Stating the Obvious
↧
↧
un-Reason-able
At Popehat, Ken White reveals that my second favorite local prosecutor’s, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, by way of AUSA Niketh Velamoor, has issued a grand jury subpoena to Reason.com. It’s ostensible purpose is to obtain the identity, and bank or credit information, for a handful of commenters on a post by Nick Gillespie about the sentencing of Ross Ulbricht, Dread Pirate Roberts of Silk Road. The government, ever generous in its information, listed the offending comments: AgammamonI5.31.15 @ lO:47AMltt Its judges like these that should be taken out back and shot. AlanI5.31.15 @ 12:09PMltt It’s judges like these that will be taken out back and shot. FTFY. croakerI6.1.15 @ 11:06AMltt Why waste ammunition? Wood chippers get the message across clearly. Especially if you feed them in feet first. Cloudbusterl6.l.15 @ 2:40PMIIt Why do it out back? Shoot them out front, on the steps of the courthouse. Rhywunl5.3l.15 @ 11:35AMIIt I…
↧
Impact of Supreme Court Decision on Marriages in Florida
Over the past few months, it has been impossible to avoid headlines regarding the United State’s Supreme Court’s looming decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, known to many as the “same sex marriage case.” Obergefell is actually a consolidation of four different cases from four different states related to state same sex marriage bans or refusal to recognize same sex marriages that were legally performed in other states. Florida is not one of the states whose laws are specifically at issue in the case, but it will be impacted. The Supreme Court Case There’s a lot of misunderstanding over the case in the news and in every day conversation. One of the misunderstandings is what the Supreme Court is deciding. The Court is not making an ethical judgment as to whether same sex marriage is “right” or “wrong.” It is making a legal determination of two questions. The first question the court is answering is whether it is…
↧
What Part Of “Get It Right” Confuses You?
My fellow curmudgeon, Mark Herrmann, nails another peevish problem that makes any serious lawyer’s head explode. Well, he doesn’t call us “serious lawyers.” He calls us “compulsive nutcases.” Curmudgeons can be very mean. Once, for example, we asked a client to deliver a list containing the names of the (few thousand) members of a class for us to use at a settlement hearing. We told the client that the list was very important; we needed it before the specified deadline, and the list had to be accurate. The client seemed to understand those words. Just before the deadline, the client told us that other work had gotten in the way, and the client could not provide the list on time. And, per Mark’s story, the client proceeded to blow it the next time around, and the time after that, because the admonition that “the list had to be accurate” was understood to mean, throw something together, and don’t worry too much if its…
↧
Of "Broken Windows Policing" and Racism
Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute is as good as it gets in the debate whether the police are actually an occupying racist army (and let's face it, that -- sometimes in disguised form, and sometimes not so disguised -- is the accusation on the table).Her column in the National Review starts this way:New York Times columnist Charles Blow is angry again. This time he's angry at me, among other "tough on crime, fear-mongering iron fist-ers." Also, of course, at the cops. I had debated Blow last week about a Wall Street Journal op-ed of mine on depolicing and crime. Blow followed up with an online column in the Times entitled "Romanticizing 'Broken Windows' Policing." It exemplifies the confusions of the Left about crime and policing.My article had proposed that a rise in violent crime in many cities across the country may be the result of officers' backing off from proactive policing. The last nine months…
↧
↧
Michigan teen, guilty of misdemeanor after encounter with girl claiming to be 17, facing extreme sex offender restrictions
↧
2 suspects go to Troy in fatal arson
see earlier: Troy police consider charges after arson death 6-9-15 New York: 2 waive extradition, 3rd to have hearing in North Carolina Two of the three suspects in the fatal May 1 arson have waived extradition from North Carolina while the third will have a hearing next week on returning to Troy, a spokesman for Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove said Monday. The three are
↧
Federal Judge Preliminarily Enjoins SEC Insider Trading Case Brought In Administrative Forum
A federal district court judge in Georgia has preliminarily enjoined the SEC from proceeding with administrative charges against Charles L. Hill, Jr. The SEC claims that Hill, a self-employed real-estate developer who is not registered with the SEC, engaged in insider trading. After the SEC filed an Order Instituting Proceedings against him, Hill unsuccessfully challenged the agency’s authority to do so before the administrative law judge presiding over his case. Then he brought suit in the Northern District of Georgia, arguing, among other things, “that the [administrative] proceeding violates Article II of the Constitution because ALJs are protected by two layers of tenure protection” and that “the SEC ALJ’s appointment violated the Appointments Clause of Article II as the ALJ is allegedly an inferior officer and he was not appointed by the President, the courts of law, or a department head.” Hill wants the court to declare the SEC…
↧
"From power tools to helicopters: Amazing prison escapes"
↧
↧
BCS Cleans Up and Gains New Partners
Last Thursday morning, BCS Community Service Crew Supervisor Ramon Semorile, BCS UpNext Intern Marlow and myself along with five BCS community service participants headed to Waste Management in the Bronx as part of a new collaboration. We met with Joanne Persad, Government and Public Affairs Manager of NYC Waste Management. Waste Management is responsible for the collection, transport and disposal of garbage, sewage and other waste products. This collaboration was made possible after the suggestion by John Johnson from GrowNYC, with whom Bronx Community Solutions has worked many times on educating the public about the important of recycling. We worked at the edge of the Harlem RiverYard Wild Life Habitat, a section of which was affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. We participated by picking up trash, raking dry leaves and pruning. Our work involved preparing the ground for an organization called the New York Restoration Project, who will now be able to start…
↧
Marriage Equality But Not Reproductive Rights: Ireland’s Inconsistency on Human Rights
By Kaitlyn Denzler, Amnesty International USA Interim Women’s Rights Campaigner It was only two decades ago that Ireland decriminalized homosexuality. Yet on May 22, people took to the polls and made Ireland the first country in the world to adopt marriage equality by a popular vote. The people of Ireland did not just make history with their vote to legalize same-sex marriage; they sent a resounding message of support for human rights by voting “yes” by a margin of two to one! When the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, Enda Kenny, announced the date of the referendum, he stated that it would illustrate Ireland’s reputation as a tolerant and inclusive nation, and after the vote, he proudly pronounced that Ireland was a “small country with a big message for equality.” Taoiseach Kenny should speak about the referendum with great pride, as it represents an enormous success for equality and LGBT human rights. But hidden in the shadows of…
↧
Mexico AG: Only Two Cartels and Three Drug Lords Left in Mexico
The XXXII International Conference for Drug Control in Cartagena, Colombia, has wrapped up. Tomás Zerón, the head of the Mexico Attorney General's Criminal Investigation Agency, who attended the conference, tells Proceso (use... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
↧
Netflix Increases Latin Programming, Including Novelas
I just re-signed up with Netflix. It has announced new deals with Telemundo, Unimas and Univision and will expand it's latin programming. I just finished watching 48 episodes of El Cartel 2: La Guerra Total (sequel to Cartel de Los Sapos.) I... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
↧
↧
Small Issue Now, Much Bigger Issue Later
This article seems incidental. A piece of trivia. But, I don't think so.Freedom of speech? Freedom of press? The right of the government to protect?Read here:http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/06/08/department-of-justice-uses-grand-jury-subpoena-to-try-to-unmask-anonymous-blog-post-commenters/
↧
A Primer for Defense Attorneys
Great opinion out of Massachusetts. Wonderfully written as well.This case focuses on the narrow issue of the public closure to jury selections, but, in a broader sense it speaks to many fundamental trial issues.A petition has been filed in the United States Supreme Court, and a response is coming.I suspect this decision is affirmed, but it is a must read for all defense attorneys.First rule: Preserve all issues for appellate counsel at all cost.http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/11494.pdf
↧
Serious Science for Serious Lawyers – Day Two
I am in Fort Collins Colorado as a faculty member for NCDD’s Serious Science for Serious Lawyers. Today is Tuesday, day two and we were introduced to two more Ph.D to teach us. Dr. Patricia Sulik and Dr. Robert Lantz, both from Rocky Mountain Labs. They both have Ph.D.s in analytical chemistry. Dr. Sulik lectured about the best practices of a scientific laboratory including employee hiring and proficiency testing. Dr. Lantz followed up by pointing out the differences between an independent lab and a state forensic lab the latter being inherently biased which is exactly the opposite of the proper demeanor of a scientist. Because their only customer is law enforcement and prosecutors, state forensic scientists have different motivations, their employee qualifications are sub par, and they lack proper independent state and federal regulation. State forensic laboratories receive hundreds of unknown biological samples to test every week. Therefore they run somewhat of an…
↧
Gesthemene
Clarence Allen Lackey was on death row in Texas and the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. Justice Stevens, while agreeing that they shouldn't take the case, said it raised an interesting issue:Petitioner raises the question whether executing a prisoner who has already spent some 17 years on death row violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.Albert Camus, in a passage I've quoted before, talked about time on death row differently. From Reflections on the Guillotine:What then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? For there to be an equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal, who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him, and who from that moment onward had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private…
↧
↧
Sex im Erlebnisbad
Ein junges Pärchen hatte den Begriff „Erlebnisbad“ wohl überinterpretiert, als sie Weihnachten 2014 in einem Augsburger Schwimmbad in vergnüglicher Zweisamkeit erwischt worden sein sollen. Der Bademeister war darüber ganz und gar nicht amüsiert und erstattete Strafanzeige. Ausgerechnet in der „Erlebnisgrotte“ der Therme im Augsburger Vorort Neusäß soll es zwischen den 18 und 19 Jahre alten Heranwachsenden zu sexuellen Handlungen gekommen sein. Dabei sollen sie auch noch gut betrunken gewesen sein. Vom Jugendrichter gabs a deft’ge Strafe Und weil in Bayern noch Zucht und Ordnung herrscht, verstand auch der Jugendrichter keinen Spaß und verhängte Jugendarrest gemäß § 16 JGG wegen Erregung öffentlichen Ärgernisses: zwei Wochen Dauerarrest für den 19-jährigen und einen Freizeitarrest, der umgangssprachlich auch Wochenendarrest genannt wird, für seine…
↧
How to Prepare to File for Divorce
The decision to end a marriage is never a simple or an easy one. Not only is divorce complex on a deeply personal and emotional level – it can also be complicated from a legal and financial standpoint as well. There’s no question that filing for divorce in Utah is a major undertaking, but you can help make the process faster, smoother, and easier on everyone involved by taking some basic steps to prepare yourself. This step-by-step guide to getting ready for divorce can help you get started. Step 1: Establish the Grounds There are two types of divorce: fault divorce, and no-fault divorce. The difference lies in the nature of the “grounds,” or formal reasons for the divorce. No-fault divorce is fairly self-explanatory, and simply means that neither spouse was at “fault” based on a specific behavior or action. For example, irreconcilable differences are well-known grounds for no-fault divorce. Neither spouse…
↧
DNA test cleared rape allegation against prison guard
Here's a story of a front-end DNA exoneration I hadn't heard before which occurred in the Texas prison system - a guard falsely accused of raping a female inmate. The anecdote appeared in a recent Marshall Project story on Nigerian guards working in the Texas prison system: In 2009, a Nigerian officer in Huntsville named Marshall Akpanokop was accused of raping and impregnating a female prisoner. He was later proven innocent when a DNA test revealed that he was not the father, but Akpanokop sued the agency, arguing he had been “singled out as the culprit” because “he was a dark-skinned, Nigerian national with an accent.”
↧
More Pages to Explore .....
