Law Commons^™

You Can’T Teach Old Katz New Tricks: It’S Time To Revitalize The Fourth Amendment, Jeremy Connell

University of Miami Law Review

For over half a century, the Court’s decision in Katz v. United States has been the lodestar for applying the Fourth Amendment. The Katz test has produced a litany of confusing and irreconcilable decisions in which the Court has carved exceptions into the doctrine and then carved exceptions into the exceptions. These decisions often leave lower courts with minimal guidance on how to apply the framework to new sets of facts and leave legal scholars and commenters befuddled and frustrated with the Court’s explanations for the rulings. The Court’s decision in Carpenter v. United States represents the apex of Katz’s …

“Take The Motherless Children Off The Street”: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome And The Criminal Justice System, Michael L. Perlin, Heather Ellis Cucolo

University of Miami Law Review

Remarkably, there has been minimal academic legal literature about the interplay between fetal alcohol syndrome dis- order (“FASD”) and critical aspects of many criminal trials, including issues related to the role of experts, quality of counsel, competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, and sentencing and the death penalty. In this Article, the co-authors will first define fetal alcohol syndrome and explain its significance to the criminal justice system. We will then look at the specific role of experts in cases involving defendants with FASD and consider adequacy of counsel. Next, we will discuss the impact of FASD on the …

Hiding In Plain Language: A Solution To The Pandemic Riddle Of A Suspended Grand Jury, An Expiring Statute Of Limitations, And The Fifth Amendment, Nicole D. Mariani

University of Miami Law Review

Under the statute of limitations applicable to most federal crimes, 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a), “no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed.” That long-standing, generally uncontroversial procedural statute was thrust into the spotlight in 2020, when courts, prosecutors, and criminal defendants confronted an unprecedented and extraordinary scenario.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many federal district courts suspended grand juries to prevent the spread of the highly contagious life-threatening virus through group congregation. Indeed, …

The Difference Of One Vote Or One Day: Reviewing The Demographics Of Florida’S Death Row After Hurst V. Florida, Melanie Kalmanson

University of Miami Law Review

As the federal appeals court with jurisdiction over Florida and Alabama—two leaders in capital punishment in the United States—the Eleventh Circuit reviews several claims each year related to capital punishment. Florida is home to one of the largest death row populations in the country. Thus, understanding Florida’s capital sentencing scheme is important for understanding capital punishment nationwide.

This Article analyzes the empirical demographics of Florida’s death row population and reviews how defendants are sentenced to death and ultimately executed in Florida. The analysis reveals that although age is not a factor upon which murder/manslaughter defendants are discriminated against in the …

Exactly What They Asked For: Linking Harm And Intent In Wire Fraud Prosecutions, Christina M. Frohock, Marcos Daniel Jiménez

University of Miami Law Review

Recent opinions have obscured the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s guidance on federal criminal fraud prosecutions. In 2016, the court decided United States v. Takhalov and found no crime of wire fraud where the alleged victims received the benefit of their bargain. Just three years later, the concurring opinion in United States v. Feldman criticized that prior reasoning as puzzling, inviting problematic interpretations that become untethered from the common law of fraud. This Article tracks the development of the court’s view and argues for an interpretation of Takhalov that links harm to the specific intent necessary for …

Why Justice Kavanaugh Should Continue Justice Kennedy’S Death Penalty Legacy—Next Step: Expanding Juvenile Death Penalty Ban, Alli Katzen

University of Miami Law Review

As science and society both progress, Supreme Court rulings should reflect those changes. The national consensus has been gradually moving away from the use of the death penalty, particularly as applied to offenders between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Research clarifies that the brain is not fully developed in the areas most directly linked to culpability until after this age range. The combination of these factors should compel the Court to raise the minimum age for death sentences, but the shifting bench presents unpredictability

Evidence’S #Metoo Moment, Aníbal Rosario-Lebrón

University of Miami Law Review

The #MeToo movement has drawn attention to the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence. But more importantly, it has exposed how society discounts the testimony of women. This Article unfolds how this credibility discounting is reinforced in our evidentiary system through the use of character for untruthfulness evidence to impeach victims. Specifically, through defense attorneys’ practice of impeaching sexual and gender-based violence victims’ character for truthfulness as a way to introduce functional evidence of credibility biases regarding the trustworthiness of sexual and gender-based violence victims and the plausibility of their testimonies. The Article further shows a correlation between the poor …

Habeas As Forum Allocation: A New Synthesis, Carlos M. Vázquez

University of Miami Law Review

The scope of habeas relief for state prisoners, especially during the decades before the Supreme Court’s 1953 decision in Brown v. Allen, is a famously disputed question—one of recognized significance for contemporary debates about the proper scope of habeas review. This Article provides a new answer. It argues that, until the enactment of Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), it was broadly accepted that state prisoners were entitled to plenary federal review of the legal and mixed law/fact questions decided against them by state courts. Until 1916, such review was provided by the Supreme Court; after 1953, …

Hurst V. Florida’S Ha’P’Orth Of Tar: The Need To Revisit Caldwell, Clemons, And Proffitt, Craig Trocino, Chance Meyer

University of Miami Law Review

In Hurst v. Florida, the Supreme Court held Florida’s death penalty scheme violated the Sixth Amendment because judges, rather than juries, found sentencing facts necessary to impose death. That Sixth Amendment ruling has implications for Florida’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence.

Under the Eighth Amendment rule of Caldwell v. Mississippi, capital juries must appreciate their responsibility for death sentencing. Yet, Florida has instructed juries that their fact-findings merely support sentencing recommendations, while leaving the ultimate sentencing decision to a judge. Because Hurst clarifies that the Sixth Amendment requires juries to find the operative set of facts on which sentences are …

Sentence Structure: Prohibiting “Second Or Successive” Habeas Petitions After Patterson V. Secretary, Christina M. Frohock

University of Miami Law Review

The Eleventh Circuit’s recent opinion in Patterson v. Secretary includes a heated dispute over the prohibition against “second or successive” habeas corpus petitions in 28 U.S.C.§ 2244(b). Considering an amended criminal sentence from Florida state court, the majority and dissenting opinions structure that sentence differently and, thus, apply the prohibition differently. This Article argues that both the majority and the dissent conceal policy judgments beneath the surface of legal decision-making. First, the Article analyzes the statutory prohibition against “second or successive” habeas petitions, as applied previously by the U.S. Supreme Court in Magwood v. Patterson and by the Eleventh Circuit …

Shoot To Kill: A Critical Look At Stand Your Ground Laws, Tamara Rice Lave

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Prostitution Of Lying In Wait, H. Mitchell Caldwell

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reasonable Doubt In Doubt: Sentencing And The Supreme Court In United States V. Watts, Sandra K. Wolkov

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Protection Orders In Domestic Violence Cases: Getting Rid Of Rats With Snakes, Christopher R. Frank

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mandatory And Permissive Presumptions In Criminal Cases: The Morass Created By Allen, Shari L. Jacobson

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Michigan V. Long: The Inadequacies Of Independent And Adequate State Grounds, Patricia Fahlbusch, Daniel Gonzalez

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indicia Of Reliability And Face To Face Confrontation: Emerging Issues In Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, Michael H. Graham

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Background And Overview Of Child Sexual Abuse Law Reforms In The Mid-1980'S, Josephine Bulkley

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

See No Evil? Can Insulation Of Child Sexual Abuse Victims Be Accomplished Without Endangering The Defendant's Constitutional Rights?, Wallace J. Mlyniec, Michelle M. Dally

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Diagnostic Evaluations And The Use Of Videotapes In Child Sexual Abuse Cases, Kee Macfarlane

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions: The Current State Of The Art, Michael H. Graham

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Child Witness: The Progress And Emerging Limitations, Lucy Berliner

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The District Attorney As A Mobilizer In A Community Approach To Child Sexual Abuse, Robert E. Cramer Jr.

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Other Crimes Evidence To Prove The Corpus Delicti Of A Child Sexual Offense, Amber Donner-Froelich

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Competency Requirement For The Child Victim Of Sexual Abuse: Must We Abandon It?, Robin W. Morey

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Sexual Assault: Children's Memory And The Law, Gail S. Goodman, Vicki S. Helgeson

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expert Testimony In Child Sexual Abuse Cases, Rebecca J. Roe

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Sufficiency-Weight Distinction - A Matter Of Life Or Death, Michael Seward

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Right To Counsel Prior To Trial In State Criminal Proceedings, Michael J. Osman

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.