You heard me right. Not a breathalyzer, but a texalyzer. A new device has been developed that could help law enforcement determine whether a person was using a cell phone at the time a traffic collision occurred. Just as a breathalyzer can help determine whether alcohol in a person’s system played a part in a traffic collision, the texalyzer can help law enforcement and prosecutors determine whether a driver’s texting possibly played a part in a traffic collision. By connecting the phone via a cord to the device, law enforcement would be able to know what apps were open and in use with a time stamp. Lawmakers in New York and several other cities are considering allowing law enforcement to use the device to crack down on texting while driving. It is currently illegal in California to “drive a motor vehicle while holding and operating a handheld wireless telephone.” This provision includes texting while driving. Cellebrite is the company behind the device…
Texalyzer to Help Cops Crack Down on Distracted Driving
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"Behind the Bench: The Past, Present, and Future of Federal Sentencing"
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Top Ten Favorite Films: #4 Stranger Than Paradise
Screamin' Jay and Budapest.TV dinners and Budapest.NYC, Cleveland, and Budapest.Florida's motel rooms and Budapest.It is, in the end, one joke that takes an hour and a half to tell.I know this poster hangs on the wall of a very important place in my life.Always has.Always will.#4
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MVA v. Styslinger – if you refuse you can be suspended – even if you weren’t driving
The Court of Appeals recently held that even though implied consent to blow is only given by persons who drive or attempt to drive, it is sufficient to suspend a driver’s license or privilege to drive if the officer merely has “reasonable grounds to believe” the person was driving. The Court of Appeals ruling was based on a provision in the law governing the issues that can be raised at a hearing. It only requires the MVA to show the officer had “reasonable grounds to believe” the person was driving. As it has done in other cases, the Court of Appeals has created two different standards, one for the criminal case, and another for the license suspension hearing. In the criminal case, the Court has recognized the “stationary shelter” defense. A person may use the car to “sleep it off,” even with the motor on and not be driving, and therefore not be guilty in the criminal case. At the MVA…
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Can Government Lawyers Be Heroes?
Brad Wendel, Government Lawyers in the Trump Administration, Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 17-04 (2017), available at SSRN. Rebecca Roiphe In 1973, in what has come to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre, Richard Nixon attempted to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, prompting his own Attorney General to resign. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, the bar recoiled in shock as it acknowledged the number of lawyers complicit in illegal conduct. In this timely new article, Brad Wendel explores the obligations of government attorneys in an administration that has shown an unsettlingly similar disregard for legal limitations on its power. It’s hard to keep up with the Trump administration’s distaste for dissent. Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates when she refused to enforce his travel bans on individuals with visas from seven predominantly Muslim countries. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer issued an ultimatum to…
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EL TRAIDOR HUMALA TASSO, LOS MILITARES Y SUS PENSIONES
Había perdido interés en escribir sobre el traidor, total haya matado a uno o mil no irá a la Cárcel, sin embargo un reportaje en el programa “Beto a saber” de hace dos días relacionaba al traidor HT con el narcotráfico y la danza de Dólares para que aterricen las avionetas con la droga, amén de las muertes que se le imputan y que ya no parece una teoría descabellada o de venganza. Cuando vi el reportaje mi pensamiento fue juzgar a toda la fuerza armada pues es la única que puede acceder y negociar directamente con los narcos, el que se apuntaba bien, el que no ¡a los jueces!. Esa es la realidad por mucho que se molesten, en mi condición de abogado en múltiples oportunidades he tenido contacto con la policía, una primera impresión es de miedo “¿A esta gente le confiaré el destino de mi patrocinado?, la segunda era peor,…
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The Death of the Presumption of Regularity
A few years ago, “good faith” was declared dead. Obama was still president and the Department of Justice was run by the people lionized today for their not being sycophants of the Trump administration. To some howls of disapproval, I disputed the contention as unworkable, the end of the American experiment. A nation cannot function without the presumption of regularity. The beauty of such presumptions is that they are rebuttable. The law may presume a public official to act in good faith, but that merely informs the parties of who has the burden to dispute the presumption and the burden of proof. Yet, the Comey termination letter tests the presumption beyond the breaking point. As Julian Sanchez writes, the claim that he fired Comey for mishandling the Clinton email investigation is too ludicrous to be taken seriously. It’s as if Trump wasn’t even trying to come up with a credible story. It’s insulting. Lawprof Dawn Johnsen, at the…
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Short Take: Objection Withdrawn
Jamie Koehler offers, without commentary, a bit of trial transcript. PROSECUTOR ON RE-DIRECT Q: Okay. Ms. Smith, you do have a Yahoo e-mail account, right? DEFENSE COUNSEL: Objection. Leading. The prosecutor, of course, can’t lead his own witness. Not on direct. Not on re-direct, where a prosecutor will try to rehabilitate his witness after a withering cross. But in this case, the cross didn’t turn out to be particularly withering. The defense attorney sought to get the witness to admit that she used a particular Yahoo email account. The witness testified that she did not. Counsel pushed. The witness didn’t budge. Counsel pushed again. Still, no budge. Nothing. Then counsel let it go. If the witness is going to persist in denial, there isn’t much you can do about it, at least with that witness. Contrary to TV trials, the lawyer doesn’t get to make a speech, testify, and make the witness break down in tears. So when the prosecutor on re-direct asked…
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Short Take: Don’t Want To Be A Canadian Idiot
Hal Niedzviecki called bullshit on cultural appropriation. It didn’t go well for him. Hal Niedzviecki, editor of Write — a publication for the union’s members — published an opinion piece in the spring 2017 issue titled “Writer’s Prompt.” In the article, in an issue dedicated to indigenous writing, Niedzviecki wrote: “In my opinion, anyone, anywhere, should be encouraged to imagine other peoples, other cultures, other identities. “I’d go so far as to say there should even be an award for doing so — the Appropriation Prize for best book by an author who writes about people who aren’t even remotely like her or him.” He didn’t wear a sombrero while writing it, or get soused on margaritas. He just challenged cultural appropriation. After all, if you seize someone else’s culture, then there won’t be enough for them. A sociological term, cultural appropriation is used to describe the…
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What Constitutes Cyberstalking in Florida?
A 20 year old student at the University of North Florida was recently the victim of a man who created fake social media accounts using her name and likeness. Her Facebook photos were used to create fake social media accounts on Instagram and Tinder. The fake accounts requested money be sent and stated that the victim was “sexually ready.” So, was this a crime? And if so, what crime was it? The young man that created these fake social media accounts was arrested and charged with Cyberstalking. Cyberstalking is defined in Florida Statute Section 784.048(1)(d) and requires: engaging in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, words, images, or language, Continue reading
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Eleventh Circuit rejects effort to attack Alabama's lethal injection by suggesting hanging or firing squad as alternative execution methods
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En el reino del poder vale todo, incluso el terror
Escuchaba hoy la entrevista al señor Borjes Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela, este sujeto se limitó durante toda la entrevista a responder políticamente las benévolas preguntas de los entrevistadores, la señora Del Río es verdadera especialista sólo habría que comprar esta entrevista con la que le hizo casi una hora después a un abogado (me parece que Chehade), pero Borjes como todos los operadores del poder acusaba de narcoestado, los beneficios económicos para la cúpula militar, como extraña la goyerías jajjaja!!. No respondió cuál era la alternativa de la oposición para solucionar el caos generalizado, según él- por el que atraviesa Venezuela, repárese en "caos generalizado", lo menos que se puede pedir a quien pretende el poder por la fuerza y con mierda (el señor Mirko Lauer habla de la…
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Notable comments from AG Sessions about the opioid crisis and combatting drug problems
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UCLA Financial Director Charged with Embezzlement
A UCLA finance director has been arrested and charged with the embezzlement of tens of thousands of dollars from City University of New York. He worked at CUNY from 2008 to 2012 as a finance official. Embezzlement Charges Against UCLA Financial Director According to a complaint filed by the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, between 2008 and 2012 Carmine Marino took a total of $81,000 from a tuition account at CUNY’s school of professional studies. Marino then allegedly transferred the money two separate accounts that only he had control over. “We are actively reviewing the charges and intend to vigorously defend against them,” said Marino’s lawyer, David Smith. Marino was working at CUNY’s school of professional studies from 2007 until May 2012, and then in the university’s City College until 2013 when CUNY fired him after discovering some of the illegal transactions. According to the lawsuit, the university eventually…
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Did You Get a Cinco de Mayo DUI?
Typically over big weekends like Cinco de Mayo (commonly referred to as Cinco de Drinko) the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department will team up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to keep impaired drivers off San Diego’s roads. If you received a DUI this past holiday weekend, you’ll want to know what your next steps are – namely how to contact a DUI defense attorney. If You Were Pulled Over on Cinco de Mayo for DUI If you were pulled over for impaired driving, you’ll want to know what you are facing. Below we outline the steps of a DUI investigation in addition to what you can do if you are facing DUI charges. Steps to Investigating DUI Charges The first step in a DUI investigation is being pulled over by a police officer, which can be scary. If this was you this past weekend, you probably anticipated the typical question an officer asks: “Have you had anything to drink today?” Since the officer can’t force…
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Does Assault Require Mandatory Jail Time in Utah?
An assault charge in Utah can range in severity from a misdemeanor to a felony depending on factors like how seriously the victim was injured, whether the defendant used a gun or other dangerous weapon, and whether the victim was pregnant at the time of the alleged attack. Salt Lake City criminal defense lawyer Darwin Overson explains sentencing for simple assault and aggravated assault in Utah, including whether there is mandatory jail or prison time for defendants who are convicted. Can You Go to Jail for an Assault Charge in Utah? The short answer to this question is yes: jail time is a sentencing possibility for defendants who are convicted of aggravated or simple assault. In addition to jail or prison time, the judge may also impose other penalties, such as fines and probation, where the defendant has to obey certain rules and restrictions for a set period of time. The defendant may also be required to pay restitution, which is compensation for the victim’s…
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Retributivism, Punishing the Innocent, and Threshold Deontology
I have posted an early draft of my most recent project on SSRN: Real World Criminal Law and the Norm Against Punishing the Innocent: Two Cheers for Threshold Deontology. The paper assesses how a deontological retributivist might elaborate the norm...
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Searching For the Root Causes of Domestic Violence
In the United States, an average of 20 people a minute suffer physical abuse at the hands of a spouse or an intimate partner. That’s equal to more than 10 million men and women each year, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Although intimate partners of both sexes suffer abuse, the majority of those abused are women; every nine seconds in the U.S., a woman is assaulted or beaten. But domestic violence includes more than physical abuse. The U.S. Department of Justice’ Office on Violence Against Women defines it as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship to gain or maintain power over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten terrorize, to coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure or wound someone.” What causes someone to inflict this kind of pain on the people they are supposed to…
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Fatal Crash NB SH13 @ 21.1, near Stites, ID
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 2 Patrol 2700 North and South Highway Lewiston, ID 83501-1732 (208) 799-5151 Fax (208) 799-5146 For Immediate Release: 4/12/17 12:30am Please direct questions to the District Office On May 11th, 2017 at approximately 7:13pm, a fatal crash occurred on state highway 13 near milepost 21.1, just south of Stites, ID. A red 2002 Buick Century, driven by Harry Owens (89 years old of Grangeville, ID), was travelling northbound when it failed to negotiate a left hand curve. The vehicle went off the right shoulder and Owens lost control. Owens overcorrected the vehicle back onto the roadway, crossing the center line, and off the left shoulder of the highway. The vehicle continued down an embankment and into the south fork of the Clearwater River. Owens was located in the river that…
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Modernisierung des Erbrechts
Gemäss einer Medienmitteilung des Bundeamtes für Justiz vom 10. Mai 2017 hat der Bundesrat die Vernehmlassungsergebnisse zur Modernisierung des Erbrechts zur Kenntnis genommen und hält an der vorgeschlagenen Verkleinerung der Pflichtteile der Nachkommen und an der Einführung des Unterhaltsvermächtnisses fest. Er hat das Eidgenössische Justiz- und Polizeidepartement beauftragt, ihm dieses Jahr eine entsprechende Botschaft zu unterbreiten.Mit der Revision des Erbrechts soll jenes flexibler ausgestaltet und den stark geänderten Lebensrealitäten angepasst werden. Bei einem Viertel der Familienhaushalte mit Kindern unter 25 Jahren handelt es sich heute um Patchworkfamilien, Konsensualpaare mit Kindern oder Familien mit alleinerziehenden Müttern oder Vätern; diese Familienhaushalte entsprechen nicht mehr der traditionellen Familienform, auf welcher das heutige Erbrecht basiert.Zentral ist deshalb eine Verkleinerung der gesetzlichen…
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