Still more notable commentary on judicial conduct in sentencing of mass molestor
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New poll suggests strong bipartisan support for criminal justice reforms
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ABAJ: Traveling lawyers get new protections in device searches at border
ABAJ: Traveling lawyers get new protections in device searches at border by Lee Rawles. The ABA is meeting soon in Vancouver. What about protecting privileged information at Customs when they return: According to ABA President Hilarie Bass, senior DHS officials … Continue reading →
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News Roundup
On Tuesday, a 15-year-old high schooler with a handgun killed two fellow students and wounded sixteen others in Kentucky. According to NBC News, the shooter opened fire in a common area of Marshall County High School just before 8:00 a.m., sending the school into chaos as students desperately fled the attack. Police officers arrived at the school minutes later, quickly disarming the shooter and taking him into custody. Bailey Nicole Holt died at the scene and Preston Ryan Cope died later at a hospital. Keep reading for more news. Crime Decline. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote an op-ed in USA Today this week that says that President Donald Trump has delivered on the promise he made at his inauguration to put a stop to “American carnage.” Sessions cited statistics in the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January – June 2017 indicating that there was a decrease in overall violent crime in the first…
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Outlining V-1 and V-2 Visas for Spouses and Children of Green Card Holders
V-1 and V-2 visas are regulated under the terms of the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE Act). A V visa is a nonimmigrant visa created to allow families to stay together while waiting for the processing of immigrant visas. A V visa allows a spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 of a Lawful Permanent Resident to access, live and work in the United States as non-immigrants until they become lawful permanent residents. The spouse receives a V-1 visa and the children are given a V-2 or V-3 visa. How to obtain V-1 and V-2 Visas United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states you can apply for a V visa if you filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for a family member on or before December 21, 2000. This includes unmarried children under 21 listed on the petition. Alternatively, a family member may have been waiting three years since filing the Form I-130 or the immigrant visa is not available on an approved Form I-130 petition, the…
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“He does not see the bend, behind, that will take him from view”
“Davon” is dead. This is what his former social worker tells me. I don’t ask for details. That would be rude. Besides, I am pretty sure I already know the answer. Davon was 13 years old when I... Read More
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Saving America’s Future From the Way We Save Now
William A. Birdthistle, Empire of the Fund: The Way We Save Now (2016). Saule T. Omarova Last spring, I decided to teach a research seminar on the investment fund industry and regulation. Scoping out available literature, I picked up William Birdthistle’s recent book, Empire of the Fund – and, literally within minutes of reading, knew that I had found the perfect anchoring text for the seminar. More than that, I was hooked. Over and over again, the book made me nod my head and raise my eyebrows, in a single moment of recognition and enlightenment. It made me shake my head in anger and wrinkle my forehead in puzzlement. It made me laugh out loud as I turned pages sparkling with humor and brilliance, and it made my heart heavy as I stopped to think about what made it all so funny. I finished the book in one sitting, and it was an experience. That’s because Professor Birdthistle’s book is not just about the nuts and bolts of mutual funds: it is…
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How to Detect Billing Schemes
Employees may commit fraud against their employers by getting the employer to improperly disburse funds. One way this could happen is through improper check or electronic disbursement. Another way is through a shell company scheme, whereby the employee sets up a fake vendor which issues invoices to the company for products or services that are not actually provided to the company. These types of billing schemes could be detected with some of the following techniques: Analyze disbursements, looking for many large round amounts, or amounts falling just below a threshold that requires additional approval for payment. Look for unusually large expenses, unexplained variances in expenses between years, or expenses that exceed budgeted amounts. Billing schemes may inflate expenses enough to cause one or all of these comparisons to yield questionable results. Examine the financial statements for variances in expenses that should track predictably with revenue. Cost of goods sold is a…
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Reasonably Suspicious Podcast: Why Mein Kampf is okay but The Color Purple is banned at TDCJ
Check out the January edition of Just Liberty's Reasonably Suspicious podcast, covering Texas criminal justice policy and politics. You can listen to the latest episode here, or subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, or SoundCloud.If you haven't subscribed yet, take a moment to do so now to make sure you won't miss an episode. Topics this month include:Top StoriesBanned books in TDCJ (featuring Lauren McGaughy): Why Mein Kampf is okay but The Color Purple is banned.Alleged interference at State Counsel for Offenders: Did TDCJ board dictate defense strategies?InterviewRon DeLord, founder of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas on police pensions, predicts defined benefit pensions for police will vanish within the next couple of decades.Errors and UpdatesHarris County magistrate judges sanctioned for bail SNAFUAustin police union declines to re-enter negotiations after contract rejectedInterviewRichard Whitaker: Father of a death row inmate, who…
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Lacey on Women, Crime and Character in Law and Literature
Nicola Lacey (London School of Economics - Law Department) has posted Women, Crime and Character in Twentieth Century Law and Literature: In Search of the Modern Moll Flanders on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The twentieth century saw decisive changes...
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Why You Need a Residuary Estate Clause
A residuary estate clause controls what happens to all property not specifically listed in your will. Every will should include this clause, even if you believe that you have listed each piece of property you own in your will. A Residuary Clause Makes Your Will More Durable While some people may simply leave an equal of share of all of their property to their heirs, others prefer to bequest specific items to specific heirs. For example, you may leave your home to one child and name another child as the beneficiary of your retirement account. If you list each piece of property you own in your will, you may not see the need for a residuary clause, but you have to consider that you may acquire new interests in property someday. Your will won’t mention these new items, which is where your residuary clause comes into play. Your residuary clause bequests any property in your estate that wasn’t mentioned elsewhere in your will. For example, a residuary clause could state:…
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Are Police Body Cameras Helping the Prosecution or Defendants?
Law enforcement agencies across the country are now implementing body cameras to be worn by officers while on duty to record their entire interactions with the public. This has left many people with questions on what to expect if an arresting officer was wearing and recording from a body camera. The video obtained from those cameras is having an impact in courtrooms as the additional evidence available to both the prosecution and defendants. If the video is available from a police body camera in your case, it could potentially strengthen or weaken your defense. The video footage could document any improper actions taken by law enforcement during any searches, questioning, or traffic stops. If the video records evidence that an officer failed to establish probable cause, or used coercion to obtain consent, then any evidence uncovered during the search or stop would be suppressed. On the other hand, if the video shows the officer properly conducted the search or stop the…
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Posch on Causal Mediation Analysis and Procedural Justice Policing
Krisztián Pósch (London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Methodology) has posted Prying Open the Black Box of Causality: A Causal Mediation Analysis Test of Procedural Justice Policing on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper...
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Lamenting "marijuana apartheid" amidst modern marijuana reform movement
The title of this post picks up on a provocative phrase in this provocative new commentary at The Intercept authored by Shaun King. The piece is headlined ""Despite Liberalizing Marijuana Laws, the War on Drugs Still Targets People of Color, " and here are excerpts: [New York] city’s leaders have...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/Lfc35kUqwKQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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SCOTUS (surprisingly?) stays scheduled Alabama execution seemingly based on petition challenging now-changed judicial override
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American Enterprise Institute: Congress renews major surveillance law with little change: The end of an era?
American Enterprise Institute: Congress renews major surveillance law with little change: The end of an era? by Claude Barfield: Last week, Congress passed landmark legislation renewing for six years the US government’s most important surveillance programs under Section 702 of … Continue reading →
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ABANDON HOPE
Abandon Hope All Ye Who Walk Down This Hall....What happened to the statute of Napoleon Bonaparte Broward?Rumpole's Broward adventure included watching a Judge take delight in discharging a PD after a defendant, who obviously was scared and confused, complain. Then the Judge asked him if he was getting a lawyer? Then the Judge told him to be ready for trial in two months whether he got a lawyer or not. Hmmmmm.... not really a Faretta hearing, but then it's Broweird. Meanwhile in The REGJB, look at the directory in the lobby. Lots of new Judges...but our new administrative Judge Charlie Johnson is NOWHERE to be found. No worries....he's on 4 in Judge De La O's courtroom and chambers, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the directory. From Occupied America, where Napoleon Bonaparte Broward has gone missing, Fight The Power. Site Feed
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OH4: Changing argument from legality of patdown to plain feel was waiver
Defendant’s appellate argument changed from whether there was reasonable suspicion for a patdown to conceding the patdown was legal but the plain feel of a hard object found in her vagina was not. That’s waiver of the argument. State v. … Continue reading →
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D.N.M.: Govt’s failure to argue validity of scope of protective sweep before USMJ waived it
The government didn’t raise validity of the scope of the full protective sweep before the USMJ and waived it after the R&R. United States v. Salazar, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10212 (D. N.M. Jan. 23, 2018). Defendant’s cell phone search … Continue reading →
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ND: Audio of def’s arrest shows he consented to the blood test
Defendant consented to the blood test. “At the suppression hearing the district court heard testimony from both Sergeant Stoltz and Montgomery as well as listened to the audio recording of the arrest. The district court noted an extended dialogue between … Continue reading →
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