DUI conviction.No one plans on getting a DUI, but it can even happen to the people who just “have a few” after work with some friends. Without a doubt, drinking and driving is a serious offense that can lead to accidents and put lives at risk; it can also be life-changing for those who are convicted.It’s important to remember that a DUI conviction varies and depends on the circumstances…
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Pernell on Racial Justice and Federal Habeas
LeRoy Pernell (Florida A&M University - College of Law) has posted Racial Justice and Federal Habeas Corpus as Post-Conviction Relief from State Convictions on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It is the purpose of this article to not simply document...
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Transgender Woman Sent to Prison for Sex Acts with Teenage Boys
Jane Maria Nicholson, a 25 year old transgender woman, was sentenced to more the 5 years in prison on Wednesday for engaging in sex acts with teenage boys, one of them only 13. She propositioned the boys on a street in North Torrance. Authorities said that the boys did not know their female partner was biologically a male until they were contacted by detectives investigating a child molestation case. Nicholson formerly served on the board of the South Bay LGBT center. In September 2015 in a Torrance CitiCable video news feature that was posted on YouTube, Nicholson said she was happy with her role helping gay, lesbian, and transgender people at the LGBT center at 16610 Crenshaw Blvd. Continue reading →
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Attorney General Sessions and Possible Perjury Charges
Attorneys General have been known to lie. Last August former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was convicted of lying to a state grand jury. As we reported last year, Kane’s downfall was tied to a web of political corruption that rocked that state. On March 2, 2017, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions acknowledged that he had given “mistaken” testimony to Congress about possible contacts between President Trump’s campaign staff and Russian officials. The attorney general said he knew nothing about any such contacts. It was later disclosed through media outlets that Sessions had met twice with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. while he served as a “Trump surrogate” during the presidential campaign. AG’s Recuses Self from Investigation Some members of Congress and even some legal scholars immediately said Sessions should be charged with perjury for lying to lawmakers during his confirmation hearings. Others…
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What Is The Truth?
Should we tell a dying child there is no God? Should we tell a dying child heaven awaits? (I have an atheist and theist version here, just to be all-inclusive) Should we tell the truth, always? What is the truth? We defense attorneys sometimes have to tell our clients that they’re not going to make it. They’re not going to win their case. This truth can be hard to swallow. In Florida, losing your case may mean a death sentence. It may mean a life sentence. Or, it may mean so much prison time that it may as well be a life sentence (child porn cases tend to get 100+ years, but that’s a rant for another day). What happens if you don’t tell your client what a crappy case he has and he loses at trial? That’s the scenario that played out in Anthony Wait v. State. 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 2897 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017). Wait lost his jury trial, and was sentenced to a mandatory 10 years in prison for…
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Introduction of Race into Death Penalty Case Causes Reversal
Defending a capital murder case is both difficult and stressful. Attorney/client communications, pretrial investigation and preparation, and presenting a plausible defense to the jury demand effective representation. The Constitution guarantees all criminal defendants the right to counsel and due process of law. The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington v. Strickland unequivocally held that inherent in the constitutional guarantee of counsel is a right to effective assistance by counsel. Psych Report Stated Duane Buck More Likely to be Violent Because He is Black A February 22, 2017 decision by the Supreme Court held that the State of Texas cannot execute Duane Buck, convicted of capital murder in 1997, because his trial attorneys provided ineffective representation that contributed to a jury finding that he should be sentenced to death. The Buck case has a tortuous, protracted legal history that has indicted the fairness of the Texas death penalty scheme…
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The Hill: ACLU challenges warrant to search Facebook page of Dakota Access opponents
The Hill: ACLU challenges warrant to search Facebook page of Dakota Access opponents by Morgan Chalfant: The American Civil Liberties Union is moving to quash a police warrant granted to search data on a Facebook page of a group protesting … Continue reading →
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Defense Attorneys be Warned: Dot Your I’s and Cross your T’s… the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Favors Prosecutors
The law is as much about procedure as it is about substance. Even the most seasoned criminal defense attorney can default on a critical issue by not following the strict rules of trial procedure. This issue was underscored in a February 8, 2017 decision (Obella v. State) by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Angel Obella was charged with aggravated sexual assault. He pled guilty to the charge. He was given a 30-year prison term by a district court judge in Brazos County. Motion for New Trial Must be Presented to Trial Court Apparently suffering from buyer’s remorse, Obella filed a motion for new trial charging that his guilty plea had been the product of ineffective assistance. The TCCA noted that Obella attached “affidavits” to support his claim. Obella also requested that a hearing be conducted on the motion. Rule 21.6 of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure requires that a motion for new trial be…
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STUNNING NEW MEMO FROM FEDS SETS HIGH FEDERAL ARREST GOALS FOR STATE & LOCAL CRIMINAL CONDUCT
In a stunning new memorandum from the Justice Department, the Attorney General is directing every federal prosecutor to take criminal cases from state and local authorities so that longer federal sentences can be given. You can expect that state and local crimes will become federalized with ever greater arrests, investigations and imprisonment for more American citizens.Let's find more people for our overcrowded prisonsPortrait of James Ensor, 1907The National Sentencing Resource Counsel describes the new policies for making more state crimes into federal arrests in the following way:Directing all US Prosecutors to work with local counterparts to identify those "criminals" in their districts responsible for violent crime, and prosecute them federally, using "all available tools," including 924(c), Hobbs Act, etc., but the drug statutes might work even better (i.e., require higher sentences) to "dismantle" drug organizations, which…
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Cambios en la curricula escolar y mismidad
Tengo 69 años de edad, profesional , lector incansable de la realidad peruana y sufriente escribidor para proyectarme a la comunidad a través o por intermedio de este “Blog” sin más aspiración que opinar y proponer cambios en función a los límites que cada humano tiene, cuestión esta última incomprensible para los desgraciados que nos han gobernado y gobiernan, son sólo humanos y por serlo aflora en el ejercicio del poder el lado más oscuro de nuestra condición, pero se sienten “dioses”, “dueños de la verdad” después de ellos el diluvio. El anciano que nos gobierna pide igualdad de oportunidades y que su administración trabaja en ese sentido, después de casi 08 meses de gestión lo único concreto es la corrupción y el anciano y su séquito incluyendo al PJ trabajan para que la impunidad brille en…
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Beware harsh probation conditions for those convicted of sex crimes
U.S. Court of Appeals- Fourth Circuit Soon after breathing a sigh of relief from being released from prison. criminal defendants then realize that their probation period will be no picnic. Rarely is probation any less of a picnic than for those convicted of sex felonies. Consider Charles D. Douglas’s situation. For over fifteen years, he failed to register as a sex offender as required as a result of his Virginia state court conviction for aggravated sexual abuse in “arising out of the sexual abuse of a minor from January 1990 through February 1992, when his victim was between 10 and 12 years old.” U.S. v. Douglas, ___ F.3d ___ (4th Cir., March 9, 2017). Anyone reading about such abuse will be revolted, except for those inclined to cause such abuse. Douglas went to extraordinary lengths to avoid registering as a sex offender and to avoid being found, including changing his name, moving from state to state, and avoiding any jobs that required him to…
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A Story Hot off the Press
The way to convince the jury that your client's behavior wasn't arson, just an accident, is to commit arson yourself while addressing the jury and claim it was an accident.Liar, liar, pants on.............well, you have to read it for yourself. This goes beyond the "You Can't Make This Up" category.The criminal defense bar continues to be the most creative entity in the history of civilization.
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California Criminal Lawyer — Penalties for Wiretapping in California
The weekly tweet of President Trump have raised a new subject sometimes facing person charged with crimes in California, wiretapping. Mr. Trump has accused former President, Barack Obama, of recording conversations taking place in Trump Tower during the election and/or directly after the election. What Mr. Trump fails to informs the country is that it is […] The post California Criminal Lawyer — Penalties for Wiretapping in California appeared first on Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney-Pasadena Ontario | Leib Law.
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News Roundup
Over the past week, the Associated Press has published reports describing instances of physical and emotional abuse at the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindale. According to the AP, congregants, including children, “were regularly punched, smacked, choked, slammed to the floor or thrown through walls in a violent form of deliverance meant to ‘purify’ sinners by beating out devils.” Former congregants have alleged that two members of the church who are assistant district attorneys in Prosecutorial District 25 helped cover up the abuse. Keep reading for more news. Raise the Age Bill. Regular blog readers know that the Criminal Committee of the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice produced a report recommending that North Carolina raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction. As WRAL reports, that work has culminated in the introduction of House Bill 280 – the…
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I was Arrested at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack: Understanding Shoplifting Crimes in Clarkstown Justice Court
The Palisades Mall in West Nyack, Rockland County, is one of the area’s premier shopping centers. But having high end stores selling expensive merchandise does lend itself to a fair share of problems. Yes, the costs of some items may be prohibitive, but the bigger issues is when someone decides that while at the Palisades Mall they are going to shoplift and steal from The Home Depot, Modell’s, Gap, Staples, DSW or any of its dozens of stores. Depending on the nature of the theft, and remember you do not need to leave the store or the mall itself to be arrested for shoplifting, and the value of the property you attempt to steal, an accused shoplifter can face either misdemeanor or felony charges. These crimes range from Petit Larceny to Grand Larceny as well as the “sister” crimes of Criminal Possession of Stolen Property. This blog entry will address shoplifting Crimes in Rockland’s County’s Palisades Mall, prosecution for these crimes in…
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Does Manslaughter Carry a Life Sentence in Utah?
When a person is accused of committing a crime, his or her first concern is usually what sort of consequences could result from a conviction. Utah sentencing laws allow criminal courts to impose hefty fines and tough sentences, particularly for felonies, such as manslaughter. Salt Lake City manslaughter attorney Darwin Overson explains how sentencing for manslaughter in Utah works, including an explanation of when the death penalty (capital punishment) is a sentencing possibility in homicide cases. What is the Maximum Sentence for Manslaughter in Utah? All felonies are serious crimes, but not all felonies are equal. Instead, felonies are sorted into a legal hierarchy where some offenses have more severe penalties than others. There are three basic types of felonies in Utah: third degree felonies, second degree felonies, and first degree felonies. (There are also offenses called “capital” felonies, but there is only one crime in this…
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The Tax Court: “Insubordinate” or “Prescient” on Auer/Seminole Rock Deference?
Steve R. Johnson, Seminole Rock in Tax Cases, Yale J. Reg. Notice & Comment (2016). Susan Morse Auer/Seminole Rock or “ASR” deference is a hot topic right now in administrative law. ASR gives agencies deference when agencies interpret their own regulations, such as in litigation briefs or in guidance. If you want to know how ASR deference works in the tax context, and in particular in the Tax Court, read Steve Johnson’s work. This includes his 2013 article and his entry in the Yale Journal of Regulation’s recent online symposium on ASR deference. The Chevron doctrine often serves as the starting point for deference to agency action. Chevron offers judicial deference to agency interpretations in final regulations and other actions with the “force of law” articulated in Mead. When the Supreme Court confirmed in its 2011 Mayo decision that Chevron applies to tax regulations, it helped to usher in a growing awareness of administrative law…
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