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Modifying Opinions

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Nobody is perfect, and even the nation's highest courts sometimes make mistakes in their opinions.  When the California Supreme Court makes a mistake and needs to modify an opinion, it issues a modification order like this.Not so at the U.S. Supreme Court.  Opinions come out in four forms.  There is the bench opinion used to announce the decision live in court.  That one has a shorter life span than a fruit fly.  Almost immediately we get the slip opinion.  That one is posted on the Court's website, and it is the one we link to on this blog for same-day commentary.  After the slip opinion, unofficial versions are printed by the West Publishing Company (S.Ct.) and Lexis Law Publishing (L.Ed.2d), but the Court is not involved in these.The slip opinion remains the official opinion until publication of the preliminary print, currently running about four years after the opinion date.  Why so long?  Beats me.  After another…

Executive Law § 63(3)

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Appeals by the defendant, as limited by his motion, (1) from a sentence of the Supreme Court, Queens County, imposed January 27, 1988, the sentence being an indeterminate term of 2 to 4 years imprisonment, upon his conviction of grand larceny in the third degree, after a plea of guilty, and (2) by permission, from an order of the same court dated June 13, 1990, which denied his motion pursuant to CPL 440.20 to vacate his sentence. A Nassau County Criminal attorney said that on May 14, 1987, at the corner of the Van Wyck Expressway and Atlantic Avenue in Queens, the defendant stole a 1986 Pontiac Firebird. Approximately one hour later, the defendant used the stolen vehicle as a getaway car after an accomplice forcibly stole a woman's purse in Nassau County. After a high speed chase with police, the criminal defendant crashed the car into a telephone pole and was arrested. In Queens, the defendant was charged, inter alia, with grand larceny in the third degree under…

Routine Traffic Stops Leads to Drug Arrests

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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police District 5 5205 South 5th Ave. Pocatello, Idaho 83204-2299 (208) 236-6466 FAX: (208) 236-6068 For Immediate Release: 10/23/2014 2:11 PM Please direct questions to the District Office On October 21, 2014, at approximately 12:56 p.m., the Idaho State Police made a routine traffic stop east on Interstate 86 at milepost 62 in Bannock County. Rory Schneider, 26 years of age of Beulah, ND, was subsequently arrested on drug charges. Schneider was taken to the Bannock County jail with charges for felony possession of approximately 1/2 pound of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The marijuana is worth approximately $2000.00. On October 23, 2014, at approximately 12:11 p.m., the Idaho State Police made a routine traffic stop east on Interstate 86 at milepost 61 in Bannock County.…

Mosteller on Double Counting and Perception and Evaluation Biases

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Robert P. Mosteller (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - School of Law) has posted Pernicious Inferences: Double Counting and Perception and Evaluation Biases In Criminal Cases (Howard Law Journal, Vol. 58, No. 2, 2015) on SSRN. Here...

Study Aids and Pain Relief for Sale: New York Felony Crimes Involving the Illegal Sale and Possession of Adderall

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It is likely not lost on your criminal attorney or New York criminal defense lawyer. The same can certainly be said about the undercover police officer who purchased “study aids” from you after seeing your advertisement on Craigslist. Even more concerning, it is likely not the prosecutor’s (Assistant District Attorney) or the judge’s first rodeo fighting controlled substance crimes in New York. Simply, the felony sale or possession of Adderall, and a subsequent arrest or indictment for Penal Law 220.06 or Penal Law 220.31, has the potential to absolutely destroy your future. You need not be pitching crack on a corner or cocaine at high class function to feel law enforcement’s weight on your shoulders. Whether or not you sold one pill (or 50), search warrants were executed at your residence or you were found to be in possession of prerecorded buy money (the cash with matching serial numbers provided by detectives or the police during an alleged…

How Judges Get Pushed Around, and How They Defend Themselves

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I was intending to make my next entry about the danger our country faces from the kind of murderous episode we saw yesterday in Ottawa, when this comic relief piece in the ABA Law Journal caught me eye.  The title is, "Judge Accused of Courthouse Sex Was 'Seduced and Taken Advantage Of,' Her Lawyer Says." It states (emphasis added):A West Virginia judge accused of a sexual relationship with a community corrections director was "seduced and taken advantage of," her lawyer argued in her ethics case before the state supreme court.***************************************[Jaymie] Wilfong, a Randolph County circuit judge, had a two-year romantic relationship with North Central Community Corrections Director William Travis Carter that included in-chambers trysts between court proceedings...Deitzler [her defense attorney at ethics proceedings] told the state supreme court there were only two instances of sexual conduct at the courthouse, and the…

"How Changes in American Culture Triggered Hyper-Incarceration: Variations on the Tazian View"

Executive Law § 63(3)...cont

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In another criminal case, defendant appealed from six judgments of the County Court, Nassau County, all rendered May 16, 1984, convicting him of grand larceny, petit larceny, commercial bribing in the first degree and scheme to defraud in the first degree, upon jury verdicts, and convicting him of attempted grand larceny. On appeal, defendant contends that the Attorney-General was not properly authorized to conduct Grand Jury proceedings in accordance with Executive Law § 63(3), and that the additional Grand Jury which returned the indictments against him was not impaneled in accordance with the rules of this court. Executive Law § 63(3) provides, inter alia, that the Attorney-General shall investigate and prosecute "the alleged commission of any indictable offense or offenses in violation of the law in relation to any matters connected with [the Insurance] department" upon "request" of the Superintendent of Insurance. Initially, we note that…

Rengan Rajaratnam and the SEC Agree to Settle Insider Trading Case

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Rengan Rajaratnam has preliminarily resolved the SEC’s civil insider trading claims against him. In a proposed settlement submitted to Judge John G. Koeltl, Rajaratnam agreed to the entry of an order requiring him to pay over $840,000 in disgorgement, penalties, and prejudgment interest; to be barred from the securities industry; and to be enjoined from future violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Rajaratnam does not have to admit or deny the allegations in the SEC’s complaint, which alleged that he engaged in repeated insider trading between January 2006 and August 2008. Last July,...

The court ultimately sentenced the defendant

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In this Criminal action, the defendant here pleaded guilty only after the court told him that, if he did not, he would be remanded until his next scheduled court appearance. The issue presented on this appeal is whether the plea was voluntary. A Nassau County Criminal lawyer said that in November 2005, the People filed a felony complaint charging the defendant with two counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. He was arraigned on the complaint and released on $1,000 bail. Seven months later, a grand jury returned a 40-count indictment charging the defendant with two counts of grand larceny in the third degree, scheme to defraud in the first degree, granc larceny in the fourth degree, petit larceny, attempted granc larceny in the fourth degree, attempted petit larceny, twenty-four counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, seven counts of insurance fraud in the fourth degree, and two counts of insurance fraud in the fifth degree. The charges…

In Florida, Police Usually Need an Arrest Warrant to Make an Arrest for a Misdemeanor Outside His/Her Presence

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In Florida, the police cannot just arrest any person he/she has probable cause to believe has committed a crime. A police officer does not need an arrest warrant signed by a judge to arrest a person for a felony charge or a misdemeanor that has occurred in his/her or another police officer's presence. However, a police officer cannot always arrest a person for a allegedly committing a misdemeanor crime that he/she or another officer did not see unless a judge has signed an arrest warrant. One exception is shoplifting or retail theft cases. Most shoplifting/retail theft cases occur in a store where a loss prevention officer or other store employee sees the theft or observes the suspect trying to leave the store without paying for an item(s). The loss prevention officer normally detains the suspect until the police arrive. Although the police officer was not present when the shoplifting crime allegedly occurred, the police officer is allowed to rely on the store…

Sheley on The Condemned Woman as Historical Relic

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Erin L. Sheley (George Washington University - Law School) has posted Doubled Jeopardy: The Condemned Woman as Historical Relic (24 Law and Literature 211 (2014 Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article explores how Sir Walter Scott's fictional...

Justice and morality, not utility, are main reasons for death penalty positions on both sides

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Earlier today, I noted Gallup's most recent poll on people's attitudes on the death penalty.  That post was updated later with some further data.Structured questions in polls can give useful numbers, but open-ended questions can tell us some interesting things also.  Art Swift of Gallup reported separately on an open-ended question that asked people for the reason behind their position on the main question. At the root of debates over punishment are the reasons why we punish.  There are many reasons, but they fall into two broad classifications of justice and utility.  The utilitarian reasons are the practical ones -- to achieve some tangible result that benefits society.  The main utilitarian reasons to punish are to deter others by example, to reform the offender so he won't do it again, or to restrain the offender so he can't do it again.The other broad category I call justice but most theorists in the field call…

Innocence Project Co-Director Pleads for Release of Cancer Stricken Inmate

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Texas death row inmate Max Soffar is dying of cancer and could spend the rest of days in isolation all because of a false confession he signed decades ago as a teenager. Despite evidence of his innocence in a triple murder and a confession that doesn't match the facts, Soffar has languished behind bars most of his life. In an op-ed that appeared in Wednesday's Trib Talk, a publication of the Texas Tribune, Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck pleads for Governor Rick Perry to intervene by granting Soffar's release and allowing him to spend his final days at home with his wife. Scheck writes: Proving that a confession in a death penalty case was false can be extremely difficult. For Soffar, whose case doesn't have DNA evidence to support his innocence, this has meant decades of legal work - efforts that still need more time. Time that he no longer has. For Soffar and so many others, I wish DNA evidence were as easy to come by as TV shows and movies…

Defendant is Charged with Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument

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A New York Criminal Lawyer said that the defendant was initially charged with two counts of Unlawful Receipt of Fare for Providing Access to Transit Authority Facilities, a violation, one count of Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree, one count of Criminal Tampering in the Second Degree, two counts of Petit larceny, two counts of Theft of Services, thirteen counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Third Degree, and two counts of Obstructing Governmental Administration in the Second Degree, all Class A misdemeanors. By motion, Defendant seeks the dismissal of all charges contained in the Criminal Court Complaint pursuant to CPL Sec. 100.40 and 170.35, asserting that the People's initial complaint was facially insufficient. In response to Defendant's motion to dismiss, the People filed their Affirmation in Opposition dated September 13, 2005, as well as a Superceding Complaint, signed and dated September 12, 2005, which reiterated all of the…

Court Discusses Issues Related to Petit Larceny Charges

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A New York Criminal Lawyer said that the defendant is charged with petit larceny arising out of a "buy and bust" operation in which the undercover officer allegedly gave the defendant US currency and the defendant fled without providing the officer with the agreed upon crack cocaine. The defendant moves to dismiss the information for facial insufficiency. A Kings County Criminal attorney said that the deponent is informed by an undercover officer known to him that, at the above time and place, the defendant did engage informant in a drug related conversation whereupon defendant agreed to sell informant a quantity of crack cocaine in exchange for a sum of U.S. currency. Deponent further states that informant gave defendant a sum of U.S. currency, whereupon defendant took informant's currency and left. Defendant is further informed by informant that informant is the custodian of said U.S. currency and that defendant did not have permission or authority to take…

Defendant Claims Charges Against Him are Defective

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A New York Criminal Lawyer said the defendant is charged with petit larceny, theft of services, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the third degree, obstructing governmental administration in the second degree and resisting arrest. A Deponent is informed by a Police Officer, that, at the above time and place defendant did approach informant and ask informant if informant wanted a swipe. The deponent is further informed by informant observed the defendant deprive the New York City Transit Authority of a quantity of United States currency by wrongfully taking from two individuals a sum of United States currency that would otherwise have been paid to the New York City Transit Authority as lawful fares from said individuals, in exchange for which the defendant swiped a bent card through the subway turnstile for each of these individuals, thereby allowing the said individuals to enter the transit system beyond the turnstiles, and the defendant did not enter the transit…

National Teen Driver Safety Week 2014 – Talk to Teen Drivers about Driving Sober

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National Teen Driver Safety Week is October 19-25. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for 14 to 18 year olds across the country, which is why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has deemed this is as one of the most important roadway safety topics facing teen drivers and all other motorists across the United States. According to various survey results, a mere 25 percent of parents have serious talks with their teens about safe driving practices, despite the fact that nearly half of all teen drivers involved in motor vehicle accidents die. Talk to Your Teen Talking to the teen drivers in your family is very important and the most effective way to help improve their safety as well as the safety of others on the road. The NHTSA has compiled a list of great resources, including the “5 to Drive” rules, which are five crucial topics to talk to your teen about before they start driving. Five to Drive No alcohol No cell phones No extra passengers…

Imwinkelried on Extrinsic Evidence to Impeach for Untruthful Acts

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Edward J. Imwinkelried (University of California, Davis - School of Law) has posted Formalism versus Pragmatism in Evidence: Reconsidering the Absolute Ban on the Use of Extrinsic Evidence to Prove Impeaching, Untruthful Acts that Have Not Resulted in a Conviction...

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SENTENCES ARE SIMPLY OUTRAGEOUS

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When has a sex offender convicted of possessing child pornography paid his debt to society? It is the natural response upon hearing of children being sexually […]
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