» Entries tagged with "justice"
A Small Step
For any lawyer who practices a lot in federal court, the recent Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States is a pretty big deal. It involves the “Armed Career Criminal Act,” a part of 18 U.S.C. § 924 that has an enormous impact at sentencing for certain defendants convicted under the federal prohibited possessor law, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). What the act does is increase the penalty from a ten-year maximum to a fifteen-year mandatory minimum and a maximum of life in prison for people who have three or more convictions for a “serious drug offense” or a “violent felony.” The issue in Johnson was the definition of “violent felony,” specifically what courts call the “residual clause” of the definition. Although the definition includes some more clearly … Read entire article »
Filed under: SCOTUS Cases
Taking The Law Seriously
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has so many policies I can hardly keep them straight. I suspect that few deputy county attorneys even know all of them, as I hear there’s a manual they consult when in doubt. If a defendant files a motion to remand for a new determination of probable case, the policy is apparently to not offer a plea. For certain types of charges, no matter how unique the facts of the case, the offer apparently must involve a prison sentence. Aggravated DUI cases involve a plea to a complicated duo of charges that, quite frankly, makes no sense at all, and repeat offenders get similarly bizarre offers based on a complex and largely arbitrary set of considerations. Most notable, for the purpose of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Government Rants, Legislation, Police, Prosecutors
The Way They Think
I know a lot of nice prosecutors. I know prosecutors who care about justice. A few of them care about people too. Unfortunately, some of the other prosecutors I know don’t care much about anything except for hurting criminal defendants. The legislature gives them permission to ruin lives, and they relish the opportunity. One of my clients is charged with first-time DUI, and she has a very long history of medical problems. She’s had five back surgeries in the time I’ve represented her. She has to take special precautions just to make it through a day of work, and she sees doctors pretty much constantly. Spending a lot of time in jail would be disastrous for her health. I obtained documentation from medical … Read entire article »
Filed under: DUI, Prosecutors
Scalia and Analogies
Other bloggers have covered Michigan v. Bryant at length. I have no intention of discussing how the United States Supreme Court eviscerated the confrontation clause or even getting to the substance of the opinion itself. Instead, I’d rather think back to Crawford v. Washington after reading this little gem from Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, which Jeff Gamso cited here in a post after Michigan v. Bryant: Dispensing with confrontation because testimony is obviously reliable is akin to dispensing with jury trial because a defendant is obviously guilty. This is not what the Sixth Amendment prescribes. Love him or hate him, you have to admit Scalia is one hell of a writer. I think he really shines when it comes to analogies, with the above analogy definitely counting as one … Read entire article »
Filed under: SCOTUS Cases
The Court's Mistakes
Imagine a case where the prosecution and defense reach an agreement by the first pretrial conference. At that pretrial, the defendant enters a change of plea in front of a judge who sets the matter for sentencing. The defendant, who is in custody, will be released at sentencing if things go according to plan, and all of the parties involved are extremely satisfied with the result. At sentencing, the judge can’t find the plea in the file. The court, on its own, continues the matter for a brief period of time. However, at the next sentencing, the court still has not found the plea. Another brief continuance. At the next sentencing, when the defense attorney tries to take issue with parts of the probation officer’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Practice in General
Photo Radar
I regularly receive calls from people who want to fight their photo radar tickets. They are generally furious about the situation, calling the cameras “the devil’s work,” “big brother watching us,” and other far more colorful things I won’t mention here. Although people caught by the cameras hate them, I’ve found that most people I meet think the cameras are great. If you’ve read this blog much, I’m sure you can guess what I think. A lot of people justify photo radar because they think it will prevent speeding and free up law enforcement personnel to deal with more serious offenses. In general, I doubt photo radar will really do what its proponents claim, but I’d rather save that argument for a later post. Honestly, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Government Rants
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