The Department of Justice and FBI reversed themselves today and released the full transcript of Omar Mateen's 911 call. The partial transcript released hours earlier omitted any reference to ISIS. Why the change? From DOJ's statement:... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
DOJ and FBI Release Full Transcript of Orlando 911 Call
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New Pilot Program in Lake County Provides Treatment for Substance Abuse
A new pilot program in Lake County offers treatment, rather than jail time for those struggling with drug abuse or addition. “A Way Out” is an initiative that will allow individuals that may be in possession of narcotics or paraphernalia to go to participating police departments requesting treatment. In exchange for their participation in the program, there will not be any criminal charges filed against them. The participants will be connected with the appropriate treatment facility immediately and the police may even provide their transportation to the facility. A few participants have already entered the program after arriving at police stations asking for help. They were then transported to treatment facilities, mainly for opioid addiction. Every three to six months, the program will be evaluated, changes will be made accordingly and additional police departments will be added. Continue Reading The post New Pilot Program in Lake County Provides Treatment for…
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Open letter from large group of reform advocates urges Prez Obama to "accelerate the process" for granting clemency
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Driving with Suspended License Charge Dismissed Prior to Arraignment
On March 13, 2016, ZD, a 26 year old salesman with a medical device company got stopped in Belmont as the result of a marked lane violation. When the police ran his license they discovered that his right to drive had been suspended in Massachusetts as the result of an unpaid ticket. ZD was not arrested but was cited by the police for operating after suspension (a criminal offense) and for a marked lane violation (a civil motor vehicle infraction). ZD’s job requires that he drive all over the Northeastern United States and each year his employer does a criminal record check to see if he has any criminal record. To his credit ZD went immediately to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles and paid the unpaid ticket. He then paid a reinstatement fee to the Registry and his driving privileges were reinstated. ZD received a summons to appear in Cambridge District Court for an arraignment on June 7, 2016. ZD consulted with and retained Attorney Robert Lewin. ZD…
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How Utah v. Strieff weakens the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine
On June 20, 2016, the United States Supreme Court, in Utah v. Strieff, limited your 4th Amendment Right against unreasonable search and seizures by trimming back the branches of the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine. However, before you can understand what the Supreme Court did and how it effects you, you need to understand What your 4th amendment rights are, and what the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine means. Your 4th Amendment Right Protecting You Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure Under the United States Constitution, you have a privacy right against government intrusion into your life. This right manifests itself in the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the government and police from searching you unless (1) it is reasonable to do so, and (2) preferably with a search warrant. Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine What happens, however, when the police obtain evidence which is found was obtained through an…
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Levin on Crespo on Systemic Facts
Benjamin Levin has posted Values and Assumptions in Criminal Adjudication (Harvard Law Review Forum (2016)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Response to Andrew Manuel Crespo's Systemic Facts: Toward Institutional Awareness in Criminal Courts proceeds in two Parts. In...
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News Scan
Obama Administration Lowballs Crimes by Illegal Aliens: The watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) revealed that the 30,558 criminal aliens released in FY 2014 committed 13,288 additional crimes, a far higher number than the 1,423 reported by the Obama administration last July. Caroline May of Breitbart reports that the president of FAIR, Dan Stein, criticized the Obama administration upon discovering the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, for attempting to hide the true numbers by providing inaccurate information to Congress and the public "[r]ather than end dangerous politically-driven policies that have put a total of 85,000 deportable criminal aliens back into the streets in the last three years." In FY 2014, the 30,558 released criminal aliens went on to commit an array of new crimes, including vehicular homicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, DUI,…
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The Hill: Congress Blog: Congress should stop government hacking and protect the Fourth Amendment
The Hill: Congress Blog: Congress should stop government hacking and protect the Fourth Amendment by Peter Goldberger: While it is surely possible to craft a constitutional procedure for digital searches, the rulemaking process is not adequate for addressing such sensitive … Continue reading →
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch: After police raided an apartment building to arrest a suspect, others were left with the collateral damage
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: After police raided an apartment building to arrest a suspect, others were left with the collateral damage by Koran Addo: The aftermath of the standoff highlights a murky legal area where in some places law enforcement covers … Continue reading →
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Sexual Orientation Not Included in Ohio’s Hate Crime Law
The FBI broadly defines hate crimes as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias or intolerance on the basis of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. However, Ohio’s existing hate crime law, referred to as “ethnic intimidation” in the Ohio [...]The post Sexual Orientation Not Included in Ohio’s Hate Crime Law appeared first on Columbus Criminal Attorney.
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Bureau of Justice Statistics releases new detailed report on recidivism of federal offenders
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"Society would benefit from rewarding attorneys for identifying the wrongly and unnecessarily imprisoned"
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Injury Crash Northside Onramp
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: Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 3:18 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Tuesday, June 21, 2016, at 1:20 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a two-vehicle, injury crash on Interstate 84 near the Northside onramp in Nampa. Esther Brestel, 68, of Nampa, was travelling east on the Northside onramp in a 1995 Ford Taurus. Damon Kirchner, 35, of Nampa, was travelling behind Brestel in a 1994 Mazda pickup. Brestel slowed for traffic when entering the Interstate. Kirchner failed to slow for traffic and his vehicle collided with the rear of Brestel's Ford Taurus. The right eastbound lane and onramp were temporarily blocked for emergency crews for…
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Q: How Many People Have Been Murdered Because of the Ferguson Effect?
A: I don't know, but a DOJ study confirms that the Ferguson Effect -- i.e., unhinged, ideological criticism of the police and their resulting increased caution -- has, indeed, contributed to the rise in murder.Our News Scan has this item, addressing the causes of the crisis-level 17% murder increase last year:The [DOJ] study offers two explanations regarding the Ferguson Effect and how it has impacted crime, specifically murder. The first explanation asserts that increased police scrutiny in the wake of highly publicized shootings have caused law enforcement to pull back, allowing for criminals and potential murderers to roam freely, undeterred. The second emphasizes the distrust and discontent that exists between the police and African American communities, resulting in a lack of cooperation with police investigations.*There are at least two very important conclusions to be gleaned from this study. First, contrary to the Attorney…
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"The exclusionary rule is weakened but it still lives"
Orin Kerr has this post at ScotusBlog on Monday's Supreme Court decision. In part: I suspect that this case will become most known for Part IV of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent. Citing sources ranging from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Michelle Alexander,...
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What is "violent" crime?
Here is a good example of an article that I largely agree with for its main point, even though I come from an opposite viewpoint on the underlying policy question. The title above is the first sentence of Benjamin Levin's article in Slate, while the actual headline and subhead is "less pithy," as Doug Berman points out. "It's time to rethink 'violent' crime: How mislabeling misconduct contributes to our bloated criminal justice system. -- The distinction between violent and nonviolent crime is a problematic metric for determining criminal punishment." As with many other terms, "violent" and "non-violent" are easy enough to distinguish in their core territories (e.g. murder v. tax evasion), but there is a gray zone.Burglary is generally classified as a "property" crime rather than a violent one. That is where you will find the numbers tallied in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. …
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LA OIT Y EL SISTEMA DE PENSIONES EN EL PERÚ
http://gestion.pe/economia/oit-propone-mas-reformas-sistema-pensiones-privado-y-publico-peru-2163813 En este enlace la OIT sugiere cambios en el Sistema Privado y Público de Pensiones, les dejo mi opinión: ¿Porqué cerramos los ojos a la realidad?, esta propuesta sólo pretende mantener un sistema que sólo beneficia a los ricos, ¿Porqué en lugar de insistir en mantenerla no se discute su derogación y se plantean otras soluciones?, por ejemplo la idea que tengo de crear un Banco de Pensionistas. Si es una tontería ¡magnífico! demuestren que lo es, pero lo que no podemos es seguir insistiendo en un sistema que es una estafa. Alguien puede decirme si puede calcular su rentabilidad. En fin, el poder no renunciará a la plata de los pobres y si estos no hacen nada con PPK o con el FA que lo único que quería era retocar el sistema y acusaba a los viejos de discapacitados mentales,…
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Walters on Hate Crime
Mark Walters (University of Sussex Law School) has posted Readdressing Hate Crime: Synthesizing Law, Punishment and Restorative Justice (Hate, politics, law, Oxford University Press, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This chapter offers an alternative vision of the utility...
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THE SKY IS FALLING
The sky is falling. Terry stop suppression motions are dead. Oh my!The Supreme Court's decision in Utah v. Streiff spells the end of the fourth amendment. Oh no Mr. Bill!Query: When's the last time a court granted a Terry Stop motion or otherwise granted a motion to suppress evidence based on an illegal stop or search or seizure? Federal Court practitioners? Do you even get an evidentiary hearing on these motions? Inevitable discovery anyone? The death of the exclusionary rule...None of you saw this coming? Really? Scalia would have piled on. See you in court, where motion practice is dead. You wanna win a case? Put on your trial suit. Site Feed
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Sheley on Substantive and Procedural Silence
Erin L. Sheley (University of Calgary Faculty of Law) has posted Substantive and Procedural Silence (Tennessee Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Perceptions of the procedural fairness of the criminal justice system turn on whether it gives...
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