Bill noted yesterday how a hoax was printed as fact to bolster a position on the campus rape debate. Before commenting on the story, let me make very clear that CJLF has a long history of supporting the rights of victims of rape. It is a terrible crime, and the victims deserve justice. We have further supported shield laws to protect victims from being revictimized. Our commitment to victims' rights remains undiminished. That said, however, the current movement regarding campus sexual assault is going to extremes that will do little to help actual victims, threatens grave consequences against people who have done nothing wrong, and may well end up hurting real victims as a backlash creates renewed skepticism of those who come forward.Now, Rolling Stone never has been an exemplar of objective journalism, but reporting inflammatory allegations without the most elementary fact-checking is well below the standard we should expect of any national…
Truth and Journalism
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Code of Criminal Procedure
Defendant moves by writ of habeas corpus to dismiss an indictment pending against him in this court by reason of the People's failure to bring said indictment on for trial within a period of 180 days. Although the defendant's argument is versed in terms of an application pursuant to section 669-a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court will also treat the petition as one pursuant to section 668 of the Code. On June 30, 1959, defendant was sentenced to Sing Sing Prison upon a judgment of conviction rendered in the County Court of Suffolk County. Prior thereto, on January 21, 1959, and March 23, 1959, warrants had been lodged against defendant by reason of informations filed in the Nassau County District Court charging defendant with violations of sections 1290, 1293-a and 1294 of the Penal Law. These warrants were, thereafter, lodged with the warden of Sing Sing Prison. Defendant alleges that during his incarceration in state prison he served upon the district…
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Saturday Open Thread
Four days to set up a brand new computer is a record for me. I've had so many battles with tech support at various companies I feel like I've been through a war zone. After the hardware issues (most of which resulted from poor or... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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New York City Tax Audit Lawyers
New York City Tax Audit Lawyers A tax audit can be very scary and stressful. Much of anxiety comes from the fear of the unknown and the wide range of possibilities that can result from an audit such as possible prosecution for tax fraud. Our team of tough, smart New York tax audit lawyers can help you fight back against the IRS. We know how to work with the IRS agents instead of against them to come up with a resolution to the case that benefits you. If we cannot resolve the matter with the IRS agent, we can often resolve the matter with their supervisor. Understanding the law, being prepared and knowing what the IRS agent wants is key to a successful resolution of your matter. Our New York City tax audit attorneys have handled very complex tax matters for our clients. We’ve been able to take cases that looked like they were headed to prosecution and resolved them with just a negligence penalty that did not involve any criminal investigation. If you are already being…
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Life, Liberty, Happiness, Law
It will come as a surprise to some, but the United States of America did not always exist. For thousands of years – even tens of thousands, and tens of tens of thousands – before what would later be called “the Grand Experiment” came into being through the Constitution of the United States, numerous other types of governments controlled people’s lives. When people were debating about whether or not to create the United States, one of those we sometimes call “the Founding Fathers,” Alexander Hamilton, wrote in Federalist Paper #9, It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy. If they exhibit occasional calms, these only serve as short-lived…
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Toms River DWI Lawyer
Toms River DWI Lawyer Our Toms River DWI Attorneys stand ready to defend you against any and all DWI charges. We have handled minor cases, complex cases and criminal cases from driving while suspended due to DWI all the way up to vehicular homicide. No matter what your Toms River DWI case involves, our lawyers will develop an aggressive strategy to get you the best possible result. This may involve filing hard hitting motions, hiring top notch experts or taking the case to trial. Our team of tough, smart lawyers realize that a conviction for even your first DWI can be absolutely devastating. Being without your driver’s license especially in a place like Toms River can make getting anywhere nearly impossible. When you hire our DWI attorneys, we will let the court know that we represent you and obtain the evidence against that the State plans to use against you. At that point, we will review the evidence and develop a strategy to fight the charges. As previously indicated,…
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NJ DCPP Investigations Attorney
NJ DCPP Investigations Attorney If you are facing a DCPP investigation, you should consult with a defense lawyer immediately. Doing so will not make DCPP think that you are guilty. Look at it this way, if they are going to think you are guilty, they probably think that already. Anything you say or do can and will likely be used against you. That’s why you need someone to speak for you and that’s what we do. Of course, we do more than that. Our team of tough and aggressive DCPP investigation lawyers can help you make DCPP leave you alone. We will advise them that all communication will go through us. You will not go anywhere, talk to anyone or take any tests unless we sign off on it first. We then work with them to try to get the case closed right away and to make sure that they don’t bring you to court. If the DCPP case worker is bothering you and you want to have them leave you alone, call our DCPP defense lawyers today for a free consultation. We’ll…
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What happens at my 1st DUI Court appearance?
The 1st DUI Court appearance is called "Arraignment". Some officers will give you this date when arrested (Seattle Police) others you will receive date in the mail within 30 days or so. (Washington State Patrol) Just depends on the arresting...
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Do I Need a Criminal Defense Attorney?
Why Do I Need a Criminal Defense Lawyer? Anyone charged with a serious crime is going to want to have the best criminal defense lawyers on your side. A courtroom can be intimidating especially if you are completely familiar with the system. The legal system is designed for lawyers, so it makes it impossible to defend your own case though you have seen it done on TV.The most effective and efficient criminal defense attorneys are experienced in identifying certain arguments and facts in the case that will lead the defendant away from the potential sentence. This type of strategic representation is what you are looking for.Here is a list of ways a criminal defense attorney will lead the case. • They work to negotiate beneficial plea bargains. • Provide the defendant with reality checks and assessments during the trial. • Lawyers are paid to know all of the details and intricacies of the law. This is extremely helpful because one may help reduce the charge. •…
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Fourth and Fifth Amendment privileges
Defendants move for an order modifying a Grand Jury subpoena duces tecum directed to their accountant, which commands, inter alia, the production of personal income tax retuns of the defendants, FDO, Sr., MDO and GM. Defendants move to modify item number 3 of the subpoena duces tecum directed to their accountant, which commands the accountant to produce the personal income tax retuns of FDO, MDO and GM, for the period January 1, 1985 to present. The defendants claim that they have standing to bring this application because they are interested parties whose rights to privacy are directly at stake and the items sought are unrelated to any legitimate objective of the Grand Jury and that the District Attorney is using the Grand Jury as a fishing expedition in hope of uncovering other criminal activity. It is further argued that the request for personal tax returns should be viewed as an improper use of the subpoena power to harass defendants. In support of their privacy rights…
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Stop Shaming Gender-Based Violence Survivors
By Heather Schultz, Activist When a woman or girl survives gender-based violence, you would think that she could expect justice. If she survives a rape, for example, you would think she could expect that the perpetrator would be prosecuted for his crime… not that he could marry her to avoid prosecution if she is under 18. Yet, this is exactly the law in Algeria and Tunisia. And in Morocco, the severity of punishment of the rapist depends not on his crime, but on whether the survivor was a virgin or not! The discriminatory treatment of sexual violence survivors in legislation across the Maghreb region is a central focus point of Amnesty International’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign. As a domestic violence survivor myself, I joined the 16 Days movement to combat international gender-based violence. I personally understand the self-blame a survivor can experience after an act of violence. I felt powerless when my ex-boyfriend left black…
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Men Imprisoned for Nearly 40 Years in Prison Released After Discovery of Police Misconduct
Defense lawyers know all too well the gut wrenching fear of representing a client they believe is innocent. We fight zealously for all of our clients […]
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"Duty to retreat ‘to the wall’"
Eugene Volokh has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy, excerpting the case report from which the phrase originated--not as a metaphor, but because the case involved retreating to an actual wall.
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Militarized Police are Killing to Keep Us Safe
This site has blogged numerous times about police misconduct in criminal investigations, militarized police departments using heavy-handed tactics to disrupt lawful civil disobedience, police corruption involving […]
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Arizona Case Studies of Possible Excessive Force
Both Phoenix and Arizona are not immune from allegations of excessive force by local law enforcement. Two very different situations this week are illustrating the problems communities are having with identifying and dealing with excessive force. There is not enough information whether either of these situations involved excessive force. I am not taking a stance either way until more information is known. However, excessive force is a problem and one that I have addressed before on this website.1 Joe Thomas, What is Excessive Force in Arizona, AzCommonLaw, http://azcommonlaw.com/2014/08/excessive-force-arizona/; Joe Thomas, Phoenix Police Kill During Mental Health Call, AzCommonLaw, http://azcommonlaw.com/2014/08/phoenix-police-kill-during-mental-health-call/. This article is a continuation of the discussion of what is appropriate force. A picture of Phoenix Police at a First Friday art walk in the Arts District. Photo taken by AzCommonLaw. Rumain Brisbon…
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FIU Cross-Examination Seminar
On Friday, December 12, 2014, I will be teaching a seminar on cross-examination at the FIU Law School. The seminar has been organized by H.T. Smith and Scott Fingerhut. Below are the materials I drafted for the seminar. FIU Cross-Examination Seminar I congratulate you for joining this seminar. A program like this brings out the professionals. It is the true professionals who are always looking for the extra edge to make them better. They are always looking for just one more good idea to get even better. The people who need it the most just don’t show up. Or they come and sit down for five minutes and then get up and leave. You have made the commitment to master this skill. This is the essential first step. “There’s no training for the staff here. The training is just PowerPoint.”DR. MOHAMMED BAH, the director of a government hospital in the Bombali district of Sierra Leone, on the lightly trained and minimally protected nurses who care for Ebola…
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6 Guantanamo Detainees Transferred to Uruguay
Six detainees at Guantanamo have been transferred to Uruguay. Four are from Syria, one is from Tunisia and one is Palestinian. Their names: Jihad Diyab, Ahmed Adnan Ahjam, Ali Hussain Shaabaan and Omar Mahmoud Faraj, Abdul Bin Mohammed Abis Ourgy... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Why Innocent People Plead Guilty: Judge Rakoff, Eddie Coyle, Albert Camus and Sweet Dreams of Oppression
If they give awards for “Best White-Collar Article of The Year,” I wish to nominate one. And it’s not even, strictly speaking, an article only about white-collar crime. Judge Jed Rakoff Jed Rakoff is a federal district judge in the Southern District of New York (in other words, in Manhattan). We have mentioned Judge Rakoff before, here and here. He also famously criticized DOJ’s failure, as he perceived it, to prosecute individual executives in the financial crisis. Here, he has a thoughtful article on Why Innocent People Plead Guilty. Portions bear quoting at some length: The criminal justice system in the United States today bears little relationship to what the Founding Fathers contemplated, what the movies and television portray, or what the average American believes. To the Founding Fathers, the critical element in the system was the jury trial, which served not only as a truth-seeking mechanism and a means of achieving…
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Pakistan Military Kills Al Qaeda Leader Indicted in U.S.
The Pakistani military announced it carried out a raid this weekend on an al Qaida hideout in South Waziristan, killing AQ leader Adnan G. el-Shukrijumah, a naturalized U.S. citizen indicted for terror crimes in the U.S. Pakistan said it was... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Some circumstance not accounted for in the testimony,...cont
When investigation later developed that the flooring had never been delivered to the Freeport job, the defendant told his employers conflicting stories, namely, that he had in fact delivered it and, conversely, that he had returned it to a bin in the firm's warehouse to which the defendant had a key. Testimony by a member of the Freeport construction firm negatives a delivery of the lumber at Freeport and testimony by a corporate officer of the firm which employed defendant, while something less than precise, is sufficient to negative the fact that the lumber was returned to the bin. While the circumstances presented are highly suspicious and the criminal defendant's actions cannot be condoned, it is the opinion of this court that they fall short of the quantum of proof necessary to sustain an indictment charging a larceny. Proof of conscious, exclusive and personal possession is absent.The mere receipt on Wednesday of the merchandise for ultimate delivery the…
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