Author: Kent Scheidegger

Defining “Occasion”

by · Feb 22, 2021 7:27 am

The federal “three strikes” law provides enhanced penalties for felons who possess firearms after three convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses “committed on occasions different from one another.” What exactly is an “occasion”?

Wooden v. United States, No. 20-5279, taken up by the Supreme Court today, is one of the rare cases where a defendant writing his own certiorari petition actually got the Court to take the case up for full briefing and argument. Continue reading . . .

Clergy in the Execution Chamber Whack-a-Mole Continues

by · Feb 12, 2021 11:00 am

The game of “whack-a-mole” with clergy being in the execution chamber when a murderer finally gets his just deserts has popped up again.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to lift a stay of execution imposed by the Eleventh Circuit on the ground that Alabama will not allow non-employees, including clergy, in the actual execution room. Four of the Justices concurring in this order purport to instruct the States how they can easily comply with the requirements and proceed with long-overdue justice. We’ve been there, done that. That’s how we got here. Continue reading . . .

Defunding Police May Be Hazardous to Your Health (Not to Mention Property)

by · Feb 10, 2021 1:37 pm

Eric Piza of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Vijay Chillar of Rutgers School of Criminal Justice have published an article in Justice Evaluation Journal titled The Effect of Police Layoffs on Crime: A Natural Experiment Involving New Jersey’s Two Largest Cities. The published version is behind a paywall, but a post-publication manuscript version is available here.

“Our findings indicate that sudden and drastic reductions in police force size via police officer layoffs can generate significant crime increases.” The results “translate[] to approximately 108 … additional violent crime incidents per month resulting from the layoffs. Using a similar equation, the police layoffs resulted in approximately 103 additional property crime incidents per month in Newark.” Continue reading . . .

Another Stacked Commission, Another Slanted Report

by · Feb 10, 2021 12:22 pm

Last year, the California Legislature created a committee to study revision of the Penal Code. Unlike, e.g., the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the statute made no effort whatever to achieve balance or bipartisanship. Yesterday, the committee issued its first report. See this article by Don Thompson for AP. Unsurprisingly, the report reflects a 100% pro-perpetrator viewpoint. Every change proposed is to move the law in the direction of reducing the consequences of criminals’ choices to violate the law and, in most cases, to violate the rights of other people. The possibility that some of the changes of the last decade have already gone too far and need to be rolled back does not appear to have even been considered. Continue reading . . .

LA Superior Court Enjoins Many Gascón Policies

by · Feb 8, 2021 11:39 am

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant granted most of the preliminary injunction sought by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County (ADDA) against recently elected District Attorney George Gascón. Among other matters, the DA is enjoined from requiring deputies to violate the mandatory charging aspect of California’s Three Strikes Law.

Here is the operative paragraph of the order: Continue reading . . .

LA DA Mythology on Parole Hearings and Victims

by · Feb 5, 2021 11:19 am

Bill Melugin of Fox 11 LA, has posted on Twitter the LA DA’s message to the media in response to the Sheriff’s letter on attendance at parole hearings, noted here Wednesday. One can only wonder what alternate reality these people are living in.

“When heart-wrenching crimes occur, victims and their families are changed forever. That is why District Attorney Gascón has directed our office’s victim advocates, who are trained to provide trauma-informed care, to support victims during parole hearings. They are available to attend any hearing where victims want them present. Sheriff’s deputies, like prosecutors, do not have all the pertinent facts and evaluations at their disposal. The Parole Board does — and its sole purpose is to objectively determine whether someone is suitable for release.” — Alex Bastian, Special Advisor to District Attorney George Gascón

Where do we begin? Continue reading . . .

Appellate Judges on Remote Arguments

by · Feb 4, 2021 10:30 am

Marcia Coyle has this article in the National Law Journal (free registration required), titled Appellate Judges, Including Justice Breyer, Reflect on Remote Arguments in Virus Era.

In the pandemic era of remote oral arguments, audio is good, but audio-visual is better, although both come with a significant cost of reduced or eliminated eye contact, federal and state appellate judges said in a recent survey.

Twelve jurists, including Justice Stephen Breyer, responded to questions about their experiences with remote arguments in an article in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process: “Remote Oral Arguments in the Age of Coronavirus: A Blip on the Screen or a Permanent Fixture?” In addition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the judges who participated in the survey sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Judicial Courts of Maine and Massachusetts.

Continue reading . . .

Dueling Editorials on LA DA Gascón

by · Feb 3, 2021 11:38 am

The Los Angeles Times printed this editorial last Friday, predictably defending LA DA George Gascón and blasting the Association of Deputy District Attorneys’ lawsuit. The editorial is titled, “Let George Gascón do the job L.A. voters asked him to.” But did they ask him to do what he is now doing?

The Metropolitan News-Enterprise, a much smaller LA paper that focuses on judicial issues, responded yesterday with an editorial titled “Los Angeles Times Defends Gascón With Flawed Arguments.” Continue reading . . .