Eugene Volokh has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: The question of how to deal with sex by those who aren’t mentally competent is quite complex; it also arises, of course, with regard to those who are mentally...
"78-year-old Iowa legislator is prosecuted for having sex with his wife, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s"
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Senate Passes $600 Billion Defense Authorization Bill
Give it away, Give it away now. [Red Hot Chile Peppers] While most of the Congressional news today is about the $1 trillion spending bill and the potential government shutdown (which won't happen), I'm more concerned about the $600... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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"2012 killings in Hernandez case out"
From ESPN: Prosecutors in a murder case against Aaron Hernandez won't be allowed to tell a jury about two other killings with which the ex-New England Patriot is charged or the final text messages the victim sent to his sister,...
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Die Rechtswirklichkeit der Hauptverhandlung
„Ich habe den Glauben an die Justiz verloren“, so beginnt der Vortrag von Dr. Ulrich Sommer auf dem Herbstkolloquium 2014 der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Strafrecht im Deutschen Anwaltsverein unter dem Titel: „Die Rechtswirklichkeit der Hauptverhandlung“. Er zitiert damit die Aussagen seiner Mandanten am Ende einer Hauptverhandlung: „Das habe ich mir nie vorstellen können: Diese Arroganz, dieser Flegel, diese Unfairness.“ Ausführlich widmet sich Sommer zuallererst der Dominanz von Polizeibeamten für das gesamte Strafverfahren, die er als die entscheidenen „Autoren des Drehbuchs“ bezeichnet: Es gibt gute Polizisten. Wir sehen das jeden Sonntag Abend im Tatort. Meine Beobachtungen in der Akte gehen allerdings dahin, dass die meisten offensichtlich zum Tatort abgezogen wurden. Im Weiteren wird auch sehr sehenswert die Rechtswirklichkeit der Rolle der Staatsanwaltschaft, der Verteidiger und der deutschen…
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Saturday Open Thread
Here's a new open thread. All topics welcome. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Papercuts of Oppression
When the personal injury law firm of Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman put this ad on TV in 2010, it was hailed as a return to sanity. The title of the advertisement was “Machete.” Back then, there was no word “microaggressions,” which, a student service at Princeton calls the “papercuts of oppression.” “If you witness a microaggression and would like us to put it on blast, submit your experience,” encourages the page, which, by the way, also refers to microaggressions as “papercuts of oppression,” which are “so small but slice deep.” Like a machete. Princeton University students recently launched “Tiger Microaggressions,” a service that takes other students’ reports of microaggressions and publishes them on its Facebook page — so that no one has to “carry the burden alone to call out ” offenses against political correctness. In a weird way, it’s…
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Yesterday's criminal law/procedure cert grant
Issue summary is from ScotusBlog, which also links to papers: Toca v. Louisiana: 1) Does the rule announced in Miller v. Alabama apply retroactively to this case? 2) Is a federal question raised by a claim that a state collateral...
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Colorado may appoint doctors to overssee psychotropic medication to foster kids
The Denver Post PRESCRIPTION KIDS: Read the Denver Post special report on use of psychotropic drugs in the Colorado foster care system. A medical director would oversee the levels of mind-altering psychotropic drugs prescribed to children and teenagers in Colorado's foster care system and at the Division of Youth Corrections under a budget request submitted this week. For the first
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A Kinder, Gentler NFL
Plaxico Burress played for the Giants because he was a great wide receiver. He was not a paragon of virtue. Not only could he catch an oddly-shaped ball, but he could take a hard hit. That’s what football players do. The National Football League has suffered some terrible press this past year, not just in the fact that some of its marquee players did bad stuff, but that Commissioner Roger Goodell appeared tone-deaf in his dealing with it. Pot was serious. Knocking out your girlfriend in an elevator, not so much. In response to the public uproar, Goodell modified the league’s “Personal Conduct Policy.“ At Volokh Conspiracy, David Post did an epic facepalm: As I had feared, the NFL’s alternate legal system is a bit of a frightful mess. It applies (a) to pretty much everyone touching the hem of the NFL’s garment… (b) to pretty much all conduct 24/7, whether job-related or not… and (c) whether or not such…
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"Shami Witness" Arrested in India
"Shami Witness", the prolific tweeter about ISIS who was outed Friday by a British news channel, has been arrested in India. He's being investigated for a violation of the Information Technology Act. Mehdi Masroor Biswas, the person behind... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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United States Supreme Court Rules that Reasonable Suspicion May Be Based on Reasonable Mistakes of Law
Shea blogged here about State v. Heien, the case in which the court of appeals ruled that having one burned-out brake light was not a violation of G.S. 20-129 and so did not support a vehicle stop. (The stop led to a consent search of the defendant’s vehicle, which led to the discovery of drugs […]
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"Why Plea Bargains are Not Confessions"
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Parks Board decision on restricting sex offenders pushed back
12-15-2014 Indiana: Enforcement remains a concern for several Vigo County Park Board members, as the board on Monday continued its discussion of whether or not people listed on the state’s sex offender registry should be banned from visiting county parks. County Attorney Michael Wright told the board that the Indiana Supreme Court overturned an ordinance in Jeffersonville, found
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The NPR Broadcast and Sentencing Reform
I want to thank NPR once more for giving me the chance to chime in about why "sentencing reform" (translation: meat-axe lowering of sentences for felons) is a bad idea. As the show was presented this morning (transcript here), my principal adversaries turned out to be Judge John Gleeson of the EDNY, and Prof. (and Sentencing Commissioner) Rachel Barkow of NYU Law School.Each made an important point, and both are dead wrong. Judge Gleeson noted that we have filled federal prisons with non-violent offenders. In discussing the point, however, Judge Gleeson did something that has become typical of "reform" advocates: He talked about non-violent offenders as if they were non-harmful offenders. This is simply and grossly false, as Judge Gleeson cannot help knowing.I explained it to the Federalist Society National Convention Criminal Law panel last month:For punishment purposes, however, the correct question is not just whether…
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New Report on ISIS: Focus on the Governance, Not Just the Violence
The CTC (Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point) has a new 105 page report on the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL, now known as IS.) The report is called "The Group That Calls Itself a State: Understanding the Evolution and Challenges of the Islamic... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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THE BEST OF THE BEST
In the early morning hours of December 16, 1944, under snow heavy skies and zero temperatures, 30 German Divisions attacked Allied armies in the Ardennes Forrest area of Belgium, Luxembourg and France. The Allies, caught by surprise, the weather having limited the ability of arial surveillance, and overconfidence, fell back under the onslaught, creating a "bulge" in the Western Front. The German plan was the smash the Allied armies, re-seize the port of Antwerp, which would have delayed the end of the war by years. Banking on the war weary British and Americans having little appetite for another three or four years of war, Hitler thought he could sue for peace, and then turn his attention and new war machines, like the jet fighter plane, against the Russians on the eastern front. A lot hung in the balance as allied troops fell back across a wide swarth of land. But in a few places, the allies refused to yield. In Belgium, the battle hardened 28…
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Should problematic police be on a registry like sex offenders?
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Great Results for Hopewell Va Reckless Driving Charge
Dave Caddell from Caddell Weiland achieved a fantastic result in a Reckless Driving by Speed charge in Hopewell, Virginia this week. The client was charged by a Hopewell County deputy with Reckless Driving, 85 mph in a 70 mph zone on Interstate 295. As a result, our client was facing the very real prospect of […]
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Tuesday Open Thread
I've got another busy day today. Here's a new open thread. All topics welcome. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Underage Possession of Alcohol Charge Dropped
Dave Caddell from Caddell Weiland represented a VCU student recently in Richmond General District Court on a charge of Underage Possession of Alcohol. In this case, the VCU police department responded to a complaint regarding some activity in a university dorm room. When the the police arrived, they immediately noticed the smell of alcohol in […]
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More Pages to Explore .....
