Mostly Plants

Following the acquittal of Shawn Bell’s killers, one of the lawyers pointed out an interesting discrepancy between the New York and Federal criminal procedure systems: in New York, a criminal defendant has a right to a jury trial, and can waive that right.  In the Federal system, however, the United States also has a right [...]

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This Editorial in the Washington Times begins:
There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it’s perfectly reasonable to strip search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible
The first group includes officials [...]

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Yesterday, in an epic split decision reminiscent of Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Baze v. Reese, the lethal injection challenge case. A copy of the opinion is at http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Baze_v._Rees.

Share and Enjoy:

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What struck me about the article, though, was how The Donald describes his case:

“Trump told the NYLJ that the law firm was preoccupied with fees throughout the case. ‘Ninety percent of the conversations I had with David Scharf were about legal fees, not the case,’ he said. ‘We won the case because I’m a great witness’”

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In an article published this morning on Findlaw, Sherry Colb argues that comparisons of death penalty methods against animal euthanasia are fundamentally inapt. She responds to those of us who have cited the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) euthanasia standards in the death penalty debate by saying that nobody should be surprised that the [...]

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Regardless of how you feel about adult prostitution, I think we all agree that child prostitution is a Bad Thing (TM) and is inherently an inherently abusive practice. If that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense to treat it as a crime and punish the children involved. They are the victims, not the offenders. On the other hand, it would be clearly inappropriate for the system not to do something to stop it–every bit as repulsive as sending a battered child back to live with the abusive parents (something that our system does regularly).

And now, a Las Vegas Judge is working on a solution.

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