Crime and Punishment

In 1985, John Thompson was convicted of murder. In later years, however, defense investigators discovered that the prosecutor, New Orleans Parrish Assistant District Attorney Gerry Deegan, had intentionally withheld evidence. This was a violation of Thompson's rights under Brady v. Maryland, and Thompson's conviction was vacated. He was tried for murder again, and after … [Read more...] about Strict Liability for Wrongful Imprisonment

Here's an excerpt from a statement by the Middlesex County, Massachusetts, District Attorney's office about the SWAT shooting of 68-Year-Old Eurie Stamps while he was lying on the floor: As Officer Duncan moved to the right of Mr. Stamps, just past Mr. Stamps' shoulders, he had to step to his left.  As he stepped to his left, he lost his balance, and began to fall over … [Read more...] about On SWAT and the Inevitable Accidental Shooting

You've got to be friggin' kidding me. I mean, I know that scaring people is part of the whole tough-on-crime business, but really? Rick Horowitz and I have been exchanging messages about some website design issues, and that got me to poking around Rick's new law practice website, which lead me to another of Rick's websites: GangDefense.com, which eventually led me to his … [Read more...] about The California STEP

A depressing story about a group of thirteen-year-olds who allegedly strong armed another thirteen-year-old to rob an iPhone contained what I considered to be a strange additional fact in the case. An 18-year-old "was charged with disorderly conduct after police said he was present at the time of the robbery and did nothing to stop it." So, just what is my civic duty … [Read more...] about My Civic Duty to Intervene

It's been a long time since I posted anything at When Falls the Coliseum, but I finally got around to writing something new for them. It's about the recent verdict by an Oregon jury, calling for the death penalty for Bruce Turnidge and his son Joshua for the murder of two police officers. There's a part of the prosecutors' argument that just doesn't seem like the sort of thing … [Read more...] about Death For Extremist Speech?