The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, on October 30, announced that a former Northwestern University cancer researcher had agreed to pay $475,000 to settle civil claims, originally brought by a former university employee, that the doctor submitted false claims under federally sponsored research grants. According to the U.S. Attorney’s press release: A former cancer research physician at Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Center for Cancer in Chicago will pay the United States $475,000 to settle claims of federal research grant fraud. Dr. Charles L. Bennett agreed to the settlement in a federal False Claims Act lawsuit that was first made public last year after the government investigated the claims made by a former employee and whistleblower who will receive a portion of the settlement. In July 2013, Northwestern University agreed to pay the United States $2.93 million to settle identical claims against the university. …
Former university cancer researcher pays $475,000 to settle whistleblower’s allegations
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"Crashing the Misdemeanor System"
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NFL WEEK NINE
We're down to the sweet six in the survivor pool this week. The Cowpokes loss last week eliminated Peter Sautter and Survive. We went 3-0 on our picks last week (of course) and this week we like the following plays:Home dog Steelers +1.5 versus the Ravens. Home dog Cheaters at home +4 over the Broncos. Colts -3 at Giants. Browns -6 and under 44 at home against the Bucs. PRISON ESCAPE!Sorry to intrude on your weekend with business, but there was an escape from Dade Correctional Friday. Ronald McCoy, serving two life sentences, is on the lam. Anybody know who represented him? McCoy escaped probably around 8 am Friday. The prison wasn't sure he was gone until 1pm, and didn't notify Metro Dade until 5:30 pm. Here is the Herald article. BOLO: male wearing orange jumpsuit, reported to be a bad speller: has the word "psycho" misspelled on a tattoo on his right arm. Site Feed
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Election 2014 Buzz: looking forward to close votes in Alaska, Florida and Oregon (and DC?)
Regular readers know that this election cycle has a number of significant marijuana reform initiatives on the ballot. Helpfully, Jacob Sollum put together here at Reason.com's blog this helpful preview guide to all the action (with lots of links): A week before Election Day, it looks like at least one...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/dQWUEGVvhCk" height="1" width="1"/>
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Case o' The Week: Ninth Sour on Swisher's Sweets - Swisher, First Amendment, and Criminalization of Speech
He lied to the VA, lied to his community, lied as a government snitch, and was indirectly responsible for one of the most troubling Ninth decisions in the last five years. But he still got a raw deal on appeal. Elven Joe SwisherUnited States v. Swisher, 2014 WL 5462290 (9thCir. Oct. 29, 2014), decision available here.Players:Decision by Judge Ikuta, joined by Judge Alarcón. Concurrence by Judge Tashima.Facts: Swisher served in the Marines a year after the Korean War ended. Id. at *1. More than forty years later, he applied for VA benefits, claiming PTSD. Id. He (falsely) claimed he had been wounded in a secret combat mission, and was awarded benefits. Id. At trial for wearing unauthorized military medals in violation of 18 USC § 704(a) (among other offenses), the government introduced a picture of Swisher in a Marine uniform with military medals and awards. Id. at *2. He was convicted, lost the appeal, and filed a 2255 petition. Id. at *3. Issue(s):…
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Columbia Univ. pays $9 million to settle qui tam case involving AIDS grants
On October 28, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that Columbia University and its affiliated AIDS treatment program had agreed to pay $9 million to resolve civil claims that they had submitted false claims in connection with HIV treatment grants. According to the U.S. Attorney’s press release: Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Thomas O’Donnell, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Region of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced today that the United States filed a civil fraud lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK (“Columbia University”), and ICAP (formerly known as INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AIDS CARE AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS) (collectively, “Columbia”) for submitting false claims in connection with federal grants that…
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Police say 23 arrests on gun, drug and robbery charges are tied to Jacksonville gang
Local police say a two-year investigation has helped weaken a Jacksonville gang known for dealing drugs and breaking into houses. The arrests have been made since police started investigating a January 2013 homicide, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union, so it has been an incremental dismantling - not just one sweep leading to a couple of dozen arrests. While most gang-related charges center on drugs, police say this gang also committed several residential burglaries within its territory near downtown Jacksonville, the newspaper reported. Since the investigation began, police say they've taken five guns, 11 kilograms of cocaine, 20 pounds of marijuana and almost $30,000, the newspaper reported. A state law called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or the RICO Act, allows for upgraded penalties if the state can prove that the crimes are gang-related. Prosecutors must first prove that the gang or criminal enterprise exists. Then, the state…
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Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads
in criminal law and procedure ejournals are here. The usual disclaimers apply. RankDownloadsPaper Title 1 366 Brady's Blind Spot: Impeachment Evidence in Police Personnel Files and the Battle Splitting the Prosecution Team Jonathan Abel Stanford Law School - Constitutional Law...
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The codefendant RH was apprehended in May, 1960
In a coram nobis proceeding, defendant appeals from an order of the County Court, Nassau County, dated February 26, 1963, which denied after a hearing his application to vacate a judgment of said court, rendered May 26, 1961 after a jury trial, convicting him of robbery in the first degree (two counts); grand larceny in the first degree (two counts); and assault in the second degree (two counts); and sentencing him to serve concurrent prison terms of ten to twenty years on each robbery count; five to ten years on each larceny count; and two and one-half to five years on each assault count. The criminal defendant, his brother, one RH and two others (MO and RW) were indicated in 1956 in a thirty-count indictment arising out of the hold-up of a card game. The identity of the defendant and his brother being unknown, they were referred to in the indictment as 'John Doe' and 'Richard Roe.' Soon after the commission of the crimes, MO and RW were apprehended, tried…
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Las Vegas Auto Theft Issues Continue
Auto Thefts Once Again on the Rise in Vegas In 2006 and 2007, the worst city in the country for automobile thefts was Las Vegas. The number of automobile thefts in Las Vegas had steadily decreased since that time, resulting in Vegas being listed number 27 last year. Things seem to be changing again, as the number of automobile thefts here are on the rise again according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.In 2013, there were around 7,900 vehicles stolen in the entire state of Nevada. Early in 2014, police reported there had been a 15.4 percent increase over the same period the year before. Adding to this increase could be the fact that more mopeds are also being stolen. Since they have a VIN, they are therefore factored into the statistics. People in Las Vegas are especially vulnerable, since there are more than 60 parking garages located very close to one another. Many visitors to Vegas are also focused on a good time and may therefore let their guard down. A good number of…
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Support of Assembly Bill 10473-A...cont
The plain language of the statutory section provides authority for the Criminal Court, as part of a sentence of probation, to impose any reasonable condition, such as reimbursement to Nassau County for "operating costs", although such costs would not be the subject of restitution or reparation under subdivision (2)(g) of PL § 65.10 or PL § 60.27(1). Thus, notwithstanding the People's concerns, as set forth in their supplemental letter brief, that the rules of statutory construction preclude imposition of such a condition, the words of the statute plainly set forth the legislature's intent and resort to statutory construction is unnecessary and unwarranted. After consideration of the purposes of sentencing, such as rehabilitation, public safety, punishment and deterrence, the Criminal Court concluded that a sentence of incarceration was not a preferred sentencing option. The Court determined that, under the circumstances present, a sentence of…
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A Simple Way to Insure That Applications for Leave to Appeal Exhaust All Federal Constitutional Claims Raised in the Intermediate Appellate Court
Applications for leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals from a decision and order of an intermediate appellate court affirming a conviction often focus on the issue or issues which are most likely to appear worthy of the attention of the Court of Appeals. As that Court’s website explains, those are significant and yet unresolved issues, such as those in in which the law is not well settled, or involve the impact in New York of a recent decision of the United States Supreme Court (see, The New York State Court of Appeals Criminal Leave Application Practice Outline, IX(B)). Yet, it is possible that the briefs below also raised other meritorious issues, including federal constitutional issues, as to which the law is not as unsettled, and are thus, not as likely o be the basis for a grant of leave to appeal. In drafting applications for leave to appeal, counsel needs to be careful to also raise these federal constitutional…
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Fatal crash northbound I-15 at milepost 107.8
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police District 6 1540 Foote Dr. Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402-1828 (208) 525-7377 FAX: (208) 525-7294 For Immediate Release: 11/02/2014 3:00 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office *****FINAL UPDATE***** On November 2, 2014, at approximately 4:05 a.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a three-vehicle, fatal crash northbound I-15 at milepost 107.8, ten miles south of Idaho Falls. Cindy Nicholls, 29, of Rigby, was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of I-15 in a 2005 Chrysler 300. Jalene Evans, 67, of Idaho Falls, was northbound on I-15 in a 2012 Honda Accord. David Wendler, 79, of Wise River, Montana, was also northbound on I-15 in a 2005 Dodge Ram pickup pulling a trailer hauling three cows. Nicholls' vehicle struck Evans' vehicle head-on at milepost 107.8. Both vehicles…
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Interesting review of the (too cautious?) work of California's Attorney General
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TX appellate courts (barely) split on mandatory DWI blood draws
We haven't talked much in a while about the fallout from the US Supreme Court's McNeely ruling, which held that police must obtain search warrants to draw blood after a DWI and that the fact that alcohol dissipates in the blood is not an extenuating circumstance that justifies delaying the blood draw until a judge signs off on it.At first there was speculation whether the court's ruling would apply to Texas' law; a footnote in McNeely referenced Texas' statute without including it in the category of cases the ruling would impact. But, by my count, we're now up to five intermediate Texas courts of appeal (12th, 13th, 7th, 4th, and 9th) which have said police must obtain a warrant to draw blood from alleged drunk drivers, even if they're among the category of "mandatory" blood draw subjects articulated in state statutes. The most recent was the Ninth Court of Appeals (see the opinion). Only the 14th Court of Appeals ruled the other…
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"When he dies, I want it be because it's his time" - Another Voice
Charles Warner is supposed to be dead now. The good people of Oklahoma planned to kill him at the end of April. His was to be the second killing that night. Right after they got done killing Clayton Lockett.Except that it all went horribly wrong when they fucked up Lockett's murder and . . . well, Oklahoma hasn't managed to kill anyone since then. Of course, Lockett died anyhow, still on the table. They said at the time it was a heart attack. Then pathologists actually did an autopsy and damned if it wasn't the drugs after all. Except they didn't go in his veins so his murder was slow and painful and lingering - even after they tried to stop it. Torture, though we're not supposed to use that word for stuff we do in the spirit of good ol' American decency. But Warner? They gave him a reprieve that night. Still, he's out there, still waiting to be next up in the Sooner State.…
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Second Circuit Finds Search Unconstitutional, Tosses Defense Verdict
A federal appellate court last week held that Connecticut police officers' warrantless entry into a private yard, where they shot and killed the owner's dog, could not be justified simply because the house was in a high-crime neighborhood. Holding that the trial court erred when it allowed the jury to consider the defense of exigency, the court threw out the jury's defense verdict, found that plaintiffs' rights were violated as a matter of law and remanded the case for a determination on damages.It's plainly the right outcome as the officers' entry onto plaintiffs' property was entirely unjustified. What is interesting about the decision, however, is how reluctantly the court reached this decision. As it turns out, the tip that led the cops to the home, and which they claimed made their entry legal, was utterly baseless; a fact that surely influenced the final ruling, even though it shouldn't have. More to the point, the appellate court…
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7-year-old girl hit by car in Vancouver on Halloween night dies at hospital
11-2-2014 Washington: VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) - A 7-year-old girl hit by a car while trick-or-treating in Vancouver on Halloween night has died. Cadence Boyer and her mother, 32-year-old Annie Arnold, were among a group of trick-or-treaters hit on Northeast 112th Avenue at 8:15 p.m. Friday. Police said Duane Abbott, 47, of Vancouver, drove his car over the curb and slammed into the group of
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"Maryland man charged with threatening to kill Obama in email"
From Reuters: A 42-year-old Maryland man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama and first lady Michele Obama in an explicit email strewn with racist remarks was in custody on Sunday, the United States Secret Service said. Christopher Perkins...
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When Not to Post Bail...and Maybe Hire a Lawyer
When NOT To Post Bail...and Maybe Hire a Lawyer I hope you all had a happy Halloween. This weekend, not one but two friends called to say that their children had been arrested. One was a juvenile and was released with a notice that they would be contacted in the future to appear in court. The other was a young adult arrested in Los Angeles County for DUI causing injury or felony DUI. In LA, the bail schedule says if you are arrested for DUI causing injury your bail will be set at $100,000.00. This means that if you want to post bail, it will cost you or your family between $7,000 and $10,000. This is money that is earned upon your release from custody and you will never see again. This is before your hire a private lawyer and before you know if you will even be charged with a crime. My son is scared…They are saying he won't go to court until Tuesday…Visiting hours were cancelled at the Van Nuys Jail. What should we do? My wife's friends, brothers,…
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