Via the spokesmodel for Occupy Main Justice, Bill Otis:

The Attorney General announced last week that he would support the Durbin-Lee bill pending in the Senate.  That legislation would drastically cut back on mandatory minimum sentences for drug pushers  —  not just for pot, but for all drug offenses, including major and repeat trafficking in heroin, meth, PCP and other extremely dangerous, and often lethal, drugs.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be sentenced to life plus cancer, but that judges won’t be constrained to do so.  That alone provoked outrage.

As career DOJ prosecutors know, strong mandatory minimum statutes are essential to rein in the sometimes ideological, sometimes naive, and sometimes careless decisions of sentencing courts.

When the Attorney General decided to join the effort to kneecap mandatory minimums, career attorneys could remain silent no longer. Continue reading →

Among the skills one would find desirable in a judge, such as intelligence, fairness, honesty and an even temperament, the ability to communicate with others would be right up there. Not only the ability to write and speak clearly and comprehensibly, but to listen to others and grasp what they are saying.

You see, some folks who come before a judge aren’t the most articulate, and often speak in a vernacular that’s foreign to the sanitary world of official lawyers and judges. Elyria, Ohio, Municipal Court Judge Gary Bennett made himself the posterjudge for this point.  Via Gideon at A Public Defender:

Continue reading →

A curious email came in from Dubois, Wyoming the other day. Scott Trimble, chargé d’affaires for the Trial Lawyers College, which is either one of the top three programs for criminal defense lawyers or a dangerous cult bent on getting grown-up lawyers to wear cowboy jackets with fringes, had a question.

 I’m wondering if there’s any way you can help us get the word out?

Me?  Because I’m one of those “get the word out” kinda guys?  Being that sort of fellow, I replied to Scott with my usual, thoughtful aplomb:

So I’ve notice that lawyers of a certain age look quite good in those fringed cowboy coats they have up there in Dubois, Wyoming. While I normally charge for advertising conferences, one of those cool coats might just do the trick. And maybe a hat. Hats are good too. Continue reading →

The breaking news is that Bill deBlasio kept his campaign promise.  From the New York Times:

New York City will settle its long-running legal battle over the Police Department’s practice of stopping, questioning and often frisking people on the street — a divisive issue at the heart of the mayoral race last year — by agreeing to reforms that a judge ordered in August, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday.

The City has moved to drop the 2d Circuit appeal that gave rise to the infamous Shira Scheindlin ouster ruling, the police unions’ motion to intervene to prevent the City from settling the case and the Bloomberg administration’s last-ditch effort to gets its brief in ahead of schedule to force the issue. As Jacob Gershman at the WSJLawBlog notes, the deal is in the works. Continue reading →

The story is long and convoluted, as most are when you go a bit below the surface.  Thomas Henderson had been a prosecutor in Shelby County, Tennessee, since 1976, and by 1997, was the top trial guy in District Attorney Amy Weirich’s office.  When the no-body case of a motel clerk, Ricci Ellsworth, came in, Henderson caught it.

From Memphis Flyer:

Officers from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department and the Memphis Police Department found large amounts of blood in the employee bathroom, a cracked sink, bloody towels, and the seat had been torn off the toilet. Sheets were taken, as well as $600 from the register. Ricci Ellsworth, the motel night clerk, was gone. Her 1989 Dodge Dynasty was still in the parking lot. Her body has not been found. She disappeared, but not without a trace. Continue reading →

Via Bmaz at Empty Wheel, a decision of little substantive interest but absolutely fascinating from a process point of view flew under the radar. In Royer v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, District of Columbia Judge Royce Lamberth was called upon to decide a discovery motion in a case involving an improper classification claim.

Royer is a federal inmate who has served about half of his 20 year sentence who in 2010 started bringing  a mandamus action complaining that he was improperly classified as a “terrorist inmate” causing him to be wrongfully placed in Communication Management Unit (CMU) detention. The case has meandered along ever since.

Not the sexiest case around, and a discovery order in a classification case isn’t likely to cause lawyers to rush to read it.  After all, here was the government, yanking the plaintiff’s chain by ignoring the demands, the time limits, the procedural requirements, all because, well, it’s the government.  Isn’t that good enough reason? Continue reading →

It’s rare to get a truly disruptive technological idea out of Oklahoma, but former police officer cum State Senator Al McAffrey has come up with sheer brilliance in Senate Bill 1872, which would “allow law enforcement officers to issue electronic citations for traffic, misdemeanor and municipal ordinance violations.”

“Allowing officers to issue electronic citations will help better protect them. If they don’t have to approach vehicles during traffic stops to give people tickets but can simply email traffic violation citations directly to the district court clerk then they’re less likely to get into a dangerous altercation,” said McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City.

As any highway patrol officer can tell you, approaching a stopped car on the side of the road is one of the riskiest things a cop can do. You never know who is inside the car, an old woman who will call you mean names, Continue reading →

Q. How long does a 48-hour hold last in drug court?

A. 154 Days.

At some point in every system, there is a dependency on human beings.  Whenever a system depends on human beings, there is the potential for failure.  Destiny Hoffman found that out the hard way, serving 154 days before a prosecutor, reviewing old cases, somehow noticed that she was still incarcerated.  From the Clark County, Indiana, News and Tribune:

A participant of the Clark County Drug Court Treatment Program sentenced to 48 hours in the Clark County jail was released from the facility Thursday — 154 days after being placed behind bars. Continue reading →

In its 42-year history, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police have lost only one officer in the line of duty. And it came as the result of Sgt. Tom Smith being shot by Det. Michael Maes. The untimely death of any person is a tragedy, and there should be no doubt that the remorse Maes feels at his mistaken shot is real.

The Los Angeles Times reports what happened:

The two men were among five BART detectives, two uniformed BART officers and  an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy who entered the unlocked Dublin apartment of  a robbery suspect already in custody to search for items stolen in a  robbery.

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing unnamed law enforcement  sources, reported Saturday that Smith and Maes split up as they entered the  apartment. As Smith’s drawn weapon emerged from a “Jack and Jill”-style bathroom  — one with two entrances — Maes momentarily mistook him for a hostile suspect  and fired a single shot. Continue reading →

David Plotz at Slate begins by explaining how and why he doesn’t like or trust Stephen Glass.  He then comes out and says so:

So, needless to say, I don’t like Steve. And I don’t trust Steve.

It appears there is only one thing he dislikes and distrusts more than Stephen Glass. Lawyers.

Glass was caught in a scandal in the late 90’s, fabricating stories at The New Republic, then lying about them to cover up his lies. Plotz’s wife, Hannah Rosin, was Glass’ editor, and closest confidante. Not only did she get burnt, but hung out like a fool for not being a very good judge of character. Continue reading →