Quantcast
Channel: Recent Criminal Law posts - Justia BlawgSearch.com
Viewing all 71824 articles
Browse latest View live

DC Cir.: The mere fact a person has a cell phone isn’t PC to search it; must be PC evidence would be found

0
0
“Most of us nowadays carry a cell phone. And our phones frequently contain information chronicling our daily lives—where we go, whom we see, what we say to our friends, and the like. When a person is suspected of a crime, … Continue reading →

Lilla Isn’t Gay

0
0
Mark Lilla took his career, if not his life, into his hands by writing an op-ed that he knew would make people’s heads explode. Even worse, his break from the progressive orthodoxy would mean that he was now a shitlord, racist, sexist, neo-Nazi, dog-killer and glutton-eater. Come up with a name that would make a progressive ball up in the corner and cry, and that would be LIlla. For those of us who, like Lilla, realized that the politics of identity would never succeed, dooming us to the rule of Darth Cheeto, he looked a little too much like Gertrude. But then, he was trying to make a point, and a point is of little use if the people who need to get it won’t consider it. But instead of crying about all the really mean names he was called, he wrote a book. Because they love us, the New York Times had Yale history prof Beverly Gage review it. Mark Lilla, a professor of the humanities at Columbia and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, says his aim…

Short Take: Crazy Meets The 25th Amendment

0
0
California Democrat Zoe Lofgren has proposed a new law that puts the screws to the president. A  new bill introduced in the House of Representatives would require President Donald Trump to undergo a physical and mental health exam to determine if he is stable enough to stay in office. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) introduced the bill on Friday. Should the results of the said exam be unfavorable, the bill calls for Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Cabinet to remove Trump from office. The move would invoke the 25th Amendment, a rarely-used constitutional provision that allows the vice president and a majority of Cabinet members to jointly remove the president from office and replace him with the vice president. The bill doesn’t propose a law, but a resolution directed solely at Trump, because, well, dementia happens.  Had this been handled artfully, Lofgren could have put the president in an untenable position, either refusing to be evaluated…

Fatality Crash in Boise County

0
0
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: 08/20/17 7:13 a.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Sunday, August 20, 2017 at approximately 2:45 a.m., Idaho State Police responded to a single vehicle, fatality crash on State Highway 55 near milepost 76, in Boise County. Dean Rogers, 47, of Horseshoe Bend, was traveling southbound on a 2014 Harley Davidson motorcycle, when he drove off the right shoulder and struck a telephone pole. Rogers was not wearing a helmet and succumbed to his injuries at the scene. Next of kin has been notified. The crash is under investigation. 3933/3560 -------------

Morning Radio: Seeds

0
0
Walk on music from 89 to 91.

U.S. Supreme Court Weighs in on Forfeiture Proceedings

0
0
The United States Supreme Court recently reversed a judgment of the Sixth Circuit in Honeycutt v. United States. In the decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that under 21 U.S.C. §853(a)(1), which mandates forfeiture of property derived from certain drug crimes under federal law, “a defendant may [not] be held jointly and severally liable for property that his co-conspirator derived from the crime but that the defendant himself did not acquire.” The background was as follows. “Terry Michael Honeycutt [the petitioner here] managed sales and inventory for a … hardware store owned by his brother, Tony Honeycutt. After observing several “‘edgy looking folks’” purchasing an iodine-based water-purification product known as Polar Pure, Terry Honeycutt contacted the [police] to inquire whether the iodine crystals in the product could be used to manufacture methamphetamine…. An officer confirmed that individuals were…

Opiate Epidemic Assaults South Florida

0
0
During the 2016 presidential campaign, the opioid epidemic became a campaign issue with overdose deaths hitting a peak of 28,000 nationally the previous year detailed by the latest current available data. It was just a few weeks ago that the President of the United States declared the opioid crisis a National emergency. More than a year earlier, the Governor of Florida stated that opioid abuse was a public health emergency in the state. Locally, a Miami man was arrested this past June for heroin trafficking and possession of Fentanyl. He was coordinating transactions of the opiates with what turned out to be a police informant. Continue reading →

2 Vehicle Crash WB I84 mp 13

0
0
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: 08/20/17 8:59 a.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Sunday, August 20, 2017 at approximately 3:29 a.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a two vehicle crash on Interstate 84 near milepost 13, northeast of Parma. Lavern Ford, 71, of Jefferson, OR, was driving eastbound on Interstate 84 in a 2015 Freightliner semi-truck pulling a box trailer when he drove off the right shoulder. Ford returned to the road, crossed through the median into the westbound lanes and struck Gloria Estes, 57, of Kennewick, WA, in a 2004 Toyota Sienna. Ford's vehicle came to rest in the shoulder of the westbound lanes. Ford and Estes were taken by air ambulance to St.…

Emily Gerrick: Chipping Away at Debtors Prison Policies

0
0
On the latest Reasonably Suspicious podcast, I interviewed Emily Gerrick, a staff attorney with the Texas Fair Defense Project specializing in policies surrounding people jailed for traffic-ticket debt. We only used a 5-minute segment for the podcast, so here's our full conversation for those interested, ranging from recently passed reform bills, jailing drivers for failure to pay tickets, the ignominious Driver Responsibility surcharge, and what local municipal court judges and Justices of the Peace can do to minimize debtors prison practices under current law.Listen to the full interview here or read a transcript below the jump:SEE ALSO: A report from the Fair Defense Project and Texas Appleseed on debtors prison issues, a summary of reform legislation from the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center, and comments about Emily's interview from Edward Spillane, presiding judge over the College Station municipal courts. RELATED: Check out Grits'…

Excited Utterance Exception; Admissibility of the 911 tapes; Recent Court of Appeals Decision:

0
0
  Oftentimes in the domestic violence assault cases, the complainant does not actually testify for one reason or another. In such cases, the government attempts to introduce the 911 reporting/call of the complainant in lieu of the substantive evidence of assault. If the 911 tape recoding does meet the three prong test for admission; then the recording can and will be admitted and relied upon by the trier of the facts albeit the jury or the judge. The Court of Appeals on August 17, 2017, in Pelzer v. U.S., highlighted and outlined the test of admissibility for the 911 tape and the legal criteria or requirement for admission under the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. Specifically, there must be: (1) the presence of a serious occurrence which causes a state of nervous excitement or physical shock in the declarant; (2) a declaration made within a reasonably short period of time after the occurrence so as to assure that the declarant has not reflected upon his…

Case o' The Week: A Touch of Evil on Ninth's Mind - Hernandez and Mens Rea + Actus Reus Match

0
0
 Bad mind, wrong crime? No time.  United States v. Lucio Hernandez, 859 F.3d 817(9thCir. June 15, 2017), decision available here. Players: Per curiam decision with Judges Shroeder and Bybee, and Chief D.J. William Smith.   Admirable win for Deputy Federal Public Defender Alexandra Yates, Central District of California. Facts: Hernandez drove from Arizona to California to transfer title on a car. Id. at 819. In Arizona, he (legally) purchased multiple weapons at a gun show, without any waiting period (things prohibited in California). Id. He listed Arizona as his current residence on the ATF form, though he lived in California. Id.   When the guns were later found by California cops in the possession of others, the ATF got a search warrant. Id. No Arizona guns were found in the search: some had been stolen, Hernandez explained, others buried in the desert. Id.   He was indicted with illegal transportation of firearms into his state of…

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Denied Right to Counsel of His Choice

0
0
Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman speaks with the media after a hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court regarding “El Chapo” Guzman on August 14, 2017 in New York. DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images The Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel is one of the bedrock principles of the American justice system: all those charged with a crime are guaranteed the right to counsel.  If an individual charged with a crime cannot afford an attorney, since 1963 the Supreme Court has ruled that an attorney will be provided to him at no cost (Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963)).  This attorney will either come in the form of a fulltime public defender or an attorney assigned by the court and paid by the hour.  In either situation, these attorneys have a very large caseload and limited resources to devote to each assigned client.  And now we come to the case of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman: extradited to the United States from Mexico in January of 2017,…

Harris County Pastor Charged with Continuous Sex Abuse of a Child

0
0
If you subscribe to the Houston Chronicle, you may remember a recent headline that read: “Harris County pastor charged with sexually abusing child for years.” The man is charged with continuous sex abuse of a child. That means he’s facing 25 years to life with no possibility of parole. It also means he will have to register as a sex offender for life if convicted. The reality is that a false sex abuse allegation can happen to anyone at anytime. What’s the source of a false sex crime allegation? Almost always there is some child involved who has emotional or mental issues, making an allegation of abuse that occurred years before. That’s it. How do you fight sex crime case? For starter, hire an attorney who specializes in handling sex abuse cases. These are not just like any other case. They require a criminal defense lawyer who knows how to investigate these cases, uncover any motive or helpful evidence, and attack the credibility of the…

Malaysia’s Planned Drug Reform Highlights Divide in SE Asia’s Drug War Approach

0
0
Source: Talking Drugs (10 August 2017)http://www.talkingdrugs.org/malaysias-planned-drug-reform-highlights-divide-in-se-asias-drug-war-approachMalaysia is set to repeal legislation that imposes a mandatory death penalty for people who sell drugs, despite most of its neighbouring countries implementing increasingly brutal drug policies.On August 8, Minister Azalina Othman Said tweeted to corroborate a story in the press: Malaysia’s cabinet had "agreed to amend the colonial-era Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952 to give courts a choice in sentencing". Under current legislation, anyone found guilty of trafficking drugs faces a mandatory death penalty; the planned reform would give judges discretion in sentencing. While the proposed amendment has support from the cabinet, it must first be tabled in the parliament, which is expected to pass it in October, The Australian reports.As TalkingDrugs reported in 2016, Malaysia seems to have placed a “secret moratorium”…

Jailed for Life for DWI – Texas Man Receives Seventh Conviction

0
0
You could be jailed for life for DWI in Texas if you receive repeated convictions. In Weatherford, Texas, a man recently received a life sentence for his seventh conviction. Police arrested James Eric Nachlinger from Scurry County in West Texas 10 times. He was convicted of seven DWIs, reported the Star-Telgram. The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to a DWI charge from last July. Jeff Swain, Parker County assistant district attorney, said Nachlinger elected to have state District Judge Craig Towson assess his sentence. The DWI driver previously received a custodial sentence for four other felony charges.  The case was handled under Texas’ habitual offender law, Swain said. Nachlinger was apprehended by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper on July 28. He was seen driving erratically on Interstate 20 in western Parker County.  A blood test revealed a blood-alcohol content of more than three times the legal driving limit, prosecutors said. According to media…

Jotwell 2017 Summer Break

0
0
Jotwell is taking a short summer break. Posting will resume on Monday, September 4. However, even while we’re on break, we’ll be accepting submissions, editing them, and doing a lot of work under the hood. We have tentatively scheduled a major server move for next week. If that happens on schedule, it is likely that this page, and each section, will be offline during a transitional period somewhere between an hour and a day. We will post warning notices before the transition. The new server should make the site much faster, and also reduce downtime. Unfortunately it is also expensive, so this is good time to ask you to please help support Jotwell; give enough and we may not have to have a fundraiser later in the year. If you like Jotwell, share — help us find more readers. Tell a friend about Jotwell. And if you are an academic reader, please consider recommending Jotwell to your students. We have a Jotwell_Flyer for students that you can print out and post,…

A Post Eclipsing All My Other Ones

0
0
It’s solar eclipse day! Millions of North Carolinians will see today’s eclipse, with those in the far western end of the state experiencing totality. As is my custom when exceedingly rare things happen, I’ll mark the occasion by writing about some things that go beyond our usual subject matter. The truth is, in addition to being a sentencing nerd, I’m also a space nerd. (And a baseball nerd. And a Star Wars nerd. Oh man, I might just be a nerd.) One year I drove my kids back and forth to Cape Canaveral five times to see a shuttle launch that kept getting scrubbed for weather and technical difficulties. Totally worth it. Suffice it to say the eclipse has been kind of a big deal at our house. With that in mind, I did a little thinking about whether it could have any criminal law implications. Most ideas were a stretch. For example, could a break-in that happened during the eclipse be considered a burglary by virtue of happening at “night”?…

Morning Radio: Vida Antiga

0
0
Driving with my father in the VW van to Florida. 1973.Cooler in the back filled with pop.Roadside fruit stands and peaches and cantaloupe. And the 8 track, and I got to choose.I chose this one, because it felt like a summer night's dusk near the ocean.Still does.

The Selling Of A Race Riot

0
0
The time is ripe for some easy and empty rhetoric to capture the passionate hearts and blank minds of the crowd. And Andy Cuomo, the Governor of New York, wants to get him some. “Our diversity is our strength and this legislation will help protect New Yorkers and send a clear signal that violence and discrimination have no place in our society,” Cuomo said in a statement. It’s hard to argue with the sentiment and so what kind of horrible human being would you have to be to not gush, “yes, oh yes,” in furtherance of this lofty goal? Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to crack down on hate-fueled rioting in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend. Cuomo proposed the “Charlottesville provisions” — changes to state law that would establish new hate crimes for inciting to riot or rioting “when directed at a protected class.” The charges would apply if a riot targets an individual or group based on…

Marilú "sonrisitas" Martens - su mensaje al País.

0
0
MARILU "sonrisitas" MARTENS - Mensaje al País http://elcomercio.pe/opinion/colaboradores/queremos-marilu-martens-noticia-451645 "Esta no es una lucha entre maestros y funcionarios, ni entre bandos políticos o poderes del Estado. La lucha por la educación es la lucha por el futuro del país; es mucho más importante que cualquier otra”. Con este  profundo pensamiento la Ministra “sonrisitas” Martens termina  prácticamente su   mensaje. Lo empieza con el siguiente: “Estimados maestros, alumnos, padres de familia y peruanos todos: La huelga nos ha dividido, y lo ha hecho porque ha agudizado las diferencias que existen entre todos nosotros. Diferimos en qué pensamos que es lo mejor para el país, pero también diferimos cuando buscamos nuestros beneficios personales. Lo que nos une, sin embargo, es algo mucho más grande. Lo que todos queremos,…
Viewing all 71824 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images