The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruling in USA v. Johnson is available in Adobe .pdf format. "Appeals court broadens scope of death penalty retrial for Iowa woman who killed 5 in 1993," is the AP report...
In Iowa
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Jones v. Chappell Appeal
Last week I noted the appeal in Jones v. Chappell, the case holding that because of the delays in carrying out justice in the worst murder cases in California we must now forgo that justice altogether. The docket number in the Ninth Circuit is 14-56373. The appellant's opening brief is due December 1. The answer brief is due December 29. The reply brief is due January 12. These are all Mondays.Some people have asked me about a stay. There is nothing to stay. There is no injunction affecting other cases. There is no final judgment in this case. This is just a ruling on one claim in one case. To the extent the judge's order purports to vacate Jones's death sentence directly, it is void. A federal district court judge has no authority to vacate a judgment in a state criminal case as such. He can only issue a conditional release order, saying that the warden must release a person unless he is retried…
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FBI: “Manhattan U.S. Attorney and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Announce Insider Trading Charges Against Director of Market Intelligence at Investor Relations Firm”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 26, 2014 released the following: “Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and George Venizelos, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today that MICHAEL A. LUCARELLI, the Director of Market Intelligence at Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, Inc. (“LHA”), an investor relations firm, was arrested this morning on 13 counts of insider trading. LUCARELLI is expected to be presented today in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge James L. Cott. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As alleged, and despite the well-known parade of convicted insider trading perpetrators over the past several years, Michael Lucarelli was not deterred and violated both his company’s policies and his responsibility to its clients by trading on material nonpublic…
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Continued Arizona Botch Commentary
Jurist posts, "Botched executions & evolving standards of decency: What can we learn from Wood's death?" It's by Sacha Baniel-Stark, a student at New York University School of Law. The botched execution of Wood joined the botched execution in Ohio...
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Ronald McAdams of Williamsport, Pennsylvania is Charged in a One-Count Felony Information Alleging Federal Health Care Fraud
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 26, 2014 released the following: “Williamsport Resident Charged with Health Care Fraud The United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a criminal charge of health care fraud has have been filed against Ronald McAdams of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. According to United States Attorney, Peter Smith, McAdams, age 57, is charged in a one-count felony Information with health care fraud based on submitting false claims to the Pennsylvania Attendant Care Medicaid Waiver Program. The Information alleges McAdams billed for and received reimbursement for attendant care services which were never performed. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section. Assistant United States Attorney Wayne P. Samuelson is assigned…
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TRIBUNAL DE APELACIONES DEMUESTRA PRUEBA DE VIOLACIÓN DEL DERECHO A JUICIO RÁPIDO
A finales de junio la corte criminal de Apelaciones de Texas afirmó una sentencia en un caso decidido por la corte de apelaciones de San Antonio que muestra cómo los tribunales manejaron una situación cuando hay una larga demora entre la acusación y un arresto. La pregunta es si se violó el derecho constitucional del acusado a un juicio rápido bajo la sexta enmienda de la Constitución de Estados Unidos cuando el acusado fue detenido en 2010 por los delitos de abuso infantil que en 2004 se presentaron en su contra. Presuntamente las ofensas ocurrieron en el 2002, aproximadamente un año y medio antes de la acusación de 2004. El acusado no sabía acerca de la acusación de 2004 hasta que fue detenido en 2010. El recordó que los detectives hablando con sus padres en el año 2004, pero los detectives nunca contactaron al acusado. El Estado sostuvo que el acusado no tenía derecho a reclamar…
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Co-Owner of Florida Home Health Company Sentenced to Serve 70 Months in Federal Prison and Ordered to Pay $6.2 million in Restitution for Participation in a Health Care Fraud Scheme Where Services Were Medically Unnecessary, Services Were Not Provided, Kickbacks Were Paid, And Patient Documentation Falsified
The criminal cases against home health owners continue to increase. On August 26, 2014, a co-owner of Professional Medical Home Health LLC, Annarella Garcia, 44, of Florida was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison and ordered to pay $6.2 million in restitution for her participation in a health care fraud scheme involving the now defunct home health care company. U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno of the Southern District of Florida imposed the sentence.According to court documents, Ms. Garcia was a co-owner of Professional Medical Home Health, a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. On June 25, 2014, Ms. Garcia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Ms. Garcia admitted in her plea that between December 2008 and February 2014, she and others were engaged in a scheme to bill the Medicare Program for expensive physical therapy and home health care services that…
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Volusia County Man Pleads No Contest to Sexually Abusing Dog
A 62-year-old Daytona Beach man pleaded no contest to charges that he was sexually abusing his small female dog on Thursday, according to the state attorney’s office. Reports indicate that neighbors of the man said they saw the accused have sex with his 8-month-old dog. Authorities allege that the dog showed signs of sexual abuse. They further claim that the dog was tied up to a post with no food or water, according to the report. The pit bull mix is now in the custody of animal rescue. The man pleaded no contest to felony cruelty to animals and sexual activities involving animals. His sentencing has been scheduled for next month and he faces up to five years in prison. Animal cruelty charges can range in severity from misdemeanors to felonies, depending on the behavior in question. Animal cruelty becomes a third-degree felony under Florida law when a person intentionally commits any act on any animal that results in excessive or repeated unnecessary pain or suffering or…
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Notable federal case impacted by SCOTUS Miller ruling nearly two decades after initial sentencing
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Significant Third Circuit ruling on the consequences of a defendant's appeal despite an appeal waiver
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How Far Does Section 10(b) Reach? The Second Circuit Says That A Domestic Transaction Is Necessary, But Not Sufficient, To Invoke U.S. Securities Laws
In a long-awaited opinion issued on August 15 in Parkcentral v. Porsche, the Second Circuit limited the extraterritorial reach of the U.S. securities laws, affirming the dismissal of securities claims brought by parties to swap agreements that were entered into in the United States but were based on the price of foreign securities. Although the Parkcentral opinion offers an important interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2010 opinion in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, the Second Circuit declined to set forth a bright-line rule for determining when a securities fraud claim based on domestic transactions in foreign securities is sufficiently “domestic” to be subject to U.S. securities laws, thereby leaving the door open to future litigants to confront this issue in securities cases involving foreign elements. In Morrison, the Supreme Court found that Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act does not apply extraterritorially based on a lack of congressional…
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Can Police Legally Take a Blood Sample From a Driver Without His Consent?
Last year, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Missouri vs. McNeely, a DUI case that involved the right of police officers to forcefully take a blood sample from a driver without his consent or a search warrant. The Court ruled that absent any exigent circumstances, such a taking of blood constituted a violation of the 4th Amendment’s right to be free from unreasonable searches of the person. Natural dissipation of alcohol from the system (present in every case) did not constitute such an exigency. (I am, incidentally, flattered and greatly honored that in his written opinion Chief Justice Roberts cited my book, Drunk Driving Defense (7th edition), as recognized legal authority in the field.) Question: Most states have “Implied Consent” laws which basically state that anyone who drives on the highways impliedly consents to submit to blood-alcohol testing. Further, a refusal to do so can result in extended…
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People v. David W.
In 1978 and in 1983, the complainant submitted forms to the New York State Department of Correctional Services indicating that she was willing to receive letters from the defendant and that she wished to write to him and visit him. She also documented her willingness to receive collect telephone calls from him. In 2007, the criminal defendant was once again incarcerated in New York and the complainant was on the correctional facility's list for approved visitors and telephone calls. Annexed to the instant motion is a letter dated 24 April 2008, from the complainant, addressed “To Whom it May Concern”, containing her contact information and indicating her availability to attend any proceedings concerning this matter. The court finds that the defendant's claim that that the complainant's recantations constitute newly discovered evidence is without merit. CPL 440.10 (1) (g) provides that a court may vacate judgment upon the ground that new evidence has…
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FBI: “Kansas Man Indicted for Laser Strike Against Helicopter”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 26, 2014 released the following: “KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for aiming his laser pointer at a Kansas City, Mo, Police Department helicopter. Jordon Clarence Rogers, 24, of Kansas City, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment alleges that Rogers aimed the beam of a laser pointer at a Kansas City, Mo., Police Department helicopter on Oct. 8, 2013. Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian P. Casey. It was investigated by the FBI.”…
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People v. David W....cont
With regard to the defendant claims of ineffective assistance of counsel on the ground that his attorney prevented the Judge from dismissing the charges at arraignment until he received one hundred dollars bail money, the court notes that the claim is completely unsupported by any documentation. There is no foundation for the defendant's claims that his counsel was in any way unprofessional or incompetent. Defendant claims that his plea was involuntary because he was not informed that he would be subject to the registration requirements of the Sex Offenders Registration Act ("SORA"). This claim is without merit because the statute had not been enacted at the time of Defendant's plea. Defendant asserts in his motion that had he "known that twenty-one years after plea and sixteen years after the case had expired he would be required to register as a level three sexual predator for a period of ten years and then ten years later be told that criminal…
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Evolution of Search and Seizure Law Re: Blood Draws in the DUI Context (Part 1)
By:Brent Thompson Any warrantless search or seizure is presumed unlawful aside from a few jealously guarded exceptions. Traditional exceptions include but are not limited to (1) consent; (2) incident to arrest; (3) hot pursuit; and (4) exigent circumstances. Exigent circumstances concern situations where there is an emergency where obtaining a warrant is impossible or impracticable. Exigent circumstances may exist where there is a risk of immediate destruction of evidence or imminent danger of substantial injury where police must act quickly and have no time to get a warrant. One classic example of exigent circumstances is where the police know that a person is about to flush drugs down the toilet--obtaining a warrant is unrealistic and police must react quickly to prevent the destruction of evidence. For decades courts in Washington believed that the natural dissipation of alcohol or drugs in the human body constituted an exigent circumstance that permitted law…
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Holland on Criminal Procedure Last Term
Brooks Holland (Gonzaga University School of Law) has posted Criminal Procedure in the October 2013 Term: Cell Phones and Some Other Stuff (41 Preview 321 (2014)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This brief article reviews the U.S. Supreme Court's...
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Indefensible
That's the title of an article posted at Slate by Gabriel Urza. It's subtitled, "Why Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyer is leaving the defense team—and the Army." Here's the beginning: Tuesday is Army Major Jason Wright’s last day as appointed counsel...
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California’s New Cybercrime Laws
The advancement of the Internet has led to a wave of new crimes. While technology improves rapidly, the law has struggled to keep up and adjust to new crimes that are being committed through technology. In 2012, the Cyber Crime Protection Security Act was passed to punish people who try to access another person’s personal information through cyberattacks. The act also increased criminal penalties for fraud and related activities committed with a computer. 1 Let’s take a look at some new laws that have been passed recently that may affect how you use the Internet… The Kill-Switch Phone Law In hopes of reducing smartphone theft and sales of stolen cellphones, California recently passed the “Kill-Switch Bill” into law. Under the new law, all phones sold in California manufactured after July 1, 2015 will need to have a kill switch button that allows users to remotely wipe all data from the phone’s memory and lock the phone, making it…
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Prejudices About Trial Lawyers
(Book Excerpt: A Lawyer’s Primer for Writers: From Crimes to Courtrooms) Many legal thrillers focus on the dynamics of trial lawyers battling it out before and during a courtroom trial. Therefore, we thought it would be interesting to briefly talk about some popular prejudices against trial attorneys. If you’re writing a trial lawyer character, perhaps he or she confronts one of these prejudices from clients, jurors, even social acquaintances. What Is a Trial Lawyer? Some lawyers are known to be “trial attorneys,” meaning they are skilled at conducting courtroom litigation in their areas of specialization. For example, Shaun, the co-author of this book, is a trial attorney who specializes in criminal defense, business litigation and personal injury. Writing a story featuring a trial lawyer sets up some rich possibilities for dramatic courtroom scenes. Outside the courtroom, however, trial lawyers have many other responsibilities that aren’t always…
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More Pages to Explore .....
