Eugene Volokh has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy, commenting on a recent news report. In part: In half the states (including Illinois), it’s legal to use deadly force against a robber — including against unarmed robbers, where you think...
"Citizen kills robber who has what turns out to be an imitation gun — is the killing lawful self-defense?"
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Blasts from the Past
As I mentioned before, I've been posting over at Fault Lines, a really terrific group blawg written by an ever expanding stable of lawyers with at least somewhat different perspectives.The down side, from my point of view, is that it's more serious than this blog. I try to proofread. I'm less profane (but it's me, so I'm still NSFW if your W is easily offended, and if so, fuck 'em). And it's more like work than the play that this thing is. The other downside is that I'm writing much less over here.Anyway, go to Fault Lines and read my stuff. And the other folks, too.But before you do, a reminder that William Faulkner knew what he was talking about in Requiem for a NunThe past is never dead. It's not even past.The reminder comes from Germany where, as Melissa Eddy reports in the Times,A German court has determined that a 93-year-old man who served as an SS sergeant at the Auschwitz death camp is…
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Federal Court Invites Further Briefing on Whether the Death Penalty Is Constitutional
Last week, a Massachusetts federal trial court opened the door to a direct constitutional challenge to the death penalty. “The court remains concerned,” Judge Mark L. Wolf wrote, “about the potential rate of error in federal capital cases generally and the risk of the execution of the innocent particularly.” The court therefore invited defense counsel to submit a “future, focused presentation” on whether the rate of error renders the death penalty unconstitutional. This invitation to challenge the death penalty came in United States v. Sampson, the long-running federal death penalty prosecution of Gary Lee Sampson. Sampson was indicted in 2001 after three separate incidents in which he murdered three individuals and stole or attempted to steal their cars. He was charged federally for carjacking resulting in the deaths of two of the individuals, those killed in Massachusetts. He pled guilty in 2003 and was subsequently…
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When You Need a Personal Injury Lawyer, When You Don't, and How They Help
After an accident, you are probably not thinking about legal matters like filing injury claims or lawsuits. You are probably shaken up from the accident and just want to focus on tending to your injuries and safely continuing your day. Once you have your doctor’s appointment, however, your next step should be finding out whether you need a personal injury lawyer.In this article we discuss:When a personal injury lawyer may be unnecessary.When a personal injury lawyer may be necessary.How a personal injury lawyer can help you."I am not someone who sues other people."This is a common sentiment among people who were injured and are unsure what to do. For many of our clients, this is their first injury case and they have never gone through the claims process. But in order to recover the damages someone else caused you, you will need to look into filing a personal injury case.One thing you should know right off the bat is that in almost every injury case, it is the…
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Exoneration Review Commission To-Do List Part 2: Consider the Sentinel Event Literature
In my second post boldly offering my views for a path forward to members of the newly activated Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission, I'll expand on the brief suggestion made in my first post, that the TCERC take a "systems approach" to its work. It's worth starting off with a brief caveat about my motivations here. I'm not a member or an adviser to the TCERC, and so I've no particular standing to weigh in, nor reason to think that my idiosyncratic views will have traction in the entity's deliberations. Part of the impetus to comment on the work that the TCERC is beginning, however, is that its efforts connect to a broader national trend toward establishing criminal justice review commissions, as well as a broader conversation among practitioners and academics about the optimal design of those commissions. (The New Yorker recently featured an illuminating account of the trend and related conversation.) So the…
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AFP vistas por Juan Mendoza
Mientras el pensamiento pueda elaborar y encadenar ideas respecto de las AFP, es mi propósito demostrar las falacias en que se sostienen. El señor Mendoza Juan, ha expuesto en el blog que escribe en el Diario Gestión, el texto que a continuación comparto: La urgente reforma de las AFP (por Juan Mendoza) El sistema previsional peruano es ineficiente. Las comisiones son las segundas más altas de América Latina, la rentabilidad de las AFP es cuatro veces las de los fondos que administran, para no hablar de la ONP que es un desastre por donde se la mire. La cobertura es lamentable: apenas uno de cada cuatro peruanos recibe pensión de la ONP o de las AFP. La popularidad de Pensión 65 es señal meridiana de la necesidad de reformar las pensiones. Eliminar el ahorro forzoso sería lo ideal porque no hay evidencia de que sirva para nada excepto para coartar la libertad de las personas. Porque si pensamos que…
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Seventh Circuit Won’t Revisit Dismissal of Bebo’s Challenge to SEC Administrative Proceedings
The Seventh Circuit is standing by its decision affirming the dismissal of Laurie Bebo’s challenge to the SEC’s use of administrative courts on the ground that federal district courts lack subject matter jurisdiction to hear her claims. Yesterday, the Seventh Circuit refused to grant rehearing or rehearing en banc of an August 2015 decision in which a panel of that court found that Bebo must let the administrative case against her play out before taking any appeal to the Court of Appeals rathering than going to the district court now in search of injunctive relief. Our earlier posts on Bebo’s case can be read here.
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eGhazi: IC Backs Down on "highly classified" claims
Josh Gerstein: The U.S. intelligence community has retreated from claims that two emails in Hillary Clintons private account contained top secret information, a source familiar with the situation told POLITICO. The determination came from... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Blocher on The Fifth Amendment and the Death Penalty
Joseph Blocher (Duke University - School of Law) has posted The Fifth Amendment and the Death Penalty on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Can the Supreme Court find unconstitutional something that the text of the Constitution “contemplates”? If the Bill...
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Provo High School Hazing Leads to Felony Charges for Teen Wrestler
Provo High School student Luis Antonio Castellanos has been charged with multiple misdemeanor and felony offenses in connection to an alleged wrestling team hazing incident occurring on Monday, October 26. On November 3, roughly a week after the incident, Castellanos was charged in 4th District Court with three counts of hazing (a Class B misdemeanor), one count of attempted forcible sexual abuse (a third degree felony), two counts of forcible sexual abuse (a second degree felony), and three counts of aggravated kidnapping (a first degree felony). Provo HS Student Charged with Sex Crimes, Kidnapping, Hazing in Initiation Ritual Castellanos was arrested by the Provo Police Department on Thursday, October 29, three days after the incident allegedly took place. The police affidavit reports that when the wrestling team’s practice session ended on October 26, Castellanos and a second, unnamed student were instructed by a third, unnamed student to pin several younger team…
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Sharm el Sheikh: Home to Luxury Resorts
Why did ISIS choose Sharm el Sheikh as a target instead of another popular Russian tourist destination ? With all the photos we've seen of the plane's damage, we haven't seen many of the place itself, except on maps. From the maps, it... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Lessons from California’s Big Drought for Los Angeles DUI Defendants
Even if you’ve been consumed by concern over a recent Los Angeles DUI arrest, you’ve no doubt at least been aware of the hand wringing and impassioned discussion about California’s epic drought and the impact that it will have on industry, communities and homeowners. Despite California’s implementation of water conservation measures, many engineers worry that, with our reservoirs running low and longer concerns about climate change adding uncertainty to the mix, water planning challenges will abound for some time. Will the drought subside as El Nino surges in the Pacific? Will we continue to deplete our aquifers until we are forced to take extreme measures, like cutting off water to almond farmers or forcibly desalinizing the Pacific to keep our cities hydrated? Dealing with an experience like a DUI arrest creates a similar lack of stability on an individual scale. Your mind constantly generates questions like: Will I go to jail for the DUI? Will I lose…
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SCOTUS grants review on federal/international sex offender registration issue
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Was Your Los Angeles DUI Arrest a Freak Occurrence or a Symptom of a Deeper Problem?
Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion famously quipped about the town of Lake Wobegon, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” This notion – that we all think that we are special – has pretty profound implications for your Los Angeles DUI defense. Obviously, no two DUIs are exactly alike, and many factors might particularly distinguish your arrest from the pack. But rather than think that you are a unique defendant, it might help to take the opposite approach – to begin with the assumption that your case is standard. For instance, odds are: You did not hurt someone. You had been at or near the threshold for DUI of 0.08% BAC, as defined by California Vehicle Code Section 23152. This was your first arrest. Beyond that, consider your arrest in personal context: Are you someone who engages in risk taking behaviors? Do you push the limits when it comes to things like binge drinking or…
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Two Cousins Charged with Armed Robbery After Allegedly Using BB Gun to Rob Grand Rapids Woman
On Wednesday November 4, a woman was allegedly robbed of her purse at Delaware Street SE and South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids by two young men who used a BB gun to frighten the woman, who was not injured. According to a news article a Mlive.com, the two men, who are cousins, were apprehended just a few minutes later after the woman called police; they were riding bicycles when police spotted one of the suspects who appeared to have a BB gun in the pocket of his sweatshirt. Grand Rapids Police Captain Vincent Reilly said the older cousin, who is 24, told police he was on probation for a prior armed robbery offense. The younger cousin had marijuana in his possession, according to Reilly. The two cousins who were arrested. 20-year-old Moises Espino is charged with one count of armed robbery and possession of marijuana. 24-year-old Ezra Osorio-Espino is charged with armed robbery as a second-time habitual offender. Both were held on $100,000 bond. Police believe the cousins…
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Sacramento Man Makes Closing Statement at His Own Trial; Secures His Freedom
On Tuesday, 37-year-old Richard Alex Williams took his first steps outside as a free man in more than 19 years. The day prior, a Sacramento court ruled that Williams should be acquitted of a mid-1990s murder case that had sent him to prison in 1998, facing a life sentence. In 1996, Williams was 18 years old when he turned himself in for questioning regarding a murder when he learned that there was a warrant out for his arrest. Two years later, Williams was on trial. In late 1998, Williams was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. Williams has already served 17 years in prison when earlier this year U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton threw out his conviction and sentence. Judge Karlton said that there was evidence that the prosecutor on the case “was motivated by race when he used a peremptory strike to keep the only African American eligible to serve on the jury off the panel,” reports the Sacramento Bee. According to the Bee,…
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Perlin on Insanity and Incompetency
Michael L. Perlin (New York Law School) has posted 'God Said to Abraham/Kill Me a Son': Why the Insanity Defense and the Incompetency Status are Compatible with and Required by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and...
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That “Fog Line” is Actually Part of the Lane – DUI Case Reversed!
Idaho’s Supremes have decided, in a 3 – 2 decision, that the line on the side of the road is actually part of the lane, so an officer unreasonably stopped a driver because he had driven onto that line twice. That decision results in suppression of the evidence needed by the State for its DUI case. The case goes back to an arrest of a driver in 2012, who had, according to the officer, twice driven onto, but not over the “fog line.” He was stopped, given field sobriety tests, and then a breathalyzer. He was charged with driving under the influence. In court, the magistrate judge suppressed the evidence needed by the prosecutor for the DUI, concluding there was no traffic violation justifying a stop. If the stop is bad, the evidence resulting from that stop gets suppressed and can’t be used at trial. A district court judge sitting as an appellate court reversed the decision of the magistrate, and found that when the driver drove…
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News Scan
Kansas Killers Death Sentence Upheld: A Kansas man convicted of murdering multiple women had his death sentence upheld Friday by the Kansas Supreme Court, marking the first time Kansas' high court upheld a death sentence since the state's reinstatement of capital punishment in 1994. The AP reports that 71-year-old John E. Robinson Sr. is accused of killing seven women and a teenage girl in Kansas and Missouri over the course of several years by using the Internet to lure them with promises of work or sex, and stuffed some of them into barrels on his property. He raised over 100 issues during his appeal. Feds Lose Track of Most Border-Surge Teens: Numerous sources indicate that the unaccompanied alien children (UAC) pouring over the border from Central America are not on the radar of government agencies and NGO contractors, and court records show that about half of them fail to appear for immigration court hearings. Jessica Vaughan of the…
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California Announces Single-Drug Execution Protocol
Nine years after its three-drug protocol was halted by a "preliminary" injunction (still in effect) by a federal judge who said the state could go ahead with executions via a single-drug protocol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has finally started the administrative process to official adopt such a method. The California Notice Register entry is here. The full document is on CDCR's website.On April 26, 2012, three and a half years ago, CDCR informed the California Court of Appeal it had been directed to begin work on alternatives, including a single-drug method. What happened? It does not take that long to develop a protocol, particularly when Ohio had already been doing it for three years at that point.They just sat on it in gross dereliction of duty. CJLF, representing Bradley Winchell and Kermit Alexander, family members of murder victims, had to sue them to make them simply do their jobs.Today's…
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