Since the Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance passed in Austin a couple weeks ago, there’s been a fair amount of conversation, both locally and nationally, on “ban the box” and other policies intended to help remove barriers for people re-entering communities after serving time in jail or prison. Last week, the Obama administration announced that blanket policies against renting to people with criminal records violate the Fair Housing Act; the New York Times Editorial Board published an editorial in support of Obama administration policies aimed at lifting burdens to re-entry and ran a “Room for Debate” section on ban the box policies; and Smart on Crime ran an article purporting to tell the “truth about ‘ban the box.’” Locally, there’s been some back-and-forth on the new Austin law, with Derek Cohen at TPPF writing an Op-Ed decrying the recent measure, and a response by two Second Chance Democrats, Jacqueline Conn and Brian…
Fair Chance Recap
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Maryland Justice Reinvestment Act
The Maryland Assembly has recently passed the Justice Reinvestment Act which is generally aimed at significantly reduces Maryland's prison population. Our partner, Judge Joe Murphy (ret.) played a key role in formulating much of this legislation. The legislation passed the House by a vote of 122-19 and the Senate 46-0. Gov. Hogan is expected to sign the bill into law this spring. Many major policy changes are highlighted below in this text but include a unique opportunity for inmates serving mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses an unprecedented opportunity to return to court and ask for a sentence modification. Some other highlights to the bill include:
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The courts take a jab at civil detention practices: What about professionals?
The trend in the courts In the last three months, two consecutive court decisions have deemed the civil commitment program to be unconstitutional. Which is insightful because 20 states and the federal government uphold some form of the civil commitment laws also called “SVP” laws. To put it simply, the laws permit authorities to confine indefinitely, sex offenders expertly assessed to have mental diagnosis that makes them more likely to engage in future sexual violence. In retrospect, the laws have had several dates with controversies from day one. Almost everything about the laws, related processes, and subsequent programs spark debates. In fact, the US Supreme Court decision permitting civil commitment to exist narrowly passed by a lone vote. Now, the debates are increasingly tilting towards a consensus, at least in the courts, that civil commitment as currently practiced in many regions is unconstitutional and needs to be worked on to check widespread abuses.…
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A Second "Birther" Decision
This decision was issued Tuesday by a judge in the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law:Challenges to Senator Cruz's eligibility for nomination have been filed by a group calling itself South Jersey Concerned Citizens Fellowship, and by Victor Williams, an attorney and law professor, appearing pro se, who identifies himself as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.* * *Having considered these objections to proceeding to the merits of the objections, I CONCLUDE that the challengers have standing and that the issue is…
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Apologizing for a Successful Approach to Crime
Gary Fields has this strange article in the WSJ:Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, embroiled in a contentious New York primary, have been calling for changes to a criminal-justice system they say unfairly targets minorities. But both supported the landmark 1994 law that critics say helped foster the system they now attack.Until relatively recently, there was general agreement that getting tough did contribute to the crime drop, and the debate was over how much. A book edited by Alfred Blumstein, pretty much the guru of the other side, concluded that tough sentencing accounted for "only" a quarter of the drop. One quarter because of a single factor is huge, and considering the source I think we can take that as a lower bound of the range of possibilities.More recently, though, the propagandists of the other side have succeeded in shifting the conversation so much that many people blithely assume that tough sentencing did not work. This article…
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National Letter Writing Month: A Letter from Dennis Fritz
On April 15, 1999, Dennis Fritz and co-defendant Ron Williamson were exonerated of murder and freed from prison in Oklahoma based on DNA evidence. Eleven years prior, Fritz and Williamson had been wrongly convicted, in Pontotoc County of the murder of a 21-year-old woman whose body had been found six years earlier. Fritz’s conviction was based on the testimony of a forensic analyst who said that 11 pubic hairs and two head hairs from the crime scene were "consistent" with Fritz's hair. "This means they match, if you want it in one word," the analyst testified. Fritz was sentenced to life in prison. Williamson was sent to death row; at one point, he came within five days of execution. Fritz reached out to the Innocence Project for help in 1996. After their release, Williamson and Fritz filed a civil lawsuit against the Pontotoc County district attorney and others, which was settled for an undisclosed amount of money. Sadly, on December 4, 2004,…
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Emancipation Day
On April 16, 1862 (154 years ago tomorrow) President Abraham Lincoln signed a law that Congressman Abraham Lincoln had proposed 13 years earlier. The bill abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, paying the owners for the value of their emancipated slaves. That mode of emancipation would have been very expensive on a national scale, but it would have been cheaper than the Civil War, not to mention bloodless.Today is a legal holiday in D.C., which is why we all get until Monday to file our tax returns.
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Winning a DUI Refusal Revocation because of Miranda.
The burden of proof at an Express Consent Revocation Hearing in a Colorado DUI case is a preponderance of the evidence. In order to sustain a refusal revocation, the police must show that the respondent was driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle (a commercial vehicle also applies) in Colorado on the date alleged. Secondly, the police must show that they had probable cause to believe that the respondent’s ability to drive was impaired even to this slightest degree and that they requested that the respondent complete a chemical test. Finally, the police must show that respondent refused to take, complete, or cooperate in the completion of a chemical test of respondent’s blood, breath, saliva, or urine such that the test could be obtained within two (2) hours of driving. According to the case law a respondent may not refuse a chemical test simply because the police officer requested the test more than two (2) hours after…
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In Light of Harward Exoneration, Editorial Urges Virginia Courts to Reevaluate Use of Bite Mark Evidence
The Fredericksburg Free Lance Star ran an editorial Friday urging Virginia courts to show more skepticism with regard to bite mark evidence in criminal cases. Using the recent exoneration of Innocence Project client Keith Harward as an example, the editorial board cautioned courts in the state to consider the proven unreliability of bite marks as evidence. Harward was released and exonerated last week after spending 33 years in prison for a rape and murder, which DNA evidence proves he did not commit. Harward was convicted primarily on the testimony of two forensic dentists who said that Harward’s teeth matched marks left on the rape victim. “If the courts were to show more skepticism about bite-mark evidence, they would find allies in the very organization that accredits and certifies forensic odontologists,” writes the editorial board. Recent exonerations such as Harward’s have led the American Board of Forensic Odontology to issue new guidelines…
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Attorney-Client Privilege in a Personal Injury Lawsuit
As you proceed through your personal injury lawsuit, you are likely to have a few privacy concerns. There are often embarrassing facts or statistics that for any number of reasons you’d rather keep to yourself. Although your desire for secrecy could adversely affect the outcome of your case, the last thing you’d want is to have these matters surface publicly in the courtroom during trial. Fortunately, the concept of attorney-client privilege should put your fears to rest. The ruling is one that protects you by allowing communications between you and your personal injury attorney to remain confidential both inside and outside the walls of the courtroom. The reasoning is simple. No lawyer can help you without knowing the facts behind your case. When you feel comfortable about revealing sensitive information, you give your personal injury attorney the ammunition he needs to provide you with adequate representation. Does Attorney-Client Privilege Apply in Your Case? As…
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WBAL: Baltimore police sued over cellphone tracking
WBAL: Baltimore police sued over cellphone tracking by David Collins Lawsuit: Police secretly used powerful phone surveillance tool
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Simonson on Recording Police
Jocelyn Simonson (Brooklyn Law School) has posted Beyond Body Cameras: Defending a Robust Right to Record the Police (Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 104, 2016) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This symposium essay articulates and defends a robust First Amendment...
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Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski Will Not Face Criminal Charges
On April 14, 2016, Palm Beach County State Attorney General David Aronberg announced that his office will not be filing criminal charges against Trump Presidential Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski for contact with former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields. Ms. Fields, who has since left the Breitbart News Agency, has posted Twitter photographs of her bruised arm from the contact. The first blog post on the physical contact (battery) can be read here. Palm Beach police officers arrested Lewandowski on March 29, 2016, based on Ms. Fields' statement, and a video which indicates there was strong circumstantial evidence of contact. In Mr. Aronberg's statement, he noted the important differences between the standard for arrest, and the standard for issuing criminal charges: “As state attorney I made the decision that this office will not be filing charges against Corey Lewandowski for battery. Law enforcement arrests are based on probable cause. State…
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Kohm & Haefner on Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Teen Courts
Lynne Marie Kohm and Alison R. Haefner (Regent University - School of Law and Regent University, School of Law, Students) have posted Empowering Love and Respect for Child Offenders Through Therapeutic Jurisprudence: The Teen Courts Example (Sociology and Anthropology 4(4):...
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School-Sanctioned Beatings are Alive and Well in the South
A horrific video released yesterday shows school administrators in (Jasper County) Georgia preparing to beat a five-year-old boy with a paddle while he desperately squirmed, screamed, and tried to escape the assault. The student was being punished for allegedly spitting on somebody else. The two school officials who were trying to pin down the student so they could beat him with the wooden board were identified as Principal Pam Edge and Assistant Principal Lynn McElheney. The video is disgusting. Edge and McElheney tell the terrified boy he will be hit only once with the paddle unless he wiggled around. As the boy tearfully twisted his body and tried to shield himself with his hands, one of the women told him they were going to go through with the beating and had “all the time in the world” to administer the punishment. As the child tearfully begged his mother (who was video recording the despicable scene) to “help…
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America's Under-Incarceration Problem
The pro-criminal narrative being pushed by such luminaries as Al Sharpton, George Soros and Sen. Mike Lee lectures us that America has too many people in prison for too long.Paul Mirengoff at Powerline begs to differ: In more than a few cases, we don't have them in for long enough.I've argued that America has an under-incarceration problem. Criminals whose records clearly show they should be in jail have, instead, been released and are on the streets committing violent crimes, including some very bloody, high-profile ones.Here's another example. Samuel Harviley, paroled from prison less than three months ago, is being held without bond for shooting an off-duty Chicago police officer outside his home earlier this week. In withholding bond, the local judge said that Harviley "poses an extreme danger to the rest of us out in public."Indeed, he does. And he did three months ago when he was released early from jail.Harviley was paroled from…
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Massachusetts Probation Facts – Part 1 of 3
Almost everyone knows the general meaning of probation, but unless you or someone you know has been previously placed on probation by a court, or unless you’re a Massachusetts probation violation lawyer, most people don’t know the details. This post will address the details of Massachusetts criminal probation issues, and I’ll publish it in three parts – Part One today. WHAT IS PROBATION? Since almost everyone knows this answer, not much is needed here: Probation consists of terms and conditions that a court imposes on a criminal defendant who has been convicted of, or who has admitted to, some type of criminal offense. Probation can also be imposed in the absence of a guilty finding, or before any trial, if the defendant consents. This is called “pretrial probation,” and in some circumstances is actually a very favorable disposition, depending on the offense, the facts, and the potential penalties if the…
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PA: Trial court abused discretion in reopening twice reversed suppression order for third hearing; no change in law
“Therefore, because the Jones decision did not present an intervening change in the law, we conclude the trial court abused its discretion in re-opening Sodomsky’s suppression hearing for the second time after its two prior suppression orders were reversed by … Continue reading →
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UC Davis’ Return of the Pepper Spray
It was 2011, and the optics were horrible. UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike was pictured spraying O.C., pepper spray, in the faces of sitting protesters. They refused to obey, so the students were sprayed. This resulted in a settlement of $38,000 to Pike for his suffering. Chief Annette Spicuzza did her best to explain to those of us who didn’t understand the First Rule of Policing why Pike’s actions were necessary. Spicuzza said officers were forced to use pepper spray when students surrounded them. They used a sweeping motion on the group, per procedure, to avoid injury, she said. “There was no way out of that circle,” Spicuzza said Friday. “They were cutting the officers off from their support. It’s a very volatile situation.” Rather than appreciate how hard it is to be a campus cop, to face students violently sitting, the internet kept pounding the optics, the viral picture of Pike showing the world the fun times ahead for…
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This Is Your Brain On Speed
So what if Woody Allen prefers young Asian women who were once his adopted daughter? It doesn’t mean he’s wrong about everything. OUR favorite Woody Allen joke is the one about taking a speed-reading course. “I read ‘War and Peace’ in 20 minutes,” he says. “It’s about Russia.” Mark my words, hot fudge sundaes will eventually be conclusively determined to be health food. But I digress. Years ago, Evelyn Wood offered a program to teach us to speed read. The promise of speed reading — to absorb text several times faster than normal, without any significant loss of comprehension — can indeed seem too good to be true. And it’s back, this time in apps. The first popular speed-reading course, introduced in 1959 by Evelyn Wood, was predicated on the idea that reading was slow because it was inefficient. The course focused on teaching people to make fewer back-and-forth eye movements across the…
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