Three recent articles confirm the growing significance of technology and big data to both the general practice of law and the field of white collar crime in particular. The first article, appearing in Enterprise Tech, is entitled Big Data Plays...
The Growing Role of Technology and Big Data in White Collar Cases
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Brookline Firefighter Charged with DUI – Alleged Hit-and-Run
According to a recent news article from the Boston Globe, a Brookline firefighter was arrested on charges of drunk driving and hit-and-run in connection with a serious car accident in which he allegedly crashed into to two vehicles and fled the scene. He was already arraigned in Middlesex County. Authorities say the 34-year-old defendant was charged specifically with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI), leaving the scene of a personal injury, and he was cited for several other moving violations. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is typical to be given non-criminal moving violations in addition to any criminal charges. One can be charged with reckless driving and also cited for a marked lanes violation in connection with the same incident. The police report indicated the accident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. in Newton. The firefighter allegedly crashed into a car on Corey Street and then tried to flee the scene. While leaving the…
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Husband Sues Wife’s Divorce Lawyers for Fraud
Statistics suggest that 98% of family law cases settle out of court. For the unlucky few who can only obtain finality and closure with the aid of lawyers and judges, the journey is long, tortuous, and expensive. Kenneth Felis of Vermont found himself engaged in divorce court proceedings that drained him emotionally and financially. The parties had one child and a family estate worth between $12 to $15 million dollars, made up of cash, real estate and business interests. HIs wife, Vicki, retained the law firm of Downs, Rachlin Martin to represent her in the court action. They, according to Mr. Felis, escalated the conflict by implementing a strategy that generated exorbitant legal fees and was intended to “harass and injure” him. He sued the law firm for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty for “pursuing unreasonable legal positions, demanding extensive and unnecessary discovery, promoting and claiming outrageous asset valuations, raising claims without…
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Grants to Set up Sex-Trafficking Victim Services are Announced in Texas
A plan to set up a child sex-trafficking victim services program is being rolled out in Texas with the first set of grants being announced by Gov. Greg Abbott. The Texas Tribune recently detailed $133 million in grants that the state’s criminal justice division is allocating to law enforcement agencies and victims’ assistance programs in seven regions of Texas. The program ... Read More The post Grants to Set up Sex-Trafficking Victim Services are Announced in Texas appeared first on .
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How to reduce police ambush deaths
Based on a new DOJ analysis, the Washington Post reported (10/27) that the number of ambush assaults against police is on the rise, even as police officers' on-duty deaths remain fairly steady and overall assaults against officers are down. When one looks at the details of the study itself, however, it emphasizes much more than the Attorney General did how extremely rare ambush deaths are in practice. Even more interesting to this writer, though, was what the DOJ report had to say about strategies that might reduce police ambushes:Fewer police ambushes. We found three organizational factors that were associated with reduced numbers of ambushes against the police. The effect of requiring new officers to have at least some college education was a 54 percent decrease in ambush assaults. In addition, agencies that evaluated new hires on conflict management experienced, on average, 43 percent fewer ambushes than those that did not. Last, in-car cameras, measured by the…
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LA Times Goes to Damage Control Red Alert on Prop 47
The LA Times was one of the biggest cheerleaders for Prop 47 last year -- an initiative which, with that and other media and liberal support -- won a decisive victory. Prop 47 was the Golden State's version of what is known inside the Beltway as "sentencing reform."Probably the central pivot in getting to victory was the promise that Prop 47 would not only save money but would make Californians safer. The old idea that incarcerating criminals keeps them from committing crime was just Puritanical hogwash -- either that or quasi-racist propaganda.Enough time has passed, and enough results are in, to show that the promise was a lie. I strongly suspect the people making it knew it was a lie at the time, but wanted less incarceration anyway because they view criminals as victims, society as callous, and hoped either (a) that the fallout of increasing crime could be covered up, or (b) that someone else…
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Obama's Advisors Want to Step Up War Against ISIS
President Obama's advisers are promoting the greater use of special forces and stepping up air fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The debate over the proposed steps, which would for the first time position a limited number of Special... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Theft Charges for Broward Bailiff Following Wife's Conviction
A bailiff for the Broward County Sheriff's Office was taken into custody by his own agency after prosecutors say the 33-year-old civilian employee freely spent money he knew was stolen by his now ex-wife. His former wife, who worked at a perfume store in Pembroke Pines as a clerk,was convicted of grand theft charges after authorities accused her of writing 119 checks totaling more than $405,000. She would later tell authorities her husband became aware of the thefts after the third or fourth transaction. She co-mingled the checks with their paychecks in their joint personal and business account.She said her husband told her simply to "Be careful." Last month, she was sentenced to five years in prison. And just a few days ago, she and her husband finalized their divorce. But it's not over for Steve Palacios, who allegedly spent the money on: --Furniture --A Cadillac --Rent --Restaurant visits --Personal grooming --Tires and rims for his truck ($6,000…
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Are There Any Exceptions to the Death Penalty?
Approximately 1,417 people have been executed in the United States since 1976. Seven of these executions took place in Utah, which controversially reinstated the firing squad option in March 2015. State laws governing capital punishment are strict, and outright ban the death penalty for certain types of defendants. In this article, Salt Lake City murder defense attorney Darwin Overson will explain when the death penalty is prohibited in Utah. U.S. Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty for Minors Unconstitutional If you’ve been to our legal blog before, you may remember our earlier article discussing when Utah uses the death penalty, or capital punishment. In short, it’s extremely rare. It can only be used when a defendant pleads guilty to or is convicted of aggravated murder, and even then, it’s still not guaranteed. From 2008 through the summer of 2013, Utah prosecutors only sought the death penalty in about 13% of the…
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Engineering Topics for Research Reports
Revise Post Steps to Make more Papy Mch Materials Papiermache pays to in case you are currently creating anything to make use of. This guidebook can help you produce something deploying it. Ad Components 1/2 cup cold water 1/2 cup boiling water 1/2 cup flour 3/4 teaspoon sugar Or: 3/4 cup water 1/4 PVA glue Measures Discover something to behave as a foundation, like a piece of possibly a jar or cardboard. it can definitely be anything although the example in this specific article describes creating something utilizing a device as being a foundation. Advertising Hit it up-to about across the same size as your head and link it. Destroy any kind of report, newspaper is very widespread, but kitchen muscle (paper towel) works better. Make the stuff applying 2 areas of PVA to 1 water (e.g. Apple- form printable ??? produce this booklet that is free. 2 liters of glue to 1 liter of water). Insert the glue onto the report and coating it onto the balloon, making certain there are no…
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Is it Fair to Sell Your Soul?
Marco Loos & Joasia Luzak, Wanted: A Bigger Stick. On Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts with Online Service Providers (Ctr. for the Study of European Contract Law, Working Paper No. 2015-01, 2015), available at SSRN. Daithí Mac Síthigh The reliance of online service providers on lengthy terms of service or related documents is easily mocked. When I teach this topic, I can choose to illustrate the topic with the selling of souls, in cartoon or written form, point to the absurd length of the policies of popular sites, and highlight experiments that call us out on our love of the I Accept button. But behind the mirth lie a number of serious legal issues, and the recent working paper by Marco Loos & Joasia Luzak of the University of Amsterdam tackles some of them. Loos & Luzak work at the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law, and their particular concern is with the European Union’s 1993 Unfair Contract Terms Directive. They point…
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Skippy, The Fairy Tale Lawyer
When bar exam passage fell like a rock last year, fingers were pointed all over the place. This year was worse, but it appears the blame has now been squarely placed on the admission of students unqualified to become lawyers. At least two studies, including one this year that examined admissions exam scores from 2000 to 2011, have concluded that scores on the test, administered by the Law School Admission Council, closely track later bar passage rates. [Kyle] McEntee of Law School Transparency, a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, said his group’s recent study showed that many schools were admitting students whose lack of legal aptitude made them vulnerable to failing the bar. And, at the same time, they are incurring six-figure student debt that will weigh them down in the future. So blame the students for wanting to become lawyers? Blame the law schools for having empty seats to fill, salaries to be paid and new buildings to be built? Blame…
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The Hanlon’s Razor Defense
On retrial after a 10-2 hung jury, Madison, Alabama police officer Eric Parker has focused his defense on its core issue: Sureshbhai Patel had it coming to him. The first trial of Officer Eric Parker ended in a hung jury last month. This time both sides focused much of their opening arguments on the actions of the victim, Sureshbhai Patel, in the moments before the takedown. Defense attorney Robert Tuten this time told the jury that the escalation of force was largely the fault of Patel. “When you come to the U.S. we expect you to follow our laws and speak our language,” said Tuten. “Mr. Patel bears as much responsibility for this as anyone.” Follow our laws? Well, sure. Not that being Indian and walking in a white neighborhood in Alabama is specifically a crime, but that’s where the second condition comes into play: speak our language. Outrageous? Offensive? Unacceptable? Hold yer horses, comrade. Much as the very suggestion that…
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Driving While Impaired with Children in the Car
When you can’t find what you’re looking for in North Carolina, you may have to extend your search out of state. Case in point: I’ve just discovered an opinion from the Minnesota Court of Appeals that answers the elusive question of how many aggravating factors apply if a person drives while impaired with more than one child in the car. And unlike some things you can only find in another state–like major league baseball and pot-laced gummy bears–you can bring this one home to the Old North State. The case is State v. Fichtner, 867 N.W.2d 242 (Minn. Ct. App. 2015). It arose from the prosecution of Tarah Fichtner for driving while impaired and child endangerment based upon Fichtner’s driving with her three children in her van. A Minnesota law enforcement officer stopped the van Fichtner was driving just before 2 a.m. on March 11, 2013 after noticing that its passenger-side brake light was out. During the course of the stop, the officer formed…
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Myths That Distort the Sentencing Reform Debate
A big part of the energy behind sentencing "reform" takes root in the belief that we have not only too many people in prison, but the wrong people. Under this view, prisons are packed with "low level drug offenders" ("pot offenders" is often implied), leaving insufficient room for the "truly dangerous."As Heather McDonald explains in "The Decriminalization Delusion," this is pure hogwash. She shows, for example:[Contrary to President] Obama, the state prison population (which accounts for 87 percent of the nation's prisoners) is dominated by violent criminals and serial thieves. In 2013, drug offenders made up less than 16 percent of the state prison population, whereas violent felons were 54 percent of the rolls and property offenders, 19 percent. (See graph below.) Reducing drug admissions to 15 large state penitentiaries by half would lower those states' prison count by only 7 percent, according to…
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CFPB Adopts New Rule Expanding Reporting Requirements under HMDA
On October 15, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a final rule that expands the scope of mandatory reporting under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The new rule, which will be implemented in phases between 2017 and 2020, may prove costly for mortgage lenders. Originally enacted in 1975, HMDA requires lenders to collect and disclose specific data about their mortgage lending practices. In 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), Congress instructed the CFPB to revise Regulation C, the regulation implementing HMDA, in order to increase transparency in the mortgage industry. This new 797-page rule, however, significantly exceeds the scope of the required Dodd-Frank amendments and relies heavily on the CFPB’s discretionary regulatory authority. Perhaps most strikingly, the new rule nearly doubles the amount of information lenders must collect. The rule requires reporting on 25…
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Leading Dems stake out notable positions on death penalty and marijuana reform
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Making the right choices with Medicare supplements and Part D prescription insurance
Time to make the right choices with Medicare supplements and Part D prescription insurance It is that time of year again. Time to make the right choices with Medicare supplements and Part D prescription insurance. Medicare supplements and Part D prescription insurance are more difficult to choose and require more work to compare. You can probably keep the same supplement each year unless you move out of state. But you should revisit Part D every year during open enrollment even if your medicines have not changed, because the drugs covered, prices and co-payments change annually. Here are 5 things to think about when comparing supplements or Part D coverage. 1. Part D drug coverage is required unless you have other comparable coverage — even if you don’t currently take any prescription drugs. If you currently don’t have prescriptions, you’ll likely pay less than $20 per month for Part D. But those who regularly take multiple drugs will…
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The End of Disclosure Only Settlements in M&A Cases? Not So Fast.
Disclosure-only settlements have been popular in the past – last year, about 80% of settlements in M&A-related lawsuits were for disclosures only, according to Cornerstone Research – but lately they have come under scrutiny. The Delaware Court of Chancery has issued opinions refusing disclosure-only settlement agreements before, noting that at times in these cases “there is simply little to commend the process of weighing the merits of a ‘settlement’ of litigation where the only continuing interest is that of the plaintiffs’ counsel in recovering a fee.” The incentives of attorneys on both sides can be such that “the potential claims belonging to the class [are not] adequately or diligently investigated or pursued.” Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster landed another blow against M&A litigation disclosure only settlements with his decision in In re Aruba Networks Inc. Stockholders Litigation where he refused…
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Forensic fails, and other stories
As your correspondent prepares for today's Exoneration Commission hearing, here are a number of items which likely won't make it into individual blog posts but which merit Grits readers' attention:No clear way to track down junky bite-mark casesThe Dallas News has a high-powered team - Brandi Grissom and Jennifer Emily - covering the Steven Chaney bite mark case and the Forensic Science Commission review of bite mark cases. They reported Monday that "Tracking down dozens — maybe hundreds — of other potentially innocent victims of junk science won’t be ... easy. There is no central repository of cases in which bite-mark testimony was key. There’s no database of dentists who testified about bite marks. And the cases are mostly decades old, and experts, defense lawyers and prosecutors have moved on or died."Bad Ballistics?The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered an examination into overstated ballistics testimony from an…
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