The Hill: Feds brace for new drone rules to take flight by Melanie Zanona: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing for a swarm of drone applications when the first ever rule permitting small, routine drone flights goes into effect … Continue reading →
The Hill: Feds brace for new drone rules to take flight
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Does marijuana legalization at least partially account for the remarkable recent popularity of Colorado Law?
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this notable Colorado University news item headlined "Colorado Law receives record number of applications." Here are the details leading to my marijuana-inflused speculation, with my added emphasis throughout the piece: Applications to the University of Colorado Law School are...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/ZlubEXfhyGo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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AR: While SW must be issued on affidavit or recorded testimony, questions about no-knock didn’t have to be recorded, especially when no-knock refused
Search warrants must be issued on affidavits or recorded testimony. The issuing judge asked questions about the no-knock entry, and this was separate from probable cause finding. This did not have to be recorded. Besides, the judge denied the no-knock … Continue reading →
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Don't Bring a Taser to a Gunfight at a Growhouse
Don't bring a taser to a Growhouse gunfight - you will lose in Tampa, Florida. #Taser, #AssaultRifle #GrowhouseFirearms and GrowhousesWhat happens when you Bring a Taser to a Gunfight? You lose. Two guys from South Florida planned on breaking into a Tampa grow house using a couple of tasers. The would-be grow house invaders thought they would sneak around to the back and kick in the back door.Bad move: the occupant(s) were waiting locked and loaded.After an argument, the occupant(s) of the grow house were armed and returned fire. Apparently, the taser-wielding rascals rented a car in South Florida and drove to the 16000 block of Dew Drop Lane in Tampa. UPDATE: The Tampa Bay Times reports the growhouse address as 16310 Dew Drop Lane, Tampa, Florida 33625."The score: Firearm 2 - Taser 0. Both guys ended up in the emergency room"The occupants of the growhouse remain unknown and on the Run. Here is a map of 16000 Dew Drop Ln, Tampa Florida…
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CADC: Executing daytime warrant at night and was unreasonable and a violation of the 4A
Executing a daytime warrant at night violated clearly established law and was unreasonable and a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Jones v. Kirchner, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15759 (D.C.Cir. Aug. 26, 2016). This warrant provided: YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED to … Continue reading →
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Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads in Criminal Law eJournal
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 245 Sexual Advance Directives Alexander A. Boni-Saenz Chicago-Kent College of Law Date posted to database: 25 Jul 2016 2 149 Public Attitudes toward Data Fraud and Selective Reporting in...
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MD: Consent to search of car doesn’t include a frisk of the person
Defendant consented to a search of his car, but that did not permit a frisk of his person. On the totality here, the officer did not have reasonable suspicion for a frisk of defendant’s person. Objectively, he had a hunch … Continue reading →
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Immediately after sentencing for attempted murder, Ohio man gives himself the death penalty by jumping off third floor
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"Federal Review of State Criminal Convictions: A Structural Approach to Adequacy Doctrine"
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Recent Happenings with State Felony Theft cases
Last week the Supreme Court of Missouri handed down a ruling that affects many felony theft cases all over the state. The Supreme Court analyzed section 570.030 of the Missouri Criminal Code in State v. Bazell. In State v. Bazell, a woman was convicted of stealing a .40 caliber pistol, a .22 caliber rifle, a laptop, a suitcase, jewelry valued at $8,000 and two pairs of tennis shoes. The Supreme Court wrestled with the Missouri criminal code defining the definition of stealing. The issue in particular has to deal with two subparagraphs in the section defining criminal theft, RSMo 570.030. The first paragraph of the section, describes the definition of stealing in that “Stealing is appropriating ‘property or services of another with the purpose to deprive him or her thereof, either without his consent of by means of deceit or coercion’”. See RSMo 570.030.1. In 2002 the legislature adjusted the criminal code wherein RSMo…
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Intention Is Everything (?)
“The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.” — John Burroughs “All that counts in life is intention.” — Andrea Bucelli There’s plenty of opinions out there on what, exactly, we mean by the word “intention”. A new age guru may give you one answer, and folks who deny humans have any sort of free will may tell you the word is meaningless. Scientists are late comers to the “intention” game. Experiments conducted at Princeton, Cambridge, and the University of Arizona all point to the fact that our intentions can physically affect the outside world (See Lynne McTaggart’s book “The Intention Experiment”). How can our intentions affect physical things? No one really knows the mechanism, but the effects can be measured, much in the way Newton had no idea how gravity pulls an apple from a tree, yet he could still observe and measure…
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Will Low-Alcohol Beers Reduce Drunk Driving Accidents?
According to a recent news feature from Medical Daily, a new study published in the Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, alcohol consumption is reducing worldwide, and this may be a result of newer low alcoholic beers now popular on the market. Our hope is that if people are drinking less, there will be less drunk driving incidents, which in turn will result in less drunk driving accidents and fewer alcohol-related fatalities. The data was derived from a Canadian organization that studies addiction and mental health. Their claim was that drinking beer with lower ethanol content would mean that people will have a lower blood alcohol content (BAC) in their respective blood streams, and this will result in less drunk driving accidents. As result of this study, some consumer groups are asking the world’s largest alcoholic beverage producers to essentially dilute their products so that it will be safer for everyone in terms of drunk driving incidents and…
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Florida Police Officer's DUI Arrest Outside of His Jurisdiction Was Unlawful
Does a police officer in Florida have the right to arrest a person who commits a crime outside of his/her jurisdiction? It depends. The general rule is that police officers have no authority to arrest people for crimes outside of their jurisdiction. However, there are exceptions. Some neighboring cities and counties have agreements that allow a police officer to make an arrest for certain crimes in the other jurisdiction. Also, there is such a thing as a private citizen's arrest, and police officers have the same right to effect a citizen's arrest in a different city or county as private citizens do. Private citizens in Florida are allowed to arrest another person if that person commits a felony or breach of peace in his/her presence. In this case, the police officer received a call about a vehicle stopped in the middle of the roadway. When the police officer arrived, he saw that the vehicle was over the city line. He approached the vehicle and saw that the…
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On interpreting meaning from Nueces DA ouster and the limitations of reform via prosecutor elections
The vanquishing of Nueces County DA Mark Skurka by a defense lawyer with "Not Guilty" tattooed across his chest was one of the prime examples offered up in a new academic article by Stanford's David Alan Sklansky titled, "The changing landscape for elected prosecutors." According to the article, Mark Gonzales was one of several prosecutors who have recently "won office by promising, in part, to reduce prosecutorial misconduct, excessive punishment, or overly aggressive, racially disproportionate police tactics." He "campaigned against overly aggressive prosecutions" and for "greater transparency." Here are the specific references to the Nueces County race:In February 2016 [sic], the incumbent District Attorney in Nueces County, Texas, Mark Skurka, lost his primary race to Mark Gonzales, a defense attorney who lacked prosecutorial experience and had “not guilty” tattooed across his chest; Gonzales had promised…
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Top-Ten Recent SSRN Downloads in Criminal Procedure eJournal
are here. The usual disclaimers apply. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 272 The Downstream Consequences of Misdemeanor Pretrial Detention Paul S. Heaton, Sandra G. Mayson and Megan Stevenson University of Pennsylvania Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School and University...
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Case o' The Week: High times - McIntosh & enjoining the federal prosecution of medical marijuana cases
The Honorable Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, hero of the West’s medical marijuana community. Justice Scalia would be proud.United States v. McIntosh, 2016 WL 4363168 (9thCir. Aug. 16, 2016), decision available here.Players: Decision by Judge O’Scannlain, joined by Judges Silverman and Bea. Big win argued by ND Cal CJA stalwart Marc. Zilversmit, Fed. Defenders of E. Wa & Id. AFPD Robert Fischer, and ED Cal AFPD Andras Farkas.Facts: A slew of defendants in three districts were indicted for marijuana crimes under the Controlled Substance Act. Id. at *1. They (unsuccessfully) moved to dismiss their indictments, or enjoin their prosecutions on the grounds that a rider on an appropriations bill prohibited the use of federal funds by DOJ to prosecute offenses involving medical marijuana. Id. at *2. The defendants filed interlocutory appeals, and sought writs of mandamus. Id. at *3. (No defendant has yet been…
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"Relative vs. Absolute Approaches to the Content/Metadata Line"
Orin Kerr has this post at LawFare. In part: Relative vs. Absolute Approaches to the Content/Metadata Line - Lawfare One of the foundational questions in surveillance law is how to distinguish between the contents of communications and non-content metadata. Contents...
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"Ohio top court rules prior juvenile charges cannot be used to increase sentences"
The story is at Jurist: JURIST - Ohio top court rules prior juvenile charges cannot be used to increase sentences The Ohio Supreme Court [official website]ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday that courts cannot use prior juvenile charges to enhance the sentence...
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Justice Department on pretrial jailing- Not okay for mere indigency but okay for drug charges
Thanks to the United States Justice Department for its recent amicus/friend of the court pronouncement (see text here) that the Constitution bars setting pretrial bail that cannot be afforded due to indigency. Now it is time for the Justice Department/Obama Administration to go one step further on pretrial release/bail, by instructing federal prosecutors to stop being so nonchalant and routine in seeking no bail in federal drug felony cases, under U.S. Code § 18.2-3142(c). A huge downside of my clients being charged with unlawfully distributing or possessing with intent to distribute Schedule I amd II drugs in federal versus state court, is the foregoing federal statutory presumption against bail for such cases. I do not expect a president Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump to embrace my advocacy for such changes with bail for federal drug felony defendants. However, Hillary Clinton at least would understand the matter, whereas Trump likely is in the dark on this…
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House Comm. Seeks Epi Pen Documents, Generic Version Announced
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has requested Mylan CEO Heather Bresch to produce documents and communications about the price increase of Epi Pen. Mylan today announced it will sell a $300.00 generic version. Almost... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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