The Dallas News' choice of criminal justice reformers at the Texas Legislature - specifically Rodney Ellis, John Whitmire, and Ruth Jones McLendon, who they collectively dubbed the "Texas Justice League" - as their Texans of the Year was an interesting and welcome choice.It's welcome because it further highlights the extent to which criminal-justice topics came to dominate the political landscape in 2015, in Texas just as much as across the rest of the country. Interesting because, while reformers had a successful session, it wasn't wildly so. In that sense, the declaration was more of a lifetime achievement award for the three Democrats named than a statement about what was accomplished in 2015. (And if you're going to focus on 2015, why not give props to Chuy Hinojosa who got so much done on forensics reform?)Also, I don't agree with the "behind-the-scenes political players" who "uniformly described a strong reluctance among…
Criminal justice reformers dubbed 'Texan of the Year'
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Must Read, Jaw Dropping DUI Stories from 2015
Unfortunately, crazy DUI stories span every state and continent, and the impact of driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol affects all ages, genders, ethnicities, and religions. Here are three more of the most astonishing DUI stories 2015 had to offer: 1. Woman drives into the homecoming parade. In Oklahoma last October, Adacia Chambers drove into an Oklahoma State University parade crowd. She killed three adults and one 2-year old and injured 47 more. The 25-year-old faces four counts of second-degree murder and 46 charges of felony assault. She could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. While alcohol was not a factor, she allegedly had been driving under the influence of drugs. 2. Young man kills 17-year-old senior before school year begins. In Charleston, South Carolina, James Bryson Munn struck and hit Kylie Gillette’s SUV in July. Per reports, she had been driving the speed limit and wearing her seatbelt…
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Morse on Addiction, Choice and Criminal Law
Stephen Morse (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Addiction, Choice and Criminal Law (In ADDICTION AND CHOICE, ed. Nick Heather and Gabriel Segal, Oxford U.P. (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This chapter is a contribution to a...
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18 Cases YOU Helped Change in 2015
Amnesty International campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience – people who have been jailed because of their political, religious or other conscientiously-held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status, provided that they have neither used nor advocated violence. In 2015, YOU helped put the pressure on 18 cases to ensure the release of many journalists and activists. The list below is reflective of how we can work together to create positive change in the lives of others. Thank you for all your support – together, we are standing up for people risking everything to speak out. Dr Tun Aung. © Private 1. Myanmar: Activist Dr Tun Aung released After more than two years of pressure and letter-writing from Amnesty supporters, Myanmar community leader Dr Tun Aung was released in January. He was jailed for 17 years after trying to calm a crowd during riots in…
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Are DUI Checkpoints Constitutional?
As the New Year approaches, law enforcement efforts to halt drunk driving is more elevated than it has been all of 2015. Part of the anti-DUI efforts will inevitably include DUI checkpoints. When I warn friends and family of the DUI checkpoints, often I get the question: how are DUI checkpoints constitutional? Normally, if an officer wants to stop a vehicle, they must have probable cause to believe that the driver committed a crime. And normally when an officer pulls someone over, the driver commits a traffic violation in the officer’s presence thus giving them the probable cause to be pulled over. Such is not the case with DUI checkpoints. While officers do, in fact, stop drivers at checkpoints, unfortunately they don’t need the generally required probable cause. The U.S. Supreme Court in Michigan v. Dept. of State Police v. Sitz held that, while random checkpoints technically violate the 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, the…
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The Marijuana Laws Are A-Changin’ In California
The Marijuana Laws Are A-Changin’ Back in 1964 when Bob Dylan sang “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” marijuana was called the “killer weed” and even simple possession was a felony in California carrying a sentence of one to ten years. Now over 60 years later, the citizens of California will decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The wheels of change grind slowly. California was the first state to enact laws allowing the regulated sale, cultivation, and use of medical marijuana. Since then, other states have pushed forward and made the recreational use of marijuana legal. Recreational use is now legal in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia. California has its own ballot initiative, which will be before the voters in the 2016 elections. If the initiative passes, the recreational use of marijuana will become legal. As of now, however, only qualified medical marijuana sale,…
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Squatter Charged with Aggravated Assault for Chasing Homeowner with Machete
A squatter has been charged with numerous offenses including aggravated assault for chasing the homeowner away with a machete. Surprised homeowner A Kearns Utah family came home to an unwanted holiday surprise when they returned to inspect the damage of their home after it suffered a terrible fire earlier in December. The homeowner noticed a […] The post Squatter Charged with Aggravated Assault for Chasing Homeowner with Machete appeared first on Salt Lake Criminal Defense.
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Sobol on Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons
Neil L. Sobol (Texas A&M University - School of Law) has posted Charging the Poor: Criminal Justice Debt & Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons (Maryland Law Review, Vol. 75, 2016, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Debtors’ prisons should no longer...
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Litman on Federally Funded Defenders in State Court
Leah M Litman has posted Officiating Removal (124 Penn. L. Rev. Online 33, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For the last several years, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has quietly attempted to curtail capital defendants’ representation in state postconviction...
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CHARLTON TRUCK DRIVER TO FACE APPLICATION FOR CRIMINAL COMPLAINT IN ROAD RAGE INCIDENT
As I think I mentioned in my last blog, the holidays can be a stressful time. A gent from Charlton, a pickup truck driver who we will simply call “Defendant”, is using that as a defense in an upcoming criminal matter. It is not really much of a defense, but his reaction after he was caught might well get him out of a criminal conviction…although he did not follow my general advice. Auburn police Detective Sgt. Richard Mills explained to the Boston Herald, “He gave a statement. He said he was having a bad day. He said, ‘I made a mistake. I know I shouldn’t have done it.’ He wants to pay for it” Sgt. Mills also explained that he is not releasing the Defendant’s name because he has not yet been charged. Instead, the Commonwealth will send the Defendant a summons for a Clerk Magistrate’s Hearing at Worcester District Court. According to Sgt. Mills, the Defendant’s temporary adversary was driving a luxury…
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Second Circuit Rules Trial Judge Failed to Find Specific Intent Necessary for Perjury Enhancement, Orders Re-Sentencing
If a defendant takes the stand during a pre-trial evidentiary hearing, or during a trial, and provides testimony that is materially false, it can form the basis for a two point sentencing guidelines enhancement for obstruction of justice. In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Dunnigan, stated that when deciding whether to apply this enhancement, the court must use the federal perjury statute (18 U.S.C. 1621) as a guide. The trial court must review the evidence and make an independent finding that material testimony was not only false but also intentionally misleading. In a December 9, 2015 opinion entitled U.S. v. Thompson, the Second Circuit granted the Defendant’s appeal and found that the district trial judge failed to make a finding of specific intent to obstruct justice by simply adopting the general conclusions of the pre sentencing report. When the DEA executed an arrest warrant for Thompson, he allegedly consented to a search of his home. Later he was indicted…
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That Didn't Take Long
I noted last week that Washington state, ever in the vanguard of progressive criminal justice (such as its Governor's refusal to carry out lawful executions), had given early release to thousands of prisoners. This was earlier than intended, mind you, and it was less progressivism than garden-variety carelessness, despite the numerous assurances we hear that early release programs will be carried out with great discretion. They will, so we are told, keep us just as safe as we are now.No doubt, unless you're Lindsay Hill, or, more correctly, the late Lindsay Hill. Here's the story:A Washington state prisoner mistakenly released early because of a computer error has been charged with killing his girlfriend in a car crash when he should have been behind bars, officials said Monday.The revelation comes a week after Gov. Jay Inslee announced that a software coding error led as many as 3,200 offenders to be wrongly released since 2002. He has ordered…
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Defense argues veteran's mental problems should make him ineligible for Oregon death penalty
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Langer on The Intellectual Origins of the Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems
Maximo Langer (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law) has posted In the Beginning Was Fortescue: On the Intellectual Origins of the Adversarial and Inquisitorial Systems (in Liber Amicorum in Honor of Professor Damaška (Duncker & Humblot,...
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Case of Sex Offender Jailed at the Age of 11, Highlights How Texas Is Locking Up Children
When the Dallas Morning News recently featured the case of Khristopher Hood it highlighted one of the most disturbing aspects of Texas’s criminal justice system. Hood was locked up when he was just 11-years-old and hasn’t seen freedom since. That’s about to change next year when he will be released in his 30s. The article highlighted many of the downsides ... Read More The post Case of Sex Offender Jailed at the Age of 11, Highlights How Texas Is Locking Up Children appeared first on .
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Women are more than victims: they are peacemakers
Members of a support group for survivors of sexual violence create a circle with their hands, Bogotá, Colombia, March 2011.The letters on the hands of the women in a circle form the words “No al abuso sexual” (No to sexual abuse). They are a group of women who have been victims of sexual violence in the armed conflict in Colombia who meet regularly. By: Janine Aguilera, Identity and Discrimination Unit Intern Rape and sexual violence against women have been used as a tactic of war in Colombia since the beginnings of the armed conflict, more than 50 years. Colombian women have been systematically raped or sexually assaulted for variety of purposes, including intimidation, humiliation, forced-displacement, extracting information, and rewarding soldiers. Rape and sexual violence have been also used as a strategy to assert social control, and a weapon against women’s rights defenders who raise their voices in support of land restitution. According to the…
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Multiple-Vehicle Crash Blocks Bridge in Minidoka County
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE District 4 Patrol 218 West Yakima, Jerome, ID 83338-5904 (208) 324-6000 Fax (208) 324-7897 For Immediate Release: 12/29/15 12:15 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office The Idaho State Police is currently on scene of a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 84 at milepost 215.5, on the Snake River Bridge, in Minidoka County. Both the east and west bound lanes are completely blocked and traffic is being diverted at mileposts 211 and 216. More information will be release when it becomes available. KL / JH -------------
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Sometimes getting the government’s consent to a sentence reduction isn’t enough
Most cases before the Court of Appeals are there because the District Court accepted the arguments of one party or the other. The party that did not prevail noted an appeal and the two sides continue to advocate for their respective positions before the appeals court. There is, however, a narrow subsection of cases where the parties agreed as to what the correct ruling in a case should be, but the District Court nonetheless rules otherwise. We are then faced with the odd situation where the defense and the government are jointly asking the appellate court to reverse the judgment of the District Court. In these cases, the parties usually get what they wanted in the first place, but not before the Court of Appeals recruits an attorney to defend the District Court’s ruling. This sequence of events played out in Lance Williams’s case. In 2008, Williams pleaded guilty to distributing crack and faced an enhanced mandatory minimum sentence of 240 months’…
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Bowman on Prosecutors and Grand Juries in High-Profile Cases
Frank O. Bowman III (University of Missouri School of Law) has posted Vox Populi: Robert McCulloch, Ferguson, and the Roles of Prosecutors and Grand Juries in High-Profile Cases (Missouri Law Review, Vol. 80, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...
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How to Find a Baltimore Personal Injury Lawyer
Have you or a family member been injured in a car accident in Baltimore? Car accidents can happen to anyone and anywhere, and we can ensure you receive the justice and compensation you deserve. Call a Baltimore Personal Injury Now: (410) 288-2900 Was your injury the result of a car, truck, motorcycle or pedestrian / bicycle accident? We’ll fight the insurance companies for you. We have helped hundreds of individuals hurt in accidents in the Baltimore region and got them hundreds of thousands for their injuries. We know how tough it can be after an injury to get back on your feet. The bills are piling up and you seem to have too much on your plate already, don’t add the stress of dealing with the insurance company yourself. Let us handle the work and allow you to return to your normal life. Our teams of injury lawyers fight for your rights and make sure you receive the compensation you deserve in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore…
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