In wake of Marcellus Williams stay and inquiry, broader reflections on innocence and racial dynamics in capital punishment's administration
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The Arpaio Pardon: Awful, But Not Unconstitutional
"Pardoning Joe Arpaio Would Be a Constitutional Crisis" proclaims the headline of this article by Bob Bauer in Foreign Policy. The text of the article is less extreme, with no mention or definition of a constitutional "crisis." Yet Bauer's argument is in line with most of the criticism published in the last week arguing that President Trump's recent pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio would likely support a case for impeachment against Trump. Bauer writes:[W]hile the president may well get away with the specific act of pardoning Arpaio, this action will not be without effect on future calls for impeachment. Unlike a pardon of himself, family members, or aides in the Russia matter, pardoning Arpaio would probably not result in the immediate demand for an impeachment inquiry. If, however, impeachment pressure increases, or a formal impeachment inquiry is launched on the basis of Russian “collusion,” obstruction, or on other grounds, an…
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STATE V. TURNER – DECIDING A 4TH AMENDMENT QUESTION WITHOUT RESORT TO SUPREME COURT CASE LAW.
STATE V. TURNER – DECIDING A 4TH AMENDMENT QUESTION WITHOUT RESORT TO SUPREME COURT CASE LAW. Posted by Edmund R. Folsom, Esq. August 29, 2017 In my view, Maine’s cases on whether a police officer’s stop of a vehicle outside the officer’s territorial jurisdiction calls for suppression of evidence are a nearly hopeless mess. Now, add State v. Turner to the mess. In State v. Turner, 2017 ME 185 __ A.3d __, the Law Court has, for the first time, analyzed the facts of an OUI case involving an extraterritorial stop under the language of Maine’s fresh pursuit statute, 30-A M.R.S. §2671. In Turner, a Winslow police officer saw a driver commit a traffic infraction in Winslow. The officer attempted to stop the driver in Winslow, but the driver continued across a bridge into Waterville before pulling to the roadside. While the officer was engaged in the traffic stop, in Waterville, he heard a loud noise and saw a…
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1. In re Zermeno-Gomez, No. 17-71867 (8-25-17)(Order from Goodwin, Kozinski, & Berzon). Note: This is an Az FPD case. The 9th "unequivocally stated that a published opinion constitutes binding authority and must be followed unless and until it is overruled by a body competent to do so."It is not every day that a writ of mandamus orders a district court to comply with an appellate decision. This was the situation here, where the Az district court considered the recent Sanchez-Gomez decision not binding precedent as the mandate had yet to issue. Sanchez-Gomezconcerned the practice of the shackling of defendants in Cal S; there, the 9th held that before a defendant is shackled, the district court must make an individualized decision as to shackling, and that shackles "are the least restrictive means for maintaining security and order." The Az court sought not to comply, reasoning that the Sanchez-Gomezmandate has not…
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US v. Mercado-Moreno, No. 15-10545 (8-28-17)(Tallman, Ikuta, & Oliver). This case concerns a district court's quantity findings when deciding a reduction of sentence pursuant to a retroactive Guideline amendment. In this instance, the 9th found no error in the second district court concluding that the retroactive amendment did not apply as the first court had determined that the amount of meth for which the defendant was responsible did not lower his guidelines. Concerning findings, the 9th holds "that when deciding a 3582(c)(2) motion, a district court may supplement the original court's quantity findings only when supplemental findings are necessary to determine the defendant's eligibility for sentence reduction in light of the retroactive Guideline." Further, "a district court has broad discretion in how to adjudicate 3582(c)(2) proceedings, including whether to hold a hearing when making supplemental findings of drug…
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Opderbeck on Encryption and the Fifth Amendment
David W. Opderbeck (Seton Hall University - School of Law) has posted The Skeleton in the Hard Drive: Encryption and the Fifth Amendment on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Courts are grappling with the question whether forced decryption of computer...
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Think for Yourself
James Freeman of the WSJ points us to some advice for students from 15 Ivy League professors. Freeman calls the advice "a flagrant micro-aggression."In today's climate, it's all-too-easy to allow your views and outlook to be shaped by dominant opinion on your campus or in the broader academic culture. The danger any student--or faculty member--faces today is falling into the vice of conformism, yielding to groupthink.At many colleges and universities what John Stuart Mill called "the tyranny of public opinion" does more than merely discourage students from dissenting from prevailing views on moral, political, and other types of questions. It leads them to suppose that dominant views are so obviously correct that only a bigot or a crank could question them.Since no one wants to be, or be thought of as, a bigot or a crank, the easy, lazy way to proceed is simply by falling into line with campus orthodoxies.Don't do that. Think for…
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Warehouse Lending Scheme Indicted in New York
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Edward E. Bohm, 39, Nissequogue, New York, Edward J. Sypher, Jr., 40, Scarsdale, New York, and Matthew T. Voss, 42, Northport, New York, all senior executives at Long Island mortgage lender Vanguard Funding, LLC (Vanguard), were the subject of a criminal complaint charging conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud in connection with their obtaining more than $8.9 million […] The post Warehouse Lending Scheme Indicted in New York appeared first on Mortgage Fraud Blog.
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Clay County man arrested for child neglect after allegedly leaving child in car
A man from Middleburg, Florida was recently arrested for allegedly leaving his two year-old child in his car in the middle of summer. The man was arrested for felony child neglect in Clay County, which is a second degree felony in Florida. According to an article on news4jax..com, the man took a nap and the child got into the car and became trapped. After discovering that the child was missing, the man and the child’s mother ran around looking for the child. The boy was discovered in the locked car, unconscious. The boy is currently in the intensive care unit. If the state of Florida, child neglect is defined as a caregiver/parent/guardian’s failure or omission to provide the child with the care, supervision and services that are required to keep the child physically and mentally healthy. This includes providing food, clothes, shelter, supervision, medication and medical services. In this case, the man is currently charged…
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More context for contemplating Prez Trump's pardon of Joe Arpaio
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Pickles on Feticide
Camilla Pickles (University of Oxford - Faculty of Law) has posted Feticide: Continuing the Search for a Unified Approach to the Unborn (Journal of Contemporary Roman-Dutch Law, Vol. 80, p. 44-61, 2017) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Generally, feticide...
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Pennsylvania Mortgage Fraud Plea
Mortgage Fraud Blog. James Nassida, 49, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of bank and wire fraud conspiracy before Senior United States District Judge Donetta Ambrose. In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that Nassida owned operated a mortgage brokerage business called Century III Home Equity (Century III), which assisted borrowers in obtaining loans […] The post Pennsylvania Mortgage Fraud Plea appeared first on Mortgage Fraud Blog.
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New SAM report, asserting legalization states "have not fulfilled the requirements of the Cole Memo," urges federal law enforcement to target big players in marijuana industry
Smart Approaches to Marijuana, the leading public policy group advocating against most state-level marijuana reforms, has released today this new report titled "The Cole Memo: 4 Years Later: Status Report on State Compliance of Federal Marijuana Enforcement Policy." Here are parts of this SAM report's introduction and conclusion: On August...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/JmCOLCSa398" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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Real Estate Investor Sentenced to 30 Months
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Thomas L. Boyd, 44, real estate investor, Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans. An indictment returned last September by a federal grand jury alleged that Boyd, the owner of Wonderful Properties, LLC, made false statements and presented false documents to Regions Bank, First […] The post Real Estate Investor Sentenced to 30 Months appeared first on Mortgage Fraud Blog.
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Woman Arrested for Alleged Psychedelic Mushroom Grow Operation
32-year-old Jerilee Hughes was arrested after the Northwest Narcotics Task Force searched her home and found glass jars with psilocybin mushroom spores and growing supplies, as well as a small bag of useable mushrooms. Police also procured small amounts of marijuana and methamphetamine as well as residue-coated paraphernalia. Hughes faces two felony and five misdemeanor drug related charges. During her bond hearing, the prosecuting attorney accused Hughes of cultivating enough mushrooms to consider her a danger to the community. She is being held on $10,000 bond. Due to financial hardship, Hughes, who alleges she has never before been implicated in legal issues, asked for a lower bond. She willingly offered to participate if a stipulation was added where she take part in regular drug testing. Continue reading →
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Appraiser ID Theft and Inflated HECM Appraisals Underlie Indictment
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Eugene Peter Kenworthy, Jr., 50, appraiser, Ambler, Pennsylvania, was charged by Indictment with wire fraud, false statements for the purpose of influencing the Federal Housing Administration, aggravated identity theft, and failure to file a tax return. The indictment alleges that, beginning as early as 1993, Kenworthy worked at Tech Review LTD, a real estate appraisal company owned by […] The post Appraiser ID Theft and Inflated HECM Appraisals Underlie Indictment appeared first on Mortgage Fraud Blog.
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Money Laundering Plea in Debt Elimination Scheme
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Urmila Sri Thakur, also known as Urmila Buddhu-Thakur and Indro Buddhu-Thakur, 72, Wethersfield, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in New Haven federal court to a money laundering offense stemming from a fraudulent debt elimination scheme. According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2009 to June 2012, Thakur, her former husband, Deowraj “Deo” Buddhu and their daughter, […] The post Money Laundering Plea in Debt Elimination Scheme appeared first on Mortgage Fraud Blog.
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Getting Charges Reduced in DUI Causing Injury or Death Cases
Drunk driving is never a good idea. The outcomes are always negative, and they are occasionally tragic. This is why Nevada has a law like NRS 484C.430. It defines a DUI causing injury or death and the penalties that are possible when someone is convicted of this crime. According to the law, NRS 484C.430 comes into effect when a driver who is under the influence “proximately causes the death of, or substantial bodily harm to, another person.” This is a heavy burden for the defendant to bear. Not only are they grief-stricken on behalf of the person they hurt or killed, but also they feel ashamed for being the cause of pain to their own family. However, it’s possible for a Las Vegas DUI attorney like the practitioners at Potter Criminal Defense to protect the interests of their client. It may be that although the defendant was under the influence, they did not actually cause the accident that resulted in a death or injury to someone else. Perhaps the equipment…
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NC Supreme Court Evaluates Traffic Stop for Fishtailing in Snow
State v. Johnson, __ N.C. __ (August 18, 2017) opens like a novel: Defendant was stopped at a red light on a snowy evening. When the light turned green, defendant’s truck abruptly accelerated, turned sharply left, and fishtailed, all in front of a police officer in his patrol car. The officer pulled defendant over for driving at an unsafe speed given the road conditions. On second thought, maybe this reads more like a bar exam question (or a Dan Fogelberg song). What say you, barristers? Was the stop lawful? The North Carolina Supreme Court held that the stop was lawful as these facts provided the officer with reasonable suspicion to believe the defendant was driving at an unsafe speed given the weather and road conditions. If you thought the stop was unlawful, don’t feel badly. A unanimous panel of court of appeals judges did too. See State v. Johnson, ___ N.C. App. ___, 784 S.E.2d 633 (2016), reversed, __ N.C. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (2017) (discussed in…
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Maryland Changes Onerous Requirement in Rape Laws
A new law went into effect earlier this year that changes how the crime of rape is investigated, prosecuted, and proven. The new law changes what state prosecutors have to prove in court and eliminates a hurdle that prosecutors often face when trying to prove rape charges. Old Law Made Prosecutions Difficult Maryland’s criminal rape statute, as it existed before the change, required the state to show not only that there was no consent by the victim, but also that the victim resisted the rape attempt, and was overcome by the use of force by the perpetrator. Continue reading
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