by Bill Otis · Feb 21, 2021 1:54 pm
I saw this story recently in the WSJ and thought it had two lessons worth noting, one about when government agencies should intervene in family matters and one about when standard issue thinking about the obligations of criminal defense lawyers runs into basic decency.
It’s about a little boy who went to a diner with his family. What happened next is both grotesque and uplifting.
by Kent Scheidegger · Feb 19, 2021 11:19 am
Today is conference day at the U.S. Supreme Court. There are three criminal cases that have been relisted for another look multiple times. United States v. Tsarnaev, No. 20-443, is the Marathon Bomber case. See this post and this one. Johnson v. Precythe, 20-287, involves method-of-execution litigation. Harris v. Maryland, 20-101, involves a speedy trial claim.
Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Feb 18, 2021 2:03 pm
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago police Superintendent David Brown led a response to protests and looting last spring plagued by “confusion and lack of coordination” that risked the safety of both police and citizens, the city’s watchdog found in a report released Thursday. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · Feb 17, 2021 11:52 am
A widely covered piece of breaking news, breathlessly reported by Jerry Lannelli in the Appeal, announced that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has sent an open letter resigning his membership in the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA). “Among other criticisms, the letter mentioned the CDAA’s failure to appoint a single person of color to its 17-member board of directors.” The article cites Anne Irwin, head of Smart Justice California, who said “Gascón’s decision could dramatically alter the CDAA’s power in Sacramento and continue to break apart the notion that prosecutors have “one voice.” Los Angeles County and its 10 milion residents represent over one fourth of California’s population.” There is only one problem with this story, Gascón is not a member of CDAA.
by Michael Rushford · Feb 10, 2021 12:18 pm
The election, in recent years, of several so called “progressive” district attorneys (or state’s attorneys depending upon where you live) is confusing pheonomina that seems to defy common sense. “The prosecutors’ campaigns have been funded by the bogeyman of the Right, billionaire leftist George Soros, and animated by extreme left-wing political movements such as Black Lives Matter. The politicization of what was, in its origins, an apolitical law-enforcement function will have serious consequences for public safety and order,” notes Craig Trainor in his recent City Journal article.
by Michael Rushford · Feb 9, 2021 3:59 pm
The claim that America’s criminal justice system is systemically racist is not new. It was the basis of the 1991 riots in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four police officers caught on video beating a black man named Rodney King. The video was damning, but it did not show King, who was drunk and just one year out of prison for robbery, leading police on a 117 mph chase through Los Angeles. It did not show King’s two passengers obey officer’s orders and remain unmolested, nor King’s refusal to comply and actually charge one of the officers. The riot resulted in 63 deaths and $1 billion in damage. Whatever had been done to close the racial divide in the years following the Rodney King riots seems to have evaporated in recent years.
by Kent Scheidegger · 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.
by Michael Rushford · Feb 1, 2021 1:56 pm
It is no longer a misdemeanor to possess heroin, crack, fentanyl or LSD in the state of Oregon. Paul Best of Fox News reports that the state’s Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, adopted last November, which takes effect today, essentially makes the possession of small amounts of even the most dangerous drugs an infraction, punishable by referral to treatment. More than 100 organizations endorsed the measure. Proponents cite studies of Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which decriminalized hard drugs years ago without dramatic negative effects other than increased drug use. If drug use is no longer punishable in Oregon, yet dealing drugs remains illegal, will drug dealing become more and less profitable as drug use increases? Under the new law, drug users will be connected with the services they need at Addiction Recover Centers. The new law provides no consequences for addicts who do not show up for evaluation or treatment.
by Michael Rushford · Jan 27, 2021 11:59 am
A Salvadorian national illegally in the United States is facing charges for murdering his ex-girlfriend. Norma Riveiro and Lorena Bourdevaire Casillas of NBC4 in Los Angeles report that Herbert Nixon Flores was arrested in August for the severe beating of 35-year-old Karen Ruiz, but was released on bail days later. On January 6, Flores can be seen on surveillance video fatally shooting Ruiz in front of their 3-year-old daughter. In addition to being an illegal alien, Flores has an extensive criminal record including drug trafficking, illegal weapons, identity theft and domestic violence. None of these crimes are considered serious or violent under current California law. Flores had been deported by federal authorities 10 times since 1990. California’s porous border and sanctuary state law, which protects criminal illegal aliens, played a role in his continued presence in the state and ultimately, the death of Karen Ruiz.
by Michael Rushford · Jan 25, 2021 11:08 am
With murder up nearly 37% in 57 medium to large U.S. cities in 2020, last year may go down as the most violent in U.S. history. In an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald presents some startling numbers: murders increased 95% in Milwaukee, 75% in Louisville, 74% in Seattle, 72% in Minneapolis, 62% in New Orleans, and 58% in Atlanta. An estimated 2,000 more Americans was murdered last year, most of them black, including dozens of children. Fifty-five children were murdered in Chicago. In Los Angeles 40 children had been shot as of last September. “Mainstream media and many politicians claim that the pandemic caused this bloodbath, but the chronology doesn’t support that assertion.” The underlying theme regarding crime and law enforcement over 2020 has been the “police are racist” dog-whistle blown by virtually every big city mayor and blue state governor in the country, with 24/7 reinforcement by the media. It was the endlessly-repeated mantra by President Biden during his campaign, shared by almost all the Democrat candidates for the House and Senate. While MacDonald presents hard data debunking the claim that police are selectively gunning down unarmed black suspects, the media has made sure that this information is not being reported to the general public.
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