The government showed reasonable suspicion to believe that defendants’ ship was engaged in drug smuggling when it was seen again off the Colombian coast heading to the U.S. along a known smuggling route. The USCG elected to scuttle the boat … Continue reading →
S.D.Ala.: RS supported stop of defs’ boat in international waters; scuttling a sinking ship after full investigation not spoliation of evidence
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Injury Crash in Twin Falls County
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 4 Patrol 218 West Yakima, Jerome, ID 83338-5904 (208) 324-6000 Fax (208) 324-7897 For Immediate Release: 03/19/17 2:30 A.M. Please direct questions to the District Office The Idaho State Police is investigating a two vehicle injury-crash at the intersection of N 3800 E and State Highway 50 in Twin Falls County. The intersection is blocked. More information will be released when it becomes available. 3642 / 3641 -------------
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Time For A Change
In 2008, I wrote a post about needing new challenges. At about age 50, something strange happens. No matter what our goals were when young, no matter how exciting life appeared when everything was still before us, we reach a point where we grow weary. We tire out. The thrill is gone. Everyone needs a challenge, a goal, to push them forward. We want to scale higher mountains, to overcome new challenges. But we find that the things that excited us long ago have become pedestrian. It becomes a grind rather than a thrill. Almost ten years have gone by since then, yet here I am. It’s time to do what I should have done nearly a decade ago. I will be looking for a new mountain to climb. I don’t have any particular mountain in mind, and I’m open to all possibilities, but I need a new mountain. If anybody thinks they have a need for an old-time lawyer, whose skillset is grounded in hard work and getting things done, let me know.…
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Immigrants Engage in Crime at Lower Rates than US Born
At a campaign rally in Springfield, Ohio on October 27, 2016, President Donald Trump charged that “thousands of Americans have been killed by illegal immigrants.” During his joint address to Congress on March 10, President Trump took another opportunity to infect the social mindset of this nation with the belief that crime is rampant because of illegal immigrants. The president made reference in that address to an executive order he signed in February instructing the Department of Homeland Security to create the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office (VOICE). President Creates Anti-Immigrant Sentiment to Serve Political Ambitions More than any other force in this nation, Donald Trump has deliberately and methodically worked to create a mass anti-immigrant sentiment in this country to serve his political ambitions. Media pundits and political analysts have speculated that there is a psychological flaw in the president’s…
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The Libertarian Republic: Rand Paul Reintroduces “FAIR Act” to Restore Respect for the 5th Amendment [in forfeitures]
The Libertarian Republic: Rand Paul Reintroduces “FAIR Act” to Restore Respect for the 5th Amendment [in forfeitures] Kentucky conservative Senator Rand Paul reintroduced S. 642, the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act on Wednesday. The intention of the bill is … Continue reading →
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Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads in Criminal Law eJournal
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 431 How Should Justice Policy Treat Young Offenders? BJ Casey, Richard J. Bonnie, Andre Davis,David L. Faigman, Morris B. Hoffman, Owen D. Jones, Read Montague, Stephen Morse, Marcus E....
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WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: South Carolina police shot a man to pieces over $100 worth of pot, then lied about it
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: South Carolina police shot a man to pieces over $100 worth of pot, then lied about it by Radley Balko: Prosecutors drop drug charges against Julian Betton after cops’ account of the raid that paralyzed him … Continue reading →
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Winning Criminal Defense and DUI Cases
Winning Criminal Defense and DUI Cases Winning in criminal defense takes a variety of different forms. First, a dismissal of all of the charges is the best example of a “win”. I have had a great deal of success in getting cases dismissed lately. In the last week I got a sex offense dismissed in Van Nuys, a battery dismissed in Pasadena and a felony domestic battery dismissed in Ventura. But, the vast majority of criminal cases which get filed don’t get dismissed outright. What other resolutions constitute a win? A true win depends upon the specific needs of the specific client. Some clients seek to avoid deportation. Some clients seek to avoid jail. Others yet want to keep their job or a state license or avoid sex offense registration. In the case of a serious felony, keeping a client out of prison could be considered a win. In a third strike case, or a murder case, simply avoiding a life sentence could be a huge victory. I…
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Case o' The Week: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the [Ninth] delivereth him out of [some] of them - Job and King Searches
Illegal searches, denied suppression motions, an unsuccessful trial, a thirty-year custodial term, and an appeal. The Ninth rewards the patience of Job. United States v. Job, 2017 WL 971803 (9thCir. Mar. 14, 2017), decision available here.Players:Decision by (the always-welcome) visiting District Judge Friedman, District of Columbia, joined by Judges Tashima and Paez. Facts: Cops, looking for some other dude, happened upon Travis Job: they patted him down. Id. at *2. They discovered a glass pipe in Job’s pocket, $1,450 in cash, and car keys. Id. When the cops pushed the key fob a car in the driveway beeped and unlocked. Id. Cops searched the car and found meth, a cig with Spice, another glass pipe, and a cell phone. Id. At some unknown point, the officers discovered Jobs was on probation “with a 4th amendment waiver.” Id. Job was charged in a meth conspiracy with Robert Rodriguez, and others. Id. at *2…
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DWI, the Intoxi-liar Way
So, what is the Intoxilyzer 9000? This is a new breath test device that is being transitioned into use in Texas. This new unit will eventually replace the decades old Intoxilyzer 5000. The new device will be used in the prosecution of drunk driving cases. However, as the machine is new and being transitioned in, it is still plagued with problems including software issues and bugs. Clearly, this is cause for concern as it may lead to wrongful convictions for DWI. It works like this. Say you are arrested for suspicion of drunk driving in Walker, Harris, or Montgomery Counties. Typically, the arresting officer will ask you if you wish to provide a breath or blood sample. On a first offense, the penalty for refusal of one of the two tests will result in a 180 day Texas driver’s license suspension versus a ninety-day suspension for those that comply. Lately, most officers have opted for blood over breath due to the problems…
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A Canadian perspective on constitutional proportionality review
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Sunday Open Thread: The Shame of America
I have had nothing to say about Donald Trump or his Administration the past few days. He's become a boring distraction, and an non-entertaining one at that. In the long run, Trump won't make a bit of difference in the world, unless he... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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“Fulfilling” the Warrant Clause
Earlier today, Scott Greenfield1 wrote in “Fungible Judge and The General Warrant,” about what amounts to a general warrant. The warrant in question was requested by David Lindman, of the Edina Police Department, in Edina, Minnesota, a town of less than 50,000 people, based on speculation that the warrant might help locate a single individual who committed a crime. The hope was that, of all the people covered by the warrant, one of them might be the guy the cops were after. It was signed by a judge. Meaning, as Scott points out, that a lawyer who, for reasons unknown, was given the authority to sign a piece of paper that allows cops to intrude wildly into people’s private lives without recourse. All that would be bad enough, but that’s not really the end of it. Edina might be limited to a population of less than 50,000 people. But the warrant was not. The warrant was sought because someone managed to steal $28,500 from a bank. The actual person whose…
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EDSB/EDPS veröffentlicht Opinion 4/2017 zum Richtlinienvorschlag über bestimmte vertragsrechtliche Aspekte der Bereitstellung digitaler Inhalte
Im Rahmen der Strategie für den digitalen Binnenmarkt der EU wurde eine Gesetzgebungsinitiative zu harmonisierten Vorschriften für die Bereitstellung digitaler Inhalte und den Online-Verkauf von Sachgütern lanciert. In diesem Zusammenhang hat die EU-Kommission 2015 einen Vorschlag für eine Richtlinie „über bestimmte vertragsrechtliche Aspekte der Bereitstellung digitaler Inhalte“ (COM (2015) 634 final) vorgelegt. Am 15. März 2017 veröffentlichte der Europäische Datenschutzbeauftragte (EDSB/EDPS) seine Stellungnahme („Opinion 4/2017 on the Proposal for a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content“) samt Pressemitteilung zum oben genannten Richtlinienvorschlag. Darin hält der EDSB/EDPS u.a. folgendes fest: „(...) EDPS warns against any new provision introducing the idea that people can pay with their data the same way as they do with money. Fundamental rights such…
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Attention, Rapport, and Loops
There are three subjects that I’ve been giving a great deal of thought to lately, and I’d like to summarize them and tentatively tie them together in the context of trial here. Attention, Rapport, and Loop Theory. Attention I wrote about attention here. Attention is your one resource. If you are not yet aware of the value of your attention, I invite you to ask yourself: When I pay attention, what am I spending it on? Attention is a universal currency of human interaction. We all have it, we have only a limited amount, we can spend it on only one thing, and we cannot get it back. Attention has both a time dimension (for how long will I pay attention?) and a proximity dimension (how closely will I pay attention?). Rapport I wrote about rapport here. Rapport is a function of attention, and one of its outputs is attention. See, for example, Dale Carnegie‘s second Fundamental Technique in Handling People, Give honest and sincere…
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Remarkable accounting of hundreds of Arizona offenders believing they were getting life with parole after parole abolished in state
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Trump Kids Visit Aspen, 100 Secret Service Agents In Tow
There were anti-Trump protests in Aspen today where the Trump siblings and their children, along with their Secret Service entourage, are visiting for a family holiday. The Aspen Times reports Donald Trump's adult children are visiting... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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A Manual for How to Blow Your Due Diligence
Step one: don’t have a manual. That’s the message in an information-packed new book about the inner workings of the SEC just after the Madoff and now largely forgotten (but just as egregious) Allen Stanford frauds. In his memoir of five years at the agency, former SEC Director of Investment Management Norm Champ (now back in private practice) writes that he was stunned to arrive into public service in 2010 to find that examiners had no set procedures both when looking at regulated entities or in following up on their findings. “If SEC inspectors ever arrived at a financial firm for an examination and discovered that the firm had no manual about how to comply with federal securities laws, that firm would immediately be cited for deficiencies and most likely subject to enforcement action,” he writes in Going Public (My Adventures Inside the SEC and How to Prevent the Next Devastating Crisis). Among his proudest achievements were instituting such…
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DUIs in Minnesota and Across The United States
Roughly one in seven Minnesotans have a DUI on their record, but drunk driving isn’t just a problem in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Drunk driving is problematic throughout the United States, but which states are affected by it the most? To get a better look at the landscape of drunk driving in America, one website analyzed a whole bunch of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Researchers at BackgroundChecks.org examined: The number of DUI-related fatalities. Percentage of DUI-related fatalities compared to all traffic deaths. Increase in DUI-related traffic deaths from one year ago. DUI death rate per 100,000 people. Number of DUI arrests. DUI arrest rate per 100,000 people. Percentage of adults who reported drinking too much before driving. How Minnesota Fared Now before we take a look at the whole United States, let’s see how Minnesota ranked on the list. You might find it surprising based on the 2-star…
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SCOTUS Turns Down Habeas Fast Track Case
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in the case that sought to block implementation of the "fast track" for the processing of federal habeas corpus petitions by state death-row inmates. See the docket for Habeas Corpus Research Center v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, No. 16-880. The Ninth Circuit threw the case out a year ago, holding that the District Court had no jurisdiction to issue the injunction that it did. See this post from last March.The law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has been representing the interests of murderers against those of victims and law-abiding people contra bono publico in this case as well as the Proposition 66 case. One can only wonder if America has completely run out of deserving poor people to represent pro bono, given how many blue chip firms are devoting their unpaid representation hours to the interests of people who thoroughly deserve the fate they are facing and who are in their present…
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More Pages to Explore .....
