Michael Louis Corrado (University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - School of Law) has posted Chapter Two. Retribution and the Limits of Criminal Justice on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Those who claim that retributivism is a morally...
Corrado on Retribution
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Case o' The Week: Ninth Tacks to Lee of Constitutional Issue -- Lee, Johnson, and the Sentencing Guidelines
Want to know whether Johnson applies to the guidelines? So does Judge Ikuta.United States v. Lee, No. 13-10517 (9thCir. May 6, 2016), decision available here.Players: Decision by Judge Hurwitz, joined by Judge Bea. Dissent by Judge Ikuta. Hard-fought win for ND Cal CJA Attorney Ethan Balogh. Hon. Judge Sandra IkutaFacts: Lee was convicted of distributing crack. Id. at 3. One drug prior counted as a Career Offender predicate. Id. at 4. Lee also had prior convictions under Cal. Penal Code Sections 69 (resisting executive officer), and 243.1 (battery against custodial officer). The court found both priors to be “crimes of violence” under USSG § 4B1.1(a)(3), and found Lee to be a Career Offender. Id. While on direct appeal, the Supreme Court decided Johnson (2015). The Ninth asked for supplemental briefing. Id.at 6. Issue(s): “Lee contends that he is not a ‘career offender’ because he does not have ‘at least two prior felony…
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Prince: Lost And Found Singles: "Love or Money" B-Side to "Girls and Boys"
And, from Under the Cherry Moon "Love or Money":
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Lawyer Regulation: Why Do Disciplinary Boards Tend To Focus on the Solo Practicioner
Just read a great little article from the Michigan State Law Review. It describes a movement of the legal profession from being solo practitioners to being mostly members of firms.This movement occurred mostly between 1950 to 1990. And, although that trend in attorney may be reversing itself now, that model still has had an impact on our regulation.That regulatory impact was spearheaded by a man named Ted Schneyer. Schneyer's idea was that the main form of discipline would come from within the firms where the lawyers mostly worked, while lawyer regulation of other attorneys would come from disciplinary boards.And who were those other attorneys? Women, minorities, and first-generation lawyers.Wow, I am now beginning to see why women and minorities have been the center of the disciplinary board's focus. They were the ones who had the firms' slam their doors on their collective noses, and subsequently had to deal with the disciplinary…
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Removing the Stigma When You’ve Done Your Time
Last week, I was able to help a young man stay in the country rather than be deported to a land where he has few ties. The young man is officially a citizen of a foreign country. But he is practically an American, having grown up in Georgia and with all of his family here. Several months ago, he was stopped in a small Georgia town by a local police officer. The officer found marijuana in his car. And my client was charged with a felony. He hired a lawyer who incorrectly advised him that he could enter a plea under Georgia’s First Offender Act and he would not be deported. The advice was wrong. And when my client hired me, he was one roadblock or stop sign violation away from detention and deportation. I filed a habeas corpus petition and began a series of meetings with the prosecutor. The habeas was granted and we ultimately arrived at a disposition that will likely work for him, according to his immigration lawyer. This case is a…
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Person Who Was Convicted Of A Felony (Formerly Known As Felon)
It’s unlikely that you haven’t noticed this before, but there is a war against words going on. It’s not a new war. Words have always been subject to scrutiny, arising when they’re acceptable, then declining when deemed pejorative. Same word. Different feeling. Usually accompanied by a tedious explanation for why the word that was once the savior of hard feelings is now the cause of them. This isn’t true of all epithets, some of which arose as pejorative terms, and were always intended as insults, but those aren’t the words under discussion. A perfect example is offered in Dan Barry’s op-ed about the “intellectually disabled.” For many years, the preferred term was, simply, idiot. When Massachusetts established a commission on idiocy in the mid-1840s, it appointed Dr. Samuel G. Howe, an abolitionist and early disability rights advocate, as its chairman. The commission argued for the establishment of schools to help this…
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Florida’s Historic Softening of 10 20 Life Law
Florida’s Historic Softening of 10 20 Life Law Robert Napper, Ayo and Iken Legal Correspondent The Florida legislature has walked back of a portion of its hard-hitting effort to combat gun violence seventeen years ago, but it will be little solace to the prisoners whose cases brought legislators to take another look. Beginning July 1, a change will come to the “10-20-Life” mandatory minimum firearm law passed in 1999 during the first Gov. Jeb Bush administration in the wake of out-of-control violent crime statistics. The law currently mandates judges sentence defendants convicted of committing certain specified crimes while possessing a firearm to 10 years in prison, possessing a semi-automatic/machine gun to 15 years, discharging a firearm of any type to 20 years, and discharging a gun where great bodily injury or death occurs to 25 years to life. Those specified crimes include among others murder, sexual…
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Hating Redskins
Like any real Giants fan, I hate the Redskins. Always have. Not the sort of hate that makes me want to take up arms and do them harm, but the sort of hate that makes me proclaim that they don’t deserve to be on the same playing field as my beloved New York Giants. Heck, they shouldn’t even be in the NFC East. They should be an AFC team, because I hate them that much. Yes, I’m ridiculous when it comes to my Giants. But what about the name? What about the word, Redskins? My pal, Greg Prickett, who is part Menominee Indian, responded to a post at Fault Lines noting the Supreme Court’s grant of cert in the Slants case, in which the Redskins weaseled their way onto the certiorari coattails. Greg wrote: This is not a free speech issue. Snyder can call his team anything he wants, but the government does not have to offer trademark protection to such an obviously racist team name. He’s not exactly wrong, but he’s not right…
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The Logistics of the Lea County District Courtroom: A Recipe for Prosecution
So badly do I want a member of our Administrative Office of the Courts, or our Supreme Court, to come and see this, because it is without doubt the most prejudicial aspect of a courtroom I have ever seen.And, it only occurs in the Fifth Judicial DistrictYou see, if you walk into any courtroom any day of the week, you will see the Bench where the Judge sits up high. And then both Counsel table's are directly facing the judge's bench.Simple. It's how it is done everywhere. It's done this way because when Counsel speak, they are speaking directly at the Judge. They speak to the Court. Not to other counsel, or anybody else, but to the Court. So the tables and chair face the Bench.But, during trials, in the Fifth Judicial District something strange happens. When did this strangeness start occurring, I am not sure. However, it is the most prejudicial aspect of a jury trial I have ever known.First, let's set out some rules:…
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Supreme Court to Deal with Drunk Driving Refusal Issues
One of the big issues that has made its way to the United States Supreme Court is whether a driver can be charged with a crime for refusing to submit to an alcohol breath test when asked by police upon a showing of probable cause that the driver is under the influence of alcohol. Essentially, in some states such as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a driver has the right to decline a breath alcohol test (generically called a Breathalyzer), and this refusal cannot be used against the defendant in a court of law. As our Boston drunk driving accident attorneys can explain, this is due to an interpretation of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights Article 14, which prevents a person from be required to offer incriminating statements about themselves. This is similar to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and it should be because John Adams drafted much of both documents. The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in Massachusetts, which is our state supreme…
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Edgely on Sentencing Drug-Addicted and Mentally Impaired Offenders
Michelle Edgely (University of New England (Australia) - School of Law) has posted Addressing the Solution-Focused Sceptics: Moving Beyond Punitivity in the Sentencing of Drug-Addicted and Mentally Impaired Offenders (University of New South Wales Law Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1,...
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Victims of Family Justice System Mount Legal Challenge on Parents’ Day
An American group who call themselves “Constitutional Association of Parental Rights Activists” (CAPRA) intend to take steps this summer to publicize and take action regarding the plight of parents who have been denied a full parental role in their children’s upbringing. The basic principles underlying their campaign stem from the United States Federal Code (36 US Code 135) that provides for Parents’ Day. The law reads: “(a) The fourth Sunday in July is Parents’ Day. (b) All private citizens, organizations, and Federal, State, and local governmental and legislative entities are encouraged to recognize Parents’ Day through proclamations, activities, and educational efforts in furtherance of recognizing, uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in bringing up their children.” Planning is well underway to launch a class action lawsuit against all 50 states of the union on Parents’ Day 2016.…
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Sunday Night TV and Open Thread
Happy Mothers Day, to all. I think The Good Wife series finale is tonight. I'm afraid to click on news because I don't want the ending spoiled, so I'll just turn on the TV in six minutes and find out. I hope it's a good ending to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Michigan DUI - Drunk Driving Cases in the Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties
As a Michigan DUI lawyer, I have to take any number of things into account when I handle a DUI case. Where the charge is brought is always one of, and often the single most important factor in how things will work out in any given drunk driving case. Because of the profound effect of location, I generally limit my DUI practice to the courts of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties, although I will go to Livingston County on occasion, as well. As I thought about this topic and how to approach it for this installment, it occurred to me that the old idea of being "a fly on the wall," so to speak, might help, so I thought I'd bring the reader into a few conversations had in the privacy of my office, with my staff, or in the confines of my car (hands-free, on Bluetooth), as I "talk shop" with a colleague who does DUI work in a different area of the state. First, let's move into my office... My practice (drunk driving cases and driver's license…
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Injury Crash on Interstate 86 Near Chubbuck
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: 5/8/2016 11:40 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office At this time, the Idaho State Police is on scene of a one vehicle rollover crash with injuries in the median on Interstate 86 at mile post 60, near Chubbuck. The westbound left lane is currently blocked for emergency personnel. More information will be released once available. KL/SG -------------
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Update-Injury Crash on Interstate 86 Near Chubbuck
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: 5/9/2016 2:40 a.m. Please direct questions to the District Office ***Update*** On Sunday May 8th, 2016, at approximately 11:20 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a single vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 86 at milepost 60, near Chubbuck. Colby Stevenson, 18, of Park City, Utah, was traveling eastbound on Interstate 86 in a 2000 Ford Pickup Truck. Stevenson left the roadway on the right shoulder, came back on the roadway and went off on the left shoulder where the vehicle rolled into the median. Stevenson and his passenger, John Fabrizi, 20, of Mission Viejo, California, were transported by ground ambulance to Portneuf Medical Center. Both Stevenson and Fabrizi were…
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VA: Military base parking pass on rear view mirror justified traffic stop
An “opaque plastic parking pass for a nearby military facility, approximately 3″ by 5″ in size, suspended from the rear-view mirror mounting” was sufficiently obstructive of the driver’s view to justify a traffic stop. Mason v. Commonwealth, 2016 Va. LEXIS … Continue reading →
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The Hill: Let’s close the email privacy loophole now
The Hill: Let’s close the email privacy loophole now by Patrick Leahy & Mike Lee: This week the House of Representatives took an historic step for Americans’ privacy rights. By an overwhelming vote of 419-0, it passed bipartisan legislation to … Continue reading →
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Honoring Decedents’ Wishes—Non-Probate Devices Included
Melanie B. Leslie and Stewart E. Sterk, Revisiting the Revolution: Reintegrating the Wealth Transmission System, 56 B.C. L. Rev. 61 (2015). Solangel Maldonado Two years ago, my friend Myra1 died of cancer. She was survived by her husband Scott and their six-year old daughter Isla, as well as her parents, siblings, and many nieces and nephews. As Scott tried to make sense of his wife’s death, he was somewhat comforted by the knowledge that her pension and life insurance would cover the mortgage and keep their daughter in the only school she had ever known—the school where her mother had taught kindergarten. Scott’s comfort was short-lived. Although Myra did have a pension and life insurance, neither Scott nor their daughter were the beneficiaries. When Myra began working as a school teacher many years ago, she designated her mother and only nephew at the time as the beneficiaries of her life insurance and state pension. Years later, she married Scott and…
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One Reason Why Federal Judge Christine Armijo is Universally Respected
Great Article from today's Journal. About D.A. candidate Raul Torrez in Bernalillo County. ___________________________________________________In 2012, a federal judge accused an up-and-coming assistant U.S. attorney in New Mexico of trying to “unfairly alter” a transcript of a recorded encounter between drug agents and an Amtrak train passenger suspected of carrying a stash of crack cocaine.Weeks later, in an unusual action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the judge to withdraw her negative written comments about prosecutor Raúl Torrez, contending her findings could lead to an internal U.S. Justice Department inquiry and possible disciplinary action.The U.S. Attorney’s Office denied that Torrez acted in bad faith but acknowledged in a court filing that there were “imperfections” in how the evidence was prepared and presented for a pretrial hearing on whether the search of train passenger Billie Tiea Vaughn was…
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