by Kent Scheidegger · Apr 25, 2024 10:06 am
New York’s highest court reversed the conviction of the notorious Harvey Weinstein today, on the ground that evidence of other crimes was admitted beyond the limits allowed under New York’s landmark precedent in People v Molineux, 168 N.Y. 264 (1901). The court divided 4-3, with two judges recused and the replacements in the majority. That is, a majority of the court’s regular judges participating in the case voted to affirm. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · Dec 1, 2022 11:04 am
An investigative report by Josh Boswell of the Daily Mail discovered that thousands of sex offenders are being release from California prisons and jails after serving only a fraction of their sentences. Using the search function in the state’s Megan’s Law database, which tracks sex offenders in the state, Boswell found that over the past several years over 7,000 offenders convicted of molesting children under 14-years-old spent less than a year behind bars. This does not include 365 pedophiles convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child, who were also released after less than a year. The article lists multiple offenders who spend just a few days in jail after conviction. On example is Gualterio Lopez Contreras, who was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts on a child, for continuous sexual abuse including sodomy by force. He was sentenced to three years in prison, and walked free after less than a year.
by Steven Erickson · Apr 21, 2022 3:54 pm
As more jurisdictions legalize cannabis for medicinal and recreational use, it is worth considering how the ineludible uptick in its use might affect society. For most users, this effect has no bearing on criminal justice issues. But cannabis might have a plausible role in the commission of sex offenses, given its unique effects on sexual drive and practices. My colleague Michelle Vorwerk and I examine the topic (subscription required) in a forthcoming article in Behavioral Sciences and the Law.
by Bill Otis · Sep 16, 2021 4:06 pm
…..except when they don’t. One particularly dreadful case of a “progressive” prosecutor, Steven Descano, betraying a crime victim is the one set out below, in which Descano agreed to a sweetheart deal with a fellow who, over several years when the victim was in grade school, sodomized her again and again.
The Washington Post, not exactly a friend of stern law enforcement, has the story. The perversion of justice in this case is so bad that the girl’s family has retained an attorney to fight the plea deal before the sentencing judge. (Full disclosure: I’m a resident of Descano’s district, Fairfax County, Virginia, and contributed to the campaign of his election opponent, former AUSA Jonathan Fahey).
by Amber Westbrook · Apr 15, 2021 3:30 pm
The former Mayor of Sebastopol, California, Robert Jacob was arrested this week on charges, according to this Fox News story: of committing lewd acts with a child ages 14 to 15, participating in sexual penetration of a child under 16, making a child under 16 available to another person for lewd or lascivious acts, and distribution of child pornography. Jacob served as a member of the Sebastopol City Council in 2012 and was elected Mayor in 2013. Jacob served one term and did not run for reelection. Jacob’s term as Mayor and his success as a cannabis businessman, discussed in this article in the San Francisco Chronicle, noted that “He [Jacob] outspent rivals by running the most expensive campaign in city history to win.” Jacobs is also known as a founder of a medical marijuana dispensary. The question here, is how did an individual willing to molest children get elected to a position of such power? Doesn’t anyone vet politicians anymore?
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 5, 2021 10:21 am
Dan Walters, a veteran commentator on California politics, has this column with the above title at CalMatters on the California Supreme Court decision last week in In re Gadlin. See also my post on the decision last week. Walters writes:
A political saga that began more than four decades ago came full circle last week when the state Supreme Court, including four Jerry Brown appointees, indirectly upbraided the former governor.
Unanimously, the court declared that Proposition 57, a major criminal justice overhaul sponsored by Brown and overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2016, did what its critics said it would do, not what Brown told voters.
by Kent Scheidegger · Dec 28, 2020 3:20 pm
Is a would-be pimp guilty of attempting human trafficking of minor when the person he is soliciting is actually an adult police officer? Yes, in California. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Dec 10, 2020 10:34 am
The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld three court-martial convictions for rape, interpreting the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) statute of limitations in effect at the time as imposing no limit on rape prosecutions in the military. In the process, the Court found it unnecessary to decide whether the Eighth Amendment limitation of Coker v. Georgia (1977), forbidding the death penalty for rape, applies to the military. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Mar 11, 2020 9:38 am
“Harvey Weinstein, the once-powerful and internationally acclaimed Hollywood producer, was sentenced to 23 years in a New York state prison Wednesday following a conviction stemming from sexual-assault allegations that sparked the #MeToo movement,” reports Deanna Paul for the WSJ.
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