No one can pressure me now: As many of you know, for many years the name of my training updates (and later the name of the Blog) was the “Minnesota Judicial Training and Education Updates/Blog.” Then a few years ago there was a forced change to the title: MINNESOTA was replaced with PENDLETON. Most of you don’t know why, it certainly was not by my choice. During the first 5 years the popularity of the training updates soared and the email distribution list grew to more than 4000 attorneys, judges, law schools, law firms, law enforcement agencies, probation departments, domestic abuse organizations and numerous state and private agencies. As far I could tell the updates had become the most widely distributed training service of its kind in the state. The turning point came when attorneys began submitting selected training updates as legal authority in court filings and trial memorandums. It was about that time I was told by several…
NOTICE: I’M CHANGING THE NAME OF THE BLOG BACK TO IT’S ORIGINAL TITLE (Interesting Back Story)
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Texas Sex Offender Registry List Is Huge But Not Every Listed Sex Offender Is an Adult Who Committed a Sex Crime
Last week, the Austin American Statesman published some pretty important facts about the State of Texas’ Sex Offender Registry. The Austin newspaper’s investigation needs to have lots of state-wide scrutiny because what is being revealed by the Statesman is critical information for every Texan. The Statesman’s full investigative piece was published online on July 14, 2016: “Program to corral ballooning sex offender registry failing.” Please read it if you get the chance. What’s so important here? Thing like the following revelations in a piece written by Statesman reporter Eric Dexheimer: 1. TWELVE NAMES ARE ADDED TO THE TEXAS SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY EVERY SINGLE DAY. That’s a heck of a lot of sex crimes, isn’t it? 2. ONLY 58 INDIVIDUALS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BEEN ABLE TO GET THEIR NAMES REMOVED FROM THE TEXAS’ SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY. Not all people need to be, or deserve to be, on the Sex Offender’s Registry and…
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2016.024: #AllPeopleLie
From Popehat (h/t Scott Greenfield): It is currently fashionable for defense attorneys to say “clients lie” and “most clients are guilty.” I wouldn’t agree with either proposition. Everybody lies; I don’t think clients lie more than anyone else in terrifying and stressful circumstances. Humans tend to remember a version of events that puts them in the best light, something we normally regard as a mere venal sin. It’s just that criminal defense scenarios require a level of precision and accuracy that most human interactions don’t. Being an effective and responsible criminal defense attorney doesn’t require believing everything a client says, exactly. The policy could be better described as “trust, but verify.” The key isn’t to build a defense on the premise that everything the client says is perfectly accurate. The key is to take what the client says seriously and follow up on it, rather than dismissing them…
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News Scan
KS Officer Shot and Killed: A Kansas City, Kan., police officer was fatally shot Tuesday afternoon while responding to a report of a drive-by shooting. Fox News reports that Capt. Robert David Melton, 46, a 17-year veteran of the Kansas City Police Department, responded to a reported drive-by shooting and was shot and killed about a half-hour after the initial call when he pulled his vehicle up to a person matching the description of one of the suspects that had fled the scene earlier. The suspect shot Melton multiple times before he could exit the car. That suspect along with another are currently in custody and being questioned. Melton's death marks the second time this year that a Kansas City police officer has been shot in the line of duty. A police spokesman said it is too early to determine whether Melton's death is connected to the recent ambush attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.Suspect in CA Homeless…
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Texas Beauty Queen Loses Her Crown After Her Criminal Record is Revealed
Having a criminal record can severely impact your life by barring you from jobs and accolades, even years after a conviction. This was graphically illustrated when a beauty queen in Texas was stripped of her crown after her criminal record came to light. KHOU reported on how Miss Corpus Christi Latina Caitlin Cifuentes, will have to return her crown because of ... Read More The post Texas Beauty Queen Loses Her Crown After Her Criminal Record is Revealed appeared first on .
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Dashcam Videos from New Jersey Police Vehicles Are Public Record, According to Appellate Division Ruling
In any prosecution by the state, it is critically important that a defendant be able to review any and all evidence that could be used against them in court. A long series of court rulings has established defendants’ right to this evidence. Unfortunately, prosecutors and police are not always forthcoming with evidence. In driving while intoxicated (DWI) cases, footage from police dashboard cameras, also known as mobile video recorders (MVRs), can sometimes help a defendant rebut the state’s charges. According to a ruling issued by the New Jersey Appellate Division in late June 2016, Paff v. Ocean Cnty. Prosecutor’s Office, these videos are part of the public record. This ruling could be a double-edged sword for DWI defendants, however. They might be able to access their own MVR footage more easily, but so can anyone else. The common-law right of access, as described by the U.S. Supreme Court in Nixon v. Warner Comms. in 1978, holds that the public has “a…
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One vehicle crash westbound I-84 at milepost 15
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: 7/20/2016 6:01 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at approximately 3:16 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a one-vehicle, injury crash westbound I-84 at milepost 15, 6 miles east of New Plymouth. Shaston Short, 18, of Nyssa, Oregon, was westbound on I-84 in a 2002 Ford F250 in the left lane. A semi switched from the right to the left lane and Short drove off the left side of the road to avoid a collision. Short then overcorrected, went back on the road and then back into the median, where the Ford rolled. All occupants were wearing their seatbelts. Short and two of his juvenile passengers were transported to St.…
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On the power of losing one’s ego
Judging is weakening. I am not talking about judgment, which is what good judges must exercise rather than judging. We constantly judge. Just recently, I judged that an unsmiling and at first barely talking cabdriver was unfriendly to the point of possibly being creepy, only to learn through talking with him that he was actually a very compassionate person who was preoccupied with a friend’s present travails. We constantly judge ourselves. Some do so to the point of committing suicide, judging themselves as failures, even a very advanced appellate judge having said he killed himself for that reason. We constantly judge circmstances, blaming constant rains for our feelings of malaise even though the rains make the fields bloom beautifully; and blaming a traffic jam for making us late, only later to learn that the traffic jam saved our life from driving over a bridge that collapses before we get to it. We constantly judge those closest to us, when they do not meet our…
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California Bill Allows Window Smashing to Save Dogs from Hot Cars
Last month, California lawmakers proposed a new law that would allow people who spot a dog (and presumably any animal) left in a hot car to legally smash the window out to rescue it. Assembly Bill 797, “The Right to Rescue Act,” was drafted by Assemblymembers Marc Steinorth of Rancho Cucamonga, Ling Ling Chang of Diamond Bar, and Kristin Olsen of Riverbank. As of June 6, it was amended in the state Senate, and it is making its way through the legislature. The state Assembly members made a video of themselves sitting in a hot car for 21 minutes to illustrate the dangers of leaving a dog in a hot vehicle could pose. It is summer. California is known for its heat waves and wildfires during the season. Just this week, as temperatures reached 91 degrees in Sacramento last week, it was reported by the Dodo that a small dog had been left in a hot car. When firefighters arrived on the scene, after being called by a concerned passerby, they found the temperature inside…
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"Can Silicon Valley Really Do Anything to Stop Police Violence?"
From The New York Times Magazine. In part: Pishevar has been working with a handful of designers and activists to develop his concept: an app that combines file sharing (for license and registration information) and video chat, so both cop...
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One vehicle crash eastbound I-84 at milepost 64
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: 7/20/2016 7:31 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at approximately 3:55 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a single-vehicle, injury crash eastbound I-84 at milepost 64, east of Boise. Frank Barry, 47, of Boise, was eastbound on I-84 on a 2000 BMW R1150 motorcycle. Barry left the lane of travel and hit the guardrail on the left side of the road. The BMW came back onto the road, where it overturned. Barry was transported to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center by air ambulance. It is unknown if Barry was wearing a helmet. Both eastbound lanes were blocked for approximately two-and-a-half hours. Traffic was diverted…
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**UPDATE** One vehicle crash eastbound I-84 at milepost 64
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: 7/20/2016 7:31 p.m. Please direct questions to the District Office *****BEGINNING OF UPDATE***** The driver's name is Barry Frank. *****END OF UPDATE***** On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at approximately 3:55 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a single-vehicle, injury crash eastbound I-84 at milepost 64, east of Boise. Frank Barry, 47, of Boise, was eastbound on I-84 on a 2000 BMW R1150 motorcycle. Barry left the lane of travel and hit the guardrail on the left side of the road. The BMW came back onto the road, where it overturned. Barry was transported to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center by air ambulance. It is unknown if Barry was wearing a helmet. Both…
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"Bangladesh court indicts 41 for murder in connection with 2013 garment factory collapse"
From Jurist: JURIST - Bangladesh court indicts 41 for murder in connection with 2013 garment factory collapse A Bangladeshi court on Monday officially indicted [Business Standard report] 41 people with murder stemming from a 2013 garment factory collapse which resulted...
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Largo Man Accused of Possessing Child Porn
A Largo man has been charged with possessing child pornography, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. The 69-year-old was arrested at his home on 126th Avenue Wednesday morning. According to detectives, the investigation began in April after they received information that the man had child porn in his possession. Investigators were allegedly able to recover six images depicting child pornography from electronic devices belonging to the man, according to reports. He has been charged with six counts of possession of child pornography. He was transported to the Pinellas County Jail. Whether you are facing possession of child pornography charges or the actual production of child porn, these charges are severe and require a strong criminal defense. As former prosecutors with the State, our Pinellas County Criminal Defense Lawyers at Whittel & Melton can provide you with the thorough and aggressive legal defense you need. We know that many of these…
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1,613 Subscribers: 7:29 A.M., January 20, 2016
Thank you Facebook. Thank you Quasi. Thank you Outlook. Thank you Google. Thank you search engines of the world.For those of you who view this site on your desktop or laptop computer, you see the number of hits that the site gets.It's on the right hand side of the window.Growing and growing and growing.And it will never stop.Relentless.Like Smokin' Joe Frazier.It just keeps on coming.
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South Florida Doctor Gets 3 Years for Medicare Fraud
A South Florida doctor will spend more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to falsely diagnosing hundreds of patients in a Medicare fraud scheme. Court records show the 57-year-old Delray Beach doctor was also ordered Wednesday by a federal judge to pay more than $2.1 million in restitution to the government. The man previously pleaded guilty to health care fraud. Authorities claim the man falsely diagnosed 387 patients enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program with a rare spinal condition. The patients were enrolled in a Humana Inc. health plan that was reimbursed for each diagnosis by Medicare. The federal program paid out $2.1 million in excess benefits, 80 percent of which went to the doctor. Almost none of the patients actually had the rare spinal condition, according to reports. Medicare and Medicaid fraud is taken quite seriously on local, state and federal levels. It is important to note that these cases are heavily investigated before charges are…
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"Has the drug war really "made policing more violent"?"
Doug Berman has this post at Sentencing Law & Policy, excerpting and critiquing this new Democracy commentary authored by Jonathan Blanks. From the critique: I would generally agree with the suggestion that the drug war has contributed to the over-policing...
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2016.025: Carl David Ceder Learns The 12 Rules of The Blawgosphere
I did not write the following post. Scott Greenfield wrote it and posted it to Simple Justice in 2013. Carl David Ceder has filed what appears to be a fraudulent DMCA takedown letter regarding it (because Scott used Carl’s JC Penney portrait as an illustration). On the chance that the takedown succeeds for a moment, I bring you Scott Greenfield’s … Carl David Ceder Learns The 12 Rules of The Blawgosphere When I received the email from Dan Hull at What About Clients/Paris? it wasn’t hard to imagine the look of exasperation on his face. There are few people in the blawgosphere who have had their content ripped off more consistently than Dan, and unlike the rest of us whose posts ended up on some scammer’s website, Dan’s was different. The thief always seemed to be a lawyer. Lawyers just wanted what Dan wrote. This time it was a young Dallas/Fort Worth criminal defense lawyer named Carl David Ceder,…
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The Illinois State Police Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry
You have likely heard of the Sex Offender Registry, but have you ever heard of the Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry? Likely not, as this type of registry is not as widely publicized and only exists in Illinois and four other states – Oklahoma, Montana, Kansas, and Indiana. The Illinois State Police Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry is a list that provides the public with the names, addresses, and recent photos of certain convicts who live in the state. If you are facing a serious criminal charge or have already been convicted of a crime in Illinois be sure to consult with a local criminal defense attorney about the Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act in order to discuss the registry and determine if it has the potential to impact your life. Who is Required to Register? The Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act is contained in code section 730 ILCS 154/1 and details the parameters of…
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Green on Prostitution
Stuart P. Green (Rutgers Law School) has posted What Counts as Prostitution? (Bergen Journal of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pp. 184-202, 2016) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: What counts, or should count, as prostitution?...
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