Monthly Archive: April 2021

Litigation Threats and Extortion

by · Apr 13, 2021 10:38 am

Threatening a groundless lawsuit unless the target pays money has often been referred to a “legalized extortion.” But maybe it’s not always legal.

The Hobbs Act makes it federal crime to obstruct, delay, or affect commerce by extortion. Extortion is defined as “the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.” See 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a). Does “wrongful” include a “threat of sham litigation.” Continue reading . . .

Law Signed by Jerry Brown Gives Murderer Parole

by · Apr 12, 2021 11:57 am

A legislative measure signed into law in 2017 by then-governor Jerry Brown has resulted in the parole of a Monterey County drug dealer who killed a young woman in 1989 to prevent her testimony in a case implicating him in an earlier double-homicide.  To make  sure she would not survive, Bradly Hardison, then 25, shot 23-year-old Sonjii Johnson five to six times in the upper body with a .357 magnum, while she was sitting in a car in front of her parent’s home.  One of the bullets passed through Johnson and lodged in her younger brother’s spine, but he survived.  Tom Wright of the Monterey Herald reports that the state Board of Parole has granted parole to Hardison, who, in 1990, pleaded guilty to the murder to avoid the possibility of receiving the death penalty.  The plea deal resulted in Hardison receiving a sentence of 25-to-life prison plus six additional years for the use of a gun and assault on Johnson’s brother as detailed in this 2003 District Court decision.

Continue reading . . .

To Pack or Not to Pack? That Is the New Commission’s Question.

by · Apr 10, 2021 10:57 am

President Biden this week appointed a Commission to examine possible “structural changes” to the Supreme Court, which to most people means the prospect of adding seats, i.e., packing the Court.  This Vox article bemoans the makeup of the Commission as something of a Federalist Society dream.  The gist of its criticism is that, even though the Commission’s majority is liberal, there is a surprisingly large minority of right/libertarian sorts.  Thus the liberal majority isn’t big enough or radical enough to be as useful as Biden could and should have made it.

It’s the precise nature of the missed opportunity for usefulness that’s telling here.  What it tells us specifically is what sort of persuasion the Left views as desirable.

Continue reading . . .

Should a High Officer of the Justice Department Support Cop Killers?

by · Apr 9, 2021 9:25 pm

One might think the question answers itself.  On the other hand, when a major corporation openly urges its employees to be “less white,” we have entered a world where once obvious answers now seem as fraught as trying to do geometry while you’re on LSD.

President Biden’s nominee to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Ms. Kristen Clarke, is on record as carrying the flag for cop killers.  This was not while she was in high school or even college.  It was when she was holding forth at Columbia Law School.  Among others whose cause she championed was Mumia Abu-Jamal, who gunned down Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner 40 years ago and has yet to apologize.

This was not a problem for Ms. Clarke, and evidently is not one for President Biden either.  Paul Mirengoff of PowerLine has the story.

Continue reading . . .

Junk Science

by · Apr 9, 2021 3:07 pm

There is a lot of junk in psychology today, Jesse Singal tells us in this article in the WSJ. The title in tomorrow’s print edition is “The False Promise of Quick-Fix Psychology Why We Keep Falling For Fad Psychology.”

Some of this junk impacts criminal justice and law enforcement issues. Continue reading . . .

CA Law Abolishing Felony Murder Gives Child Killer Re-sentencing Opportunity

by · Apr 9, 2021 11:26 am

A 2018 bill (SB 1437) signed into law by then-Governor Jerry Brown, made a change in the California Penal Code (PC 1170.95) which is providing Pearl Fernandez, convicted in 2018 of the torture murder of her 8-year-old son Gabriel, with an opportunity to have her sentence of life in prison overturned. According to this article from Fox 11, “In her petition, Fernandez declares changes made to Penal Codes 188/189 (which took effect in 2019) alter how malice is imputed on someone, that would possibly alter her murder conviction.” Fernandez’s hearing is scheduled for June 1st in Los Angeles Superior Court according to this article by Bradford Betz of Fox News. 

Pearl Fernandez plead guilty to first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation of torture, as discussed by Betz.  Gabriel was determined to have been abused and neglected time and time again, Betz explained, “An autopsy revealed the boy had a fractured skull, multiple broken ribs and burns on his body.” Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami stated in a Tweet, “Gabriel’s family now has to relive all the horror that was perpetrated upon a small and helpless child. It is plain wrong and completely unjust.”    Question:  Will District Attorney George Gascón allow his office to oppose this murderer’s petition? 

Government Liability for Rights Violations

by · Apr 8, 2021 4:33 pm

(Updated April 9.) New Mexico this week enacted a bill regarding liability of public bodies for rights violations by the bodies or their officers. Despite the headline and lead sentence of this WSJ article, there are important features of this bill that make it very different from the repeal of qualified immunity that is being pressed by the anti-law-enforcement crowd around the country. Continue reading . . .

Arizona to Resume Executions

by · Apr 8, 2021 2:47 pm

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is moving forward to resume executions.  Jill Ryan of the Associated Press reports that the state’s last execution was in 2014 when murderer Joseph Wood was put to death.   Like several other death penalty states, Arizona has been unable to carry out death sentences due to pressure by the European Union and other anti-death penalty groups to block drug manufactures from selling their products to states for use in executions.  Last month, US News reported that the state had obtained pentobarbital, the preferred anesthetic used to euthanize condemned murderers. 

Continue reading . . .

A Second Chance……………To Do What? Part I

by · Apr 8, 2021 2:35 pm

Hey everyone!  It’s “Second Chance Month.”  President Biden has said so himself (see this piece at SL&P).  The President is a bit short on specifics, but assures us that, “During Second Chance Month, we lift up all those who, having made mistakes, are committed to rejoining society and making meaningful contributions.”

“Mistakes,” got that?  Fleecing grandma out of her life savings, selling smack to an addicted 16 year-old, raping a first grader  —  look people, don’t be so judgmental.  They’re just “mistakes.”

I’ll be saying more in future posts about the Happy Face, if fact-free, yammering about second chances.  For now, I just want to focus on the one question that cries out to be asked but never is:  A second chance to do what?

Today’s Washington Post, of all things, provides a glimpse of the answer.

Continue reading . . .

CA Legislature Seeks to Legalize Psychedelic Drugs

by · Apr 8, 2021 11:12 am

Senate Bill 519 reads as follows:

This bill would make lawful the possession for personal use, as described, and the social sharing, as defined, of psilocybin, psilocyn, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), by and with persons 21 years of age or older. The bill would provide penalties for possession of these substance on school grounds, or possession by, or sharing with, persons under 21 years of age. The bill would also provide for the dismissal and sealing of pending and prior convictions for offenses that would be made lawful by the passage of this bill, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Justice to identify those records and provide them to local jurisdictions to initiate the required proceedings.

Continue reading . . .