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Full-Text Articles in Law
Bringing Down A Legend: How Pennsylvania’S Investigating Grand Jury Ended Joe Paterno’S Career, Brian Gallini
Bringing Down A Legend: How Pennsylvania’S Investigating Grand Jury Ended Joe Paterno’S Career, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
A grand jury “presentment” is a document that reflects the results of an investigatory grand jury’s investigation. Abandoned by the federal system in 1946, several states continue to rely on presentments in their grand jury practice. One such state is Pennsylvania.
On November 5, 2011, a Pennsylvania investigating grand jury issued a presentment targeted toward former Penn State assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky. The twenty-three-page document was released to the public on the same day and, in it, the presentment included a handful of statements relevant to former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno. Although Paterno was not the …
Schneckloth V. Bustamonte: History’S Unspoken Fourth Amendment Anomaly, Brian Gallini
Schneckloth V. Bustamonte: History’S Unspoken Fourth Amendment Anomaly, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
The officer walking the beat has numerous tools at her disposal to effectuate a warrantless search, the most popular of which is the consent search. Academics, courts, and the public appear skeptical of current consent search practices; so, how did we get here? Step back to 1969 when President Nixon appointed Warren Burger to replace Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. At that time, many believed Burger’s “law and order” background foretold Miranda’s overruling. That never happened; a handful of commentators and historians therefore view the Burger Court’s criminal procedure decisions as anticlimactic. That view overlooks the …
To Serve And Protect? Officers As Expert Witnesses In Federal Drug Prosecutions, Brian Gallini
To Serve And Protect? Officers As Expert Witnesses In Federal Drug Prosecutions, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
A competent United States Attorney should easily win any federal drug case. The elements of federal drug crimes are easy to prove, easy to explain, and easy for juries to comprehend. Why then does the government need members of law enforcement to testify as experts in federal drug prosecutions? The answer: they do not. Yet district courts routinely admit (and appellate courts uphold) expert agent and officer testimony on a wide array of drug topics—including when officers testify both as expert and lay witnesses. Were the examples of law enforcement expert testimony few, perhaps no problem would arise. But this …
Car Stops, Borders, And Profiling: The Hunt For Undocumented (Illegal?) Immigrants In Border Towns, Brian Gallini, Elizabeth Young
Car Stops, Borders, And Profiling: The Hunt For Undocumented (Illegal?) Immigrants In Border Towns, Brian Gallini, Elizabeth Young
Brian Gallini
The much-discussed Arizona immigration statute, SB 1070, continues an effort—this time at the legislative level—to broaden the discretionary power of law enforcement. Yet, a fascinating question lies at the base of the public’s pervasive criticism of the Act: where have all the critics been? Numerous Supreme Court cases already allow for law enforcement to engage in the very practice—racial and ethnic profiling premised on “reasonable suspicion”—that has incited the emotions of so many citizens nationwide.
This Article therefore argues that the Arizona’s SB 1070, while notable for the public response to it, is merely emblematic of a much larger and …
Police “Science” In The Interrogation Room: Seventy Years Of Pseudo-Psychological Interrogation Methods To Obtain Inadmissible Confessions, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
Nearly all confessions obtained by interrogators nationwide are inadmissible, but nonetheless admitted. In the process, police arrest the wrong suspect and allow the guilty to go free. An unshakeable addiction to pseudo-scientific interrogation methods – initially created in the 1940s – is to blame. The so-called “Reid technique” of interrogation was initially a welcome and revolutionary change from the violent “third degree” method it replaced. But, we no longer live in the 1940s and, not surprisingly, we no longer drive 1940s automobiles, practice early twentieth century medicine, or dial rotary phones. Why, then, are police still using 1940s methods of …
Step Out Of The Car: License, Registration, And Dna Please, Brian Gallini
Step Out Of The Car: License, Registration, And Dna Please, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
No Arkansas appellate court has examined the constitutionality of the recently enacted House Bill 1473 – better known as “Juli’s Law” – which allows officers to take DNA samples from suspects arrested for capital murder, murder in the first degree, kidnapping, sexual assault in the first degree, and sexual assault in the second degree. This Essay contends that Juli’s Law violates the Fourth Amendment of the federal constitution. Part I highlights certain features of the statute and explores the rationale underlying its enactment. Part II discusses the only published decision upholding the practice of taking of DNA samples from certain …
Driving Through Arkansas? Have Your Dna Sample Ready, Brian Gallini
Driving Through Arkansas? Have Your Dna Sample Ready, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
No Arkansas appellate court has examined the constitutionality of the recently enacted House Bill 1473 – better known as “Juli’s Law” – which allows officers to take DNA samples from suspects arrested for capital murder, murder in the first degree, kidnapping, sexual assault in the first degree, and sexual assault in the second degree. This brief essay contends that Juli’s Law violates the Fourth Amendment of the federal constitution.
Help Wanted: Seeking One Good Appellate Brief That Forces The Arkansas Supreme Court To Clarify Its Criminal Discovery Jurisprudence, Brian Gallini
Help Wanted: Seeking One Good Appellate Brief That Forces The Arkansas Supreme Court To Clarify Its Criminal Discovery Jurisprudence, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
This Essay first argues that Arkansas has yet to conclusively articulate when a prosecutorial suppression of evidence in response to defense counsel's discovery request violates either the federal or state due process clauses, or the state rules of criminal procedure. More importantly, however, this Essay contends that the Arkansas Supreme Court should require prosecutors to turn over all statements in response to a specific discovery request even if those statements are only arguably “material” and “favorable to the accused.” Doing so would provide to defendants more protection pursuant to the Arkansas Constitution than they now enjoy under the Federal Constitution. …
From Philly To Fayetteville: Reflections On Teaching Criminal Law In The First Year, Brian Gallini
From Philly To Fayetteville: Reflections On Teaching Criminal Law In The First Year, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
How exactly should we teach the first-year criminal law course? How many credits should the course receive? What should go in the syllabus? How much of what is in the syllabus must be covered? In this essay, I humbly offer some thoughts – from the “newbie’s” standpoint – for your consideration in response to each of these questions. I conclude with some limited comments (reminders?) directed gently to my senior colleagues about teaching this generation of first-year law students.
Equal Sentences For Unequal Participation: Should The Eighth Amendment Allow All Juvenile Murder Accomplices To Receive Life Without Parole?, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
No court has addressed the constitutional significance of sentencing juvenile murder accomplices who play a minimal role in the underlying killing to life in prison without parole. Indeed, no precedent makes clear whether it is cruel and unusual to impose that sentence on juvenile offenders convicted of first-degree murder pursuant to either the felony-murder doctrine or an accomplice theory of liability, notwithstanding their minimal involvement in the victim’s death. To investigate this unanswered question, Part I of this Article explores the imposition of life without parole sentences on juvenile non-killers convicted of murder via either the felony-murder doctrine or accomplice …
Herding Bullfrogs Towards A More Balanced Wheelbarrow: An Illustrative Recommendation For Federal Sentencing Post-Booker, Brian Gallini
Herding Bullfrogs Towards A More Balanced Wheelbarrow: An Illustrative Recommendation For Federal Sentencing Post-Booker, Brian Gallini
Brian Gallini
The Article first provides an overview of the history and prevailing motivations behind the promulgation of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Then, using the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as an illustrative example, the Article contends that, notwithstanding the supposed “far-reaching” implications of both Blakely and Booker, the judiciary's continued reliance on the “advisory” Guidelines has practically changed federal sentencing procedures very little in form or function. For a contrasting response to Booker, the Article thereafter examines the State of Maine's sentencing scheme and its response to the Supreme Court's Booker/Blakely decisions. By arguing that Maine's sentencing procedure …