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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Law
Producing Procedural Inequality Through The Empirical Turn, Danya Shocair Reda
Producing Procedural Inequality Through The Empirical Turn, Danya Shocair Reda
University of Colorado Law Review
Procedural rulemaking and scholarship have taken an empirical turn in the past three decades. This empirical turn reflects a surprising consensus in what is otherwise a highly divided field and an inherently adversarial system. Because procedural rules distribute legal power in society, they invariably raise questions about who should have access to courts, information, and the means to defend one's legal rights. While debate rages about these normative commitments, procedure has developed a surprising epistemic agreement on empiricism, with its promise of rising above these competing interests with data. In procedure, the turn toward empiricism has become a strategy for …
A Likelihood Story: The Theory Of Legal Fact-Finding, Sean P. Sullivan
A Likelihood Story: The Theory Of Legal Fact-Finding, Sean P. Sullivan
University of Colorado Law Review
Are racial stereotypes a proper basis for legal fact-finding? What about gender stereotypes, sincerely believed by the factfinder and informed by the fact-finder's life experience? What about population averages: if people of a certain gender, education level, and past criminal history exhibit a statistically greater incidence of violent behavior than the population overall, is this evidence that a given person within this class did act violently on a particular occasion? The intuitive answer is that none of these feel like proper bases on which fact-finders should be deciding cases. But why not? Nothing in traditional probability or belief-based theories of …
A Tale Of Two Wives: 404(B) Evidence Simplified, Josiah Beamish
A Tale Of Two Wives: 404(B) Evidence Simplified, Josiah Beamish
University of Colorado Law Review
Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) is a constant source of confusion, contempt, and convoluted reasoning. Rule 404(b) prohibits evidence of an individual's prior bad acts when used to prove conformity with a character trait. No Federal Rule of Evidence generates more appellate pages. This Comment argues that there are foundational issues with a rule that generates so much dispute. That proposition becomes even more evident through examination of the murder conviction of Harold Henthorn. The government's case against Mr. Henthorn relied heavily on the introduction of evidence surrounding his first wife's death. That evidence of prior uncharged conduct-404(b) evidence-became the …
Character Flaws, Frederic Bloom
Character Flaws, Frederic Bloom
University of Colorado Law Review
Character evidence doctrine is infected by error. It is riddled with a set of pervasive mistakes and misconceptions-a group of gaffes and glitches involving Rule 404(b)'s "other purposes" (like intent, absence of accident, and plan) that might be called "character flaws." This Essay identifies and investigates those flaws through the lens of a single, sensational case: United States v. Henthorn. By itself, Henthorn is a tale worth telling-an astonishing story of danger and deceit, malice and murder. But Henthorn is more than just a stunning story. It is also an example and an opportunity, a chance to consider character flaws …
What Remains Of The Exclusionary Rule?, Will Hauptman
What Remains Of The Exclusionary Rule?, Will Hauptman
University of Colorado Law Review Forum
No abstract provided.
A Second Chance At Justice: Why States Should Adopt Aba Model Rules Of Professional Conduct 3.8(G) And (H), Michele K. Mulhausen
A Second Chance At Justice: Why States Should Adopt Aba Model Rules Of Professional Conduct 3.8(G) And (H), Michele K. Mulhausen
University of Colorado Law Review
Prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurists, and citizens alike cringe at the thought of their fellow citizens serving criminal sentences for crimes that they did not commit. Unfortunately, evidence sometimes emerges after conviction that would exonerate the defendant. As a result, in February 2008, the American Bar Association adopted two amendments, (g) and (h), to the existing Model Rule 3.8, which governs the conduct of prosecutors. The two amendments place an affirmative duty on prosecutors to investigate "new, credible and material evidence." If the evidence creates a "reasonable likelihood" that the convicted defendant did not commit the crime, the prosecutor must "seek …
Reverse 404(B) Evidence: Exploring Standards When Defendants Want To Introduce Other Bad Acts Of Third Parties, Jessica Broderick
Reverse 404(B) Evidence: Exploring Standards When Defendants Want To Introduce Other Bad Acts Of Third Parties, Jessica Broderick
University of Colorado Law Review
Reverse 404(b) evidence is the name courts have given to a less common use of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), wherein a defendant attempts to introduce the "other bad acts" of a third party, usually to prove that this third party committed the crime of which the defendant is accused or that the third party coerced the defendant into committing the crime. This Comment first reviews the standard use of FRE 404(b): when prosecutors seek to introduce other bad acts of the defendant. Then it explores how federal courts have addressed reverse 404(b) evidence. Currently there is no consensus among …