Joan Meier, who commented last week on this blog, and I appeared on Friday on a Los Angeles public radio show, discussing Ohio v. Clark. If you're interested, you can listen to it by clicking here. By the way, Joan cited favorably a recent book by Ross Cheit, The Witch Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children. Here for comparison is a very different view of the book.I have insufficient knowledge of the subject matter to engage usefully in a debate over the Cheit book. I will say, though, that I have great faith in the scholarly fairness and integrity of Sam Gross, my colleague of over a quarter century, and of Steve Ceci, with whom I have partnered on a few projects over the last fifteen years and more.
Audio of public radio show on Ohio v. Clark
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News Scan
Violent Crime Up in Sacramento: A spike of assaults and robberies has brought violent crime in Sacramento, CA to a 25 percent increase this year, though it "doesn't necessarily point to a yearlong trend." Richard Change of the Sacramento Bee reports that aggravated assaults and robberies have both risen by 23 percent, rapes have increased by 59 percent and homicides jumped 27 percent in the first five months of 2015. Former Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness believes that the AB 109 prison realignment program and Prop 47 are the cause of the city's growth in crime. SC Continues to Fight for Drug Supply: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley publicly stated that the 21-year-old man who shot dead nine churchgoers during a Bible study at a historic African American church in Charleston, South Carolina "absolutely" should be put to death, though the state continues to struggle to secure one of the drugs needed for lethal…
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Red Hook in the Press
Judge Alex Calabrese, who has presided over RHCJC for the last 15 yearsRecently there was some great press in the New York Times about our partner project, the Red Hook Community Justice Center. Check it out here:A Court Keeps People Out of Rikers While Remaining Tough
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Ohio Death Row Case Returns to Court Based on New Evidence
The case of Eddie Lee Howard, who was convicted in 1994 of raping and killing an elderly Columbus woman, will be back in court this week when lawyers from the Mississippi Innocence Project and the Innocence Project argue that he deserves a new trial. Along with new DNA evidence that excludes Howard from the crime, the forensic odontologist whose bite mark testimony led a jury to convict Howard now says that bite mark evidence is highly unreliable and that it should not be used in court. In 1992, Kemp was found in her burning home—beaten, raped, and stabbed to death. Howard, who had just been released from prison, was charged with the crime. At his trial, a well-known forensic odontologist, Michael West, testified that he had found a bite mark on the victim’s body, which had been exhumed, and that the mark was a unique match to Howard’s teeth. Based in large part on this testimony, Howard was convicted and sentenced to death, first in 1992 and then again…
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Massachusetts Appeals Court affirms free speech restrictions on harassment prevention orders
In 2010 the Massachusetts legislature made a significant change in the law when it created harassment prevention orders, restraining orders that plaintiffs can seek to protect themselves against harassing behavior regardless of their relationship to the harasser. (Before 2010, people seeking restraining orders in Massachusetts could receive protection only under an abuse prevention order, available only against abusers who are “family or household members” of the plaintiff seeking the order, a definition which includes anyone with whom the plaintiff has been in a serious dating relationship or with whom she has a child.) Because the harassment prevention law is relatively new, the state courts are still refining when these orders are and are not available. In the cases interpreting the law, it has become clear that the courts are struggling to strike a balance between protecting victims of real harassment from harm and unduly restricting free…
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Facial v. As-Applied Attacks
Along with the underlying Fourth Amendment question, Los Angeles v. Patel, decided today by the U.S. Supreme Court, has some interesting discussion about facial versus as-applied attacks on statutes (or ordinances).Can a court really "strike down" a statute, as we so often casually say when discussing a constitutional case? No, not really. Repeal of a statute is a legislative function. The theory of judicial review, as explained way back in Marbury v. Madison, is that the court must decide the case, and if the higher law of the Constitution points to one result and the lower law of the statute points to the other, the higher law must govern. That does not wipe the statute off the books, though. The statute at issue in Marbury gave the Supreme Court the authority to issue writs of mandamus, and it still had that authority under that statute after Marbury as long as it exercised the authority in its appellate jurisdiction, such as issuing…
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Sokol on Teaching Compliance
D. Daniel Sokol (University of Florida - Levin College of Law) has posted Teaching Compliance (University of Cincinnati Law Review, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Compliance is a growing field of practice across multiple areas of law. Increasingly...
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Robina Institute now has great new "Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center"
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Brief Filed in 7th Circuit Court of Appeals: USSG 2D1.1(b)(12)
On June 15, 2015, Chicago Federal Criminal Defense Attorney Michael J. Petro filed his brief in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Acasio Sanchez. USA v. Acasio Sanchez, No. 15-1356. Mr. Petro represented Mr. Sanchez in the District Court. At issue is the "stash house" enhancement to United States Sentencing Guidelines' Section 2D1.1(b)(12). The Government's has until July 6, 2015 to reply. By: Chicago Federal Criminal Defense Attorney Michael J. Petro For more about Chicago Federal Criminal Defense Attorney Michael J. Petro, visit www.mjpetro.com or call 312-913-1111
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Will the Test Refusal Law Fall on Its Face?
Once again, we can see that the legal landscape is reaching one of those tipping points, where everything we thought we knew is turned on its head. The United States Supreme Court just issued a decision, in California v. Patel, that should prompt those who believe Minnesota's test refusal law is constitutional to stop what they're doing, sit up, and listen. The bottom line is: We can and will keep making the argument that Minnesota's test refusal statute is unconstitutional until we win. California v. Patel stands for two basic principles: 1. Just like laws that involve other constitutional rights, state laws that involve the Fourth Amendment are subject to facial challenges. By "facial", the Supreme Court means that some laws are so blatantly unconstitutional as written--regardless of any possible fact scenario to which they might apply--that no court could enforce the law without violating the Constitution. The Court…
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Penalties for Drug Possession
In our last blog post, we outlined how Maine categorizes certain drugs into four different “Schedules.” Schedule W includes dangerous, highly addictive, drugs that have little to no medicinal purpose, like cocaine and heroin. Schedule X includes addictive drugs and other hallucinogens that pose less of a threat, or have a higher medicinal value, than Schedule W drugs. The substances listed in Schedule Y include predominantly prescription drugs. Schedule Z is a catch-all category, that includes all other prescription and non-prescription drugs not included in the other three Schedules, including marijuana. The drugs that are listed in these Schedules are given in great detail. Other portions of Maine's drug laws refer to these Schedules constantly, rather than list all the illegal drugs over again. This is particularly helpful for the portion of Maine's drug laws that deals with the penalties you could face for possessing certain types of drugs. Rather than…
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Elkhorn City Council denies sex offender's appeal to live with parents
6-23-15 Wisconsin: ELKHORN—Before he was told he could not live in Elkhorn with his parents Monday, convicted sex offender Michael Hoffman Jr. pleaded with city officials, saying he will carry his regrets and bad decisions with him until he dies. “My crimes carry a lifelong penalty,” Hoffman told city council members. “I have the proverbial scarlet letter on my forehead until I die. No matter
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Landsberg Law Office Celebrates Four Years in June
Four years ago in May upon reflection and discussion with my new wife, I realized that, no matter how much I dreamed of being a Public Defender forever, my time there was coming to a close. It was time for me to leave. May 31, 2011 was my last day. I promised myself I would take ONE day off, and on June 2, 2011 I would hit the ground running. Originally I was going to work at a bigger law firm, learn different areas of law, and simply expand what I had already learned. On June 1st, 2011, my day off and my first day unemployed, I received a call. The person asked me if I had read the paper over the last couple days. You know “that one case”, it was him. The other person that was on life support and his understanding was that the police were waiting for the hospital to turn off the life support so they could charge him with attempted Murder. But he promised, it was self-defense, 40+ people witnessed it. And oh yeah, he’s on his way to the police to make a…
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Overview of the Rail Passenger Disaster Family Assistance Act of 2008
In 2008, Rail Passenger Disaster Family Assistance Act was released. The act is meant to provide guidance and support to the family members and loved ones of rail accident victims. After a mass transit accident, federal agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board and the American Red Cross, will be requested for support and for the task of carrying out the missions stipulated by the act. The following reviews the different parts of the act and its missions.Provide Notification to Family Members‘Family members’ are defined by the act as “those people who have a relationship with a person involved in the accident.”Direct family membersFriendsRelatives The act states that family members of all identified victims involved in the accident shall receive notification of death or injury. More information will be provided to family members as it is learned.The family can expect information in daily briefings. Family members may also…
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Oral Argument in Jones v. Davis
USCA 9 has scheduled oral argument in Jones v. Davis for August 31 at 9:30 in Pasadena. We don't know who the panel is yet.This is the case where a federal district judge in California said that because the opponents of the death penalty have been successful in obstructing the will of the people they now get to throw it out altogether. See prior posts:August 21, 2014, with links to earlier posts.Jones v. Chappell Appeal, August 26, 2014Jones v. Chappell Brief, December 2, 2014CJLF Brief in Jones v. Davis, December 11, 2014The panel is critical. If we get a majority of persons of sense, the decision will be reversed at this point. If not, we will have to go higher -- possibly (but not likely) the Ninth Circuit pseudo-en-banc, and failing that to the Supreme Court. I am confident that the Supreme Court will take the case and reverse if it comes to that, but hopefully we will get a reversal earlier.
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Crash Blocking US26 At 450 W Near Blackfoot
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: 06/23/2015 12:30pm Please direct questions to the District Office Idaho State Police is on scene of a crash on eastbound on US26 at 450 W, approximate mile marker 303, west of I15 near Blackfoot. At this time the right lane of US26 is blocked. Motorists are urged to use caution when traveling in the area. ln/sk -------------
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News Scan
Policies, Criticisms Hinder Border Protection: The El Paso-area U.S. Border Patrol union is calling on the National Border Patrol Council to address policy changes that limit agents' ability to do their jobs and that open them up to public scrutiny. Aaron Martinez of the El Paso Times reports that the biggest issue facing Border Patrol agents is that they are being "vilified" for incidents involving use of force, despite the fact that their use of lethal force is seven times lower than the national average. Another problem involves recent policy changes, one in which restricts agents from searching for drugs at train and bus stations. Most Illegal Immigrants Skipped Court Date: New data reveals that the policies implemented last year to address the surge of Central American immigrants across the border has failed to stop the influx of thousands more this year, the majority of whom don't show up to court when charged with a…
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Tennessee State Trooper Facing Drug Charges After Allegedly Purchasing Narcotics While on Duty
47-year-old Mark Williams, a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper, faces drug charges after he was allegedly observed buying hydrocodone, a narcotic drug, from 64-year-old Elliot Goode, according to a news article at WKRN.com. Williams was on duty and in uniform when Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents caught him in the act; the investigation had begun earlier in the year. Williams has worked with the Highway Patrol since January of 2004, and was placed on discretionary leave with pay following his arrest. All departmental equipment including badges and weapons were confiscated from Williams, according to state officials. Williams was assigned to Lauderdale County in his position as a state trooper. He and Goode were booked into the county jail, where Williams was held on $10,000 bond and Goode on $7,500 bond. Goode was charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance, however news reports did not indicate the charge(s) Williams will face. In the state of…
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Florida Lawyer Indicted in Short Sale Fraud Scheme
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Richard Michael Colbert, Attorney, Florida, was indicted and charged with conspiracy to commit bank or mail fraud, loan application fraud, theft or embezzlement by a bank officer and money laundering. The indictment alleges a short sale scheme whereby the owner of property negotiates with the original lender holding the mortgage to sell the property to a person whom the original lender believes is a bona-fide purchase but who is, in fact, a straw buyer. The straw buyer, who is typically paid for used of his personal identification information and who is assured he will have no responsibility for the property or the new mortgage, negotiates a purchase price substantially less than the amount owed the lender. On the date that the short sale closes, a second sale of the property at an inflated price occurs to a second buyer. This second buyers takes out a mortgage from a new lender and purchases at a price substantially higher…
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Is the initiative process a wise way to move forward with criminal justice reform?
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