Law Commons^™

Prosecuting Martha: Federal Prosecutorial Power And The Need For A Law Of Counts, Michael L. Seigel, Christopher Slobogin

UF Law Faculty Publications

Martha Stewart's case illustrates a wide variety of prosecutorial decision-making. We have defended the U.S. Attorney's decision to investigate and prosecute Stewart, but called into question the further decision to charge her with five counts. As a way of curtailing the redundant charging phenomenon, which is widespread, we have suggested that the courts develop a law of counts to cabin prosecutorial charging discretion. Thus, our proposal to create a law of counts would not require prosecutors to act against their short- or long-term interests. Rather, it would be implemented by judges using the interpretive method, without going so far as …

Summary Of State V. Bennett, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 63, Shane Jasmine Young

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal and cross-appeal from a district court order granting in part and denying in part Defendant’s post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a capital case.

Summary Of Smith V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. 96, Sally L. Galati

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Defendant appealed from a judgment of conviction for one count of burglary following a jury verdict. Defendant’s primary contention was that the district court erred in refusing his proffered jury instruction on the lesser crime of trespass.

Delusions Of Grand Juries, Niki Kuckes

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Exonerations Change Judicial Views On Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, Adele Bernhard

Articles & Chapters

Law evolves more slowly than pop culture or public attitude. Because most exonerations have not resulted in written legal opinions, their impact is slowly seeping into case law. However, courts are influenced by the same news that sways the rest of us. Even without explicitly referring to innocence or wrongful convictions, modern trial courts are undoubtedly more likely to admit expert testimony on the question of eyewitness identification because they are painfully aware of just how easily such witnesses - no matter how honest or passionate - can be wrong. They are certainly more inclined to view confessions suspiciously, especially …

Killing The Non-Willing: Atkins, The Volitionally Incapacitated, And The Death Penalty, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Jamie Wilson, nineteen years old and severely mentally ill, walked into a school cafeteria and started shooting. Two children died, and Jamie was charged with two counts of capital murder. Because he admitted his guilt, the only issue at his trial was the appropriate punishment. The trial judge assigned to his case, after hearing expert testimony on his mental state, found that mental illness rendered Jamie unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of law at the time of the crime—not impaired by his mental illness in his ability to control his behavior, but unable to control his behavior. …

Epic Proportions: Violence Against Women In California 1992-99, California Department Of Health Services

California Agencies

EPIC Proportions is a series of reports on injury control produced by the Epidemiology and Prevention for Injury Control (EPIC) Branch. This report, prepared by Laura E. Lund, M.A., updates a previous EPIC Proportions: Violent Injuries to Women in California.

Freeing The Innocent: Obtaining Post-Conviction Dna Testing In Florida, Catherine Arcabascio

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

To Catch A Killer: Roadblocks And The Fourth Amendment, Michael T. Morley

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

A Miscarriage Of Justice In Massachusetts: Eyewitness Identification Procedures, Unrecorded Admissions, And A Comparison With English Law, Stanley Z. Fisher, Ian K. Mckenzie

Faculty Scholarship

Like many other states, Massachusetts has recently known a number of acknowledged miscarriages of justice. This article examines one of them, the Marvin Mitchell case, in order to ask two questions: "What went wrong?" and "What systemic reforms might have prevented this injustice?" In seeking ideas for reform, we look to English law.

In 1990 Marvin Mitchell was convicted of rape in Massachusetts. Seven years later he became the first Massachusetts prisoner to be exonerated by DNA testing. In this article we describe the two key factors leading to Mitchell's wrongful conviction: faulty eyewitness identification procedures, and inadequate safeguards surrounding …

Domestic Violence: Does The African Context Demand A Different Approach?, Cynthia Grant Bowman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tips From An Appellate Lawyer, Myron Moskovitz

Publications

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Camacho V. State, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 47, Hilary Barrett

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence entered after a guilty plea.

Marital Immunity, Intimate Relationships, And Improper Inferences: A New Law On Sexual Offenses By Intimates , Michelle J. Anderson

Working Paper Series

Today, to one degree or another, marital immunity for sexual offenses persists in over half the states. Underlying the marital rape immunity has been the assumption that when a woman enters into a marriage, she is giving her ongoing consent to sexual intercourse. Professor Michelle Anderson argues that states must abolish this immunity to make the law formally neutral on the marital status of the parties. However, Professor Anderson argues, such formal neutrality is insufficient. The ideology of ongoing consent underlying the marital rape immunity has infected the way the legal system treats sexual offenses among intimates who are not …

Explosive Dynamic Entry: The Increasing Militarization Of The Police Makes Citizens Into Enemies, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

At 6 a.m. on Friday, May 16, 2003, 57-year old Alberta Spruill was in her residence, Apartment 6F at 310 W. 143rd Street in the Harlem Section of New York City, preparing to leave for work. Spruill, a quiet, church-going woman, was a municipal worker, employed at the Division of Citywide Administrative Services. She had been a city employee for 29 years, and each weekday would take the bus to her job. To her, that Friday morning must have seemed like the beginning of just another ordinary day. She mercifully did not know that she would never again head for …

A Little Bit Of Shooty Face, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed government sources, recently revealed that American intelligence agents and law enforcement officials stationed in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay have been authorized to use “a little bit of smacky face” to make prisoners talk during interrogation. “If you don’t violate someone’s human rights some of the time, you probably aren’t doing your duty,” one anonymous U. S. official was quoted as saying. Americans were assured, however, that the face-slapping of prisoners to induce them to talk was nothing to worry about. There would be no revival of the third degree for persons arrested on …

The Conviction Of Andrea Yates: A Narrative Of Denial, Sherry F. Colb

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Conviction Of Andrea Yates: A Narrative Of Denial, Sherry F. Colb

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

This piece discusses the case of Andrea Yates, the woman who confessed to drowning her five children to death and was subsequently convicted of murder (though the conviction has since been overturned). In this piece, Colb contends that Andrea Yates was convicted because of the jurors’ emotional/psychological response to the possibility that post-partum psychosis could cause an otherwise decent person to commit such brutal acts. As a symptom of denial, Colb argues, the jury rejected the insanity defense and thereby reassured itself that only evil people could do what Yates did. If that were the case, then it would be …

Criminal Law Sanctuaries, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

The paper explores the existence of various social institutions that have resisted the reach of criminal law enforcement authority over time. Focusing on the response of the Catholic Church to widespread clergy sexual abuse, which in many respects reflects the practice of sanctuary in the European middle ages, as well as the historic resistance of families and corporations to criminal law authority, the paper discusses the reasons underlying the phenomenon of sanctuaries, and offers insights into how criminal wrongdoing might best be addressed therein.

Two Kinds Of Criminal Wrongs, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

I distinguish two kinds of criminal wrongs. A wrongdoer who acts in defiance of his conscience is guilty of what I call a wicked wrong. A wrongdoer who does not act in defiance of his conscience is guilty of what I call a vicious wrong. The distinction is derived from a conception of immorality typically associated with the Christian tradition. The distinction is important because it determines the moral message a wrongdoer should try to send through the punishment or penance he must endure in order to atone for his wrongdoing.

The Death Of Roy Lee Centers, Kenneth D. Tunnell, Terry C. Cox

Justice Studies Faculty and Staff Research

"Be it remembered." A simple command yet, in this case, an introduction spoken by the judge in the Breathitt County, Ky., trial of William (Bill) R. Hurst, who killed Roy Lee Centers, a native of Jackson, Kentucky

Summary Of State V. Bayard, 119 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 29, Melanie Koep

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Expedited appeal from an order of the Second Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, granting a motion to suppress evidence of narcotics obtained by searching defendant after arrest for two minor traffic violations.-flas

Addressing Sexual Misconduct In Community Corrections_June 2-4, 2003, Brenda V. Smith

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Opening A Door To Help: Legal Services Programs' Key Role In Representing Battered Immigrant Women And Child, Leslye Orloff, Amanda Baran, Laura A. Martinez-Mcintoh, Jennifer Rose

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Mariella Batista approached the family court building in Riverside, California, 9- year-old son in tow, ready for her hearing. Her family law attorney, who had little domestic violence experience, had no time to meet with Mariella before the court date and arranged to meet her outside the courthouse before the hearing. Mariella, a Cuban immigrant, had a history of years of abuse at the hands of her partner and was attempting to gain control of her life by instituting legal action to gain custody of her son. Suddenly her estranged partner approached her and grabbed the boy. In fear, Mariella …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 78, No. 57, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Brown, Abbey. Suspicious Fire Leaves Freshman Critical – Katie Autry
• Lord, Joseph & Abbey Brown. Pellville Freshman Known as Shy & Funny Without Even Trying
• Sasseen, Jessica. Sprinklers Extinguished Fire
• Hopkins, Shawntaye. Poland Hall Security Heightened
• Tucker, Kyle. Family Shocked by Events
• Hoang, Mai. Dorm Evacuation Delays Studying for Final Exams
• Hoang, Mai. Students Urged to Talk About Feelings
• Casagrande, Michael. Freshman Football Players Drowns on Fishing Trip – Trey McMiller

Review Of The Hanging Of Ephraim Wheeler : A Story Of Rape, Incest, And Justice In Early America, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sexual Abuse Of Women In United States Prisons: A Modern Corollary Of Slavery_April 25, 2003, Brenda V. Smith

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Virginia's Capital Jurors, Stephen P. Garvey, Paul Marcus

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Next to Texas, no state has executed more capital defendants than Virginia. Moreover, the likelihood of a death sentence actually being carried out is greater in Virginia than it is elsewhere, while the length of time between the imposition of a death sentence and its actual execution is shorter. Virginia has thus earned a reputation among members of the defense bar as being among the worst of the death penalty states. Yet insofar as these facts about Virginia's death penalty relate primarily to the behavior of state and federal appellate courts, they suggest that what makes Virginia's death penalty unique …

Mercy By The Numbers: An Empirical Analysis Of Clemency And Its Structure, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Clemency is an extrajudicial measure intended both to enhance fairness in the administration of justice, and allow for the correction of mistakes. Perhaps nowhere are these goals more important than in the death penalty context. The recent increased use of the death penalty and concurrent decline in the number of defendants removed from death row through clemency call for a better and deeper understanding of clemency authority and its application. Questions about whether clemency decisions are consistently and fairly distributed are particularly apt. This study uses 27 years of death penalty and clemency data to explore the influence of defendant …

The Scottsboro Trials: A Legal Lynching (Part Ii), Faust Rossi

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.