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Foster Decision Raises Question Whether Batson is Workable
The Supreme Court this week in Foster v. Chatman (14-8349, decided May 23,2016) reversed a Georgia murder conviction because the prosecutors violated the requirement of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) that lawyers not use race-based peremptory challenges to remove jurors. The Court, in an exquisitely detailed factual analysis by Chief Justice Roberts, dissected the
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Post Luis Blues
In Luis v. United States, the Supreme Court held that pretrial restraint of untainted assets needed by a criminal defendant to retain counsel of choice violates the Sixth Amendment. But what about pretrial restraint of untainted assets not needed to hire counsel? The Fourth Circuit, alone among federal circuits, permits pretrial restraint of untainted substitute
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Speedy Trial Clause Does Not Encompass Sentencing Delay
This just in from the Supreme Court. The Sixth Amendment's Speedy Trial Clause does not apply to the time between conviction, via trial or guilty plea, and sentencing. Justice Ginsburg wrote the unanimous opinion. The Court noted that petitioner did not base his claim on the Due Process Clause and refused to speak to the issue of
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NACDL/ILR Law & Policy Symposium – May 26th
NACDL and the US Chamber of Commerce have a Law & Policy Symposium on Thursday May 26, 2016 at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The title of the program is "The Enforcement Maze: Over-Criminalizing American Enterprise." The morning keynote speaker will be Chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary Bob Goodlatte,
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Ninth Circuit Reverses Judge Real for Berating Lawyer
As every veteran litigator knows, who the trial judge is not only a major determinant in the ultimate result of a case, but a major factor in how unpleasant and difficult the lawyer's life will be. There are judges, I suspect fewer than in the past, who are so biased to defendants and hostile to their lawyers, more
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Prosecutorial Accountability 2.0 – Green & Yaroshefsky
Check out this forthcoming article by Bruce Green and Ellen Yaroshefsky that is forthcoming in Notre Dame Law Review - Abstract: "This article examines prosecutors’ accountability for professional misconduct. It begins by identifying a significant evolution since the Warren Court era both in the rhetoric regarding prosecutorial misconduct and in how prosecutors are regulated.
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Supremes Take A Bank Fraud Case
The United States Supreme Court accepted cert this morning in Shaw v. United States here. In 2014 the Court had looked at section 1344(2) of the bank fraud statute. (Loughrin v. United States). In contrast to Loughrin, this new case examines subsection (1), specifically the "scheme to defraud a financial institution" and whether it requires proof
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Silver’s Alleged Extramarital Affairs to be Considered at Sentencing
Judge Valerie Caproni, the Southern District of New York judge presiding over the case of convicted former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has unsealed papers submitted by United States Attorney Preet Bharara alleging that the convicted politician had affairs with two women who allegedly received favorable treatment from him in his professional capacity. The
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First Circuit Refines Mens Rea and Aiding and Abetting
Last week in a significant opinion involving mens rea and the federal aiding and abetting statute, 18 U.S.C. Section 2(a), the First Circuit threw out a conviction based on faulty jury instructions. The instruction allowed the jury to convict the defendant if she “knew or had reason to know” that her husband had been previously convicted
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DC Circuit – Executive Controls DPA – Fokker Services Case
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Hon. Srinivasan, vacated the district court order in the Fokker case finding that these "determinations are for the Executive – not the courts – to make." The case arose "from the interplay between the operation of a DPA and the running of time limitations under the Speedy Trial Act."
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