The Denver Sheriff's Department has been been justly slammed by an outside report of its performance, including multiple incidents involving the use of excessive force. Can it -- or any law enforcement agency -- change the culture that breeds... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Can the Culture of Law Enforcement Change?
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Maryland Truck Accident Attorneys
Maryland Truck accident attorneys. Accidents happen. However, if you have been injured in the event of an auto accident, it doesn’t mean you should be forced to deal with the consequences on your own. In the event of a trucking accident, the other vehicle is likely much larger than yours. This puts you at a substantial risk, not only to suffer damage to your own car, but injuries and medical issues as well. Truck drivers have a responsibility to themselves, their companies and the general public to drive safely and adhere to all legal driving requirements. Most do, yet from time to time, a driver does make an accident, which can leave you suffering financially, physically or mentally. Do not go through this difficult time alone. Instead, you need to seek out the legal services of Attorney Randolph Rice. I need a Lawyer for my Trucking Accident Case In the event of an accident, the trucking company might attempt to contact you and offer a settlement. Whatever it is, do not…
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Second Auto Theft in Ypsilanti Over the Last Week as Running Car Gets Stolen from Driveway
On Thursday January 7, a car that was left running in a driveway in Ypsilanti was stolen according to a news report at Mlive.com. Authorities say the car, a 2005 silver Chevrolet Impala, was at a residence in the 1000 block of Nash Avenue when the incident occurred. Two unknown suspects were last observed driving the vehicle north on Nash. The car is reported to have a dent in the front driver side quarter panel, and a paper plate in the rear window. Just two days earlier, a woman left her vehicle running as she went inside a business in Ypsilanti; her vehicle was gone when she returned just 10 minutes later. This incident occurred in the 600 block of East Michigan Avenue. In this case, the vehicle stolen was a 2010 Ford Fusion, gray in color, with damage to the right side of the front bumper. Reports claim the bumper has duct tape on it. Auto theft or unlawfully driving away an automobile are serious criminal charges. Not only may the person who actually drove away a vehicle…
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Guantánamo is entering its fifteenth year. Here are 5 people waiting for President Obama to keep his promise to close it.
On January 11, 2016, the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay will enter its fifteenth year of existence. The “forever prison” is perhaps the most infamous icon of the human rights abuses resulting from the global war on terror. Instead of justice for the September 11 attacks, Guantánamo has given the world torture, indefinite detention and unfair trials. President Obama has promised to close it: first as a senator and presidential candidate in November 2007, then again as the newly-sworn-in president in January 2009, again in speeches and interviews every year throughout his presidency, and yet again in a press conference just weeks ago. But these promises aren’t enough. If the Obama administration truly intends to shutter the detention camp, time is running out. There is only one year left in his presidency, and if Guantánamo is not closed, it will be handed off to a third U.S. president, and perhaps more after that. President Barack…
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Police Departments Taking Initiative to Address the Effects of Officers’ Personal Biases
As has been covered extensively on the Innocence Blog, implicit bias can influence every aspect of criminal cases, especially at the beginning when police are conducting investigations. Factors such as class, race, gender, religion or other factors can determine the ways in which law enforcement treats cases and the people involved with them. No doubt, implicit bias on the part of police has played a role in wrongful convictions in the United States. It may be heartening, then, to know that law enforcement agencies are actively seeking to address how bias influences policing by way of in-depth, research-based trainings and courses. According to an article released yesterday in the Washington Post, police from departments from across the country—Los Angeles, New Orleans, Baltimore and Seattle—are being trained by experts to recognize their own biases and educated about the ways that those biases shape their police work. Some the trainings have been in response to…
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Is mass incarceration contributing to the dumbing down of America?
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**Update** Multiple Crashes Creating Difficult Morning Commute
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: 01/08/16 9:34 AM Please direct questions to the District Office *****UPDATE***** All of the crash scenes have been cleared and traffic is flowing normally at this time. KB / LS *****END OF UPDATE***** At this time, the Idaho State Police is investigating several property damage crashes on eastbound I84, including several near Garrity Rd, exit 38. There are also several between Ten Mile Rd, exit 42, and Meridian Rd., exit 44. Traffic is backed up for several miles. EH/SA -------------
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Two vehicle crash eastbound I-84 at milepost 77.5
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: 1/8/2016 9:36 a.m. Please direct questions to the District Office The Idaho State Police are on scene of a two-vehicle crash eastbound I-84 at milepost 77.5, 13 miles west of Mountain Home. Both eastbound lanes are blocked at this time. More information will be released when it becomes available. KB / LS -------------
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"Full Restitution for Child Pornography Victims: The Supreme Court's Paroline Decision and the Need for a Congressional Response"
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What Does the NRLB Decision in the Whole Foods Case Mean for Recording in the Workplace?
Whole Foods, a major grocery store chain, has a company-wide policy that prohibits its employees from making any recording—audio or video—and from taking any photographs in any area of a Whole Foods store. But a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might require Whole Foods to make serious changes to its policy, in order to make sure that it isn’t trampling on employee rights under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). We are discussing the impact of this decision in two posts. This post explains the NLRB’s decision and what it may mean for employees in states where no other law prohibits such recordings. Read Part two of this series when it comes out next week. The NLRB is the body tasked with interpreting the NLRA. And it recently sided with the employees who challenged Whole Foods’ policy on recordings. It determined that the policy violated the Act because it interfered with employees’ rights under…
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Coker et al. on Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Policing
Donna Coker , Sandra S. Park , Julie Goldscheid , Tara Neal and Valerie Halstead (University of Miami School of Law , ACLU Women's Rights Project , CUNY School of Law , University of Miami, School of Law, Students and...
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Can I be charged as a first DUI offender if it has been over 10 years since my last DUI?
Will you be considered a first offender in Maryland if it has been 10 years since your prior DUI conviction or PBJ? Well, it is much like your virginity, once you lose it-you lost it! What do I mean by that? Once you have received a DUI or DWI and received some form of probation or guilty verdict, that can never be undone and you will never be considered a “first offender” again; in point of fact, you are not a first offender, you will be a second offender, even 10+ years later. Now, if you go to court on your first offense and you are found Not Guilty by the judge or jury, well then that is NOT a first offense because you were not found guilty and you did not receive a probation before judgment. A not guilty means you were not guilty of the charge and is therefore not considered a first offense. In this instance, a “second violation” irrespective of when it occurs (1 year or 5 years) is indeed a first offense (because you…
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New Mimesis Blog Posts
I’m still busy writing posts over at Mimesis Law. Here’s everything from the last month or so: Yeah, Kelvin Melton is probably a bad guy, but let’s quit wasting everyone’s time and money on him. Don’t tape your dog’s mouth shut. People will freak out. Major news outlets suck at writing about criminal cases. The state of the criminal justice system in this country is such that making things suck a tad bit less for fifteen defendants in Philly is newsworthy. That one incompetent vigilante at Home Depot apparently didn’t learn anything. Mexican rock throwers occasionally get killed by border patrol agents, and they may or may not be able to sue. People in power continue to be idiots when comes to alcohol. Homeless guy builds sweet home, authorities destroy it. Thanks, Obama! And today’s: The Sheboygan County sheriff is a good guy.
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THE DOCUMENTARY MAKING A MURDERER REMINDS US THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY DURING A POLICE INTERVIEW.
The Netflix surprise hit over the recent holiday season was the documentary Making a Murderer. The story this documentary told was so engrossing that many people reported finishing all ten one-hour episodes within a day or two. Now that’s binge watching! What compelled so many to devour this docu-series is that it followed the true crime saga of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was exonerated of a rape he was convicted of committing and for which he spent 18 years in prison only to find himself back before the court a couple of years later convicted of a murder that he, to this day, insists he did not commit. Making a Murderer follows the murder trial and ultimately Mr. Avery’s conviction. What has gripped the nation is the questionable tactics used by law enforcement and the dubious evidence they presented in order to get a conviction – and from the documentary’s point of view – a conviction no matter what it took. One key piece of…
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Ryan on Second-Look Sentencing
Meghan J. Ryan (Southern Methodist University - Dedman School of Law) has posted Taking Another Look at Second-Look Sentencing (Brooklyn Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: A historically unprecedented number of Americans are currently behind bars. Our...
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Notes on Crime Statistics
Carl Bialik has this post at 538 Blog on crime statistics and why they can be confusing and manipulated. It's a useful post on the technical aspects, but the "spin" aspect of it is annoying. Bialik tries to soft-pedal the increase in homicides. A 14% jump in a single year is huge.Bialik says, "For what it's worth, homicides are up -- though probably by less than what you've read." What's with the "probably"? Is he implying that most news media have exaggerated the increase? From what I have read, most media are fully complicit in the soft-peddling."So-called justifiable homicides don't count toward the FBI definition." So-called? They are called that because they are that. Would you point at an oak tree and say it is a "so-called oak"?Bialik discusses the problem of crimes being defined differently in different jurisdictions, which is indeed a huge…
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Must the NYPD and Prosecutors Allege the Specific Age of a Child in an Endangering Arrest: Examining NY PL 260.10
There are many elements to an Endangering the Welfare of a Child crime in New York. In fact, the crime of New York Penal Law 260.10 has been addressed, examined and analyzed with regularity on this blog. Sometimes the issue revolves around the intentional conduct of the accused or how long it is acceptable to leave a child alone. Other times the issue involves criminal conduct in the presence of a child even if the child is not fully aware or aware of the criminal actions. This particular blog will examine a less exciting issue (if that term is appropriate) and address from a legal perspective whether the failure of the prosecution to identify the age of a child on the face of an accusatory instrument will doom the charging document and ultimately require its dismissal. In People v. Fibble, 2015KN041405, NYLJ 1202745708040, at *1 (Crim., KI, Decided December 14, 2015), the defendant was arrested for and accused of some fairly ugly conduct. That is, he was accused of violating…
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Understanding Gross Negligence
In every society, there is what is known as the "standard of care". There may not be any formal written declaration, but it comes in the form of social expectations. The underlying concept is that there is a certain level of attention or caution or prudence that a reasonable person would exercise in a given situation. If you put yourself in a situation that requires a certain level of caution, there then exists what we refer to as "duty of care". In an earlier blog post, we explained that duty of care is most often implied as part of a given role. For example, the standard of care for a bus driver is that he or she will obey traffic laws and safely deliver passengers to their destination. The person who accepts a job as a bus driver has a duty to uphold this implied standard of care. It's never discussed, but it goes without saying that we expect bus drivers to practice safe driving habits. As we've explained before, if a person's actions…
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Naked And Afraid: The Grand Jury To Meet Anthony Hill’s Killer
DeKalb County District Attorney Robert D. James Jr. announced that he will seek an indictment for felony murder against Police Officer Robert Olsen for the killing of Air Force veteran Anthony Hill. Promising? Officer Olsen’s conduct has been scrutinized since last March, when he was called to an apartment complex in Chamblee, northeast of Atlanta, and Mr. Hill approached and behaved erratically. Witnesses said that Mr. Hill, whose family said he had post-traumatic stress disorder after an Air Force deployment to Afghanistan, had raised his hands or placed them at his sides and that he did not obey Officer Olsen’s instructions to halt. Hill allegedly lunged at Olsen. Olsen killed him. There are sympathetic factors at play, that Hill was a veteran, suffered from PTSD, and was clearly unarmed. But no cop, current or former, will concede that it’s wrong to shoot and kill an erratic, non-compliant man who could potentially harm an…
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The Death Gap
It’s one of those head-shaking moments as the question inevitably gets posed as to whether Sandra Bland was legally entitled to continue smoking her cigarette, despite Trooper Brian Encinia’s “request” that she put it out. It’s the sort of monumentally stupid parsing of details in which naïve people indulge. Do you really think it’s worthwhile to argue your rights from the grave? The problem is on the other side of the equation, both the training, formal and around coffee and donuts, and law impart, that police officers must seize control of all situations lest they end up harmed. This gap in compliance, doing what the officer commands, even when his words are framed politely, can end up badly for the person on the business end of his gun. Yes, we have rights. Yes, those rights can be ignored, wrongly, by a police officer. And yes, the law is deeply, irreconcilably, conflicted when it comes to who wins in a violent clash. At…
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