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The dissent gets it right in Supreme Court’s latest speedy trial decision
The United States Supreme Court ordinarily rejects criminal cases for review absent a material split of opinions in the state appellate courts, federal appellate courts, or both, unless the Court finds a compelling Constitutional question to justify review nonetheless. Apparently intended as a pre-emptive ruling...
Preserve the right to be let alone
NOTE: The current version of this blog entry constitutes a substantial rewrite of my original blog entry from earlier this morning, after I more closely read and sifted through the Fourth Circuit’s Whorley decision discussed below. Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969), was one of...
Cops are not permitted to make up law as they go along
Cops can get touchy about suspects who put their hands in their pockets, lest they have a weapon in there. Imagine if cops were permitted to conduct searches on a hunch, just to increase their safety more, and to decimate individual liberty more in the...
Gerry Spence on video
The powerhouse of John Johnson and Gerry Spence (Aug. 1995, Thunderhead Ranch) Lately, more videos of trial great Gerry Spence — who founded the Trial Lawyers College, which I attended in 1995 — are getting to YouTube. Here are the most notable videos: – Cross examining,...
Apprendi and safety valve sentencing
Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. MI). Imagine pleading guilty when facing a high risk of a three-strikes non-parolable life term in prison. Why enter such a guilty plea unless such an approach is one’s only realistic hope not to die in prison,...
Trials & the Art of Bloodless War
Is criminal defense work about proverbial war and sometimes bloodletting? Hell, yes, whether one wants it that way or not. As I have said before, t’ai chi principles are important to criminal defense, for focusing on harmonizing an imbalanced situation without applying more than a...
The jury is the thing. Petty offenses are the barrier
Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.) Yesterday I blogged on a recent marijuana bench trial victory in federal magistrates court. In my view, however, it is unconstitutional — absent the clear and informed consent of the criminal defendant on the record in court — to expose...
Defending and winning in federal magistrate’s court
Bill of Rights. (From the public domain.) Recently, I won a marijuana possession case in federal magistrate’s court. I won the case not through pulling any rabbits out of the hat, but by using procedural rules and procedural strategy to my advantage. My client was issued...
Judges: The Exclusionary Rule must even cover the countless police errors resulting from an overgrown criminal justice system
To my knowledge, when they were lawyers, no current Supreme Court justice prosecuted nor defended criminal cases in trial court, and none of them were police. Probably with few or no exceptions, the sitting justices’ law clerks are chosen not for previous law clerking experience...
Pot Odor – Distinguish between the smell of burnt and raw marijuana
Pot odor is stronger when burnt than raw says Fairfax criminal lawyer Pot odor is often used by police to justify searches for more serious activity, where this is allowed by cops in the midst of constant marijuana decriminalization. (UPDATE: As a Fairfax criminal lawyer,...