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 […]
Wow. Look at you. Look at you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more decent, good-hearted, salt-of-the-earth-y human being in all my life. You are clearly a source of comfort and pride to your family, your friends, and your community, and I for one would be surprised if there aren’t people all over town who wake […]
New Legislation A new law is hitting the books in Colorado in January, and a lot of people are talking about it. The “Deputy Zackari Parrish III Violence Prevention Act,” one of the various “red flag” laws emerging across the country, will allow a concerned family member, spouse, roommate, or law enforcement agency to file […]
The End to Private Prisons? Prisons have been around for as long as our republic, but prior to the 1980s, those prisons belonged in the exclusive domain of the government. Prisons were funded, run, and overseen by the government with no role for private enterprise. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that a company called […]
Defense Lawyers, Amirite? Over the year or so that I’ve worked for Colin and Russ, the subject has come up, most often with people outside the legal field but also once or twice with Colin and Russ themselves, whether I have a moral objection to the work of criminal defense. “What’s it like,” the non-lawyers […]
A Delicate Balance Contact with the police under U.S. law involves a shifting tension between citizens’ constitutional rights and the need to stop crime: the greater the imposition police make on someone’s privacy, the greater the cause they must be able to show for that imposition. Since evidence police collect during contact with citizens can […]
In my last blog, we talked about the pros and cons of talking to the police when under investigation for a crime. As a general rule, we concluded that the less said, the better. What about Miranda warnings? At least once a day, one of my clients will say “the cop didn’t read me my […]
After 19 days of presenting a case built on mostly circumstantial evidence, Florida prosecutors have rested their case against Casey Anthony, who is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. The state claims that Anthony’s conduct and the lies she told about her daughter’s whereabouts weren’t the only reasons […]
Recently, there has been an increase in travel security at the borders. Not only have restrictions to travel been enacted but there have also been more searches, including searches of people’s phones. Unknown to most, Border Patrol and Customs agents have long had extensive powers to search when they have reasonable suspicions and often when they do […]