Law Commons^™

Death Penalty Law, Holly Geerdes, David Lawless

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys the death penalty decisions of the Georgia Supreme Court from June 1, 2003, through May 31, 2004. The cases discussed include those heard by the supreme court on interim appeal, on direct appeal, and on review of habeas corpus decisions. Focusing on the court's decisions that affect the trial and appeal of death penalty cases, this Article, with some exceptions, does not discuss holdings in capital cases that are common to all criminal appeals. Four United States Supreme Court decisions are included in this survey because of their salience to Georgia death penalty law.

The Mandatory Death Penalty In The Commonwealth Caribbean And The Inter-American Human Rights System: An Evolution In The Development And Implementation Of International Human Rights Protections, Brian D. Tittemore

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Misplaced Furor Over The Feeney Amendment As A Threat To Judicial Independence, David P. Mason

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, Marla G. Decker, Stephen R. Mccullough

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Forgotten Constitutional Right To Present A Defense And Its Impact On The Acceptance Of Responsibility-Entrapment Debate, Katrice L. Bridges

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that Section 3El.1 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines must be interpreted to allow defendants who claim entrapment at trial to remain eligible for the acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment. To interpret Section 3El.1 in any other way would run afoul of defendants' constitutional right to present a defense. Part I argues that the entrapment defense does not put factual guilt at issue; instead the entrapment defense challenges whether the statute should apply to the defendant's conduct. Part II contends that the legislative intent in creating the sentencing guidelines in general and the acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment in particular are furthered by requiring …

Escaping A Rigid Analysis: The Shift To A Fact-Based Approach For Crime Of Violence Inquiries Involving Escape Offenses, Timothy W. Castor

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Criminal Defence Lawyer's Role, David Layton

Dalhousie Law Journal

Defence lawyers often fight to prevent the conviction of people who have committed serious crimes. How can this role be justified? In providing his answer the author generally accepts the traditional view of criminal lawyering according to which defence counsel "does good" by ensuring that the state does not obtain a conviction in the absence of proof beyond a reasonable doubt based on admissible and reliable evidence Ethical advocacy in the criminal context is thus heavily influenced by a conception of justice that includes not only the search for truth but also due process rights for accused persons. The author …

The New Russian Roulette: Brady Revisited, Jannice E. Joseph

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Ring Around The Grand Jury: Informing Grand Jurors Of The Capital Consequences Of Aggravating Facts, K. Brent Tomer

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Va. Code Ann. S 19.2-163.7*

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-264.5*

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Double Jeopardy And Capital Sentencing: Preserving The Implied Acquittal Of Death In The Wake Of Sattazahn V. Pennsylvania, Leslie Evans Wood

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Double Jeopardy And The Death Penalty: A Fundamental Constitutional Protection With Life Or Death Consequences, Kristen Lindsay Todd

Campbell Law Review

What is the effect of a deadlocked jury in a sentencing hearing for the application of the death penalty on the termination of jeopardy? This comment will explore this issue as presented in Sattazahn v. Pennsylvania, and analyze not only the arguments made in both the majority and dissenting opinions, but other considerations which arise when deciding if double jeopardy protections should apply. Also considered in the comment is the effect of the Sattazahn decision on future criminal defendants. What consequences will this decision have for the death row defendant when trying to decide whether to appeal his possibly erroneous …

Capital Punishment, Proportionality Review, And Claims Of Fairness (With Lessons From Washington State), Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn

Washington Law Review

This Article explores the adequacy of one of the safeguards adopted by many states to ensure that the death penalty is applied fairly, following the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. Relying chiefly on evidence drawn from Washington State, this Article asks whether the practice of comparative proportionality review has ensured that there is now a rational basis for distinguishing between those who are sentenced to die and those who are not. An analysis of the trial judge reports employed by the Washington State Supreme Court in reviewing death sentences, as well as the method used by the court in …

The Sky Is Not Falling—That Which You Feel Is Merely A No. 10 Earthquake—Blakely V. Washington: The Supreme Court Sentences The American Criminal Justice System To Disaster, Bedlam, And Reform, Christopher P. Carrington

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Procedure, Charles E. Cox Jr.

Mercer Law Review

Each year the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issues numerous decisions concerning the protections provided to criminal defendants by the United States Constitution. This Article surveys decisions issued in 2003 that are likely to be of interest to criminal law practitioners.

A Deep Breath Before The Plunge: Undoing Miranda's Failure Before It's Too Late, Benjamin D. Cunningham

Mercer Law Review

The Supreme Court's decision in Miranda v. Arizona has been and will be a lightning rod for controversy so long as it remains in effect. The decision has been lauded for its apparent protection of individual dignity from overzealous police and criticized as an unwarranted shackle on legitimate law enforcement techniques. Nevertheless, Miranda has weathered the storms and, thanks to the Supreme Court's decision in Dickerson v. United States, has endured. Unknown to most proponents or detractors, however, Miranda has had little effect on what actually occurs during police interrogations. The reasons for this are varied. First, by creating …

Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Rosemary T. Cakmis

Mercer Law Review

Despite the passage of almost two decades since the enactment of the United States Sentencing Guidelines ("U.S.S.G."), issues relating to the sentencing guidelines continue to dominate Eleventh Circuit case law. This is no doubt due, at least in part, to the fact that by 2003, the guidelines had been amended 662 times.

Ambiguities within the guidelines regularly lead to differing interpretations of those guidelines among the circuit courts of appeals. These differing interpretations result in further guideline amendments aimed at reconciling the splits among the circuits. The amended guidelines result in new issues of first impression, new interpretations, and new …

Summerlin V. Stewart And Ring Retroactivity, Tonya G. Newman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants a trial before a jury. Until the Supreme Court decided Ring v. Arizona, however, nine states wholly or partially surrendered a portion of the jury's role to a sentencing judge. Specifically, those states allowed sentencing judges to make factual determinations regarding sentencing considerations by which capital defendants became eligible for the death penalty. The Ring Court halted the use of sentencing considerations to erode the jury's fundamental role in preserving accuracy and fairness of criminal proceedings, holding that the Sixth Amendment requires that a jury make factual findings on all elements, including sentencing …

Does Time Eclipse Crime? Stogner V. California And The Court's Determination Of The Ex Post Facto Limitations On Retroactive Justice, Ryan D. Frei

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pleas' Progress, Stephanos Bibas

Michigan Law Review

George Fisher's new book, Plea Bargaining's Triumph, is really three books in one. The first part is a careful, detailed explanation of how and why plea bargaining exploded in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century. This part is the fruit of an impressive amount of original research in Massachusetts court records and newspaper archives. The second part of the book looks more broadly at other academic histories of plea bargaining in England, California, and New York. It explains how the forces that produced plea bargaining in Middlesex County likewise contributed to plea bargaining's rise elsewhere. The final part …

Justice In The Time Of Terror, Sharon L. Davies

Michigan Law Review

On my drive into work recently I found myself behind a Ford pickup truck and noticed its bumper sticker: "When the going gets tough, I get a machine gun." Not a doctor. Not a counselor or mediator. Not a shelter for cover. Not the wisdom of a favored advisor or a proven friend. But a machine gun. How odd, I thought, to prefer a weapon incapable of identifying with any precision, any careful thought, where the enemy of the wielder of it might actually be hidden. A weapon as apt to injure non-targets as targets. A weapon mindless of its …

Unraveling Ring V. Arizona: Balancing Judicial Sentencing Enhancements With The Sixth Amendment In Capital Punishment Schemes, Daren S. Koudele

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

North Carolina's (F)(1) Mitigating Circumstance: Does It Truly Serve To Mitigate?, Ashley P. Maddox

Campbell Law Review

The purpose of this article is to bring awareness to the misapplication of North Carolina's (f)(1) mitigating circumstance. Part II provides the legal development of the Eighth Amendment in the United States Supreme Court. Part III provides a background on North Carolina's death penalty scheme. Part IV addresses North Carolina law on mitigating circumstances. Finally, Part V provides analogous situations in the criminal law of North Carolina where the same acts admitted under the (f)(1) mitigating circumstance are treated as "significant", including The Structured Sentencing Act, The Habitual Offender Act, and the submission of the (e)(3) aggravating circumstance and the …

4th Cir. R. 22(A)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Standby Me: Self-Representation And Standby Counsel In A Capital Case, Meghan H. Morgan

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

United States V. Higgs 353 F.3d 281 (4th Cir. 2003)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Katz Is Dead. Long Live Katz, Peter P. Swire

Michigan Law Review

Katz v. United States is the king of Supreme Court surveillance cases. Written in 1967, it struck down the earlier regime of property rules, declaring that "the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places." The concurrence by Justice Harlan announced the new regime - court-issued warrants are required where there is an infringement on a person's "reasonable expectation of privacy." Together with the companion case Berger v. New York, Katz has stood for a grand conception of the Fourth Amendment as a bulwark against wiretaps and other emerging forms of surveillance. Professor Orin Kerr, in his excellent article, shows that …

Holding Virtual Child Pornography Creators Liable By Judicial Redress: An Alternative Approach To Overcoming The Obstacles Presented In Ashcroft V. Free Speech Coalition, Daniel W. Bower

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Which Crime Is It? The Role Of Proportionality In Recidivist Sentencing After Ewing V. California, Richard H. Andrus

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.