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Full-Text Articles in Law
Expanding Forfeiture Without Sacrificing Confrontation After Crawford, Joshua Deahl
Expanding Forfeiture Without Sacrificing Confrontation After Crawford, Joshua Deahl
Michigan Law Review
The central holding of Crawford v. Washington is fairly straightforward: The Confrontation Clause bars the admission of out-of-court testimonial statements unless the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness. Crawford, however, has an often overlooked caveat. In renouncing numerous exceptions to the confrontation right, the Court rejected only those that purport to test the reliability of testimonial statements. It left equitable exceptions undisturbed. As the Court pointed out, "[T]he rule of forfeiture by wrongdoing (which we accept) extinguishes confrontation claims on essentially equitable grounds." The parameters of the rule of forfeiture are a matter of some dispute. …
Constitutional Law-Due Process-Burden Of Proving Insanity As Defense To Crime, Lois H. Hambro S.Ed.
Constitutional Law-Due Process-Burden Of Proving Insanity As Defense To Crime, Lois H. Hambro S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Defendant was convicted of first degree murder after having pleaded insanity as a defense to the charge. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Oregon, alleging that the Oregon statute, which required an accused pleading insanity to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it placed on him the burden of proving his inability to premeditate and intend the criminal act. The defendant relied in part on the fact that Oregon is the only state requiring insanity to be proved ''beyond a reasonable doubt," while other states require at most that …
Evidence-Confessions-Mcnabb Rule Not Applicable Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Harry T. Baumann S.Ed.
Evidence-Confessions-Mcnabb Rule Not Applicable Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Harry T. Baumann S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Defendant, detained on a vagrancy charge in Texas, voluntarily confessed to a homicide committed in Nebraska. Upon his return to the latter state, the defendant repeated his confession and was subsequently arraigned, having been in custody for twenty-five days. The confessions were introduced at the trial and a conviction of manslaughter followed. Defendant, failing to gain a reversal in the state court, sought review by the United States Supreme Court, charging that a failure to arraign the defendant promptly in breach of local statutes was a want of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. On certiorari, held, affirmed, Justices …
Appeal And Error-Significance Of Denial Of Certiorari As Precedent By United States Supreme Court, Edward W. Rothe S.Ed.
Appeal And Error-Significance Of Denial Of Certiorari As Precedent By United States Supreme Court, Edward W. Rothe S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
Respondents were found guilty of contempt of court for broadcasting dispatches concerning a person about to be tried on a charge of murder. The convictions were reversed on constitutional grounds by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, relying upon certain decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The state sought a writ of certiorari on the ground that the Maryland court had misconceived the rulings of the Supreme Court. Although the application for certiorari was denied, Justice Frankfurter took occasion to write an opinion stating that the denial of the writ meant only that fewer than four members of the …
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.
Joughin And Morgan: The Legacy Of Sacco And Vanzetti, Michigan Law Review
Joughin And Morgan: The Legacy Of Sacco And Vanzetti, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of THE LEGACY OF SACCO AND VANZETTI. By G. Louis Joughin and Edmund M. Morgan.
Constitutional Law--Due Process-Federal Restrictions On The Use Of Confessions In State Criminal Proceedings, F. L. Adamson
Constitutional Law--Due Process-Federal Restrictions On The Use Of Confessions In State Criminal Proceedings, F. L. Adamson
Michigan Law Review
Undisputed evidence established that petitioner, a negro boy of fifteen, was arrested at about midnight, October 19, 1945 and taken to police headquarters. He was questioned by the police with no friend or counsel present. He was not informed of his right to counsel or of his right to refuse to answer. At about five in the morning, October 20, he confessed. He was then informed of his rights and his statement taken and transcribed. He was photographed by a newspaper photographer, and then placed in jail. On October 23 he was, for the first time, taken before a magistrate …
Jury-Effect Of Deviation From Statutory Procedure For Excusing Jurors, Jarrett R. Clark
Jury-Effect Of Deviation From Statutory Procedure For Excusing Jurors, Jarrett R. Clark
Michigan Law Review
In a prosecution for murder, a special venire was summoned and a list thereof served on the accused. On the day of trial, he learned for the first time that the trial judge had excused twenty-six of the seventy-four veniremen summoned. The excuses out of court violated a statute requiring that all requests for excuse be heard in open court. More than the minimum number of veniremen were present, and when it appeared that the original array might be exhausted thirty additional veniremen were called. Accused's motions to quash the jury panel and for a mistrial were overruled. On appeal …
Constitutional Law-Due Process Clause-Right Of An Accused To Have Counsel Appointed By The Court, Frank H. Roberts
Constitutional Law-Due Process Clause-Right Of An Accused To Have Counsel Appointed By The Court, Frank H. Roberts
Michigan Law Review
On May 16, 1932, petitioner, then seventeen years of age, was arraigned, tried, convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. Petitioner was without legal assistance throughout these proceedings, was never advised of his rights to counsel, was never informed of the consequences of a guilty plea and, as disclosed by the record, was considerably confused as to the effect of such plea. In 1945, he moved for leave to file a delayed motion for new trial in the court in which he was convicted, on the ground that there had been serious impairment of his …
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 …
Criminal Law And Procedure-Admissibility Of Evidence-Rule As To Determination Of Preliminary Question Of Fact
Michigan Law Review
Following his arrest for murder, the defendant was held thirty-six hours before being arraigned for the purpose of obtaining a confession. On trial the defendant objected to introduction of the confession on the ground that it was involuntary, having been induced by wrongful detention and beating by the police. Held, failure, after due request, to instruct the jury that unnecessary delay in arraignment is prohibited by law and that such delay might be considered in determining whether or not the confession was voluntary was reversible error. People v. Alex, (N. Y. 1934) 192 N. E. 289.
Criminal Law And Procedure - Inexperience Of Defense Attorney As Denial Of Fair Trial
Criminal Law And Procedure - Inexperience Of Defense Attorney As Denial Of Fair Trial
Michigan Law Review
Defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to be electrocuted. He now claims he was denied a fair trial as the attorney appointed by the circuit court to defend him was inexperienced, having practiced only thirteen months. Held, that inasmuch as the nature and extent of the attorney's practice was not shown and the record showed the defense was carried on in a highly creditable manner, the inexperience of defendant's attorney was not a denial of a fair trial. McGuire v. State, ( Ark. 1934) 74 S. w. (2d) 235.
Crimes-Influence From The Defendants Failure To Testify
Crimes-Influence From The Defendants Failure To Testify
Michigan Law Review
The testimony given on a trial for murder indicated that the defendant had shot and killed one of his pursuers while fleeing the scene of a robbery in which he had taken a principal part. The trial court instructed the jury that the defendant, while not compellable, was competent to be a witness in his own behalf; and that although his failure to take the stand raised no presumption of his guilt, if facts were testified to which were accusations against the defendant which he could by his oath deny, and he failed to take the stand in his own …
Crimes-Right Of Jury To Recommend Mercy
Crimes-Right Of Jury To Recommend Mercy
Michigan Law Review
In a trial for murder, under a statute which provided that if the jury found the accused guilty of murder they might recommend him or her to the mercy of the court, thus reducing the punishment from death to life imprisonment, the court instructed the jury, ''You cannot of your own free will recommend or not recommend [mercy] because you are opposed to capital punishment." Exception was taken on the grounds that this circumscribed the statutory privilege of the jury to recommend mercy. Held, the instruction was erroneous and constituted grounds for new trial. State v. Blakely (S. C. …
Crimes-Procedure-Constitutionality Of The Short Form Of The Indictment
Crimes-Procedure-Constitutionality Of The Short Form Of The Indictment
Michigan Law Review
The respondents were tried and found guilty of murder. Held, that the constitutional provision that "the accused shall be fully informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him" requires an indictment returned by the grand jury to contain allegations as to the time and place of the assault and the time and place of death of the decedent where the crime charged is murder. State v. Rector (S. C . 1930) 155 S.E. 385.