In a recent Arizona meth crime decision, the court considered whether using or possessing several deadly weapons while perpetrating a drug felony should be considered just one offense under Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”) section 13-3102(A)(8) and whether a defendant convicted of transporting methamphetamine for sale under A.R.S. § 13-3407(A)(7) should be able to get an early release. The case arose when a highway patrol officer saw the defendant driving by with his windows down and then slowed while passing him. The policeman followed him and stopped him for hitting the brakes for no reason and twice swerving over the fog line. The defendant and his passenger provided inconsistent statements, so the policeman asked for a drug canine unit. The dog alerted. The police found handguns, four pounds of meth, half a pound of heroin, and another case that held a bit of heroin and a used syringe. The defendant admitted he’d used heroin and gave a urine…
Reasonable Suspicion and Transporting Meth for Sale in Arizona
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Two Texas Executions in One Week?
Once a state has its execution protocol set up and running, is there any reason it can't carry out sentences as fast as the court system finishes reviewing the judgments? The Ohio Supreme Court pointlessly insists that executions be a month apart. Texas carried out one execution Tuesday and has another scheduled for today, and today's is certainly well deserved. Jolie McCullough reports for the Texas Tribune:Texas is preparing to carry out its second execution of the week Thursday, putting to death a Dallas man who fatally shot his two daughters while their mother listened on the phone. If his pending appeals are denied, John Battaglia, 62, will be the third person to be executed in Texas in 2018. No other state has held an execution this year.* * *Battaglia killed his daughters while they were at his house for dinner in May 2001, according to court records. He had just learned there…
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Stras Confirmed to USCA8
Alex Swoyer reports for the Washington Times:The Senate confirmed another one of President Trump's Circuit Court nominees on Tuesday over "blue slip" protests from Democrats, who said the nominee never should have been given a hearing, let alone a vote.Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras was confirmed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a 56 to 42 vote, becoming Mr. Trump's 13th Circuit Court pick to clear the Senate.But Democrats said Justice Stras was only placed on the federal bench after Republicans disregarded the "blue slip" tradition, which allows home state senators to sign off on judges from their home states.
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It's All Obama's Fault
“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” When President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for "all offenses against the United States," he stated that it was out of concern for the "immediate future of this great country." He should have considered the longer term. We may have been spared short-term trauma, but Ford's pardon guaranteed that future high government officials would feel unconstrained by the checks and balances of the other branches of government.This, of course, led to Iran-Contra. A quick recap: The Reagan Administration sold weapons to Iran, ostensibly to secure the release of hostages, and then used the money from the arm sales to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. However, there was an embargo on arms sales to Iran and legal prohibition against funding the Contras. The ensuing scandal revealed evidence of money-laundering, arms smuggling and drug trafficking, and…
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Update: Crash with blockage in Nampa
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: 02/01/18 2:58 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office ***Update*** All lanes of travel are now clear. End of update 3560 ************ The Idaho State Police are currently on scene of a crash with blockage at eastbound Interstate 84 just east of exit 35, Northside Blvd. The right lane of travel is blocked at this time. 3560 -------------
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"Mass Incarceration: New Jim Crow, Class War, or Both?"
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Keller threatened at the ballot box, remembering Johnnie Lindsay, and other stories
Here are a few odds and ends that merit Grits readers attention:Remembering Johnnie LindsayJohnnie Lindsay, one of the early Dallas DNA exonerees who became active pushing for changes to the law in Austin, is on his deathbed. Jennifer Emily at the Dallas News had moving coverage. I knew Johnnie well through his work at the capitol while I was policy director at the Innocence Project of Texas. Great guy. He will be missed.Support closing Texas youth prisonsMore than 930 Just Liberty supporters have emailed the Governor and Lt. Governor in the last two weeks to ask them to close Texas' 5 remaining youth prisons and shift juvenile offenders into smaller, home-like settings focused on treatment, following the path charged by Gov. Scott Walker in Wiconsin. Go here to join them in sending a message to your elected officials.Keller threatened at the ballot box?David Bridges from the 5th Texas Court of Appeals out of Dallas has proven to be a strong challenger to Presiding Judge…
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How is a Criminal Law not a Prior Restraint?
The term prior restraint is used to describe administrative and judicial orders forbidding certain communications when issued in advance of the time that such communications are to occur. Alexander v. United States. A criminal statute restricting speech based on its content also forbids certain communications in advance of the time that such communications are to occur. So what is the difference? A criminal statute is made by the legislature, rather than the executive or judicial branch. That’s a distinction, but is it a difference? Can the State constitutionally do with legislation something that it cannot, consonant with the First Amendment, do administratively? It seems unlikely—state action is state action. The other distinction between prior restraints and criminal laws is that the former are generally aimed at particular speakers, and the latter are not. I can see an argument for that distinction making prior restraints more constitutionally suspect…
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The Memo
The controversial memo by the House Intelligence Committee has been released and is available here.Prior to the release, Kimberly Strassel had this article in the WSJ titled "Memo Reading for Nonpartisans: Ignore the spin. When the document goes public, here's what to look for."I don't see anything in the memo that constitutes a disclosure that is damaging to our intelligence operations, which would be the primary reason to keep it secret. In the run-up to release, the FBI maintained that the problem was material omissions. It certainly is possible to mislead with half-truths, as we have noted many times on this blog. The obvious remedy would be to supply the missing material, if that can be done without making damaging disclosures.The memo alleges that the FBI sought a FISA warrant against an advisor to the Trump campaign without informing the FISA court that a substantial portion of the information submitted for probable cause was paid…
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Texas Execution
Yesterday, we noted the upcoming execution of John Battaglia in Texas, the second in that state in a week. Battaglia was indeed executed last night. The U.S. Supreme Court orders denying a stay and review of lower court decisions are here and here. No dissent is noted from either order.Callum Paton reports for Newsweek:Without remorse or humility until the end, killer John Battaglia, who murdered his two young daughters in his Texas home in 2001, laughed and taunted his ex-wife as he was executed Thursday.Battaglia saved his last words for his ex-wife, Mary Jean Pearle, The Dallas Morning News reported. "Well, hi, Mary Jean. I'll see y'all later. Bye," he said to Pearle, who had come to watch him die.As he drew his last breaths, 17 years after Battaglia had killed her two children, Pearle was heard to say "I've seen enough of him" as she walked away from his motionless body, separated by a glass window.Battaglia's…
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Friday Open Thread
You can read the Nunes memo here. I'm swamped at work. Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Seven Most Dangerous Things to Ignore on Your Car
As cars get older they become more prone to accidents if they are not properly maintained. When a car breaks down on a busy highway like the interstates around Atlanta, drivers and passengers can be placed in danger. Here are seven most dangerous on your car that you ignore at your peril. Common car dangers 1 The Timing Belt The timing belt will snap if you don’t replace it. Often a broken timing belt will ruin your engine. If your pistons are bent at high speeds, your car will may lose power suddenly and may be struck or you may lose control. 2 Worn Tires Tires take a lot of wear and tear. You should not assume they will go on forever. Check the tread regularly and check the tire pressure every couple of week. Look out for tears and issues like a shaky ride that could indicate a problem with the tires. Get your tires rotated regularly so as wear is more even. In some cases, tires may be defective. Tire manufacturers have been sued for blowouts that caused deaths and…
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House GOP Releases Controversial Nunes Memo Alleging DOJ and FBI FISA Abuses During the 2016 Election
On Friday, February 2, 2018, House Republicans, with the approval of the Trump administration, released the four-page Nunes memo. The controversial memo, written by Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, alleges Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses by the DOJ and the FBI during the 2016 election. The memo focuses almost entirely on the government’s electronic surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. According to the memo, on October 21, 2016, the DOJ and FBI received a probable cause order under FISA to conduct surveillance on Page. The agencies also received three FISA renewals from the FISC – under 50 U.S.C. §1805(d)(1), a FISA order targeting a U.S. citizen must be renewed by the FISC every 90 days, with each renewal requiring an independent finding of probable cause. The memo does not explicitly accuse either the DOJ or the FBI of violating the FISA application process.…
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Illinois Workers' Compensation Claims Unlikely to Match Fee Schedules
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission created fee schedules in order to establish the maximum amount of money that may be awarded for different medical expenses in a workers’ compensation claim. The commission determined the maximum amounts by using the fees that were in the 80th percentile for a medical service and taking 90 percent of that amount. The fee schedules are divided into geographic regions and annually updated based on the Consumer Price Index. Categories of medical expenses include: Procedures and treatments; Hospital inpatient and outpatient fees; Emergency room fees; Rehabilitation services; Medical prescriptions; Dental services; and Professional services. Though fee schedules establish how much a workers’ compensation claimant may receive, the IWCC is unlikely to award more than what is needed to pay for a claim. Recent Case In Perez v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, a workers’…
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Jochnowitz on Capital Juror Comprehension of Intellectual Disability
Leona Deborah Jochnowitz (Northern Vermont University, Johnson State College) has posted Whether the Bright-Line Cut-Off Rule and the Adversarial Expert Explanation of Adaptive Functioning Exacerbates Capital Juror Comprehension of the Intellectual Disability on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper...
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UPDATE: Certain Convicted Felons in Florida Could Have Another Option for Civil Right Restoration
Recently, I wrote about new House Bill 903, the Economic Redemption and Restoration of Constitutional Rights Act. If passed, this law would authorize certain convicted felons to petition for constitutional or civil rights to be restored in the circuit court of the county in which the felon resides or in the county where the felon was convicted. At that time, a class-action lawsuit, Hand v. Scott, was pending against Gov. Rick Scott, the Clemency Board, and six other state officials, including the Secretary of State and the Department of Corrections Head. The lawsuit was filed by the Fair Elections Legal Network “FELN,” on behalf of nine former felons. According to the FELN, Florida is one of four states that denies the right to vote to all former felons until they petition for rights restoration, and 1.68 million Floridians currently do not have the right to vote due to a felony conviction (the highest state total in the nation). Over 10,000…
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CAN YOU FIGHT THE SUSPENSION OF YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE BASED ON A MEDICAL CONDITION?
You were driving somewhat erratically, when police stopped you. The officer suspected you were driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In reality, you suffer from a medical condition, but the officer didn’t believe you. Now, you have been arrested for DUI, and the state has automatically suspended your driver’s license. Can you fight the statutory suspension of your license based on your medical condition? The answer depends on the circumstances and is very fact specific. What is the nature of your medical condition? How does it affect your performance? Does the officer have special training in recognizing drug use? Did the officer see any evidence of intoxication that cannot be explained by your condition? In People v Gocmen, police and an ambulance were called to the scene of an unconscious driver, who might have been having a seizure. The officer saw a can in the car with residue that later tested positive for opiates and a syringe. Defendant…
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WHAT IS A DATING RELATIONSHIP UNDER ILLINOIS DOMESTIC BATTERY LAW
You recently got into a fistfight with your ex-significant other. The police arrived and now you have been charged with domestic battery. But your relationship ended some time ago. Is it still domestic battery? The answer is yes. A recent Illinois Supreme Court decision held that the domestic battery law places no time limit on a dating relationship. (See People v Gray. In Illinois, a person commits domestic battery if he or she knowingly, without legal justification and by any means, causes bodily harm to or makes insulting or provoking physical contact with any family or household member. A family or household member includes persons who have or have had a dating or engagement relationship. This definition does not include a casual acquaintanceship or ordinary fraternization between two people in a business or social context. But it can include your ex-partner from several years ago. If you have been charged with a crime, contact an experienced criminal law attorney…
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Finds Online Solicitation of a Minor Unconstitutional
On October 30, 2013, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that Texas Penal Code §33.021(b) was unconstitutionally overbroad. The Court ruled that the language in subsection (b) is language that is either already criminalized in another penal code section or is constitutionally protected free speech. Ex parte Lo, 424 S.W.3d 10, 20 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013), reh’g denied (Mar. 19, 2014). Only subsection (b) of Texas Penal Code §33.021 was held unconstitutional and the remaining portions of the statute remain criminal offenses. But, if you were convicted under subsection (b), you may be eligible to have your conviction overturned by filing a writ of habeas corpus. The Court of Criminal Appeals has held that a penal code section that is declared unconstitutional renders convictions under that particular section void and “a person convicted under a statute later declared to be void is entitled to relief when he raises that claim for the first time in a…
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Suspected Drunk Driver Claims his Tesla Was Driving on Autopilot
The California Highway Patrol found a driver passed out behind the wheel of his car on the Bay Bride and arrested him for DUI. The driver informed the officers that his Tesla was on autopilot and the he was not driving. After arresting the driver, the San Francisco CHP found his blood alcohol level to be allegedly more than twice the .08% legal limit. A drinking and driving conviction for a first offense in San Francisco, Marin County or in most counties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area can result in punishment including probation, fines, a DUI school and up to 6 months in jail under the California Vehicle Code. Drivers with multiple DUI offenses for driving under the influence face even greater punishment. Whether arrested for DUI in San Francisco, Oakland, Sausalito, or Daly City, you need to call an experienced aggressive driving under the influence attorney for help. For more information about driving under the…
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