Apr 20 2013
The argument is raging on all the news channels. Do we have to read Dzhokar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights? Sen. John McCain and others are insisting that he can be treated as “an enemy combatant” or that the “public safety” exemption can be applied. While I disagree that both premises are valid, that’s not the …
Mar 12 2013
NYPD ex-cop Gilberto Valle has been found guilty this morning of conspiring to kidnap women and illegally using Federal databases to help him do so. Dubbed “the Cannibal Cop” Valle has tried to put forth a defense that he was just fantasizing and exploring the netherworld of the dark side of the Internet. But it …
Mar 07 2013
I am not clear how this happens in America in 2013. Steve Slevin was pulled over for DWI in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. Slevin was soon placed in padded cell in the jail’s floor, naked with only a suicide smock on, as a form of detoxification. Slevin then went into medical observation for a …
Feb 03 2013
So this morning’s NY Times article about pervasive perjury in criminal cases by members of the NYPD will come as no surprise to regular criminal defense practitioners. Among those who practice in this field, the practice is called “testilying.” But while Michelle Alexander’s article does a good job of describing the problem and pointing to …
Jan 02 2013
It used to be an old adage in NY criminal jurisprudence that penal statutes had to be “strictly construed.” The reasoning behind this made sense. If we were going to punish people and possibly put them behind bars, then we should put them on notice of the exact type of conduct that would put them …