3-25-17 Illinois: Despite objections from state Rep. Steven Andersson (R-Geneva), the House passed a bill on Thursday that prohibits Illinois park districts from retaining a volunteer who has been found to be a sex offender. Anderson argued that HB 0786, which was sponsored by state Rep. Jaime Andrade (D-Chicago), had been watered down from its original version by the removal of penalties for
House OKs bill barring sex offenders from park work
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Fighting Your Connecticut I-95 / State Trooper Arrests
Whether you’re a Connecticut resident who has been arrested on I-95 or the Merritt Parkway, or you live out of state and were arrested on I-95 in Connecticut for DUI / DWI, Reckless Driving or Evading Responsibility, then you will need to understand the criminal court process. And perhaps the most concerning consequences of a Connecticut I-95 arrest are (1) that you will have to report to the courthouse closest to the arrest (not closest to where you live), and (2) that with most I-95 Connecticut arrests, your drivers license privileges are at risk of being suspended. Most Connecticut I-95 Arrests are Controlled by Connecticut State Troopers Arrests on Connecticut I-95, I-91 and the Merritt Parkway are handled almost exclusively by the regional Connecticut State Police divisions, and not the local police departments, even though you may have been pulled over in a particular town. As I’ve written about in the past in a blog about Fighting Connecticut State…
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NC: Driver not free to leave during questioning while officer holds his DL
The officer did not return the defendant’s driver’s license to him before beginning to question him while in his car was in a hotel parking lot. Thus, a reasonable person would not have felt free to leave. Therefore, it was … Continue reading →
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E.D.Mich.: Defense can’t get “activity logs” of officers for 60 days prior to his stop to see if they also smelled MJ then; what would it prove?
Defendant filed a motion to suppress and a motion to produce the “activity logs” of the officers involved for the 60 days prior to his stop. He wants to see whether the officers claimed to have smelled marijuana during those … Continue reading →
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The CCA, Judicial Activism, and Texas' Statutory Exclusionary Rule
One of my pet peeves with the Government-Always-Wins faction on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals - which in this instance carried with it most of the rest of the court - arose in a recent ruling on the Fourth Amendment and Texas' statutory-based exclusionary rule: Bradley Ray McClintock vs. the State of Texas. To be clear, I am not a lawyer. But one needn't have earned a law degree to see that the GAW faction on the court clings to Texas statutes in the face of federal precedents whenever they're more likely to help the government, but then inexplicably grasps at federal justifications whenever they want to ignore the printed word of Texas statutes because they'd like this or that case to turn out differently (read: in favor of the government).The ruling on Ex Parte Robbins - Texas' first-in-the-nation junk science writ - perhaps best exemplifies this trend toward using any means necessary to avoid relying on plain statutory…
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"End the death penalty for mentally ill criminals"
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Change of Condition in Workers Compensation | Workers Comp Lawyers
Change of Condition in Workers’ Compensation Sometimes injuries get worse over time after your doctor releases you from care. And if you do get worse, workers’ compensation allows you to ask for additional medical treatment. But this can be difficult to prove sometimes. However, the new case Russell v. Wal-Mart shows what is necessary to prove a change of condition. What […] The post Change of Condition in Workers Compensation | Workers Comp Lawyers appeared first on Robert J. Reeves P.C..
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Boston Medical Center: DUI Deaths Among Youth Curbed with Strong Anti-Alcohol Policies
Tighter alcohol restrictions and stronger alcohol policies may be the key to unlocking lower drunk driving deaths among Boston’s youth. That’s according to a recent study by researchers at Boston Medical Center. The analysis was published recently online by the journal Pediatrics, and underscores the importance of alcohol control policies that are both strong and comprehensive in lowering the number of DUI-related deaths among young people. As it stands, car accidents are one of the top causes of death among people under the age of 21 in the U.S. It’s particularly bad in Massachusetts, where 40 percent of all fatal car accidents involve a drunk driver and we are in the top 25 percent of states with the highest rates of youths who die in alcohol-related crashes. Researchers in this case analyzed alcohol policy scale in 29 locations across the country. These would be policies that were specifically intended to lower alcohol consumption and prevent…
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DIARY OF A MAD PRESIDENT HEALTH CASE WIN ISSUE
Dear Diary... another big win this week. Destroyed Obama-care by not passing a new health care bill. Now everyone will see Obama-care fail and we will have a new health care bill. I promised to repeal and replace Obama-care on day one...just never said when I would start counting. Enemies list: Freedom caucus. Doofus idiots. Wait until they need me...just wait. Oregon. They're so smug up there. I'm sure their behind this health care mess. Also Thailand. The CIA. The FBI. Turns out they were bugging me. Recording me as I spoke with my pal Vlad. To Do list: Withdraw from Nato. Ditto the UN. That property on the east side would make an amazing Trump Tower. The best. Call it Trump Tower UN. No one will ever see anything like it. An entire building devoted to cultures from around the world...and only Americans will be allowed to live in it. We'll have a Taco Bell, a Wo-Hops, a pizza joint, a sushi- place, maybe even an Indian take-out. Total world…
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Indiana Inmates Could Have Computer Tablets by End of Year
3-25-17 Indiana: Indiana prison officials have proposed providing inmates with computer tablets in an effort to help them connect with family and further their educations. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana prison officials have proposed providing inmates with computer tablets to help them connect with family and further their educations. The proposal includes creating a secure network and installing
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D.Minn.: USMJ recommends Playpen warrant be suppressed
R&R recommends Playpen warrant be suppressed. United States v. Carlson, 16-cr-00317-JRT-FLN (D. Minn. March 23, 2017). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging the particularity of the search warrant in this case. “In our view, the warrant describes the character … Continue reading →
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Crimmigration blog: ICE’s New Immigration Detainer Policy Remains Legally Flawed
Crimmigration blog: ICE’s New Immigration Detainer Policy Remains Legally Flawed: Today, ICE issued a new policy regarding use of immigration detainers. Sometimes called immigration holds, detainers are requests by ICE that a local law enforcement agency continue holding someone in … Continue reading →
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Ohio Appellate Court Holds Officer Did Not Have Probable Cause For OVI Arrest
In Ohio, and throughout the United States, we have a Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. In Ohio OVI cases, that means an officer can only arrest a suspect if the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect operated a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In the recent case of State v. Bracken, the Court of Appeals concluded the arrest was not justified. The Officer Reportedly Observed Signs Of Intoxication In the early morning hours, a police officer stopped Cody Bracken for driving 61 mph in a 45 mph zone. The officer noticed a moderate odor of alcohol coming from Cody’s vehicle. The officer also noticed Cody’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his face was flushed. The officer asked Cody about drinking alcohol, and Cody said he drank two beers. Based on the officer’s observations, he administered field sobriety tests. On the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test,…
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Where it All Went Wrong - Kinda
I've been trying to figure out just why I found Michael D. Cicchini's deconstruction of the case(s) against Steven Avery so annoying. It's not that he says anything that's particularly wrong about how criminal law and procedure actually work (and don't).* And it's not that Convicting Avery: The Bizarre Laws and Broken System Behind Making a Murderer is a polemic. I mean, it is a polemic, but I'm OK with that. Hell, half of what I write here is polemic.And on the whole taking the book seriously won't make anyone stupider. It's not bad. It's just annoying. And I think I've figured out why.Go back to Mencken and what he wrote in "The Divine Afflatus" (1917).Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.If you don't go for Mencken, try Trump.Nobody knew that health care could…
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Appropriate All You Want; We’ll Make More
The notion of “cultural appropriation” eludes me. If someone does something with the intent to offend a culture, then that is a standalone issue. Whether it’s a real issue or just one of oversensitivity is another matter, as people turn over rocks these days to seek reasons to be offended by other people’s conduct. And that, too, is a separate issue. But if I make guacamole, have I culturally appropriated something? Is it bad? Or do I just like guacamole? And why shouldn’t I like guac, unless it’s made with peas? Guac is delicious, and there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to eat something that’s delicious. Or is there? At Pitzer College, Latinas were outraged that white girls* wore hoop earrings, which quickly spiraled out of control. Pitzer College maintains a free wall where students are invited to paint whatever they would like. A recent critique of white women who wear hoop earrings has attracted far more attention than…
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NORTH JACKSONVILLE DRUG OPERATION ARRESTS 60
JSO RELEASES DETAILS OF MONTH LONG DRUG OPERATION A recent News4Jax report gives details into a four month operation in the Oceanway area of Jacksonville’s Northside. The operation targeted narcotics violations ranging from simple misdemeanors up through first degree felony drug trafficking charges. The operation was nicknamed “Lockdown in O-Town.” Sheriff Williams stated the operation was a result of several complaints from residents of drug activity in the Northside area of town. Williams stated that the investigations focused JSO undercovers on four areas in which narcotics detectives even spent nights sleeping in hotels on Dunn Avenue to build relationships with known drug dealers in the neighborhood. The narcotics purchased or seized by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office included methamphetamine, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, several different forms of prescriptions pills, and marijuana. Four structures were…
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Lie v. Lie Is Not An Answer
For people who aren’t malignantly married to either end of the fringes doing all the shrieking lately, we aren’t willing to do anything, say anything, believe anything, because it furthers our self-righteous agenda. Does that make us horrible people? A student asked me the other day whether I approved of exaggerating for a good cause. The topic had apparently been discussed at an environmental forum, and the question was, essentially, “Does saving the climate justify lying?” Wouldn’t it be a good idea to use an impressive, if not necessarily factually correct, message to counteract the mind-numbing cacophony of the Trump administration, which drowns out more reasoned speech? In an excess of kindness, my guess is that this conversation is used as a rhetorical device to lead into Masha Gessen’s point, because I don’t believe for a moment that this happened the other day. Unless the other day was ten years ago, as we’re so deep into…
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The necessity of communicating confidentially about a criminal defendant’s case
Over four years ago, I blogged the truism that the courthouse walls and halls have ears. The courthouse hallways are swarming with police in plain clothes, prosecutors and judges dressed similarly to defense lawyers, news media reporters, and other criminal defendants and their supporters who would love to trade others’ confidences to try to dig themselves out of their own holes. On top of that, courthouse conference room doors and walls do not always keep conversations airtight from others to hear. At counsel table during a trial or hearing, the criminal defendant needs to be aware that the microphone at the table may be amplifying and recording all conversation, others in the courtroom might hear what they say, and any hired court reporter in the courtroom may have placed a recordation device on all counsel tables. Consequently, I advise my clients and their supporters to discuss as much about their case with me well before their court date, not only because of…
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The Casetext Pivot
When I saw the post by Bob Ambrogi, I was, frankly, stunned. Twelve million dollars? How could that be? The legal research service Casetext is announcing today that it has closed on a $12 million Series B funding round. Excluding e-discovery companies, it is one of the largest investments in a legal technology startup ever. That’s a lot of money even for stupid money, and yes, Bobby didn’t make a typo in the name. It was Casetext. Yes, that Casetext. The legaltech start-up’s model was to offer legal research with court opinions annotated by crowd-sourced analysis and commentary. In other words, any moron could go on Casetext, “explain” what a statute or decision meant, and any other moron would then read it and believe he now understood law. It was absurd. Dangerously absurd. In the beginning, I let the founders, Jake and Pedro, scrape SJ content mostly because I am all in favor of anyone bent on breaking the duopoly of Lexis and…
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¡RENOVEMOS EL SILENCIO POPULAR!
http://elcomercio.pe/opinion/columnistas/defensa-alberto-fujimori-federico-salazar-noticia-1979017?ref=portada_home+ Derecho fundamental consagrado por la Constitución es la libertad de expresión y el derecho a informar y ser informado, A NINGÚN CIUDADANO se le puede recortar este derecho, sin embargo TODOS los peruanos sabemos que ese “árbol frondoso de libertad que cobija el resto de libertades” jejeje!! Es un cuentazo, el poder manipula, encumbra o destruye honras, elige candidatos, IMPIDE la libre expresión del pueblo (los pensantes, el resto son borregos que se satisfacen con tener para comer debido a su pobrísima educación que hoy el Estado pretende empeorar aún más introduciendo liviandades en la educación de nuestros hijos, eliminado el pensamiento crítico, pretendiendo que acepten por normal lo que NO lo es.). ¿Con que derecho los asalariados de los medios…
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