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Louisiana Legislative Roundup

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New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Jim Varney writes, "Louisiana should kill the electric chair's return." The criminal justice committee of the Louisiana legislature was scheduled Wednesday to hear House Bill 328 this week. Filed by Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie, the bill...

News Scan

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Maryland Man Sentenced for Killing Cellmate:  A Maryland inmate already serving a 60 year sentence for killing his girlfriend in 2008 has been ordered to serve another sentence after pleading guilty to murdering his cellmate early last year.  The Associated...

ACLU of Washington State reports huge drop in low-level marijuana offense court filings after legalization initiative

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As detailed in this press release, the ACLU of Washington State has some new data on one criminal justice reality plainly impacted by marijuana reform. Here are the details: Passed by Washington voters on November 6, 2012, Initiative 502 legalized...

"Toyota Is Fined $1.2 Billion for Concealing Safety Defects"

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From The New York Times: Eric H. Holder Jr., the United States attorney general, talked in impassioned tones on Wednesday about Toyota’s behavior in hiding safety defects from the public, calling it “shameful” and a “blatant disregard” for the law....

Teens Who Ride With Impaired Drivers More Likely to Drink and Drive

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The reality of peer pressure is well-documented. Teens are known to perform better or worse, depending on their peer network. They are also more likely to try alcohol or smoking if they are exposed to it through their friends. In another recent study, teens have been found to be more likely to drink and drive when they have already been in a car where a driver was impaired by drugs or alcohol. While the study may not be groundbreaking in terms of teen psychology, it does shed light on the reality that sound advice may not be enough to stop teens. Teen drinking and driving poses a serious hazard to drivers, their passengers, as well as other motorists on the road. Our Lynn car accident attorneys are committed to protecting the rights of victims and preventing DUI accidents. In addition to our staunch advocacy in the Boston community, we are also dedicated to staying abreast of developments and trends that impact road safety in Massachusetts. Understanding why a teen might get behind a wheel while intoxicated could help to prevent future accidents.

Syracuse office of the Department of Motor Vehicles

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A victim was seriously injured and his wife was killed as a result of a collision near Syracuse in August 1973. An eastbound vehicle operated by a driver, to whom an interim driver's license had been issued two days earlier,...

WaPo: Morning Links: Durham PD offers 'conviction bonuses' to informants

Stepson charged with murder in the death of former Lake Elsinore Councilman

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Lake Elsinore, CA -- Authorities in Riverside County filed murder charges against Simon Last Cortez, 40, on Wednesday. Cortez is accused of lying in wait for and murdering his stepfather, George Gregory Alongi. Alongi, a former Lake Elsinore city councilman,...

//blawgsearch75.rssing.com/chan-6519914/article6089-live.html

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United States v. Hernandez-Arias, No. 12-50193 (Rawlinson with Graber and Watford) --- The Ninth Circuit held that (1) termination of  temporary resident status operates to change an alien's status from "admitted" to "not admitted," for purposes of the ground of removability that applies to aliens not admitted or paroled into the United States; and (2) that as a result this illegal-reentry defendant's collateral attack on the deportation order should fail.The defendant, a Mexican citizen, entered the United States in 1981 without inspection (and thus was not "admitted" to the United States at that time).  As part of the blanket amnesty for undocumented immigrants in the mid-1980s, he was granted temporary resident status in 1988.  But in the wake of his conviction for child molestation, this status was revoked in 1991.  He was paroled from prison in 1992.  He next came to the attention of immigration authorities in 2010 following a conviction for misdemeanor grand theft (which sounds like an oxymoron), when the government charged him with being illegally present in the United States as an alien not "admitted or paroled" into the United States, based on the 1981 entry.  He was part of a group removal hearing in front of an immigration judge, who advised him about various forms of relief not including a waiver of inadmissibility under § 212(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.  The IJ also advised the defendant about his right to hire a lawyer to represent him at the hearing.  The defendant declined to hire a lawyer or pursue relief from removal or an appeal from the removal order, and so the IJ ordered him removed.Three weeks after he was removed, the defendant presented himself at a port of entry and attempted to enter the United States using a fraudulent passport.  He was charged with attempted illegal reentry, fraudulent use of entry documents, and aggravated identity theft.  The trial judge rejected his collateral attack on the removal order based on the IJ's failure to advise him of eligibility for § 212(h) relief, concluding that he was not eligible for that kind of relief and in any event he had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies.  A jury in the Southern District of California convicted him of the first two counts and acquitted him of the identity-theft count.  The trial judge imposed a 41-month sentence and a $1,000 fine, payable in installments.Resolving the issues about the collateral attack on the removal order boiled down to whether the hearing was fundamentally fair and whether the defendant was prejudiced as a result of defects in the proceeding.  The Ninth Circuit held that the defendant was removable based on the fact that he had not been "admitted" into the United States at the time of his removal hearing in 2010.  "Admission" includes not only formal inspection at a port of entry, but also those aliens whose status is adjusted subsequent to physical entry.  So the defendant was probably "admitted" in 1988 when he was granted temporary resident status.  But did he cease to be "admitted" when he lost that status in 1991?  Under INS regulations, the answer to that question was yes, because termination of that status had the effect of returning the defendant to the prior unlawful status that he held before he became a temporary resident.  8 C.F.R. § 245a.2(u)(4).  (For contrast, legal permanent residents continue to be "admitted" even after they lose their LPR status.  See Ocampo-Duran v. Ashcroft, 254 F.3d 1133 (9th Cir. 2001).)  And the regulation did not illegally effect a rescission of status; the regulation amounted to an immigration "divorce" instead of an immigration "annulment."  Furthermore, the defendant wasn't eligible for a § 212(h) waiver, because those waivers aren't available to people like the defendant who are removable as inadmissible.  See United States v. Ramos, 623 F.3d 672 (9th Cir. 2010).  And the court did not consider the defendant's contention that the removal proceedings were fundamentally unfair because the IJ didn't properly advise him of his right to counsel, because the defendant did not ask the trial judge to dismiss the indictment on that ground.  (What about plain error?)Finally, the amount of the fine was reasonable because the PSR recommended it and the defendant did not object at sentencing.The opinion is here:http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2014/03/21/12-50193.pdf  

//blawgsearch75.rssing.com/chan-6519914/article6090-live.html

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United States-Montes-Ruiz, No. 12-50398 (Rawlinson with Gould and Lemelle (EDLA)) ---  In Setser v. United States, 132 S. Ct. 1463 (2012), the Supreme Court held that a federal judge may impose a sentence consecutive to a sentence that has yet to be imposed by a state judge.  The question in this appeal is this: May a federal judge impose a sentence to run consecutive to a sentence that has yet to be imposed by another federal judge in a different case?  Consistent with Setser and its prior cases, the Ninth Circuit held that a federal judge cannot do this.  It therefore vacated such a sentence and remanded for further proceedings on an open record.The fact pattern here is familiar -- a combination of a new illegal-reentry charge and an alleged supervised-release violation on an old one.  Rather than resolving both cases at the same time in front of the same judge, these cases were handled separately; Judge Burns of the Southern District of California was handling the supervised-release violation, while Judge Lorenz was handling the new case.  Judge Burns's case went first, and while at first he demurred to Judge Lorenz's case, the defendant insisted that Judge Burns go first.  He imposed a 24-month sentence to run consecutive to the sentence that Judge Lorenz would impose in the new case.  Judge Lorenz then imposed a sentence of 18 months, to run consecutive to the sentence imposed by Judge Burns.  The defendant then appealed the sentence that Judge Burns imposed.Before Setser, the Ninth Circuit had held that federal judges may not direct that a sentence be either consecutive to or concurrent with an as-yet unimposed state sentence.  Setser changed this rule in light of the traditional discretion that judges had at common law to direct whether multiple sentences should run concurrently or consecutively.  For federal sentencing, the relevant statute is 18 U.S.C. § 3584, which limits the common-law discretion that judges have in this arena but confirms that the discretion belongs to judges (and not, say, the Bureau of Prisons).  But § 3584 allows a federal judge to exercise the concurrent-versus-consecutive discretion only with respect to a sentence that has already been imposed.  In Setser the Supreme Court suggested that when two different federal sentences are concerned, the rule would be different than when a federal and a state sentence are concerned.  This let the Ninth Circuit rely on its prior reasoning -- that a federal judge cannot order a sentence to run either concurrent with or consecutive to a sentence that another federal judge has yet to impose.  Decisions from the Second and Fourth Circuits bolstered the court's conclusion here.  Accordingly, Judge Burns's sentence was the result of an abuse of discretion insofar as he imposed it to run consecutive to a sentence that had not yet been imposed.  On remand, Judge Burns was free to reconsider that decision now that Judge Lorenz's sentence had been imposed.  Moreover, the 24-month term was properly imposed under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e).  Finally, the appeal was not moot because, on remand, Judge Burns was free to impose a sentence less than 24 months, or impose a concurrent term.The decision is here:http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2014/03/21/12-50398.pdf

A New Defense Theory

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For those of you who thought the Twinkie Theory of defense was as outlandish as you were going to see, think again....

Douglas Whitman Seeks En Banc Review of Second Circuit Panel’s Decision Affirming Insider Trading Conviction

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Douglas Whitman has moved for en banc review of the Second Circuit's recent decision affirming his conviction on insider trading charges. He contends that the panel’s summary order “widens conflicts between the holdings of this Circuit and others on at least two critical, recurring questions of law.” Whitman, an investor who allegedly traded on inside information obtained from corporate insiders, was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy in 2012. In its initial order, the Court of Appeals followed Second Circuit precedent and affirmed the district court’s decision to instruct the jury that the inside information in Whitman’s possession must have been “at least a factor” in his trading decision. It did not accept Whitman's argument that the court should adopt the law of the Ninth Circuit, which dictates that a defendant is only liable if inside information was a “significant factor” in an investment choice. According to Whitman, the Second Circuit's decision means the government is not required to "offer proof that the defendant actually used or relied upon inside information in executing the challenged trades.” It can meet its burden of proof “merely by showing that the defendant ‘knowingly possessed’ such information at the time of the trades.” Whitman contends that this "knowing possession" standard transforms insider trading into a strict liability offense and conflicts with the Ninth Circuit's standard, which imposes a stricter causation requirement - the government is required to show that the material non-public information was a “‘significant factor’ in the investment choice.”

Company reveals updated alcohol monitoring device

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Those who are arrested for DUI in Illinois are subject to detention until a cash bond is posted. The purpose of the bond is to ensure the defendant’s return to court. If the defendant fails to appear at any court date, the cash bond will be forfeited and the judge will thereafter issue an arrest […]

Man Faces Sexual Assault Charges after Allegedly Roaming Halls of Amway Grand Plaza Hotel Searching for a Victim

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Keith Darrius Manders, a 20-year-old Grand Rapids resident, was recently charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, and first-degree home invasion in connection with a March 8 incident at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, according to news reports at Mlive.com. Police allege Manders was roaming the halls of the […]

DUI Lawyers Get No Respect

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I am attending the “Mastering Scientific Evidence” for DUI cases sponsored by the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD) and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (TCDLA).  New Orleans is a wonderfully decadent city:  It is fun to see tourists strolling down Bourbon Street with Mardi Gras beads and a large, fluorescent-colored drink at 10:00 […]

Four from Georgia indicted on prescription fraud charges

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There number of federal laws related to controlled substances is vast. Many stories that hit the news when it comes to a federal drug crime seem to focus on drug trafficking charges, or possession with intent concepts. But, a person...

Baltimore County Police Make Arrest in Dundalk MD 14 Year Old Murder-for-Hire Case

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Man Charged in 14-Year-Old Dundalk Murder CaseBaltimore County Press Release: Reprint -  March 21, 2014"Fourteen years after the murder of 24-year-old Heidi Bernadzikowski in her Dundalk townhome, Baltimore County Police homicide detectives have arrested and charged her boyfriend with hiring someone to kill her.This week, Stephen Michael Cooke Jr., 43, of the 1000 block of Englishman Harbour, Pasadena, 21122, was charged with first-degree murder. He was arrested in Anne Arundel County and is held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center.Police have believed almost from the beginning of this case that Cooke, who was the victim's boyfriend and lived with her in the 2000 block of Codd Avenue, conspired to kill Ms. Bernadzikowski, but detectives have been unable to prove his involvement. A breakthrough came recently, when one of the co-conspirators -- Alexander Charles Bennett, 34, of Greeley, Colorado -- identified Cooke as the person behind the murder. Bennett is in the Baltimore County Detention Center, awaiting trial.Bennett was charged with first-degree murder in January 2012 after police discovered DNA evidence linking him to the crime. The investigation shows that Cooke hired Bennett and another conspirator, Grant A. Lewis, also of Colorado, to kill Bernadzikowski. Cooke wanted to collect a $700,000 insurance policy he had purchased on the victim months earlier, police believe.Lewis, 35, of the 2500 block of Locust Street, Denver, Co., was arrested in Baltimore this week and is charged with conspiracy to commit murder. He is held without bail at BCDC.The investigation shows that Cooke contacted Bennett and Lewis via the Internet and entered into a murder-for-hire agreement with them. Lewis was the middle man and remained in Colorado; Bennett traveled to Maryland and committed the murder, strangling Bernadzikowski and cutting her throat.Homicide detectives do not believe there are any additional suspects in this case."We have been seeking justice in this case for a long time," said Police Chief Jim Johnson. "Our Homicide detectives deserve credit for never giving up on these cold cases. They never forget these victims and their families, and they tirelessly pursue leads over many years. This time, their work has paid off.""

March Madness- First Steps in Getting and Handling A San Diego DUI

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The March Madness NCAA basketball tournament is great time for getting together with friends and celebrating what Bruce Springsteen calls the "Glory Days." It is either reliving the love of an alma mater, or just an excuse to go out and have fun with friends. And like most American big sporting events (or perhaps any sporting events considering the reputations of international soccer hooligans), alcohol is not far behind. It is the party atmosphere, the adrenaline pumping, the good times, and the excitement that leads fans to drink more than they intended. Or, it just flows down so easy as the beer soothes the throat for heartfelt yalps and screams, or the body adjusting to dehydration. So it's one that leads to three. Or, the pretty bartender at the Pacific Beach bar pours a stiffer drink than anticipated.

Seventh Circuit on GPS

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Following up on the post below, I think it is worth noting that the Seventh Circuit remains undecided on the GPS good-faith issue.  United States v. Brown, No. 11-1565, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 4076, at *7 (7th Cir. Mar. 4, 2014).United States v. Katzin, 732 F.3d 187 (3d Cir. 2013), the once helpful Third Circuit case, is up for rehearing en banc on May 28, 2014. I think we can expect to hear of cert petitions going up. . . .  We just have to stay tuned.   

Two federal bills could reverse mass incarceration trend

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Recently, the Obama administration has made substantial efforts towards reducing the rate of mass incarceration within the federal prison system. Most significantly, the Justice Department has embraced a policy of failing to seek mandatory maximum sentences for low-level and non-violent...
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