Law Commons^™

When The Emperor Has No Clothes Iii: Personnel Policies And Conflicts Of Interest In Prosecutors’ Offices, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article examines and evaluates an alternate cause of overcharging, one that has not received much attention from courts or in the scholarly literature: the extent to which internal personnel policies in prosecutors’ offices create incentives to overcharge. The number and seriousness of convictions and the amount of punishment are the basic standards by which the success of prosecutors is measured. In order to curb overcharging and other forms of prosecutorial misconduct, courts should disqualify prosecutors whose offices explicitly or implicitly determine their job status, compensation, or advancement on the basis of their conviction or sentencing record on the ground …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes Iii: Personnel Policies And Conflicts Of Interest In Prosecutors’ Offices, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article examines and evaluates an alternate cause of overcharging, one that has not received much attention from courts or in the scholarly literature: the extent to which internal personnel policies in prosecutors’ offices create incentives to overcharge. The number and seriousness of convictions and the amount of punishment are the basic standards by which the success of prosecutors is measured. In order to curb overcharging and other forms of prosecutorial misconduct, courts should disqualify prosecutors whose offices explicitly or implicitly determine their job status, compensation, or advancement on the basis of their conviction or sentencing record on the ground …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes Ii: A Proposal For A More Serious Look At “The Weight Of The Evidence”, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

While the Bail Reform Act and state statutes modeled after it command courts to consider the weight of the evidence in making pretrial release/detention decisions, as a practical matter, courts do not do so – at least not when the weight-of-the-evidence factor cuts in favor of release – and they should. In particular, courts should accord substantially more weight to the “weight of the evidence” factor in making or reviewing pretrial-detention determinations when one or more jury has already refused unanimously to convict the defendant of the crime(s) charged. Unless the prosecution has obtained significant, material new evidence between the …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes Ii: A Proposal For A More Serious Look At “The Weight Of The Evidence”, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

While the Bail Reform Act and state statutes modeled after it command courts to consider the weight of the evidence in making pretrial release/detention decisions, as a practical matter, courts do not do so – at least not when the weight-of-the-evidence factor cuts in favor of release – and they should. In particular, courts should accord substantially more weight to the “weight of the evidence” factor in making or reviewing pretrial-detention determinations when one or more jury has already refused unanimously to convict the defendant of the crime(s) charged. Unless the prosecution has obtained significant, material new evidence between the …

Counting Heads: Does The Existence Of A National Consensus Give Rise To A Substantive-Due-Process Right To A Particular Criminal Procedure?, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

Anomalousness in a state’s criminal procedure(s), standing alone, is sufficient (to constitute a violation of substantive due process and that the substantive process due to a criminal defendant in a state with an anomalous criminal procedure is the process that would be provided to a similarly situated defendant in a mainstream jurisdiction. This does not mean that the fact that a majority of jurisdictions fails to afford a particular beneficial procedure to a criminal defendant means that such procedure is not guaranteed by due process. Nor is the recognition of a right by a majority of jurisdictions dispositive of whether …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal For Defensive Summary Judgment In Criminal Cases, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article addresses the problem that arises when the prosecution has pleaded criminal charges correctly on the basis of probable cause, but either its theory of the defendant’s guilt is based on a misunderstanding of the governing law or it lacks legally sufficient evidence to sustain the charges. It argues that, in this situation, trial courts should have the authority to grant summary judgment to the defense.

The Article discusses the rationales that underlay the creation of summary judgment in civil cases, surveys the existing mechanisms for summary disposition of criminal charges (pretrial motions to dismiss, preliminary hearings, and grand-jury …

The Art Of Discretion: Umpires As Judges, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Essay posits that those who object to the oft-employed judges-as-umpires analogy (not to mention many of those who employ it) do not really understand what umpires do because calling balls and strikes is highly complicated, nuanced, and discretionary, involving determinations of the intents of the pitcher and batter and the reasonableness of the batter’s actions at the plate. It argues that the core of the judges-as-umpires analogy – the idea that the parameters of the strike zone are fixed and not a matter of personal judgment – is faulty because, while the definition of the strike zone is fixed …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal For Defensive Summary Judgment In Criminal Cases, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article addresses the problem that arises when the prosecution has pleaded criminal charges correctly on the basis of probable cause, but either its theory of the defendant’s guilt is based on a misunderstanding of the governing law or it lacks legally sufficient evidence to sustain the charges. It argues that, in this situation, trial courts should have the authority to grant summary judgment to the defense.

The Article discusses the rationales that underlay the creation of summary judgment in civil cases, surveys the existing mechanisms for summary disposition of criminal charges (pretrial motions to dismiss, preliminary hearings, and grand-jury …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal For Defensive Summary Judgment In Criminal Cases, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article addresses the problem that arises when the prosecution has pleaded criminal charges correctly on the basis of probable cause, but either its theory of the defendant’s guilt is based on a misunderstanding of the governing law or it lacks legally sufficient evidence to sustain the charges. It argues that, in this situation, trial courts should have the authority to grant summary judgment to the defense.

The Article discusses the rationales that underlay the creation of summary judgment in civil cases, surveys the existing mechanisms for summary disposition of criminal charges (pretrial motions to dismiss, preliminary hearings, and grand-jury …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal For Defensive Summary Judgment In Criminal Cases, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article addresses the problem that arises when the prosecution has pleaded criminal charges correctly on the basis of probable cause, but either its theory of the defendant’s guilt is based on a misunderstanding of the governing law or it lacks legally sufficient evidence to sustain the charges. It argues that, in this situation, trial courts should have the authority to grant summary judgment to the defense.

The Article discusses the rationales that underlay the creation of summary judgment in civil cases, surveys the existing mechanisms for summary disposition of criminal charges (pretrial motions to dismiss, preliminary hearings, and grand-jury …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal For Defensive Summary Judgment In Criminal Cases, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article addresses the problem that arises when the prosecution has pleaded criminal charges correctly on the basis of probable cause, but either its theory of the defendant’s guilt is based on a misunderstanding of the governing law or it lacks legally sufficient evidence to sustain the charges. It argues that, in this situation, trial courts should have the authority to grant summary judgment to the defense.

The Article discusses the rationales that underlay the creation of summary judgment in civil cases, surveys the existing mechanisms for summary disposition of criminal charges (pretrial motions to dismiss, preliminary hearings, and grand-jury …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal For Defensive Summary Judgment In Criminal Cases, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article addresses the problem that arises when the prosecution has pleaded criminal charges correctly on the basis of probable cause, but either its theory of the defendant’s guilt is based on a misunderstanding of the governing law or it lacks legally sufficient evidence to sustain the charges. It argues that, in this situation, trial courts should have the authority to grant summary judgment to the defense.

The Article discusses the rationales that underlay the creation of summary judgment in civil cases, surveys the existing mechanisms for summary disposition of criminal charges (pretrial motions to dismiss, preliminary hearings, and grand-jury …

High-Tech View: The Use Of Immersive Virtual Environments In Jury Trials, Carrie Leonetti, Jeremy Bailenson

Carrie Leonetti

This Article makes both empirical and normative claims about the admissibility of immersive-virtual-environment evidence during a jury trial. The empirical claim is that IVE evidence will inevitably enter the American courtroom; the normative one is that this inevitable entrance is a positive development for the jury’s search for truth.

It argues that, while the digital projections created by an IVE are not perfectly realistic representations of the objects that they seek to recreate, an IVE can, nonetheless, be a fair and accurate representation of the scene that it represents, as long as an expert witness could lay the appropriate foundation …

High-Tech View: The Use Of Immersive Virtual Environments In Jury Trials, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

This Article makes both empirical and normative claims about the admissibility of immersive-virtual-environment evidence during a jury trial. The empirical claim is that IVE evidence will inevitably enter the American courtroom; the normative one is that this inevitable entrance is a positive development for the jury’s search for truth.

It argues that, while the digital projections created by an IVE are not perfectly realistic representations of the objects that they seek to recreate, an IVE can, nonetheless, be a fair and accurate representation of the scene that it represents, as long as an expert witness could lay the appropriate foundation …

High-Tech View: The Use Of Immersive Virtual Environments In Jury Trials, Carrie Leonetti, Jeremy Bailenson

Carrie Leonetti

This Article makes both empirical and normative claims about the admissibility of immersive-virtual-environment evidence during a jury trial. The empirical claim is that IVE evidence will inevitably enter the American courtroom; the normative one is that this inevitable entrance is a positive development for the jury’s search for truth.

It argues that, while the digital projections created by an IVE are not perfectly realistic representations of the objects that they seek to recreate, an IVE can, nonetheless, be a fair and accurate representation of the scene that it represents, as long as an expert witness could lay the appropriate foundation …

High-Tech View: The Use Of Immersive Virtual Environments In Jury Trials, Carrie Leonetti, Jeremy Bailenson

Carrie Leonetti

This Article makes both empirical and normative claims about the admissibility of immersive-virtual-environment evidence during a jury trial. The empirical claim is that IVE evidence will inevitably enter the American courtroom; the normative one is that this inevitable entrance is a positive development for the jury’s search for truth.

It argues that, while the digital projections created by an IVE are not perfectly realistic representations of the objects that they seek to recreate, an IVE can, nonetheless, be a fair and accurate representation of the scene that it represents, as long as an expert witness could lay the appropriate foundation …

High-Tech View: The Use Of Immersive Virtual Environments In Jury Trials, Carrie Leonetti, Jeremy Bailenson

Carrie Leonetti

This Article makes both empirical and normative claims about the admissibility of immersive-virtual-environment evidence during a jury trial. The empirical claim is that IVE evidence will inevitably enter the American courtroom; the normative one is that this inevitable entrance is a positive development for the jury’s search for truth.

It argues that, while the digital projections created by an IVE are not perfectly realistic representations of the objects that they seek to recreate, an IVE can, nonetheless, be a fair and accurate representation of the scene that it represents, as long as an expert witness could lay the appropriate foundation …

Independent And Adequate, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

No abstract provided.