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Full-Text Articles in Law
Witness Recantation Study: Preliminary Findings, Alexandra E. Gross, Samuel R. Gross
Witness Recantation Study: Preliminary Findings, Alexandra E. Gross, Samuel R. Gross
Other Publications
In September 2012, the National Registry of Exonerations began a research study of all the cases in our database that involve post-conviction recantations by witnesses or victims. This is the first systematic study of recantations ever conducted. Its purpose is to identify patterns and trends among these cases, with a particular focus on the circumstances that first elicit the false testimony, and on the official reactions to the recantations by judges and other authorities. Our data set includes all the cases in the Registry as of February 28, 2013 – a total of 1,068 cases, 250 of which involve recantations. …
The Impact Of Civilian Aggravating Factors On The Military Death Penalty (1984-2005): Another Chapter In The Resistance Of The Armed Forces To The Civilianization Of Military Justice, Catherine M. Grosso, David C. Baldus, George Woodworth
The Impact Of Civilian Aggravating Factors On The Military Death Penalty (1984-2005): Another Chapter In The Resistance Of The Armed Forces To The Civilianization Of Military Justice, Catherine M. Grosso, David C. Baldus, George Woodworth
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
In 1984, the U.S. Armed Forces amended its capital punishment system for death eligible murder to bring it into compliance with Furman v. Georgia. Those amendments were modeled after death penalty legislation prevailing in over thirty states. After a brief period between 1986 and 1990, the charging decisions of commanders and the conviction and sentencing decisions of court martial members (jurors) transformed the military death penalty system into a dual system that treats two classes of death eligible murder quite differently. Since 1990, a member of the armed forces accused of a killing a commissioned officer or murder with a …
Jesting Pilate, Carl E. Schneider
Jesting Pilate, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
I have two goals this month. First, to examine a case that's in the news. Second, to counsel skepticism in reading news accounts of cases. Recently, I was talking with an admirable scholar. He said that transplant surgeons sometimes kill potential donors to obtain their organs efficiently. He added, "This isn't just an urban legend - there's a real case in California." A little research turned up California v. Roozrokh. A little Googling found stories from several reputable news sources. Their headlines indeed intimated that a transplant surgeon had tried to kill a patient to get transplantable organs. CNN.com: …
Hard Cases, Carl E. Schneider
Hard Cases, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
Robert Latimer was born in 1953 on a farm on the prairies of Saskatchewan and grew up to own a 1,280-acre farm. In 1980 he married, and that year Tracy, the first of four children, was born. During her birth, Tracy's brain was terribly damaged by lack of oxygen, and severe cerebral palsy ensued. By 1993 Tracy could laugh, smile, and cry, and she could recognize her parents and her siblings. But she could not understand her own name or even simple words like "yes" and "no." She could not swallow well and would so often vomit her parents kept …
Dreams, Prophecy And Sorcery: Blaming The Secret Offender In Medieval Iceland, William I. Miller
Dreams, Prophecy And Sorcery: Blaming The Secret Offender In Medieval Iceland, William I. Miller
Articles
An eminent legal historian once noted that the fundamental problem of law enforcement in primitive societies is that of the secret offender. The Icelandic legal and dispute processing systems depended on a wrongdoer publishing his deed, or at least committing it in an open and notorious manner. No state agencies existed to investigate and discover the non-publishing wrongdoer. But there were strong normative inducements to wrong openly; one's name was at stake. There was absolutely no honor in thievery, only the darkest shame; the ransmadr, on the other hand, suffered no shame for his successful raids, even if he did …
Societal Concepts Of Criminal Liability For Homicide In Medieval England, Thomas A. Green
Societal Concepts Of Criminal Liability For Homicide In Medieval England, Thomas A. Green
Articles
THE early history of English criminal law lies hidden behind the laconic formulas of the rolls and law books. The rules of the law, as expounded by the judges, have been the subject of many studies; but their practical application in the courts, where the jury of the community was the final and unbridled arbiter, remains a mystery: in short, we know little of the social mores regarding crime and crimi- nals. This study represents an attempt to delineate one major aspect of these societal attitudes. Its thesis is that from late Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the middle …
Descent And Distribution - Joint Ownership - Imposition Of Constructive Trust On Murderer Of Co-Tenant, John B. Schwemm S.Ed.
Descent And Distribution - Joint Ownership - Imposition Of Constructive Trust On Murderer Of Co-Tenant, John B. Schwemm S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
A husband, owning land with his wife as tenants by the entireties, killed her and immediately thereafter committed suicide. In an action to determine ownership of the realty, both the probate and appellate courts declared that since a relevant disinheritance statute was inapplicable, full title vested in the husband and, upon his death, descended to his heirs. On appeal, held, reversed. Despite the common law nature of such tenancies, equity will impose on the husband a constructive trust in one-half the property for the benefit of the victim's estate. National City Bank of Evansville v. Bledsoe, (Ind. 1957) …
Evidence-Admissibility Of Confessions In Federal Courts Under The Mcnabb Rule, Harry T. Baumann S.Ed.
Evidence-Admissibility Of Confessions In Federal Courts Under The Mcnabb Rule, Harry T. Baumann S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Defendant, after proper arraignment on a charge of as· sault, was questioned intermittently about and confessed to a murder. This confession, introduced at the trial in the District Court of Alaska, was instrumental in convicting the defendant of the graver charge. The court of appeals reversed because of a failure to file the murder complaint within a reasonable time. On certiorari, held, the confession, made after proper detention on a lesser charge, was legal and admissible if given freely; but case affirmed as modified on other grounds. United States v. Carignan, 342 U.S. 36, 72 S.Ct. 97 (1951).
Evidence-Admissibility Of Uncommunicated Threats, Thomas Hartwell S. Ed.
Evidence-Admissibility Of Uncommunicated Threats, Thomas Hartwell S. Ed.
Michigan Law Review
The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree, following his killing of one Hunter as the outcome of a quarrel. The defendant had pleaded self-defense, contending that Hunter had appeared to threaten him. The defendant was the only witness to testify as to any aggression on the part of Hunter, while the four eyewitnesses to the killing all testified that the accused had attacked Hunter without warning and had fired upon Hunter's wife and child. Defendant's motion for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence showing that Hunter had in his pocket an open knife, which …
Criminal Law - ''Temporary Insanity" -Arguments And Proposals For Its Elimination As A Defense To Criminal Prosecution, Lewis R. Williams, Jr. S. Ed.
Criminal Law - ''Temporary Insanity" -Arguments And Proposals For Its Elimination As A Defense To Criminal Prosecution, Lewis R. Williams, Jr. S. Ed.
Michigan Law Review
ln view of the apparently increasing number of cases which have come before the courts in recent years in which the defense of "temporary insanity" has been made, an investigation into the status of that defense in the criminal law of today would seem desirable. The term "temporary insanity" is one of popular origin and finds no place in strict legal terminology. The defense of incapacity for the mens rea, legally speaking, is "insanity," not "temporary insanity." But because of the human desire for a mot convenable, we have come to apply the term "temporary insanity" to those …
Criminal Law-Proof Of The Corpus Delicti By The Use Of Extra-Judicial Confessions, Theodore Sachs
Criminal Law-Proof Of The Corpus Delicti By The Use Of Extra-Judicial Confessions, Theodore Sachs
Michigan Law Review
Defendant, a physician, was accused of the murder of his cancer-ridden patient by the injection of 40 c.c. of air into a vein of the patient's arm shortly before her death. The defendant had noted on the patient's medical chart the fact of the injection and that of her death, apparently a few minutes later. He subsequently dictated the same facts to his nurse, and later made similar admissions to local enforcement authorities and others making such statements on the day of his arrest and immediately thereafter. At the trial, a pathologist, called as an expert witness on behalf of …
Criminal Law-Confessions Obtained Prior To Commitment-What Constitutes Unreasonable Delay, B. J. George, Jr.
Criminal Law-Confessions Obtained Prior To Commitment-What Constitutes Unreasonable Delay, B. J. George, Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Defendants were arrested on suspicion of murder and questioned by police. Defendants confessed after being held incommunicado for some hours during the night, but were not arraigned until the following morning. The confessions were admitted in evidence and defendants found guilty. On appeal, held, affirmed. There had not been an unreasonable delay in producing defendants before a commissioner, because the length of time in hours was not unreasonable and because committing magistrates are not available late at night. Garner v. United States, (App. D.C., 1949) 174 F. (2d) 499.
Criminal Law-Evidence-Silence To Accusation While Under Arrest As Admission Of Guilt, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr.
Criminal Law-Evidence-Silence To Accusation While Under Arrest As Admission Of Guilt, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr.
Michigan Law Review
Defendant was convicted of murder. Before the victim died, defendant, handcuffed and in custody of police, had been taken to the hospital room where the victim lay. Eight witnesses were present at the time, and each testified that the victim pointed out the defendant as her assailant. At the trial the witnesses were permitted to testify that when accused of the crime, defendant stood by silently, saying and doing nothing, although it also appeared that he had been told by the police chief to ''keep your mouth shut." The prosecution capitalized upon defendant's silence as an admission of guilt. On …
Criminal Law And Procedure - Remedies Available To Convicted Defendant When New Facts Are Found, Smith Warder
Criminal Law And Procedure - Remedies Available To Convicted Defendant When New Facts Are Found, Smith Warder
Michigan Law Review
Due to its haphazard growth and evolution, the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence occasionally left gaping defects in its general contours. Many of these defects have been and are being filled, both by statute and by the continuing development of the common law. However, there is one case which re-occurs with distressing frequency where no satisfactory remedy has been developed and where this lack of remedy can have unjust or even barbaric results.
Criminal Law And Procedure - Extradition Of A Juvenile Delinquent, Felicia I. Hmiel
Criminal Law And Procedure - Extradition Of A Juvenile Delinquent, Felicia I. Hmiel
Michigan Law Review
The state of Georgia, by an acting justice of peace of a county, charged a thirteen-year-old boy with the crime of assault with intent to murder. Under the Georgia Criminal Code the offense was punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of two to ten years. The boy was found in the state of New York, whereupon the governor of Georgia sent a requisition for extradition to the governor of New York. The boy defendant brought a habeas corpus proceeding in a New York court to obtain release from custody under the extradition warrant. Held, the defendant …
Criminal Law And Procedure - Admissibility Of Confessions - Exhortations To Tell The Truth, Dan K. Cook
Criminal Law And Procedure - Admissibility Of Confessions - Exhortations To Tell The Truth, Dan K. Cook
Michigan Law Review
Defendant, while in the custody of police officers, confessed to the crime of murder. It was shown that the police officers during the course of defendant's examination, stated to the defendant that "it was better for him to tell the whole truth," and ''You are not telling the truth, give us the truth on this," "You might as well tell the truth; to me now," "I advise you to tell the truth in this case." In the subsequent prosecution of the defendant for murder, it was held that the confession was properly admissible notwithstanding these statements by the officers. Commonwealth …
Succession By Murderer-Applicability Of Constructive Trust
Succession By Murderer-Applicability Of Constructive Trust
Michigan Law Review
There do not seem to have been any decided cases in the early common law on the question whether a murderer could succeed to the title to property left by his victim, or derive any benefit from his crime. By the civil law the legal title passed to the criminal, and was afterwards confiscated by the state. What may be said to be the modem rule is not so definitely determined, The numerical majority of cases, beginning with the first case to be decided on the exact question in 1888, have held that he could not succeed. But the decisions …
Crimes-Charge To Jury
Michigan Law Review
Defendant was indicted for murder and manslaughter under sections 15224-5, 3 Compiled Laws of Michigan 1915. The judge gave charges for first and second degree murder and for manslaughter. There was no evidence of murder. A manslaughter verdict was returned. The case was reversed because the murder charge was unsupported by any evidence, and because the defendant was hampered in cross examination. People v. Stahl, 234 Mich. 569, 208 N. W. 685.
A Monument To The American Sense Of Justice, Wade Millis
A Monument To The American Sense Of Justice, Wade Millis
Michigan Law Review
In this national anniversary year of profound memories we meet in a garden spot of Michigan within the boundaries of a county that possesses high distinction in being the theatre of important historical events and the home of many who have been notable for their achievements in the profession of the law and in the broad fields of statesmanship.
Crimes-Defense Of Property
Michigan Law Review
May one under any circumstances kill in order to prevent the loss or destruction of his property? By this question is meant killing solely to prevent loss or destruction of property; necessary homicide in self-defense is unquestionably justifiable. Much of the confusion on the question whether one may take life if necessary in defense of property is due, it seems, to a persistent tendency to treat the two questions as the same. It hardly needs statement that the body of law pertinent to self-defense is totally distinct fundamentally from that pertaining to one's powers in defense of his chattels. Practically, …
A Digest Of Important Cases On The Law Of Crimes, John R. Rood
A Digest Of Important Cases On The Law Of Crimes, John R. Rood
Books
“In selecting the cases to be abridged, an effort has been made to choose those that have drawn the most attention, comment, and citation. The reputation of each case is shown to the reader in part by reference to the various collections of important cases on crimes which have been included….”--Preface.