Law Commons^™

Judge And The Crime Burden, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

One does not happily charge the judiciary with responsibility for the country's burden of crime, but the responsibility does in fact exist. Judges, though they may not encourage crime, interfere with its prevention in various ways. They deliberately restrict police efficiency in the discovery of criminals. They exempt from punishment many criminals who are discovered and whose guilt is evident. More seriously still, they so warp and alter the public's attitude toward crime and criminals as gravely to weaken the country's most effective crime preventive.

Evidence - Spontaneous Declarations - Statement By Injured Party While On Way To Hospital, James Beatty S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs were injured in an automobile accident involving a car, driven by the defendant's decedent, and two oncoming trucks, one passing the other on a three lane highway. Twenty-five minutes after the accident a state police officer arrived and took the driver of the passing truck, who was severely burned and in terrific pain, to the hospital. En route and in response to the officer's inquiry, the driver stated that defendant had caused the accident by swerving to the wrong side of the road. The statement was admitted over defendant's objection that it was hearsay, and verdict was rendered for …

Mccormick: Handbook Of The Law Of Evidence, Mason Ladd

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Handbook of the Law of Evidence. By Charles T. McCormick

Evidence - Privilege - Maintaining Action Where The Evidence May Affect The National Security, John F. Dodge, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff brought an action for the breach of a contract for the manufacture of certain arming mechanisms for the use of the United States Army. The defendant moved to dismiss the action on the grounds that the contract in question was classified as confidential by the army and that the disclosures of certain facts asserted to be material in the prosecution and defense of the action would be a violation of the Federal Espionage Laws. Held, motion denied. The court should invoke every proper judicial technique to keep state secrets unrevealed, but it should not dismiss a valid …

Criminal Law - Contradictory Statements Under Oath As Grounds For Perjury In The Federal Courts, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Perjury has frequently been described as one of the more difficult convictions to obtain, and the truth of this saying is no better illustrated than in the case of Harvey Matusow. During the two years in which ex-Communist Matusow served as a professional government witness, he accused 180 or more persons as being members of the Communist Party or Communist sympathizers. This same witness has now described himself as a "habitual and perpetual liar" and has publicly admitted that all of his previous testimony was false. On the strength of this recantation, motions were filed for a new trial in …

Criminal Law - Scope Of Lawful Search And Seizure Without Warrant When Incident To Arrest, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Acting on information that defendants were engaged in the "numbers racket" in violation of the Michigan gambling laws, police officers picked up three of the defendants in an automobile, took them to the police station, and proceeded to the home of their accomplice, Abbey Clay. On being admitted to the residence, the officers placed Abbey Clay under arrest and, despite her objections, promptly searched the L-shaped room in which they were standing when the arrest was made. Although the officers did not have a search warrant, they looked through defendant's pocketbook, magazine rack, and a cardboard box which was in …

Morgan: Basic Problems Of Evidence, Alfred L. Gausewitz

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Basic Problems of Evidence. By Edmund M. Morgan.

Evidence - Validity Of Statutory Presumption Of Intoxication From A Finding Of 0.15 Percent Concentration Of Alcohol In The Blood, Donald F. Oosterhouse S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was tried and convicted of the statutory crime of driving an automobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The state introduced into evidence the result of a blood test, voluntarily submitted to by the defendant, which showed 0,20% concentration of alcohol in the defendant's blood. Arizona statutes established a rebuttable presumption of no intoxication if such tests showed a concentration of 0.05%, or less, of alcohol in one's blood, and of intoxication if the tests showed a concentration of 0.15%, or more. Breath, urine, and direct blood tests are authorized by the statute. Defendant argued that the statute …

Legislation - Witness Immunity Act Of 1954 - Constitutional And Interpretative Problem, George S. Flint S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The passage in August, 1954 of a federal statute granting immunity under specified conditions to witnesses before congressional committees and in the federal courts marks a third legislative experiment designed to soften the effect of the Fifth Amendment as a limitation on the investigatory power of Congress. The first two attempts were less than successful. This comment will discuss the historical background of immunity legislation, and some possible constitutional pitfalls and problems of construction created by the statutory language.

Constitutional Law - Right To Effective Assistance Of Counsel In Federal Courts And Waiver Thereof, Richard M. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Indicted for illegal traffic in narcotics, petitioner and his trial counsel allegedly attempted to fabricate an alibi on the false testimony of petitioner's girl friend. The evidence indicated that on several occasions before trial, the girl was invited to the office of petitioner's attorney, given narcotics, and told to memorize certain false testimony to be used in petitioner's defense. Later the girl bad a change of mind and agreed to testify for the government Despite the strenuous objections of defendant's counsel, a description of this alleged fraud on the court was given in the prosecution's opening statement, and the witness …

Evidence - Presumptions - Continuting Life During Seven-Year Absence, Douglas Peck S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Deceased, a wage earner, disappeared on December 28, 1943, and was unreported for more than seven years. Evidence was conflicting as to whether he had suicidal tendencies. He was adjudged dead in December 1950 by probate court, and plaintiff, as administratrix, filed a claim for monthly social security benefits to which deceased would have been entitled for the period from December 1943 to December 1950. The referee made a finding that deceased died in December 1943. On appeal to the United States District Court from a decision of the Appeals Council of the Federal Security Agency affirming the referee's finding …

Evidence - Admissibility In Federal Courts Of Record Of Telephone Conversation-Meaning Of "Interception", Robert C. Fox S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for perjury committed before a subcommittee of Congress, defendant filed a motion to suppress the record of a telephone conversation which had been made by the other party to the conversation without defendant's knowledge or consent.

Held , motion granted. To record a telephone conversation in this manner is to intercept it within the meaning of section 605 of the Communications Act; under the Supreme Court's ruling in Nardone v. United States, divulgence in court of a conversation so intercepted would be a violation of the Communications Act. United States v. Stephenson, (D.C. D.C. 1954) …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Judicial Review Of Jury Determination On Coerced Character Of Confession, James M. Potter S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, suspected of the murder of his parents, was subjected to intensive police interrogation culminating in a confession to a state-employed psychiatrist. Petitioner had been allowed only a small amount of sleep and was suffering from a sinus condition when he was introduced to the psychiatrist, who was represented as a general practitioner. The questioning of the psychiatrist, who was skilled in hypnosis, was a subtle blend of threats and promises of leniency. Within the next three and one-half hours petitioner also confessed to a police captain, a business associate, and two assistant state prosecutors. The confession to the psychiatrist …

Evidence - Attorney-Client Privilege - Communications Relating To Future Criminal Transactions, Robert B. Fiske, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was subpoenaed in connection with a grand jury investigation of gambling and corruption of public officials. He had been retained by one 'Willie" Moretti as attorney for five of his associates in October, 1950 after a complaint charging a gambling conspiracy had been filed against them. During some two hundred conferences with Moretti in the following year, defendant learned that protection money was being paid to certain high ranking state officials, Moretti at one point complaining of the frequent demands of these officials for more· money. Moretti also discussed with defendant a visit he had paid to the home …