Earlier this month, over 275,000 signed a petition and sent it to President Obama requesting a pardon for Steven Avery, the main character of the real life Netflix mini series. The Netflix ten-part series, Making of a Murder, has brought forward a public outcry and has motivated a great many…
Yesterday, on January 12th, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a portion of Florida’s capital punishment system is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, in striking this portion, found that only a jury can make the necessary findings that the defendant’s taking of the life of the victim was cruel, unusual, or heinous.…
This past Saturday, January 9th, Sean Penn published an extensive article in Rolling Stone detailing his covert trip to Mexico to meet and interview the drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera a/k/a El Chapo, along with Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo. Sean Penn could now be the focus of a criminal investigation and…
Ethan Couch, the teen dubbed as the ‘Affluenza Teen,’ arrested in Texas and placed on probation in 2013, is still months away from removal from Mexico back to Texas for sentencing after having fled Texas for violating his probation. Source: Cbsnews.com Extradition to Texas Procedurally, Texas has to go through…
Federal Prosecutors and California authorities are looking into filing charges, but they hesitate. Under existing laws, Farook’s live-in mother may not be convicted for aiding and abetting. The law does not create a duty to inform authorities of the bombs and the preparations, which is where a change in anti-terrorist…
When are judges and prosecutors subject to criminal prosecution for actions taken in the course of or under the penumbra of law, that are probably abuses that warrant criminal sanctions? Should they be beyond the reach of any and all criminal laws? When and who decides when prosecutorial discretion becomes…
Most Americans shy away from Latin or Greek sounding words and one at the top of the list to find out about is Habeas Corpus. In Latin, Habeas Corpus means that “you should have the body” or “produce the body.” But in our legal system, Habeas Corpus means that anyone…
Source: http://lawenforcementleaders.org/ On October 22nd, 2015, President Obama met with the Marshall Project, as well as a new group called the Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration. The new group is made up of 130 police department heads and law enforcement officials, including William J. Bratton of the…
FBI Director James Comey has made press comments that the “Ferguson Effect” has led to an increase in violent crime. His comment was admidetly based on his empirical view of changes in homicide rates in select cities. So the issue is: ”Are police shirking duty for fear of being prosecuted?”…
With over 200,000 inmates in the Federal prison system and a Congress poised to make changes in the harsh sentencing rules for drug offenses, clemency is under consideration by the office of the President. At the time of this posting the criteria for consideration of clemency can cover about…