Notable account of a notable juror whose note had a notable impact on a scheduled Ohio execution
↧
↧
Podcast: Texas DA primaries, Court of Criminal Appeals races, and much more
Check out the February 2018 episode of Just Liberty's Reasonably Suspicious podcast, featuring discussions of Texas District Attorney and Court of Criminal Appeals primary races, Just Liberty's campaign to install justice reform in party political platforms, how Texas' law about driving on the shoulder is similar to the NFL's debate over what is a catch, and much more. You can listen to the podcast here:In this episode you'll find:Top StoriesCompetitive Texas District Attorney primariesTexas Court of Criminal Appeals primary racesJust Liberty's campaign to put #cjreform into party platformsHome Court AdvantageCourt of Criminal Appeals considers pretext stops #DezCaughtItVictim of prosecutor misconduct denied relief at 5th CircuitErrors and UpdatesHarris County loses bail litigationTDCJ settles heat litigationManagement shakeup at Texas Department of Juvenile JusticeThe Last HurrahJuvenile probationers in Harris County overincarceratedTDCJ wage…
↧
Facebook Live’s Connection to Crime
By Guest Blogger Attorney John F. Marchiano Facebook has changed the way we live, work and play, but it has also added a new dimension to crime. Facebook Live has been used to broadcast numerous acts of violence in real-time, leading to questions about censorship, legal obligations of those who viewed a crime online, and Facebook’s responsibility for content it publishes. What Is Facebook Live? Introduced in 2015, Facebook Live is a feature that allows users to broadcast live video streams to their friends and followers, who can then share it with their own followers. A video stream can quickly “go viral” as it spreads between networks. Online media outlets may write about a stream as well, giving it more attention and increasing its viewership. Facebook Live’s Connection to Crime: What’s the Problem? According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook Live has been used to broadcast over fifty violent incidents worldwide as of March 2017. Thanks to its…
↧
Can You Report a Sexual Assault If You Signed a NDA?
The dozens of allegations of sexual assault against infamous Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men have raised many questions about how society approaches sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. One of the most common questions people have is whether a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) prohibits alleged sexual assault victims from speaking out publicly or talking to the police about the assault. If you signed an NDA, are you forever prohibited from reporting an employer’s sexual assault to the police? While the short answer is that an NDA can’t shield a perpetrator from criminal prosecution, whether an NDA can prevent a victim from going public with his or her story is a bit of a gray area. Civil vs. Criminal Cases The criminal justice system is broken down into two parts: civil and criminal. In a civil case, one party sues another for wrongdoing that is not criminal in nature. Some of the most common examples of civil wrongs (called…
↧
MARIJUANA DUI
OFFICIALS WARN THAT EVEN THOUGH RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA IS LEGAL AS OF JANUARY 1, 2018 THAT YOU CAN STILL GET A MARIJUANA DUI Recreational marijuana is legal in California as of January 1, 208. However, driving under the influence of marijuana is still a crime under California Vehicle Code 23152(e). Driving under the influence of marijuana has always been illegal in California. However, law enforcement faces new challenges regulating such offenses now that marijuana will be commonplace. As a result, law enforcement is likely to devote more energy to enforce California’s marijuana DUI laws, since driving stoned is expected to be more of a problem now that recreational marijuana is legal. There is no widely accepted method of detecting marijuana impairment, and officials have not yet disclosed standard procedure field sobriety tests with respect to marijuana. There is no legal threshold for the amount of marijuana that can be in a driver’s system. Authorities…
↧
↧
Op-Ed: Protecting Access to Effective Counsel is in Everyone’s Best Interest
Earlier this month the New York Times reported that the Justice Department essentially shut down the Office for Access to Justice, an initiative created in 2010 to increase access to effective legal aid for indigent defendants. Last Monday, former public defender Sarah Turberville with the Project on Government Oversight and former prosecutor Lars Trautman with the R Street Institute penned an op-ed for The Hill in response to the Justice Department’s decision and how it’s a step backwards in what should be the government’s obligation to ensure everyone’s constitutional right to legal counsel and seek justice. Tuberville and Trautman wrote Each day, thousands of people are incarcerated in states, counties and municipalities without ever speaking to an attorney and in flagrant violation of their constitutional right to counsel. . . . . . . The Access to Justice Office helped preserve our Sixth Amendment rights by intervening in…
↧
Split en banc Fifth Circuit holds that Texas burglary convictions do not serve as predicates for federal Armed Career Criminal Act
↧
I’m going to Appeal! What that really means
A few years ago, the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer swept across the United States. The documentary followed the trial and ultimate conviction of two people, Steven Avery in Brendan Dassey, for the murder of a woman in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Since the airing of the documentary many people have become invested in whether or not the two individuals are actually guilty. Recently a Wisconsin appellate court ruled that Brendan Dassie would not receive a new trial and that his conviction would stand. So what is an appellate courts purpose and how does it function? Appellate Courts In the state of Arizona, judgments and convictions from the Superior Court go to the Arizona Court of Appeals for review. The Court of Appeals reviews the trial record to determine if there any legal errors that occurred. The record includes trial transcripts and filings made with the trial court. The purpose of the Appellate Court is to determine whether an individual…
↧
Joy on Judges and Ineffective Assistance
Peter A. Joy (Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law) has posted A Judge's Duty to Do Justice: Assuring the Accused's Right to the Effective Assistance of Counsel (Hofstra Law Review, Vol. 46, No. 139, 2017) on SSRN....
↧
↧
Van Der Zwaan Plea and Statement of the Offense
Hey, if the Office of Special Counsel can't decide the proper capitalization of his name, don't expect me to. Here are the Van Der Zwaan Plea Agreement and the Van Der Zwaan Statement of the Offense. (wisenberg)
↧
Think You Know Drug ID?
A considerable amount of digital ink has been expended on this blog discussing the rules for identifying drugs at trial and related issues, although it has been several years since we covered it. It’s an important and potentially dispositive issue in drug trials. Consider the following fact pattern: The defendant is charged with possession of methamphetamine. During her arrest and processing, she tells the officer that she has “meth” on her person, which is seized by the officers. At trial, the officer testifies to her statement about the nature of the substance, and the alleged meth is itself introduced at trial. However, no chemical analysis is introduced, nor is there any expert testimony about the substance, and the defendant presents no evidence. At the close of the State’s evidence, the defendant moves to dismiss, arguing that the State failed to provide sufficient proof of the identity of the alleged drugs. Should the motion be allowed? Read on…
↧
Domingo on Penal Law in the Roman Catholic Church
Rafael Domingo (Emory University School of Law) has posted Penal Law in the Roman Catholic Church (Ecclesiastical Law Journal 20 (2018), Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article surveys the general framework of the law of sanctions or...
↧
A CONSTITUTIONAL ORPHAN
A man and his guns. In Silvester v. Becerra, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a fourteen page dissent from the court's decision not to grant cert and review California's ten day waiting period to buy a firearm. "The right to keep and bear arms is apparently this court's constitutional orphan" Thomas fumed. "We have not heard argument in a Second Amendment case for nearly eight years" the silent Justice whined. "And we have not clarified the standard for assessing Second Amendment claims for almost 10."Rumpole wonders how many years has it been since the court heard a Third Amendment case (prohibition against the quartering of soldiers in homes) , or an eighteenth amendment case (prohibition against sale and manufacture of liquor)? Should the length of time between the court hearing issues be in fact an issue raised on cert? Say this for Justice Marcel Marceau, (judges, click here), the man has timing. Because what the world…
↧
↧
Client Efforts Can Help Save Money on Divorce
Legal fees can accumulate when you are going through your divorce. For each meeting you hold and legal action you request, your divorce attorney will add work hours to your bill. Attorneys are a necessary expense during a divorce because their legal knowledge is irreplaceable. Trying to handle your divorce on your own could be more expensive because of the hours you would need to devote to it and the risk of making mistakes. Still, some clients incur unnecessary legal expenses during their divorces. There are ways to save money on your divorce while still having high-quality legal representation. Be Prepared There are certain financial details that any divorce attorney will need to know before you start negotiations. When you do not provide the information yourself, your attorney will spend many billable hours researching that information. You can save your attorney time and yourself money by coming to your initial divorce meeting with: Current…
↧
FISA court considering request to release hearings regarding Carter Page
From Jurist: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) released two [Goodlatte, PDF] letters [Nunes, PDF] on Thursday stating that it would consider requests from two Congressional Representatives to release the hearing transcripts which caused former Trump advisor Carter Page to...
↧
"Strategies to Help Young Adults Limit Negative Consequences of Marijuana Use"
The title of this post is the title of this notable new Rand commentary authored by Eric Pedersen. Here are excerpts: Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 have been shown to be the most prevalent and problematic users of marijuana. And now with laws for recreational marijuana...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/eQkSuyvIOnY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
↧
Kotiswaran on Sex Workers and India's Rape Law Reforms
Prabha Kotiswaran (King's College London – The Dickson Poon School of Law) has posted Governance Feminism's Others: Sex Workers and India's Rape Law Reforms (Introduction) (Governance Feminism: Notes from the Field, eds. Janet Halley, Prabha Kotiswaran, Rachel Rebouche, Hila Shamir,...
↧
↧
Cops Catch Combating Couple with Cannabis in Car
A Connecticut couple that was reportedly in the midst of a physical fight inside of an automobile was apprehended by officers who discovered four ounces of marijuana and assorted paraphernalia in the vehicle. On Wednesday evening Josh Wantanabe and his girlfriend Amanda Gordon, both 21-years-old, were allegedly involved in a physical fight while inside a car that was parked in an empty lot near the end of a highway exit ramp. Just before 8:30 p.m. the Seymour Police Department issued a complaint to the Ansonia Police Department about the altercation and officers from both agencies met at the scene. Continue reading →
↧
"Russia indictments lay the foundation for broader conspiracy charges, says former FBI special counsel"
The piece is at PBS.org. In part: This indictment is a foundational indictment. It establishes the bedrock foundation of this conspiracy charge on which the special counsel can now build a broader case. And I think there’s every reason to...
↧
What is a Parallel Construction Investigation?
A recent report issued by Human Rights Watch states that the federal government has begun using secret evidence to mount criminal cases. The technique for evidence collection is called “parallel construction” and involves federal law enforcement hiding classified or sensitive methods from a court of law due to the construction of parallel chains of construction. The report shows that numerous federal enforcement agencies operate in such a manner. Humans Rights Watch raises several concerns about this type of investigation method including defendants being left unable to challenge evidence collection in such a manner, searches that violate the Fourth Amendment might be hidden, and law enforcement is able to act in a discriminatory manner. How the Practice Originated A report in Reuters first revealed that the Special Operation Division, a subsidiary of the Drug Enforcement Administration, shuttled surveillance tips to field agents. These tips came from intelligence…
↧
More Pages to Explore .....