The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new Marijuana Business Daily article headlined "Colorado marijuana sales off to strong start in 2017." Here are excerpts: Colorado’s marijuana industry – one of the most mature in the nation – continues to thrive, posting record-setting sales figures...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/ufGiMS_XoA8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
Is the Trump Administration driving a 2017 spike in Colorado marijuana sales?
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Marshall Project highlights tens of thousands imprisoned for minor parole violations
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Bill cutting off public assistance for non-compliant Megan's Law registrants passes the Pa. House
4-24-17 Pennsylvania: Legislation that would make convicted sex offenders who are out of compliance with Megan's Law ineligible for public assistance passed the state House of Representatives on Monday by a 190-2 vote The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks County, now goes to the Senate for consideration. It would allow sex offenders' benefits to be reinstated immediately once they came
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How Trump Can Make America Safe Again
Conservative speakers may get shoved off campus by liberal fascists, but Heather Mac Donald, for one, and her assiduously researched views, are welcome in this space. I commend her excellent recent article, which notes, among other things:The most immediate goal of the Trump administration should be to change the elite-driven narrative about the criminal-justice system. That narrative, which holds that policing is lethally racist, has dominated public discourse since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014. In response, officers are backing off of proactive policing, and violent crime is rising fast: 2015 saw the largest one-year spike in homicides nationwide in nearly 50 years. That violent-crime increase has continued unabated through 2016 and into the early months of 2017. A Trump administration official--perhaps Attorney General Sessions, or the president himself--should publicly address the question of what we expect from police…
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Consequences for Texting and Driving in Utah
A few decades ago, there was no need for laws against texting and driving. But today, many of us are constantly attached to our phones – even when we get behind the wheel. In an effort to cut down on accidents caused by distracted driving, Utah has enacted tough laws against texting while driving. If you’re accused of violating these laws, you risk facing harsh penalties. Salt Lake City criminal lawyer Darwin Overson explains the consequences for texting while driving in Utah, including related laws about talking on the phone while driving, plus a look at some recent statistics on crashes caused by texting and distracted driving. Utah Texting While Driving Statistics The Utah Department of Public Safety publishes an annual report on auto accidents in Utah, including factors like driver age, weather conditions, and common problems or mistakes that contributed to crashes. The DPS reports that from 2012 to 2016, distracted driving was the number five most common…
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Holding the Line On Finality?
U. Tex. Law Professor Steve Vladeck has this post at SCOTUSblog on yesterday's argument in Davila v. Davis. This is the case of a Houston gang member who wanted to get a member of a rival gang, so he opened fire with an AK-47-type weapon on a porch full of women and children having cake and ice cream at a child's birthday party. Steve thinks Texas will prevail, and the question is how narrowly or broadly. I was also encouraged by the argument transcript, but I am glad to have this independent, in-person observation.After the break are the background of the case and my notes on the argument transcript.Coleman v. Thompson, decided in 1991, was a major victory in the fight to bring some degree of finality to criminal convictions. That case put a limit on the endless reopening of decided cases through the loophole of each new lawyer in a case claiming that the prior lawyers rendered "ineffective assistance." Coleman said that since…
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"Designed to Break You: Human Rights Violations on Texas' Death Rows"
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E.D.La.: Swabbing car door handle for DNA without a SW is a trespass to chattels and barred by Jones
Swabbing a car door handle for DNA was a trespass against the plaintiff’s vehicle under Jones. A trespass to land is governed by the Fourth Amendment under Jardines and trespass to chattels is under Jones. Damage doesn’t have to occur … Continue reading →
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Haugh on "Cadillac Compliance" Breakdown
Todd Haugh (Indiana University - Kelley School of Business) has posted 'Cadillac Compliance' Breakdown (69 Stan. L. Rev. Online 198 (2017)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Essay argues that the best corporate compliance programs, what are known as...
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Arizona Theft Case, Mistrial, and Double Jeopardy
An unpublished Arizona appellate decision considered an identity theft, theft, and fraudulent schemes case. The charges arose after a high-end mountain bike was stolen from a home in 2010 and then sold on Craigslist. At trial, the defense attorney stated that the mountain bike the defendant sold wasn’t the bike stolen from the home, as made plain by the difference in serial numbers. The defense attorney cross-examined the buyer of the bike. The buyer’s wife gave the police officer a piece of paper on which she’d put two numbers that the victim of the theft said were on his bike. One of these numbers matched the bike the buyer bought. The buyer’s wife had kept the paper for three years without turning it over to the police until a few weeks before trial. The first the defense counsel and prosecutor heard of it was during the cross-examination. The court asked the parties if they wanted a mistrial due to the surprise. The defense attorney initially…
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Oklahoma commission recommends continued moratorium on executions due to "volume and seriousness of the flaws" in state's capital punishment system
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What Are the Penalties for Being Convicted of Statutory Rape in California?
Statutory rape charges are based on the age difference between the defendant and the other person. If the victim is under California’s age of consent, he or she cannot legally consent to sexual intercourse. Statutory rape can be charged as a felony or misdemeanor depending on the situation, but in both cases, the penalties can be severe if the defendant is convicted. In certain situations, the court may even require a convicted defendant to register as a sex offender. If a loved one has been arrested and charged with statutory rape in Ventura County or Santa Barbara County, you are urged to contact the Ventura criminal defense lawyers of Bamieh & Erickson immediately for legal assistance. Consequences for Statutory Rape in CA (Unlawful Sex with a Minor) In California, statutory rape is also referred to as “unlawful sexual intercourse” or “unlawful sex with a minor.” This crime is defined and prosecuted under Cal. Penal Code § 261.5. Cal.…
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Making the latest full-throated pitch for Congress to finally do something on marijuana reform
Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director of NORML, has this new Daily Caller commentary headlined "It’s Time For Congressional Action On Marijuana Policy." Like many other calls for congressional action, I doubt this piece will actually prod any politician into action. But it is a worthwhile read as a sign of...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/dTr9bulsVFA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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Malgieri & De Hert on Surveillance Oversight
Gianclaudio Malgieri and Paul De Hert (Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Faculty of Law and Free University of Brussels (VUB)- LSTS) have posted European Human Rights, Criminal Surveillance, and Intelligence Surveillance: Towards 'Good Enough' Oversight, Preferably But Not Necessarily by Judges...
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What Will Happen to Chris Soules?
Let me start off by noting that while this is a news story many people are interested in, a man died. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 66-year-old Kenneth Mosher, a farmer from Aurora, Iowa, was killed Monday night when Soules truck rear ended Mosher’s tractor sending it and him into a ditch. Mosher was likely someone’s husband, father, brother and/or grandfather. Bear that in mind as we discuss what might happen to Chris Soules. CRASH FACTS At around 8:30 p.m. Monday night, Kenneth Mosher was driving a tractor in the 1000 block of Slater Avenue just north of Aurora, Iowa. According to police reports Soules was driving a 2008 Chevy pickup when he allegedly crashed into the back of Mosher’s tractor sending Mosher into the ditch and Soules into the opposite ditch. As noted, Mosher later died from his injuries. Apparently, Soules fled on foot but was apprehended a short time later and taken to the hospital. He has been charged with Leaving the Scene of…
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Lies, police shootings, and the disinfecting sunlight of dashcam video
While everything is fluid at the capitol, here are a few items from outside the pink dome that merit Grits readers' attention:Twin Peaks fiasco dragging on endlessly, expensivelyTwo years after the Twin Peaks biker shootout in Waco, there are "no trials in sight," reported the Waco Tribune Herald. Grits hopes we've seen the last of state-government bailouts in the form of Governor's grants to McLennan County covering costs in this case. The rest of the state shouldn't have to pay for the McLennan District Attorney's bravado and buffoonery. The reason for the outlandish cost is primarily the decision by DA Abel Reyna to charge dozens of people just for being there even though most people who've seen the discovery agree that the actual shooters were all killed by police snipers. Federal litigation has already ensued. Most of these cases should have been dismissed long ago. Let folks in Waco pay for it.In favor of innocence reformsAttorney…
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Delaware court examines whether, after marijuana possession decriminalized, felony charges are proper for possessing gun with marijuana
This local article from the First State, headlined "Marijuana decriminalized but still triggers gun felony," spotlights an interesting case and this lower court ruling concerning the intersection of marijuana reform and guns laws. Here are the details: Delaware judge is putting lawmakers on notice that they may want to take...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/TuFaNmTSYU8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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Craig on Judging Sexual Assault Trials
Elaine Craig (Dalhousie University - Schulich School of Law) has posted Judging Sexual Assault Trials: Systemic Failure in the Case of Regina v Bassam Al-Rawi (Canadian Bar Review Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The recent decision to acquit...
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USCA6 Takes Lethal Injection Case En Banc
Last week, I commented on Justice Sotomayor's dissent in the McGehee case from Arkansas. She said that the Supreme Court should stay the Arkansas executions to resolve a difference of opinion between federal courts of appeals regarding the availability of an alternative method of execution when an inmate claims the state's method creates an excessive risk of pain.My comment at the time was that there was not yet a circuit split that was ripe for Supreme Court review because the decision of a Sixth Circuit panel was not yet that circuit's final word. The court might take up the case for rehearing before the full court (en banc).Sure enough, today the Sixth did exactly that.
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MORE VOIR DIRE
We're in a jury selection mood lately, so here are Rumpole's "Rules Of Voir Dire" (c) 2017 Justice Building Blog. 10. This is for ASAs. Never ask jurors if they would like DNA, Video, fingerprints, etc, when you don't have that in your case. You ask them that, they think for a second and say "sure, that would be great" and now you have to explain that you don't have that evidence. You look like fools doing this. 9. Don't go into reasonable doubt. The jury instruction is clear. As a defense attorney it can only hurt you. 8. If you do go into reasonable doubt, ask the judge to read the instruction. Then ask them what they think about it. Don't ask them if they can follow the law. 7. Spend time on your client not testifying. Even if she is going to testify. The number one way to expose a state oriented juror is to identify a juror who wants to shift the burden of proof and have the defense prove through…
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