by Kent Scheidegger · May 19, 2020 9:31 am
Trial by jury and speedy trial are both required by the Constitution. So where do you hold a jury trial during a pandemic? In Kootenai Valley, Montana, the high school gym is used to maintain social distance, Rebecca O’Brien reports for the WSJ. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · May 18, 2020 11:59 am
By a 6-1 vote last Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied a request to block the transfer of criminal aliens from prisons and county jails to ICE detention facilities. Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times reports that the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the American Immigration Lawyers Association had sued Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Xavier Becerra for refusing to halt the transfer of aliens to the centers, which they called “virulent incubators of the virus” although they had argued that the state had a “clear and mandatory duty” to do so. The court held that the plaintiffs needed to file their petition to block the transfers in county courts, and that it may review the lower court orders “if circumstances warrant.”
by Kent Scheidegger · May 18, 2020 7:42 am
Not much action at the high court today. The court issued one opinion in a Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act case regarding suing foreign governments for sponsoring terrorism.
The court did not take up any cases for full briefing and argument. There is a big push by a number of groups to attack the doctrine of qualified immunity and make it easier to sue police officers. That would create one more reason to discourage people from entering the field, as if there were not enough already. It would expose officers to being sued for actions that were legal under precedents in effect at the time of the action but which a creative lawyer asks a court to declare illegal. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · May 15, 2020 11:28 am
Last month, a splintered three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated an injunction against executions issued by the D.C. District Court. See this post. Today, the court turned down the murderers’ request to rehear the case before all the active judges (except for CJ Srinivasan, who is recused). No judge of the court even called for a vote on it. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · May 14, 2020 11:46 am
The capital murder case of the notorious Scott Peterson has finally been set for oral argument, 15 years after judgment in the trial court. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · May 13, 2020 1:15 pm
The major media has reported that overall crime is down in most places in America this year, attributing most of the reduction to the nation-wide lockdown due to the pandemic. But CompStat numbers for New York City, one of the most locked-down places in the nation, show increases in some serious crimes over the first four months of the year. As of May 3, murders in the Big Apple were up 3%. Robberies increased by 12%, burglary was up 29% and auto theft jumped by 62%. There were also reported increases in transit crimes and shootings. But the increase in violence is not limited to NYC. Detroit has seen a 66% spike in shootings and an increase in homicides, with increases in shootings also reported in Dallas, Nashville, Philadelphia and Tuscon. In fact shooting deaths nationally at this point in the year are higher than those over the same period during the last three years.
by Kent Scheidegger · May 13, 2020 11:14 am
A broad range of criminals would be released from federal prison regardless of how heinous their crimes were or how many they committed if the latest coronavirus relief bill just introduced in the House becomes law. This is cynical, “never waste a good crisis” politics at its worst. If enacted, it will be paid for in the trauma and death of innocent victims. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · May 11, 2020 3:20 pm
You find civil disobedience in the strangest places these days. Tim Higgins reports in the WSJ: Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · May 11, 2020 11:00 am
A bill (SB1413) signed into law in 2018 by California Governor Jerry Brown, which prohibits charging some accomplices to murder with murder, and allows reduced sentences to those previously convicted as accomplices to murder, is being challenged by the Ventura County District Attorney. Megan Diskin of the Ventura County Star reports that the District Attorney is appealing a Second District Court of Appeal ruling, which upheld the law, to the state Supreme Court.
by Michael Rushford · May 8, 2020 11:58 am
The Associated Press reports today that crime in Houston, Texas, is up compared to last year, with homicides increasing by 49%. Police say that the spike in murders is the result of a drop in the supply of illegal drugs, causing dealers to violently defend their turf and product. Other crimes that have increased during the pandemic, including aggravated assault, domestic violence, and burglaries, even as some crimes have declined in other parts of the world under lockdown.
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