Law Commons^™

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, …

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 …

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 …