Are there no rules?  It might seem that way, given how federal prosecutors handle their discovery obligations. Some prefer to bury you in 187 bankers’ boxes of junk, while others think the number 16 in the Rule refers to the total number of pages they’re required to disclose.

But Brad Heath at USA Today proves otherwise.

WASHINGTON – Five years ago, after a major corruption case imploded because federal prosecutors had improperly concealed evidence, the U.S. Justice Department ordered its lawyers to start turning over more information to criminal defense lawyers. But the rules for what prosecutors must share and when remained almost entirely secret, until now.

USA TODAY obtained copies of the department’s internal guidelines under the Freedom of Information Act and is publishing them here.

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Immediately after the University of Oklahoma/SAE scandal broke, Brady Henderson of the Oklahoma flavor of the American Civil Liberties Union issued a press release:

We join with OU President David Boren, as well as the majority of OU students, faculty, and alumni, and with an overwhelming number of Oklahomans in their disgust at SAE’s conduct this past Saturday night.

We applaud President Boren’s aggressive response to the SAE’s actions, and we encourage the OU administration to be equally aggressive in ensuring that the due process rights of students remain protected throughout any disciplinary processes against Fraternity members.

Of course, President David Boren’s “aggressive response” was to eviscerate the First Amendment rights of those involved.  The Okies then changed their minds: Continue reading →

Sure, those of us who focus on cool stuff used by cops have been aware of the existence of the StingRay, the cell site simulator, which spoofs a cell tower to capture all cellular service within its sphere.  We’re also aware that its manufacturer, the Harris Corp., sells them subject to a non-disclosure agreement.

Based upon this, federal law enforcement agencies have lied to courts and the public about its existence, its function and its actual use in particular investigations.  But not because they’re bad people, but because the NDA requires them to, and they really can’t tell or the bad dudes won’t fall into their trap.

But that’s all done now, as StingRay has gone big time, gracing the pages of the New York Times.  Well, “done” may not be an accurate description.

The issue led to a public dispute three weeks ago in Silicon Valley, where a sheriff asked county officials to spend $502,000 on the technology. The Santa Clara County sheriff, Laurie Smith, said the technology allowed for locating cellphones — belonging to, say, terrorists or a missing person. But when asked for details, she offered no technical specifications and acknowledged she had not seen a product demonstration.

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The early days of internet shopping brought three huge benefits. First, it gave everyone access to goods that weren’t available at their local mom and pop shop.  Second, it allowed people to find the guy who sold the same item for half the price.  And third, internet sellers didn’t charge tax.  That meant a significant savings, on top of the other benefits.

Of course, government hated the fact that it didn’t get its cut, and so imposed a duty on internet sellers to collect taxes on their sales.  It presented a significant problem for sellers, as every local jurisdiction charged different percentages of sales tax, but that was the sellers’ problem.

A more problematic reason to collect sales tax was that it was killing local business.  Why pay an additional 8.25% for a good?  Brick and mortar stores not only had to pay rent, but had to collect tax. It wasn’t fair that they were put at such a disadvantage to internet sellers. Continue reading →

The math tells the story:

By December of 2014, “over 16,000 people had outstanding arrest warrants that had been issued by the court.” The report makes clear that this refers to individual people, rather than cases (i.e. people with many cases are not being counted multiple times). However, if we do look at the number of cases, the portrait is even starker. In 2013, 32,975 offenses had associated warrants, so that there were 1.5 offenses for every city resident.

This comes from the Department of Justice report on Ferguson, Missouri.  While the actual numbers on the street work out somewhat different, since the number of offenses and related warrants aren’t divided equally amongst the population of 21,000, the point remains:

That means that the city of Ferguson quite literally has more crimes than people.

But that just scratches the surface of the problem, because the underlying offenses aren’t all murders and rapes, robbery or drug dealing. They’re mostly petty infractions, where fines and surcharges are imposed that people can’t possibly afford to pay.  While you can’t get blood from a stone, you can get a whole bunch of warrants for failure to pay. Continue reading →

After the Supreme Court refused to bite on his appeal to emotion, and the suffering client was again left to ponder why her lawyers failed to mention that chances were good her cause would fail miserably, former judge turned lawprof turned radical victim advocate Paul Cassell tried an end run around the Constitution.

He went to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who picked up the torch with the Amy and Vicky Child Pornography Victim Restitution Improvement Act of 2015.  Hatch’s pitch for the law provides:

The Amy and Vicky Act creates an effective, balanced restitution process for victims of child pornography that also responds to the Supreme Court’s decision in Paroline v. United States. It does three things that reflect the nature of  these crimes. First, it considers the total harm to the victim, including from individuals who may not yet have been identified. Second, it requires real and timely restitution. Third, it allows defendants who have contributed to the same victim’s harm to spread the restitution cost among themselves. Continue reading →

A call came in asking whether I would be interested in working with another lawyer on a case.  The caller explained that he wasn’t dissatisfied with the other lawyer, exactly, but wanted a second opinion, a second head.  “Two heads are better than one, right?” he said to me.

Well, no.  Most of the time, two heads are not better, and often worse.

Aside from there being a platitude for everything (too many cooks spoil the broth), choices ultimately must be made.  Immediately after OJ Simpson’s acquittal, everybody wanted a “dream team” of lawyers, just like Juice.  Until, that is, they found out what a dream team costs.  Clients aren’t always good with numbers.

But the Simpson dream team did something smart. Each was charged with handling a specific aspect of the case, suited to their strength, so that they didn’t step on each other. Sure, there was massive conflict anyway, and some major hate grew out of the association, but it worked at trial, which is what they were there to accomplish. Continue reading →

In his invariably colorful way, Marc Randazza summed up the conflict at George Washington University:

This is a total douche v. douche fight.

On one hand, you have the YAF. I can’t see what is “un-Christian” about taking a class that makes you learn how to be nicer to other people — especially when those people are from a group that, until quite recently, didn’t have a lot of friends or supporters. When someone tells me that their religious beliefs conflict with spending a little time learning about how to perhaps not offend people, it makes me think that their religion isn’t worth a fucking damn.

This isn’t being “un-Christian,” or un-anything except hostile.

The Young America’s Foundation chapter at the Washington, D.C.-based academic institute has refused to participate in LGBT sensitivity training recently made as a requirement.

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Every professor tells her students that Wikipedia is not a viable source, which stops no student ever from first going to Wikipedia to learn about something. It’s not that it can be trusted, but that it is the digital keeper of our times.

No more so than when Capital New York revealed that certain pages had been edited by computers with IP addresses at 1 Police Plaza.

Computers operating on the New York Police Department’s computer network at its 1 Police Plaza headquarters have been used to alter Wikipedia pages containing details of alleged police brutality, a review by Capital has revealed.

Computer users identified by Capital as working on the NYPD headquarters’ network have edited and attempted to delete Wikipedia entries for several well-known victims of police altercations, including entries for Eric Garner, Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo.

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The Gawker headline may have jumped the gun.

Why Wasn’t the Brooklyn Subway Shooter Arrested?

The short answer is that 69-year-old William Groomes may still be arrested, may still be prosecuted, for murdering Gilbert Drogheo.  But no, had it been someone without a shield, even one that said “retired” on it, and the right to carry a concealed weapon in New York City, his arrest would have been immediate.

Another piece to the puzzle was that Drogheo wasn’t a very good victim.

The incident started during rush hour on Tuesday when Groomes stepped between Drogheo and Evering while boarding the 4 train. A law enforcement official told the New York Times that the younger men began taunting Groomes, who tried to ignore them. “At one point, they called him a boy,” the official said. “He says: ‘Don’t call me boy. I’m not your boy.'” One of the men reportedly punched Groomes in the head, and according to the Associated Press, they pushed him down into a seat on the train.

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