Bret Stephens, the former Wall Street Journal pundit who was brought aboard the New York Times as its token lightning rod, has announced that he is quitting what he calls the “pornified” twitters. Twitter is no different. Bigotry flourishes on Twitter, since it offers the bigot the benefits of anonymity along with instantaneous, uncensored self-publication. It’s the place where their political minds can be as foul as they want to be — without the expense or reputational risk of showing their face at a Richard Spencer rally. Twitter doesn’t merely amplify ugliness. It erases nuance, coarsens thought, turns into a game of “Telephone” in which original meaning becomes hopelessly garbled with every successive re-tweet. It also facilitates a form of self-righteous digital bullying and mob-like behavior that can wreck people’s lives. A disappointing grasp of the medium, for sure. It’s hard for even the most best among us to twit…
Insipid Aspirations, The Permanent and Ethereal
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Criminal lawyers must not misadvise on immigration risks
Immigration law and procedure is multi-faceted when it comes to adverse consequences from particular criminal convictions and sentences. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court included correct advice about adverse immigration consequences from criminal cases within the Sixth Amendment’s Effective Assistance of Counsel clause. Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010). On June 23, 2017, the Supreme Court expanded upon Padilla, by confirming that it is ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment for a criminal lawyer to misadvise his or her client that a particular conviction or sentence will not carry adverse immigration consequences. Jae Lee v. United States, ___ U.S. ___ (June 23, 2017). Lee, who possessed permanent residence/a green card was charged with possession with intent to distribute ecstasy and marijuana. The search warrant of his home also turned up a loaded rifle and over $30,000 in cash. Lee’s criminal defense lawyer…
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Disabled man released from sex-offender list
6-24-17 Arkansas: A Pulaski County circuit judge has released a 38-year-old brain-damaged Little Rock man from an 18-year-old court order requiring him to register as a sex offender, ruling that Andrew Baxter Low is not a danger to the community. Judge Barry Sims said after a hearing on Monday that he was persuaded by the testimony of Low's psychologist of nearly 20 years. The psychologist
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Señor Presidente, ¡Siento vergüenza" 2
Señor Presidente, ¡Siento vergüenza! (2) http://elcomercio.pe/opinion/columnistas/ven-francesca-denegri-437122 Siento vergüenza de las penosas y cínicas declaraciones de SU ministro de trabajo, sosteniendo que como ningún trabajador de la Galería “Nicolini” se quejó del trato que recibía de los “emprendedores” (léase estafadores, falsificadores, explotadores, negreros) no inspeccionaron el lugar, ¿No sabe SU ministro señor Presidente que todos los indicadores de su gobierno y de los gobiernos anteriores que las “mype” son las que absorben el 70% de la fuerza laboral en el País y que son esas las que lloran mañana, tarde y noche para que no las graven con impuestos?, ¿Qué todas esas “mype” son propiedad de los “emprendedores” a los que me he referido. Siento vergüenza de la ignorancia de SU…
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Governor Signs Bill Increasing Sentence for Second, or Subsequent Conviction for Aggravated UUW By a Felon
Yesterday, Illinois governor Bruce Rauner, signed a bill into law which increases the minimum sentence for defendants convicted of a second or subsequent violation of Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon by a Felon. Under current law, a defendants convicted of a second or subsequent violation of the Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon by a Felon statute would be convicted of a Class 2 felony which carries a mandatory prison sentence of between 3 to 14 years. The new law, which was signed yesterday, increases the mandatory prison sentence to 7 to 14 years. This new law enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Springfield, something that has been very rare in Springfield in recent years. This new law was strongly supported by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson. Chicago officials are desperately trying to do something to deal with the out-of-control gun violence in Chicago. It’s possible that this new law will do…
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Hodgson on Comparative Custodial Legal Advice
Jacqueline Hodgson (University of Warwick - School of Law) has posted From the Domestic to the European: An Empirical Approach to Comparative Custodial Legal Advice (In: Ross, Jacqueline E. and Thaman, Stephen C., (eds.) Handbook on Comparative Criminal Procedure. Research...
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Former DAG Sally Yates makes the case against AG Sessions new federal charging and sentencing policies
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Personal Injury Evidence Rules | South Carolina Accident Attorneys
When you bring an accident case, you have the burden of proof and must follow personal injury evidence rules. Because the rules are complex, we explain here how presenting your case properly is so important. Hence winning your case means you must present the right evidence. However, sometimes the best evidence is not admissible. So we explain the recent case of Busillo v. City of North Charleston where the rules of personal injury evidence played a critical role. Personal Injury Evidence Rules While on patrol for the City of North Charleston, Officer Terrell attempted a U-turn. Consequently, he hit Busillo’s car causing property damage and personal injury. Subsequently, Busillo filed a lawsuit for his property damage, and a panel found that the City liable. In addition, Busillo also filed a claim in circuit court for personal injury. However, in this case, Busillo submitted evidence of property damage to her car. While the evidence included a summary of…
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Q: How Many Lies Can Get Packed into One Paragraph?
A: I don't know, but former Obama Administration Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is making a pitch for the record.She has an opinion piece in today's Washington Post. I may go through more of it later; for now, I just want to look at the first substantive paragraph, which is regrettably representative of the deceit running through the entire piece. Ms. Yates begins her analysis with this:All across the political spectrum, in red states and blue states, from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and the Koch brothers to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the American Civil Liberties Union, there is broad consensus that the "lock them all up and throw away the key" approach embodied in mandatory minimum drug sentences is counterproductive, negatively affecting our ability to assure the safety of our communities.Where to start? First, the "broad consensus" supposedly in favor of sentencing "reform" does not exist. There is a…
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MT: Admission at a game checkpoint wasn’t “in custody”
Defendant was stopped at a game checkpoint and admitted to placing his daughter’s tag on a deer he shot. He was not “in custody” when he confessed. State v. Maile, 2017 MT 154, 2017 Mont. LEXIS 350 (June 23, 2017). … Continue reading →
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Immigration Consequences For Non-Citizens Accused of a Crime
Introduction Normally, a person accused of a crime who is a United States Citizen must decide whether to plead guilty or go to trial. This decision is made after careful consultation with his or her attorney and after reviewing the strength of the evidence against the defendant, the likelihood of success at trial, and the amount of jail time he or she will receive. Non-citizen defendants face a difficult choice–plead guilty and be deported or go to trial and risk additional jail time in order to preserve their immigration status.But what happens when a non-citizen is charged with a criminal offense? The non-citizen faces another problem that maybe worse than the jail time he or she receives if convicted—that problem is deportation. There are plenty of people living in the United States who are not United States Citizens. These include lawful permanent residents, foreign students, individuals granted asylum, and undocumented individuals. For…
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HANZMAN RULES
We're back. Our short absence can be directly traced to two United States District Court Judges at opposite ends of the country who had no problem making us try two cases back to back. As the saying goes, the difference between the Almighty and a US district court Judge is that the Almighty does not think she is a US district court judge...Judge Hanzman, a popular subject for the commentators on this blog has issued a ruling that has the FACDL members yapping. We re-print it here for your review and comments.Judge Hanzman has entered the arena of minimum mandatory sentences. This arena was created by the legislature with the full belief that the 24 year old prosecutor with a year under her belt in court, is more trustworthy, better suited, better able, more experienced and overall a better person to decide the fate of a defendant facing a 15 year minimum mandatory sentence than a wise and experienced judge like Judge Hanzman, who has more than likely tried more cases in…
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When Early Release Gets a Pass
Generally, early release from prison is a bad idea. The system is already laced with so much leniency that more is seldom justified. The eye-opening Washington Post series, "Second Chance City" gives a glimpse of what leniency actually does: It promotes crime and assures more crime victims. Some of them will wind up beaten, raped or dead, or all three.America is not over-incarcerated. It is, if anything, under-incarcerated, as its astounding recidivism rates and burgeoning murder rate since 2014 show.Still, I do not wish to be a hard-hearted man. Even for a lifelong thug, a man so bad even his son testified against him and now has to be hidden in the federal witness protection program, there can be a case for being released before completing all eight years of his sentence.The New York Daily News has the story.
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Another accounting of the big drop in traffic stops after marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington
In this recent post I noted The Marshall Project article discussing data showing many fewer traffic stops after marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington. This new NBC News article, headlined "Police Searches Drop Dramatically in States that Legalized Marijuana," covers similar ground. Here are excerpts of this reporting of fascinating...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/rFuv3HnGBZ4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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Inmates with Mental Illnesses Don’t Get the Treatment They Need
There are now three times more people with serious mental illness incarcerated in the United States than in hospitals Are U.S. prisons criminalizing the mentally ill? That’s what a large number of criminal justice advocacy groups have stated — and their assertions are definitely backed up by the data. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 73 percent of the female inmates in state prisons and 55 percent of men suffer with some type of mental health illness. In federal prisons, 61 percent of women and 44 percent of men have a mental health problem. At the local level, 75 percent of women and 63 percent of men in jails have a mental illness. These mental health problems range from depression and bipolar disorder to trauma-related disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder. A PBS report states, “There are now three times more people with serious mental illness incarcerated in the United States than in hospitals, and the types of behavioral and mental…
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IA: Unnecessary to seek out somebody else not at scene to retrieve car when driver and only passenger arrested
The state showed the impoundment policy was standardized and complied with. It wasn’t necessary at the time to seek out somebody else to retrieve the car from the roadside when both the driver and passenger were arrested. State v. Tronca, … Continue reading →
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LA2: Reasonable possibility respondent was father was enough to order for DNA test in face of 4A objection
Respondent was the subject of a petition to establish paternity, and he claimed that the statute to order DNA testing required the Fourth Amendment be complied with. “Here, Rogers argues that in order to prove a reasonable possibility of paternity, … Continue reading →
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Injury crash near Marsing
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 6/25/2017 1:47 a.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Saturday, June 24, 2017, at approximately 8:39 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a two-vehicle, injury crash at the intersection of Marsing Road and Riverside Road, east of Marsing. Mohammad Timor Shah, 29, of Boise, was northbound on Riverside Road in a 2004 Hyundai Elantra. Angelina Derryberry, 29, of Caldwell, was a passenger in the Hyundai. Pedro Herrera Ramos, 33, of Nampa, was eastbound on Marsing Road in a 2007 Ford F-250 pulling a horse trailer. Carina Herrera, 30; Salvador Herrera, 75; Maria Herrera, 70; and a juvenile, all of Nampa, were passengers in the Ford. The Hyundai did not…
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KS: CI’s tip insufficient; motion to suppress should have been granted
The alleged reasonable suspicion for extending defendant’s traffic stop was the CI’s information which is found insufficient. The state’s alternative basis of defendant’s alleged “jumpiness” was never presented to the trial court. There are no findings on that, it is … Continue reading →
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D.C.Cir.: Omission of robbery victim’s failure to ID def didn’t cut either way in Franks analysis; PC still existed
Omission of a non-identification of defendant as a robber was not material for Franks. “Even viewing the omitted non-identification as a material omission, probable cause for the search did not rise or fall on the identification of Dorman as the … Continue reading →
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