Maryland AG Wants Lawsuit Dismissed: The Maryland Attorney General is asking the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the malicious prosecution lawsuit against Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby brought by five Baltimore police officers she had charged with contributing to the death of small-time criminal Freddy Gray in 2015. The Associated Press reports that Ms. Mosby was cheered by rioters when she announced that she would prosecute the six officers involved in the arrest and transport of Gray in a police van. Gray suffered fatal spinal injuries during the transport. While all of six of the officers were acquitted, the five suiting Mosby argue that she did not have sufficient evidence to bring charges against them and withheld exculpatory evidence. After the officers were acquitted of the criminal charges, the Obama Administration's Justice Department decided not to bring federal civil rights charges against them.…
News Scan
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The 5 Most Common Crimes in Southern Californ...
When you see news stories about crime, they often involve extremely serious, scandalous, or rare crimes. But the nightly news is not always representative of the actual crime that occurs day-to-day. While most of this crime goes by silently, the news tends to focus on the most “newsworthy” stories, and misses the much more common crimes, like shoplifting or drunk driving. The following information may help you put crimes into perspective in CA. If you were charged with a crime – whether it was a common one or a more rare and serious offense – talk to an attorney. The Ventura criminal defense lawyers at Bamieh and Erickson offer free consultations for new cases. California’s Most Common Crimes Across the country, crimes like murder are actually quite rare. Overall, the rate of violent crime is significantly lower than the rate of property crime. Many people see property crimes as having a less direct victim, since the person’s bank account or…
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Branic & Kubrin on Gated Communities
Nicholas Branic and Charis E. Kubrin (Independent and University of California, Irvine) have posted Gated Communities and Crime in the United States (Forthcoming, Oxford Handbook of Environmental Criminology, edited by Gerben Bruinsma and Shane Johnson, Oxford University Press) on SSRN....
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“Never Events” and Medical Malpractice: What You Need to Know
“Never Events” and Medical Malpractice: When it comes to healthcare, “never events” are medical mistakes that are so terrible they never should have occurred in the first place. According to one study performed by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, approximately 4,000 such “never events’ occur in the United States every year—a rather alarming statistic. If you or someone you love has been injured as a result of a medical provider’s negligence, you may be entitled to monetary compensation under Maryland law. Baltimore attorney Randolph Rice has the medical understanding and legal skill to take on a healthcare provider’s insurance company and work hard for you to obtain the monetary compensation you deserve. Types of “Never Events” in the Medical Context Some of the most common “never events” that occur in the medical context include the following: Surgical errors: where a surgery is performed…
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US v. Diaz, No. 15-50538 (12-6-17)(Christen w/Kleinfeld & Graber). How far can an expert go in pronouncing a legal conclusion? Pretty far. Here, in a drug distributing prosecution involving a doctor prescribing opiate pills, the prosecutor had to prove there was no legitimate reason for the defendant doctor to prescribe the drugs. To prove that element, the prosecution expert testified that the prescriptions were written "outside the usual course of medical practice" and "without a legitimate purpose." Counsel did not object. This mirrored the jury instruction language. On appeal from the 79 counts, the defendant argued that the expert offered a legal conclusion. The 9th affirmed the convictions. Under Fed R Evid 702 and 704, the panel observed that sometimes it is "impossible" for an expert to render an opinion without resorting to the same language that is the applicable legal standard. "We…
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Don't Bring a Gun to a Felony
Consider the following interaction between three people: Darryl Jackson (the defendant); Cecil (the confidential informant), and Peter (the undercover police officer):[Darryl emerges from a nearby house]Cecil: Hey, Darryl, I’d like to buy a gram of heroin.Darryl: Sure thing. That will be $120.[After Darryl hands Cecil the heroin]Cecil: Hey, I’m in a bit of a pickle. Do you know where I can pick up a pistol?Darryl: Not really… Well, I might have one I can sell you.Cecil: I’ll buy it from you for $300.Darryl: How about $400?Cecil: Deal.[Darryl walks to a different house down the street and returns a few minutes later. Darryl and Cecil exchange the pistol for cash and depart.][A few days later]Darryl: Hey, Cecil, I have another gun for sale for $500.Cecil: Sure, let’s meet where we met up last time. [The two meet and make the transaction.]Cecil: Hey, I know someone else who wants to buy some heroin. Are you interested?Darryl: Sure.Cecil: Great,…
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Some FAQ about Place of Confinement
The chart available here summarizes the rules for the proper place of confinement for felonies, misdemeanors, and impaired driving. But additional questions come up from time to time that don’t fit neatly in a chart. Today’s post attempts to answer some of them. If a person is being sentenced for both felonies and misdemeanors, can the judge order the misdemeanor sentences to be served in prison? No. No statute allows the judge to depart from the otherwise applicable place-of-confinement rule for a sentence based on the other sentences to which the defendant is subject. Each judgement should stand on its own, with the felonies committed to DAC and the misdemeanors and DWI sentences committed to the local jail or the Statewide Misdemeanor Confinement Program (SMCP) as required by law. Does that mean a concurrent misdemeanor sentence won’t actually begin until the felony sentences are complete? No. Just because the place of confinement identified for the…
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PROBATION ON FEDERAL CHILD PORN CASE
Read about how Mr. Lowe was able to get probation on a Federal Child Porn case even though the client’s maximum guideline range was 168 months in the Bureau of Prisons. The post PROBATION ON FEDERAL CHILD PORN CASE appeared first on Dallas Justice.
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Police Sergeant Admits To Robberies
A veteran Baltimore City Police officer pled guilty this week to a racketeering conspiracy that included as many as nine robberies, many of which took place at the homes of city residents. The Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the guilty plea after a hearing at the Baltimore federal courthouse. While the officer is not the first, and likely won’t be the last, to admit to robbing private citizens he is the highest-ranking officer implicated. The 59-year old sergeant from the Linthicum Heights area of Anne Arundel County has been on the force since 1996, and became officer-in-charge of the department’s gun trace task force in 2013. BPD formed the task force with the hopes of establishing a specialized unit more capable of solving firearm crimes, but the crimes committed by members of the task has outweighed any positive crime-fighting impacts. The veteran officer admitted by way of his plea that he participated in nine robberies while employed by…
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N.D.Ind.: CI “working off” his own case is not inherently unbelievable because he needs substantial assistance for a 5K1.1
A CI “working off” his own case is not inherently unbelievable. If anything, such a CI has an incentive to be truthful because, of he’s not, he could lose a USSG § 5K1.1 reduction for not substantially assisting the government. … Continue reading →
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"The Effects of Aging on Recidivism Among Federal Offenders"
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Reamey on Technology and the Fourth Amendment
Gerald S. Reamey (St. Mary's University School of Law) has posted Constitutional Shapeshifting: Giving the Fourth Amendment Substance in the Technology-Driven World of Criminal Investigation (Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...
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Commercial Vehicle Versus Train Crash
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: 12/07/17 2:55p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Thursday, December 7, 2017, at approximately 10:00 a.m., Idaho State Police investigated a fatality crash on Look Lane at the Union Pacific railroad tracks, northwest of Caldwell. Floyd C. Gibson, 61, of Nampa, was southbound in a 1997 Kenworth tractor towing a gravel trailer. Gibson failed to yield at the stop sign and was struck by an eastbound Union Pacific locomotive. Gibson was not wearing seatbelt and was ejected. Gibson succumbed to his injuries at the scene. Next of kin has been notified. The crash is under investigation by the Idaho State Police. 4068/3560 -------------
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Excited Utterances May Be Admissible in Washington Even If Partly Untrue
Many people are aware of the general rule that hearsay is inadmissible. Washington criminal defense attorneys know that a court may admit hearsay evidence if it meets one of a number of exceptions to that general rule. A Washington appeals court recently reviewed a case involving the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule. The defendant’s girlfriend had been drinking during the evening of the incident. She left the home for a while after an argument, but she subsequently returned. About 45 minutes later, she called her 16-year-old daughter. According to the daughter, the woman was crying and hysterical and spoke at a high volume. The daughter testified she had trouble understanding her mother. The woman described an assault and told her daughter she had been shot. The girl gave the phone to her father. The woman’s ex-husband testified that she was hysterical, crying, and very scared. She described an…
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Texas Man Languishes in Prison Despite Evidence of Innocence
A Texas man has been in prison for 30 years despite a declaration of actual innocence from a judge. Centurion client Benjamine Spencer was convicted in 1987 of the murder of a 33-year-old man during a robbery. Three eyewitnesses claimed they saw Spencer and his friend Robert Mitchell abandoning the victim’s car the night of the crime in West Dallas. The two men were found guilty and sentenced in separate trials. They were sentenced to life in prison. Mitchell died shortly after being paroled in 2001, but Spencer remains in prison and has fought to prove his innocence throughout the 30 years that he’s been incarcerated. Centurion took his case in 1999. During an evidentiary hearing in 2007, a forensic visual scientist testified it would be impossible for the witnesses to identify the two men in the dark from where they were each standing. One of the witnesses had died, while the other said that he was only minimally confident that it was Spencer he saw on the night…
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Roach on Policing
Kent Roach (University of Toronto - Faculty of Law) has posted Ontario's Bill 175 on Policing: Improved Accountability but Lagging Governance ((2017) 65 Criminal Law Quarterly 1-9) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This short paper examines Ontario's Bill 175...
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US v. Valdivia-Flores, No. 15-50384 (12-7-17)(O'Scannlain w/Marquez; O'Scannlain concurring; Rawlinson dissenting). The 9th reversed a 1326 judgment and remanded because the defendant's Washington prior was not an aggravated felony. Seems pretty cut and dried? Well, it gets interesting.The 9th first found that the defendant's waiver of rights to seek judicial review was not considered and knowing. The form was confusing as to what he could challenge, and under what basis.Once the defendant cleared the procedural hurdle, the 9th looked at his conviction for drug trafficking. The 9th was shocked to discover that the state aiding and abetting statute was broader than the federal statute. It required only knowledge, and not specific intent. The federal statute and most other state statutes, require the defendant to intend to act, not just merely know his acts could help or further. As such, since all jurisdictions have…
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Cutting the First Amendment Cake
CJLF takes no position on the Masterpiece Cakeshop case that was argued Wednesday in the Supreme Court. I generally avoid taking positions outside of our core mission, and I especially avoid the hot-button social issues. Even so, it is an interesting case, and I have been following it.Stephen Wermiel of American University has this interesting post at SCOTUSblog on the amicus briefs in the case. As a frequent "friend of the court" there myself, I have a particular interest in the subject. The Supreme Court is not alone in being divided, however. The closely watched case has also split the community of First Amendment lawyers who advocate free-speech rights in a broad range of lawsuits, friend-of-the-court briefs, scholarly articles and panel discussions. This is unusual, although certainly not unprecedented. Political leaders, philosophers and different groups in our society often debate and disagree about the meaning of free speech and…
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MN: Search of guest’s purse under SW was reasonable on totality because it wasn’t on her when police entered and it could have been associated with premises
Search of a guest’s purse during execution of a search warrant was reasonable here under the totality of the circumstances. The target of the search was a woman, and a purse is commonly associated with women. When it was found, … Continue reading →
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Sent texts and reasonable expectations of privacy in Marakah
Expectations of privacy in sent messages, the Supreme Court of Canada case of R. v. Marakah Whether you’re making dinner plans or maybe sending a “risky text”, our text messages are private. They’re a record of our conversations, our feelings, and sometimes our innermost thoughts. Even handing your phone to a friend or colleague to [...]
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