Ed. Note: Chris Halkides has been kind enough to try to make us lawyers smarter by dumbing down science enough that we have a small chance of understanding how it’s being used to wrongfully convict and, in some cases, execute defendants. Chris graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and teaches biochemistry, organic chemistry, and forensic chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Larry Swearingen was his own worst enemy. He had repeatedly been in trouble with the law; there are reports that he was violent toward women. He may have denied knowing the murder victim, Melissa Trotter, to the police, despite their being friends (possibly with benefits). When imprisoned, he dictated a letter that claimed to be authored by someone else who had knowledge of the crime in a strange attempt to divert suspicion from himself. Those prevarications don’t make him guilty. Yet despite more than one robust line of evidence indicating that he was innocent, the State of Texas executed him in August of 2019. Continue reading →

To say that a student in a wheel chair needs a ramp to enter a building is easy to understand. Or that blind students need textbooks in Braille. Few would question either the need to accommodate such students’ disabilities, or that their disability doesn’t mean they can’t be smart students with successful futures ahead of them.

But when it comes to more amorphous disabilities, from ADHD to anxiety, both the needs and the accommodations become more fuzzy. Unsurprisingly, this has given rise to smart students from well-to-do families gaming the system to enjoy accommodations such as extra time on tests and distraction-free test environments. And you’ll never guess where these students end up going to college. Continue reading →

Charity isn’t a substitute for government funded medical research or a social safety net, but charities are critical to as the government can’t fulfill all needs even under the best of circumstances. Today is Giving Tuesday, and if you’re so inclined, please give to the charity of your choice.

If you can, please give to the Fragile X Research Foundation, Fraxa, which will double every donation with matching funds. Thank you.

Alina Habba has had a really bad week. First, the Eleventh Circuit, by Judge William Pryor of all people, affirmed a $1 million sanction against her and Trump for a frivolous defamation suit. Now, the Third Circuit affirmed her disqualification as Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, rejecting the Trump administration’s efforts to circumvent the law limiting unconfirmed officers from serving more than 120 days, or having the attorney general call them “special” (though “special” they may be) to circumvent the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

Not only was this turn of events a foregone conclusion, but it created chaos in the courts for no better purpose than Trump wanted his former personal lawyer (before the million dollar sanction was affirmed, at least) to be rewarded with a cool title (bearing no relation to any legal work she had ever done before) no matter what. Continue reading →

The prosecution and conviction of Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras, and sentence to 45 years imprisonment was one of the big victories in the unfortunately named War on Drugs, a metaphor that’s gone full tilt when it comes to killing.

For your Christmas wish list… pic.twitter.com/pLXzg20SaL

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) December 1, 2025

So why then, would Trump state his intention to pardon JOH, as he’s known? Continue reading →

The Washington Post reported that there was a second strike of the first boat alleged to be transporting drugs out of Venezuela.

A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.

The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.

As previously argued, the first strike was illegal. But even if one assumes that’s debatable, there is no question that the second strike was murder. Secretary of War Defense Pete Hegseth gave the order to kill everybody. Continue reading →

The shooter turned out to be an Afghan migrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, admitted under a bipartisan program to allow Afghanis who worked with and aided our military to enter the United States to avoid being put to death by the Taliban. He entered while Biden was president, and was granted amnesty when Trump was president. There was nothing about this that would have raised concerns, until Lakanwal shot two West Virginia National Guard persons, one of whom has since died and may, perhaps, have President Trump attend her funeral.

While the motive has yet to be determined, the hysteria has rushed forward. Initially, Trump has directed the suspension of immigration processing for all Afghan immigrants, because one committed a heinous act. Ilya Somin explains why this collective “punishment” is wrong, discriminatory and counterproductive. Continue reading →

For the first time since my baby boy was born, he will not be with us for Thanksgiving. First, the lost boys were gone, and now he has moved on to the sharing stage of life, spending Thanksgiving with the family of his special person.

Last year, they came here, home, for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful. It’s only fair that they go elsewhere this year. Fairness is good, but it doesn’t change the fact that I miss having them here for Thanksgiving. Continue reading →

My slightly snarky take is that poor Ka$h feels left out of the “Pleasing Trump Club” after show-toady Pete Hegseth twitted that he’s directing that retired Captain, Astronaut and now Senator Mark Kelly be “investigated” at the command of his master. With Pete proving his devotion, what’s Ka$h to do?

The six Democratic members of Congress who recorded a video informing troops that they could refuse illegal orders said on Tuesday that they were being investigated by the F.B.I.

The group, made up of veterans of the military and the C.I.A., said the bureau had contacted the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms requesting interviews with them, though it is unclear what, if any, laws they might conceivably have violated with their video.

Former legal director of the ACLU, David Cole, explains the First Amendment ramifications of using governmental investigations to silence speech that displeases Trump. Continue reading →

On the one side, you have a person who has flown fighter jets in combat, gone into space and had his wife shot in the head. Some might call Mark Kelly a true American hero. On the other side, there’s the draft dodger with bone spurs and the laughably unqualified show pony toady with hair gel who can’t keep a top secret (or staff). But that does not mean the former can’t do wrong and the latter should call Senator Kelly to account if he did.

So did he?

Unlike the others in the video, Mark Kelly is a retired naval captain, which makes him subject to recall to active duty and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. While Trump called this conduct “seditious,” subject to the punishment of “DEATH!!!”, it was clearly not sedition. But is it otherwise actionable under the UCMJ? Secretary of War Defense Pete Hegseth seems to think so. Continue reading →