New court disclosures from the government admit that over two hundred hours of recordings were made from secret devices placed by FBI agents around a federal courthouse during a federal criminal investigation of possible bid rigging in public foreclosure auctions. Needless to say no federal judge authorized the unlawful bugging of private conversations because the Justice Department and the FBI never sought permission. They knew all to well that permission would have been denied.Unknown FBI agent gathers evidenceWhy stop there? Why not place recording devices in every washroom, stairwell and elevator of the federal courthouse? Why not bug the courtrooms and the chambers of every federal district judge? Why not bug nearby restaurants and coffee shops? Why not use solar panels to power bugging devices on nearby streets of every courthouse in America so that the government can be properly informed of any defenses those accused of crimes may articulate when…
FBI CAUGHT RECORDING PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS OUTSIDE FEDERAL COURTHOUSES WITHOUT WARRANTS
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A Discussion on Criminal Law with Judge Alex Kozinski
The Federalist Society will be hosting a teleforum next Tuesday at 3 pm EST titled, "Pros and Cons: Our Criminal Justice System at Work." The participants will be Judge Alex Kozinski of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and yours truly.The topic is introduced as follows:Our panelists will discuss the criminal justice system generally, and the role of the prosecutor in particular. Some argue that, with the weight of the state and its resources on one side, including a deep book of potential crimes, the deck is unfairly stacked against criminal defendants. Others argue that police and prosecutors act in good faith, and credit them with incapacitating career criminals, trimming recidivism, and causing a plunge in national crime statistics. Who has the better of the argument?Judge Kozinski has been outspoken on this subject, see, e.g., his preface here to the 44th Edition of Georgetown Law's Annual Review of Criminal…
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Medical Marijuana Facing Further Delays
Maryland officials aiming to preliminarily approve medical marijuana grower and distributor licenses by mid January appear to have been way off in their time estimates. The state received almost 900 applications before the November 6th deadline, which apparently far exceeded their expectations. These low expectations were in spite of constant media buzz around the budding program, and jam-packed commission meetings that often had to be moved to larger venues. To be fair, it wasn’t only the members of the Medical Cannabis Commission who were surprised by the torrent of applications; many of the applicants themselves as well as industry insiders expected a lower turnout in part due to the cost and the complexity of the applications. State officials agreed on a $2,000 price tag to simply file grower applications, which were a minimum of 50 pages in length and extremely tedious. But the lure of massive profits seemed to good to pass up for the 102 interested growers and the…
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Injured Worker's Hearing Representative and Interpreter Charged With Insurance Fraud for Cashing Settlement Check Intended for Deceased Client
On an unusual case that arose from a workers’ compensation lawyer’s office, a hearing representative from the law office was charged with multiple felony counts of insurance fraud and grand theft on November 12, 2015. There is no allegation that the lawyer knew of the alleged fraud. The case is being prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Department of Insurance investigated hearing representative Ramon Humerto Otero of and an interpreter Efrain Heredia Ojeda. It is alleged that they conspired to steal an $18,946 settlement check intended for a client whose workers' compensation case Mr. Otero was presiding over and who passed away before the settlement with the insurer was achieved.Mr. Otero, a hearing representative for the law offices of Ramon Otero Jr., negotiated a workers' compensation settlement agreement for his client. During the course of the negotiation, his client…
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Criminal Justice Panel Discusses the State of Rikers Island and the Need for Reform
By Emily Dindial (left), Policy Analyst and Marguerite Sacerdote (right), Policy Associate. On Wednesday, The New School held a panel discussion entitled “Rikers Island: Reform It—or Shut It Down?” The event was co-sponsored by JustLeadershipUSA and the Humanities Action Lab at The New School. Given the troubling and notorious history of abuse at Rikers, the discussion probed at arguments for reforming the jail as well as arguments for shutting it down entirely. Out of the 11,000 people on Rikers Island, only 800 to 900 have actually been convicted of crimes. In other words, more than 10,000 people on the island are still presumed innocent, the majority of which are people of color and/or poor. Many argue that people are held…
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News Scan
GA Inmate Executed: A Georgia man convicted of raping and murdering a woman he met at a night club over two decades ago was executed Thursday evening after losing a last-minute round of appeals. The AP reports that a Butts County Superior Court judge, the Georgia Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles all denied 50-year-old Marcus Ray Johnson's challenges and appeals of his conviction for the rape and murder of Angela Sizemore in 1994. After meeting at an Albany nightclub, Johnson and Sizemore were seen drinking heavily and leaving together. Sizemore's body was discovered in her SUV the next morning with 41 stab wounds made by a small, dull knife, and she had also been sexually assaulted with a pecan branch. Johnson's attorney unsuccessfully argued that his life should be spared because doubts remain about his guilt, though prosecutors said that there was no doubt that Johnson is…
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Henning on Deterrence in Sentencing of White-Collar Defendants
Peter J. Henning (Wayne State University Law School) has posted Is Deterrence Relevant in Sentencing White-Collar Defendants? (61 Wayne Law Review 27 (2015)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article is part of the Wayne Law Review symposium “Sentencing...
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//blawgsearch75.rssing.com/chan-6519914/article15208-live.html
United States v. Dixon, No. 14-10318 (11-20-15)(Bea with Fletcher and Berzon). This is an ACCA case where the 9th holds that California robbery is not a "crime of violence." Under Taylor, California robbery under CPC 211 does not meet the categorical generic definition of "robbery" required for ACCA. The state conviction contains conduct that is may not be "violent force" or may not be intentional (i.e. reckless or accidental). The statute is not divisible.The decision is here:http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2015/11/20/14-10318.pdf Shirley v. Yates, No. 13-16273 (11-20-15)(Reinhardt with Thomas and Christen). Habeas relief is granted because of a Batson violation. The Batson violation occurred in the narrow set of cases where the prosecutor, in this robbery case, cannot remember why he struck prospective jurors. The prosecutor stated that he was confident there was a race neutral reason. …
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Arizona Medical Marijuana Law vs Arizona DUI Law – Arizona Criminal Defense Attorney
Up until today there were conflicting Arizona Statues on the books regarding medical marijuana. One law, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, which was passed in 2010, says that licensed medical marijuana users could not be prosecuted for using marijuana. That law conflicted with Arizona DUI law that says the state can prosecute anyone for driving under the influence of marijuana. Here’s how the Arizona Supreme Court ruled: A medical marijuana card DOES NOT grant immunity to DUI charges. HOWEVER, the medical marijuana card CAN be used as a defense in a criminal proceeding. The defendant has to prove that levels of marijuana (and the marijuana metabolites left in the bloodstream) were no longer causing impairment at the time of the DUI charge. This ruling came about after two persons, convicted of a DUI in municipal court, were not allowed to use their medical marijuana cards as a defense. They appealed to both the Superior Court and Court of…
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Update - Crash Blocks U.S. Highway 20/26 West of Notus
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 11/20/2015 at 6:08 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office *****Second Update***** Traffic is still blocked at the crash on US20 near Lemp Ln. A commercial tractor/trailer was traveling eastbound on US20 at approximately milepost 13 when a Toyota Rav4 that was westbound crossed the center line and collided with the semi truck. The semi came to rest on the left shoulder of the road. The Toyota came to rest on the right shoulder. The driver of the Toyota was not wearing his seatbelt and died at the scene of the crash. The driver of the commercial vehicle was wearing his seatbelt. The name of the driver will be released when notifications have been made to…
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Ehrenberg on Less Evidence, Better Knowledge
Kenneth M. Ehrenberg (University of Alabama - Department of Philosophy) has posted Less Evidence, Better Knowledge (McGill Law Journal, Vol. 60, No. 2, p 173-214, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In his 1827 work Rationale of Judicial Evidence,...
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The Posts at Mimesis Law Continue
I’m still posting twice a week at Mimesis Law. Here are my most recent posts: That asshole who hit that biker really needs a lawyer. People in the system sure protect their own. Sometimes, medical marijuana gives users more power than just legalizing it. Trial is risky. Aluminum foil hats are all the rage in Las Vegas. Whatever you do, don’t twerk a stranger in DC. What’s the right sentence for a hate crime? And this one went up today: Jared from Subway isn’t anything special.
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2015.98: Fidelity Says “No” to Chappell’s Scheme
I sent Fidelity a copy of Matthew Chappell’s email proposing that I act as a front man, using my name to allow him to get referrals from their Preferred Attorney list.1 I received a prompt emailed reply from their (a?) Director of Wealth Planning Product Management in Merrimack, New Hampshire: Dear Attorney Bennett – this is outside the scope of our program. Thank you! That’s short and sweet. No surprises there. So Chappell’s suggestion that Fidelity would not be defrauded under his scheme is, it appears, false. I’m sending my correspondent a link to this blog post, in case Fidelity is concerned about Chappell’s “family friends at Fidelity Investments who promise me AT LEAST one new client a week (Estate Planning) if I were able to get on their Preferred Attorney’s List” outside the scope of Fidelity’s program. I probably wouldn’t have bothered if Chappell hadn’t reminded me that he was there by…
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2015.99: A Little Texas Ethics Law for Volberding and Kretzer
I do not like lawyers making censorious threats. I do not like lawyers failing to understand the ethical rules. I especially do not like lawyers making censorious threats based on their failure to understand the ethical rules. So when I saw that Wes Volberding (Baylor, clerkship) and Seth Kretzer’s (UT Law Review, clerkship) in their letter to Gretchen Sween, who was trying to help Raphael Holiday get new appointed lawyers, who would be both competent and willing to keep fighting for him, wrote: We also direct that you cease communication with our client. It appears you have been corresponding with him, and probably have been to see him without our consent or permission. While Rule 4.02 of the Disciplinary Rules allows you to respond to his letters, if you have gone to see him and acquired confidential information, and used that information to intervene in his case, then you have stretched Rule 4.02 beyond any reasonable interpretation. We respectfully urge you to go no…
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FinalUpdate - Crash Blocks U.S. Highway 20/26 West of Notus
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 846-7550 Fax (208) 846-7520 For Immediate Release: 11/20/2015 at 9:23 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office Traffic is flowing in both directions of US20 following the crash involving a commercial vehicle and a Toyota Rav4. The crash occurred at approximately 12:20 this afternoon. The driver of the Toyota was Glenn Post, age 60, of Boise. The driver of the commercial vehicle was Jose Escobar, age 32, of Anaheim, CA. The investigation is ongoing. EH/JS *****Second Update***** Traffic is still blocked at the crash on US20 near Lemp Ln. A commercial tractor/trailer was traveling eastbound on US20 at approximately milepost 13 when a Toyota Rav4 that was westbound crossed the center line and collided with…
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Congratulations to Those Who Passed the California Bar Exam!
Today is the day that those who took the July California Bar Exam learned whether they have passed. For those who passed, congratulations! For those who did not -- all is not lost. The bar exam is a challenge like no other and those who passed this year are yet again in the minority of test-takers.
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Professional Free Speech: Lawyer Say, Lawyer Do
At Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene delves into one of the shadier areas of First Amendment law, professional-client speech. While it might be easily ignored, as one of those things that “just is” because it’s the way it’s always been, this subset of speech has been seized by the free speech relativists as a rationale for why they get to criminalize speech whenever there’s a teary-eyed story to tell. The Court did not say that only speech falling within explicitly recognized categories (such as defamation, true threats, obscenity, imminent incitement of violence, and crime-facilitating speech) are proscribable. To the contrary, the Court specifically recognized that other forms of speech have “enjoyed less rigorous protection as a historical matter, even though they have not been recognized as such explicitly.” In a breathless list, proponents run through restrictions like doctors and lawyers being prohibited from revealing…
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Strength In Numbers: The Nassau County LAS Failure
In a series of highly controversial posts at Fault Lines, former Nassau County legal aid lawyer, Ken Womble, has exposed a failure of significant dimension in the representation of the poor in one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. There have been three reactions to these revelations. For those on the outside, it’s been one of shock and disgust, as the bubble of competent indigent defense unceremoniously burst. On the inside, however, the reactions have been far more problematic. Some have applauded the effort bring to an end the “way things were always done” in Nassau County, who were as disgusted as Ken at the selling out of indigent defendants to keep the system grinding. Indeed, the clearest demonstration of this support was shown in the election of union officers, shortly after Ken’s disclosure, where the old-time insiders lost decisively in favor of the new lawyers who supported change. But then there were the sycophants, the ones…
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Fatal Crash EB I90@3 Post Falls
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Idaho State Police Regional Communication Center - North 615 W Wilbur Ave Suite A Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83815 Please direct questions to the appropriate District Offices District 1 (208) 209-8620 Fax (208) 209- 8618 District 2 (208) 799-5150 PRESS RELEASE FOR DISTRICT 1 CASE # C15002409 --------------------- PRESS RELEASE ----------------------------- DATE: November 21, 2015 TIME: 2:03 am LOCATION: EB I90@3 Post Falls ASSISTING AGENCIES: Kootenai County Sheriffs Office VEHICLE #1 ------------- DRIVER Vanhorn,Eric W AGE 44 ADDRESS Coeur dAlene INJURIES? Fatal HOSPITAL/LOCATION TAKEN Kootenai Health VEHICLE YEAR 1997 VEHICLE MAKE Nissan VEHICLE MODEL Pathfinder WRECKER Body By Scotty SEATBELTS/HELMET WORN? No INCIDENT NARRATIVE: …
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Single-Vehicle Crash Near American Falls Sends One to Hospital
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: November 21, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On November 21, 2015, at approximately 6:45 a.m., Idaho State Police investigated a single-vehicle rollover crash near American Falls, ID. Craig R. Cumber, 56, of Pocatello, ID was driving eastbound on Interstate 86, near milepost 40, in a 2001 Chevrolet Blazer. Cumber drifted off the right shoulder, overcorrected, and rolled the vehicle. Cumber was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. He was transported by ground ambulance to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, ID. do / jc -------------
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