Law Commons^™

The Missing Algorithm: Safeguarding Brady Against The Rise Of Trade Secrecy In Policing, Deborah Won

Michigan Law Review

Trade secrecy, a form of intellectual property protection, serves the important societal function of promoting innovation. But as police departments across the country increasingly rely on proprietary technologies like facial recognition and predictive policing tools, an uneasy tension between due process and trade secrecy has developed: to fulfill Brady’s constitutional promise of a fair trial, defendants must have access to the technologies accusing them, access that trade secrecy inhibits. Thus far, this tension is being resolved too far in favor of the trade secret holder—and at too great an expense to the defendant. The wrong balance has been struck.

This …

Evidence-Confessions-Admissiblity Of A Subsequent Confession Under The Mcnabb-Mallory Doctrine, Ira J. Jaffe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was indicted for first degree murder and convicted of manslaughter in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. Defendant had willingly directed the police to the victim's body and voluntarily signed a written confession during a period of thirty-four hours detention prior to arraignment. At the arraignment defendant was informed of his rights and indicated that he was aware of them; in addition, the preliminary hearing was postponed in order to provide him opportunity to obtain counsel. Twenty hours after his arraignment the defendant once again voluntarily confessed while giving a police officer instructions as to the …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Use Of Habeas Corpus To Allow Federal Court To Review State Court Jury Determination Of Voluntariness Of Confession, Herbert R. Brown S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The prisoner had been convicted of murder in the state court. He brought a habeas corpus proceeding in federal district court to secure his release from custody on the ground that the conviction was based on a confession which was obtained by physical violence. The confession had been submitted to the jury, which was instructed to consider it only if it found that it was not obtained by duress or fear produced by threats. The district court granted the writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, held, affirmed. The district court could determine the facts of the case for itself. …

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 …

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Coerced Confessions And The Stein Case, Marvin O. Young S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Stein v. People of State of New York, a coerced confession case decided by the Supreme Court last June, at first suggests some rather startling propositions about the effect of a denial of procedural due process. Since Brown v. Mississippi in 1936 it has been well settled that the admission of a coerced confession into evidence in a state criminal proceeding contravenes the due process guaranty of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the confession cases subsequently considered by the Supreme Court it has been consistently held that the admission of an extorted confession vitiates the entire proceeding and renders the …

Evidence-Confessions-Mcnabb Rule Not Applicable Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Harry T. Baumann S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, detained on a vagrancy charge in Texas, voluntarily confessed to a homicide committed in Nebraska. Upon his return to the latter state, the defendant repeated his confession and was subsequently arraigned, having been in custody for twenty-five days. The confessions were introduced at the trial and a conviction of manslaughter followed. Defendant, failing to gain a reversal in the state court, sought review by the United States Supreme Court, charging that a failure to arraign the defendant promptly in breach of local statutes was a want of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. On certiorari, held, affirmed, Justices …

Constitutional Law-Due Process-Use Of Extraneous Evidence In Determining Criminal Sentence, Colvin A. Peterson, Jr. S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was convicted of murder in the first degree with a recommendation for life imprisonment. In reliance on police and probation reports showing petitioner's background which included over thirty burglaries for which he had never been arraigned and a "morbid sexuality," the trial judge disregarded the jury's recommendation and imposed the death sentence. Although petitioner did not have an opportunity to examine the reports prior to the sentence hearing, he was represented by counsel at the hearing and did not challenge them at that time. Petitioner contended that he had been denied due process of law because his sentence had …

Constitutional Law-Due Process Of Law-Freedom From Unreasonable Search And Seizure-The Admissibility Of Illegally Seized Evidence, Bernard Goldstone S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Local police officers entered the private office of petitioner, a practising physician, without a warrant and seized his private books and records. As a result of the information thus obtained, petitioner was convicted of conspiracy to perform an abortion. Petitioner claimed that his constitutional rights were invaded contending that due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment includes freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and prevents the admission of illegally seized evidence, but this was denied by the Supreme Court of Colorado and the conviction was affirmed. On certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States, held, affirmed, …

Evidence-Federal Criminal Procedure-Admissibility Of Confession Obtained During Illegal Detention, William F. Snyder S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner was arrested without a warrant on suspicion of larceny. He was held without commitment for a period of thirty hours during which he was intermittently questioned but was not subjected to any form of physical coercion. At the end of this period, he signed a confession which was the basis for his conviction in the district court. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, following affirmation in the court of appeals, held, reversed. The detention was unlawful as a violation of rule 5 (a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and the confession thus obtained was …

Theory Of Pleading A Survey Including The Federal Rules, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

In an often-quoted report of a committee of the American Bar Association, Roscoe Pound stated: "Pleadings have four purposes: (1) The first is to serve as a formal basis for the judgment. This is the oldest function, and one that goes back before the time of rational, as distinguished from purely mechanical trial of issues. . . . (2) Another is to separate issues of fact from questions of law .... (3) Another is to give litigants the advantage of a plea of res judicata if molested again for the same cause .... (4) Finally, pleadings exist to notify parties …

Courts - Due Process- Findings Of Fact By Court On Basis Of Transcript Where Master Has Not Submitted Report, J. R. Mackenzie S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

After taking evidence upon a matter referred to him, a master in chancery closed the proofs, but died before making his report. The district court, after receiving briefs of counsel and hearing argument, made an ultimate finding based on the transcript of evidence. Held, such action by a court which has not seen the witnesses is not in accord with due process. Smith v. Dental Products Co., (C.C.A. 7th, 1948) 168 F. (2d) 516.

Criminal Law-Manslaughter-Effect Of Violation Of Statute Or Ordinance On Criminal Negligence, C. E. Becraft

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was convicted of the crime of negligent homicide and appealed, alleging that the Louisiana statute, making violation of a statute or ordinance presumptive evidence of criminal negligence, was repugnant to the due process clauses of the state and federal constitutions. Held, affirmed. The effect of the statute is merely to shift the burden of introducing evidence of one element of the crime charged: that of criminal negligence. The presumption does not operate as a prima facie presumption of guilt of the crime -and the state must still prove every element of the offense. State v. Nix, (La. …

What Constitutes A Fair Procedure Before The National Labor Relations Board, Clyde W. Summers

Michigan Law Review

No administrative body in recent times has received as much criticism, both favorable and unfavorable, as has the National Labor Relations Board in its administration of the National Labor Relations Act. Such a vast amount of material has been written on the procedure before the board that any further discussion would seem superfluous. However, the discussion of the board's procedure has been related more to the wisdom of choice which the board has made in setting up its procedure than to a determination of the line that separates legality from illegality in its determination of cases.

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Presumptions

Michigan Law Review

The Alien Land Law of California forbids the acquisition of real property for agricultural purposes by aliens ineligible to citizenship; amendment 9b provides that proof of the acquisition of land by the defendant and of his being a member of a race ineligible to United States citizenship raises the presumption of ineligibility to citizenship against the defendant, and the burden is on him to show citizenship or eligibility thereto. Defendants, an American and a Japanese, were indicted for conspiracy to violate the act. No evidence as to the birthplace of the Japanese was adduced by either side, and both were …