When Reuters “broke” the news that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division engaged in what was euphemistically called “parallel construction,” experienced criminal defense lawyers lifted an eyebrow and stifled a yawn. How do you break something that we’ve all known about for 20 years?  If there was anything shocking about the story, it was former Judge Nancy Gertner’s reaction to the story.

“I have never heard of anything like this at all,” said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor who served as a federal judge from 1994 to 2011. Continue reading →

I’ve been called blunt, terse and far, far worse, but rarely has anyone suggested that I’ve been too polite to make my position clear. Apparently, the same can’t be said for the ABA’s committee on the future of legal education, at least as far as lawprofs are concerned. At Concurring Opinions, Lawrence Cunningham questions what exactly they were getting at in the working paper:

Obsession with status is a culprit in the woes of today’s American law schools and faculty, the Working Paper finds. Continue reading →

The descriptions of Israel Hernández-Llach are either glowing or demeaning, and in some cases both. From the Miami Herald:

At just 18, Israel Hernández-Llach was already an award-winning artist, on the threshold of acclaim in Miami Beach art circles. He was a sculptor, painter, writer and photographer whose craft was inspired by his home country of Colombia and his adopted city, Miami.

And in the next paragraph:

He was also a graffiti artist, Continue reading →

Of the many cesspools of the criminal justice system, none is more troubling than what becomes of the children of parents deemed unfit for having engaged in crime, even if the same conduct isn’t a crime elsewhere. But the wounds that come from taking children from parents who cared for them with love because of state paternalism are rarely seen, and so the cesspool continues to fester because it all seems to make sense in theory.

The fear is obvious. A parent arrested for smoking marijuana in a state where pot remains a heinous crime, as opposed to those states where pot is now an acceptable thing to do, can’t be trusted to be a safe parent. Continue reading →

Following the suicide of Aaron Swartz, MIT’s new president, L. Rafael Reif, whose unspoken (but barely hidden) goal is to wipe the place clean of its organic culture so that incoming students can pop their Izod collars just like they would have done if they went to Exeter, appointed Course 6 (that’s MIT-speak for computer science) professor Hal Abelson to conduct an investigation to determine whether MIT was complicit in the factors that drove Swartz to his end.

Abelson was picked as an honest broker, a man who shared Swartz’s vision of the internet, at least to some extent. Of course, he was still a prof and received a paycheck that bore the Institute’s name, Continue reading →

Franklin County, Ohio, Judge Amy Salerno disagreed with the verdict of a jury. Oh boy. As she explained it to the Columbus Dispatch, “(I) failed to contain my surprise at this particular meeting (with jurors).” This may be a bit of an understatement.

“(The judge) said, ‘Ninety-nine percent of the time, the jury is correct,’  ” according to [juror LeShawn] Chapman. “  ‘Now it’s 98 percent. You got this wrong.’ Continue reading →

Via the LA Times, an Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy is charged with a misdemeanor count of assault for engaging in what would appear to be a bizarre practical joke following a traffic stop.

Juan Tavera, a six-year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, spotted the pizza in the back seat of the 19-year-old’s car and sprayed it without the youth’s knowledge, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Continue reading →

A friend got the email and sent it off to me, because it was close to home and just too funny not to share.

My name is Kerrie O’Connor and I’m a Psychic Medium. For over 20 years, I’ve consulted with hundreds of Attorneys & Law Enforcement Officials on various trials and investigations. My unique skill set and perception abilities give Attorneys added insight on cases and maximize their ability to garner the best outcome possible.

My consulting services can be retained on a monthly basis or case-by-case basis and my fees for services are within reason.

According to , O’Connor is not a mere “Psychic Medium.” Continue reading →

One of the things that happens when you have a blog that has been around for  a while is that people “pitch” you to get you to write about something. Most of the time, it’s something banal, like their product or their personal injustice. Sometimes, it’s one of the myriad tragedies that warrant broad publication, but just seem to get lost in the mass of tragic news that happens regularly.

Last October, I was pitched to get involved in trying to save a crazy guy, John Errol Ferguson, from execution. I wrote about it here, and twitted about it as the hour for execution drew near. Continue reading →

After 13 years as a public defender, Daniel Partain decided he had enough.

Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

Continue reading →