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Robert M. Sanger

Criminal law

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Full-Text Articles in Law

“Collusion” And The Criminal Law, Robert M. Sanger Sep 2018

“Collusion” And The Criminal Law, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

The journalistic use of the term “collusion” in the air; it might be a good time for a refresher. This article will make an effort to cover the general framework of federal crimes in which a potential target (i.e., a would be defendant if a case were filed) had a guilty mind but did not directly do the ultimate act. Looked upon from the “collusion” perspective, it is a situation where a person did something with others in which some illegal result was attempted or accomplished by some or all of the participants. Broadly construed, inchoate crimes would include attempt, …

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A New Philosophy In The Supreme Court, Robert M. Sanger Aug 2018

A New Philosophy In The Supreme Court, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

This is a positive article about the soon-to-be-newlyminted United States Supreme Court. No, this is not written by a guest columnist and, yes, the present author still holds progressive views regarding criminal justice. Assuming the Supreme Court and other branches of government continue to function – even if in less than an optimal fashion – we, as lawyers, have to work with what we have. We have a conservative Supreme Court with, presumably, conservative principles, and that is with which we must work. One of the characteristics often seen in individual Supreme Court Justices is the tendency to rise above …

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Shredded Fish Redux, Robert Sanger Apr 2015

Shredded Fish Redux, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

The Yates case, in which certiorari had been granted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit had been discussed in a previous column of Criminal Justice. The article was entitled “Shredded Fish” because the sea captain in Yates was prosecuted under the document shredding provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for destroying fish. That case has now been decided by the United States Supreme Court in Yates v. United States, on February 25, 2015. The case involves the rule of lenity as well as a discussion of overcriminalization.

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Government Denial Under Oath – Hidta, Hemisphere And Parallel Construction, Robert Sanger Jul 2014

Government Denial Under Oath – Hidta, Hemisphere And Parallel Construction, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

In September of last year, the New York Times reported on a remarkable program of the United States Government that involved spying on domestic phone records without a warrant.1 The news had a limited independent impact as it seemed to be lost in the disclosures of Michael Snowden regarding the National Security Administration (NSA), which purportedly was aimed at foreign terrorists but also included domestic targets. Yet, this program, called “Hemisphere,” was authorized by the Office of the President of the United States, Office of Drug Control Policy, under the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA) and it primarily …

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The Requirement Of An Investigator In Public And Private Practice, Robert M. Sanger Dec 2009

The Requirement Of An Investigator In Public And Private Practice, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Trial lawyers do everything we can to avoid IAC and support the requirements of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution which provides that the accused has a right to counsel -- counsel that is not only present but also effective. Under Ake v. Oklahoma , the United States Supreme Court stated that the right includes the right to have experts and investigators. Since Ake, there has been much litigation, particularly in capital cases, regarding the right to have the use of such experts to do an effective job.  

The California courts have made it clear that the …

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