Wisconsin SC Ends COVID Order Wisconsin’s Supreme Court not long ago annulled the state’s stay-at-home order, saying that the emergency powers governor Tony Evers had invoked to issue the order were meant for brief effect, not to last indefinitely. That ruling is interesting in its own right, but it also points to a quality of […]
The Fantasy We’ve all come across the idea of acting as your own lawyer in a legal proceeding. It lends itself to seductive fantasies: there you are, like Anthony Hopkins in Fracture, laying out your defense before the bench, the prosecutor dumbstruck at the erudition all those Google searches have given you. The jury nods along […]
A Trial Is Over The trial of Harvey Weinstein for multiple sex crimes has ended. Weinstein was acquitted of the most serious charges he faced, first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault, but convicted of rape in the third degree and of criminal sexual act in the first. These convictions entail a prison sentence—to be handed […]
The Background The 1970s, by which time “tough on crime” had become a catchphrase among successful politicians, gave rise to policies whose effects we see even now in the justice system in the U.S. During that decade, sentences previously left to the discretion of judges were instead set out in official guidelines, parole opportunities were […]
The Stage Is Set Across the U.S., change in the law is underway concerning the right of people convicted of felonies to vote in government elections. Because each state deliberates this issue independently, the results vary between states, and sometimes even within states over time, as newly-elected governors modify or rescind outright the orders of […]
On any given day in a criminal defense firm, any variety of innumerable hapless victims of the criminal justice system walk could through the door. My use of the word “victim” to describe criminal defendants will likely send prosecutors everywhere through the proverbial roof. In criminal justice parlance, “Victim” is generally capitalized and has its […]
The Pandemic Strikes The worldwide spread of COVID -19 in recent weeks has now made its mark on the criminal justice system here in Colorado and around the country: most if not all local courts are closed as of this writing, and many hearings have been postponed. This in turn has brought up a legal […]
Breaking News In the last few days, a news story broke about an Aurora Police officer who was found passed out drunk behind the wheel of his unmarked patrol car while on duty in the spring of 2019. The officer was not charged with any crime, nor was he fired. This is a clear case […]
It was only a short time ago when you were lucky to have any video evidence in most criminal cases. Sometimes there would be some video from inside the jail, other times you might have a dash-camera from a patrol car that caught some of the interaction, but by and large there was no video […]
Change Is Coming Polls now indicate that the majority of Americans approve of legalizing marijuana, whereas in the past that was not so. Decades in coming about, this shift has accelerated lately on the information obtained from states where not only medical but also recreational cannabis use is allowed. As of this writing, 12 states […]