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Criminal Law Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 01, 2016 15 Comments
A young woman who was pepper sprayed at a Trump rally in Wisconsin this week is facing charges because video from the incident shows she punched an older man in the face. Some liberal media outlets have been advancing a false narrative that she was sexually assaulted. Professor Jacobson addressed this issue in a prior post. The Hill reported the police recommendation:
Police recommend charges for teen pepper-sprayed outside Trump rally The 15-year-old pepper sprayed at a Donald Trump rally earlier this week may face charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly punching a man in an altercation captured on video.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 26, 2016 14 Comments
It was a chilling speech in 1996. Speaking in favor of a new crime bill, Hillary Clinton used the term "superpredator" to describe young, mostly black, men who were residual criminals. While the term was not literally limited to blacks, it came to signify and justify the mass incarceration of young black men under harsh sentencing laws:
“They are not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of kids that are called ‘superpredators.’ No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 05, 2016 13 Comments
The city of Baltimore reached a grim milestone in 2015 by racking up more homicides in one year than ever before. Kevin Rector reported at The Baltimore Sun:
Deadliest year in Baltimore history ends with 344 homicides Blood was shed in Baltimore at an unprecedented pace in 2015, with mostly young, black men shot to death in a near-daily crush of violence. On a per-capita basis, the year was the deadliest ever in the city. The year's tally of 344 homicides was second only to the record 353 in 1993, when Baltimore had about 100,000 more residents. The killings were on pace with recent years in the early months of 2015 but skyrocketed after the unrest and rioting of late April. In five of the next eight months, killings topped 30 or 40 a month.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 03, 2016 36 Comments
Protesters have taken over a small federal building in Oregon and some of them are armed. One of them is Ammon Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy who was in the news last year for clashing with federal authorities over land use. The reason for the protest seems to be two-fold. The situation which set off the protest was the prosecution of a pair of father and son ranchers named Hammond. The Hammonds are not part of the protest however and are expected to surrender themselves to authorities Monday for separate charges. The second aspect of the protest is a grievance over the federal government taking over land that used to be owned by ranchers.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 25, 2015 180 Comments
About 13 months ago, on October 20, 2014, Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old 180-pound black male who was non-compliant with police orders and threatening Chicago police officers with a knife, was shot and killed by officer Jason Van Dyke, a white man. Yesterday Chicago authorities, under orders from a judge, finally released some dash cam footage of the shooting. Concurrent with that impending release, prosecutors arrested Van Dyke and charged him with first degree murder. He is currently being denied bail. Here's the relevant portion of the police dash cam video that captured that shooting:

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 21, 2015 25 Comments
This past Monday we wrote about the start of the re-trial of retired firefighter Raul Rodriguez who was previously convicted of murder and sentenced to 40 years in jail after shooting a neighbor over a dispute about the neighbor's noisy party. Rodriquez had claimed self-defense justification for the killing.  That prior post can be found here: Retrial Begins for Firefighter Who Selfied “Stand-Your-Ground” That re-trial ended yesterday with the jury returning a verdict of guilty of murder after three hours of deliberation, reports the Houston Chronicle. Rodriquez first murder conviction in this case was overturned because of a somewhat subtle error in the jury instructions on self-defense, as covered in some detail in a post last December, New Trial for Man Who Video Recorded Own “Self-Defense” Shooting.   No one knew, of course, whether the mistaken jury instruction had led the first jury astray and resulted in an improper guilty verdict, but a defendant is entitled to correct jury instructions and so a re-trial was ordered on appeal. This second conviction seems completely unrelated to the concerns surrounding the first--an issue of the timing of when Rodriquez may have openly displayed his concealed carry pistol--but instead focuses strictly on the issue of provocation.
"This case is about provocation, pure and simple," prosecutor Kelli Johnson told jurors in closing arguments earlier in the day. "The law doesn't allow you to create a situation and then claim self-defense."

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 20, 2015 9 Comments
NOTE: This post has one correction and one clarification, as noted below. One of Florida's more interesting laws is the so-called "10-20-Life" statute, properly cited as §775.087 Possession or use of weapon; aggravated battery; felony reclassification; minimum sentence.  In a nutshell, §775.087 provides, among other things, for mandatory minimum sentences for the possession or use of a firearm while committing one of several enumerated violent crimes.  It appears likely now that some substantial changes will be made to §775.087, particularly in the context of self-defense, on the basis of a bill moving through the Florida Senate.  (The PDF of the proposed revised bill, currently named SB 228, is embedded at the bottom of this post.) §775.087 has, of course, long been a target for groups who oppose mandatory minimum sentencing as a matter of policy.  More interestingly, it has also become a target for the self-defense advocacy community, who believe the statute has been used inappropriately against people who were merely acting in self-defense. In effect, the statute lists 18 various crimes, and then establishes mandatory minimum sentences if a person convicted of one of those crimes was either in possession of or discharged a firearm while committing the underlying crime:

§775.087(2)(a)(1): Possession of firearm = 10 year mandatory minimum.

§775.087(2)(a)(2): Discharge of firearm = 20 year mandatory minimum.

§775.087(2)(a)(3): Discharge causing death or great bodily harm = 25 to life mandatory minimum.

Note that each of those mandatory minimum sentences is to run consecutively with (on top of) sentencing for the underlying crime.  Thus it's actually possible to receive a longer sentence for the "10-20-Life" portion of the offense than for the underlying offense itself. CORRECTION: I am advised by Florida public defender (appellate division) Steven Gosney that the §778.087 mandatory minimum "bumps up" the sentence for the underlying criminal charge, it is not in addition to that underlying sentence. So an aggravated assault sentence of 5 years, in which a firearm was discharged, would under §778.087 be increased to a total of 20 years; it would not end up as a combination of 5 years for the underlying charge and an additional 20 years for §778.087.

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 16, 2015 32 Comments
A re-trial begins this week in Houston for retired firefighter Raul Rodriguez who was previously convicted of murder and sentenced to 40 years in jail, reports the Houston Chronicle.  Rodriquez had unsuccessfully argued self-defense at trial. The notable oddity of this case was the fact that Rodriguez had videotaped himself rather bizarrely confronting loudly partying neighbors. Rodriguez would ultimately shoot and kill one of those neighbors, Kelly Danaher. I first wrote about this case back in December of 2014, after the appellate court ruled that Rodriguez was entitled to a re-trial: "New Trial for Man Who Video Recorded Own 'Self-Defense' Shooting." The grounds for ordering a re-trial was an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury on Texas self-defense law. As I wrote at the time:
The facts of the case are somewhat ambiguous on detail, but in general they consist of an amalgam of a loud, drunken party, long-simmering neighborhood disputes, and incredibly poor judgment on the part of a retired fire-fighter in electing to exercise his concealed carry license by bringing his pistol to a confrontation. A tragic outcome was entirely predictable.

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 01, 2015 25 Comments
The city of St. Louis has been plagued by a string of fires at churches with black congregations. Some were quick to jump to the conclusion that the fires were racially motivated. David Graham at The Atlantic played that racial card:
The situation is not unlike the arsons that followed the massacre at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston this summer. As The Atlantic pointed out at the time, there’s a long history of terrorism against black churches in America, one that begins in the era of slavery and continues up through Reconstruction, the civil-rights era, and into the 1990s. But unlike those burnings—and despite the intense focus on the St. Louis area since the August 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson—the recent arsons have been slow to get the same attention, either in the national media or even in the area.... Burnings of black churches has often been a tactic for white supremacist groups.
That narrative took a hit with the announcement that a suspect was arrested for two of the fires. The suspect is black. The Washington Post reports:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 30, 2015 10 Comments
Police in three cities are now boycotting filmmaker Quentin Tarantino for his participation in a recent anti-cop rally, during which he accused police of being murderers. Tarantino's charges are particularly ironic considering the fact that he's built a career producing extremely violent films filled with gun violence and acts of murder. The latest police force to join the boycott is in Philadelphia. Christopher Rosen of Entertainment Weekly reports:
Philadelphia police join call to boycott Quentin Tarantino movies All 14,000 Members of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 have joined officers in New York and Los Angeles in calling for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino’s films.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 27, 2015 10 Comments
Across the nation, police departments are having difficulty recruiting new officers. Many people who might have considered a career in law enforcement just a few years ago are, naturally, concerned by the anti-cop rhetoric espoused by the Black Lives Matter movement and the accompanying narrative supplied by many in media. CNN provides these stunning numbers:
The direct impact of officer-involved shootings on recruiting new officers is unclear, but police departments small and large are having fewer candidates apply to become officers. Post-Ferguson, the New York Police Department, the country's biggest police force, says applications are down 18%. LAPD saw a 16% drop in applications since 2013. In Philadelphia, where police have had a decadeslong problem of trying to attract new hires, police recruit numbers dropped 47% in 2014 from 2008. Even the small police force in Leesburg, Virginia, says while it hasn't seen a drop in applications, far fewer qualified candidates are applying, affecting their ability to hire good cops.

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 25, 2015 15 Comments
Last week, Democrats blocked the passage of Kate's Law, a measure which would punish illegal immigrants who repeatedly re-enter the country after deportation. Bill O'Reilly of FOX News has been one of the most vocal proponents of the law and spoke to FOX and Friends about what happened in Congress. The FOX News Insider reports:
O'Reilly to Dems Against Kate's Law: 'How Can You Live with Yourself?' Bill O'Reilly said a stand-alone vote on Kate's Law would put lawmakers to the test and -- in his opinion -- disqualify any Democratic senators who oppose it from holding office. The proposal would impose a mandatory five-year prison sentence on felons caught trying to re-enter the U.S. after being deported.

Posted by Amy Miller on September 29, 2015 11 Comments
Joyce Mitchell was arrested on June 11 after authorities discovered that she assisted convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from a maximum security prison in upstate New York. Yesterday, Judge Kevin Ryan threw the book at Mitchell, sentencing her to the maximum of 7 years in prison for first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony, and a concurrent year for fourth-degree misdemeanor criminal facilitation. She was also hit with over $6000 in fees, and is facing over $100,000 in restitution charges from the state to cover the cost of the three-week manhunt. More from CNN:

Posted by Amy Miller on September 08, 2015 2 Comments
Late last month, Virginia reporter Alison Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward were murdered on-air by a disgruntled former coworker. They woman they were interviewing, local chamber of commerce executive Vicki Gardner, was also shot---but miraculously, was able to walk to the ambulance, and made it to the hospital and through an intense operation. Vicki's doctors were cautiously optimistic in the wake of the attack, and kept a close watch for infection. (The bullet came "within centimeters" of taking her life.) But, she pulled through, and yesterday, Vicki Gardner was released from the hospital. From Vicki's Recovery Page:
Good News! Vicki’s Home! Vicki has been released from Carilion Memorial Hospital. We are thrilled to have her home but she does face a long recuperation time to be back at 100%. Vicki wants to thank all of you for your support and prayers and for respecting her privacy as she continues her journey back to full health. She will make a statement to the media as soon as she has had time to rest up and adjust to her new routine.
In the wake of the shootings, Gardner's condition became a sub-story, buried beneath ledes about mental illness, gun control, and racism. It shouldn't have been that way; but the media, as it often does, saw an opportunity to tout an agenda (or, three or four) and did so with gusto.

Posted by Mike LaChance on September 08, 2015 15 Comments
Since his return to the U.S. in 2014, there's been much speculation over which charges (if any) Bowe Bergdahl, alleged military deserter and former Taliban captive, would have to face. Tough criticism came from some of his fellow servicemen who believe Bergdahl is a deserter. A new report from the Associated Press via the Houston Chronicle says that Bergdahl will face one charge that's extremely rare:
Military selects rarely used charge for Bergdahl case Military prosecutors have reached into a section of military law seldom used since World War II in the politically fraught case against Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held prisoner for years by the Taliban after leaving his post in Afghanistan. Observers wondered for months if Bergdahl would be charged with desertion after the deal brokered by the U.S. to bring him home. He was — but he was also charged with misbehavior before the enemy, a much rarer offense that carries a stiffer potential penalty in this case. "I've never seen it charged," Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army's top lawyer, said of the misbehavior charge. "It's not something you find in common everyday practice in the military."

Posted by Amy Miller on September 04, 2015 2 Comments
Remember El Chapo? Joaquin Guzman, the infamous Mexican drug lord---and head of the even more infamous Sinaloa drug cartel---made headlines this past July when he executed an even more infamous escape from Mexico's maximum security Altiplano prison. He tied his shoes, popped down a tunnel, and surfaced a mile outside the prison walls into the waiting arms (and vehicles) of his drug-running minions. It was El Chapo's second escape from a Mexican maximum security prison, and officials were both baffled* and humiliated* after they discovered they'd been hoodwinked*. (*This, of course, assumes that they were hoodwinked. The man had a privacy wall in his cell and a fully-lit and equipped tunnel. Alas...) Since his escape, El Chapo has been on the run, leaving a bizarre social media trail in his wake. Several times, Guzman's son Alfredo has made posts to social media purporting to show photos of his father not languishing in a cell in central Mexico. His last post, however, may have had a teensy flaw---he left the geotagging on. Mediaite grabbed a screenshot of the tweet:

Posted by Andrew Branca on September 03, 2015 60 Comments
Yesterday Judge Barry Williams made several important rulings on the Freddie Gray case, in which six Baltimore police officers have been charged with various felonies in the death of the arrested drug suspect, reports the Baltimore Sun. Key among these are that each of the officers will receive a separate trial, and that Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby will not be forced to recuse herself from the proceedings. Left unanswered until a successive hearing next week is whether the trials will be held in Baltimore, where the alleged crimes occurred, or outside the city where defense lawyers argue a less tainted jury pool is available. These rulings strike me as being consistent with reasonable due process as well as political decision-making. The six officers charged were each involved in some, but not all, of the activities around Gray's arrest and later apparent injury while being transported in the police vehicle. This is reflected in the differing charges against each of them. As a result, the evidence relevant and admissible in one officer's prosecution might well not be either in another officer's prosecution. Expecting a jury to keep all this straight in a simultaneous trial of six defendants would be unrealistic, to say the least. Indeed, I very much expect the press and the general public will find doing so all but impossible. (I anticipate we'll be seeing a lot of bad legal analysis as a result.) To refresh our recollection, here's a table listing the six defendants, the charges against them, and their defense counsel. This might well prove a handy reference moving forward:

Posted by Amy Miller on September 02, 2015 13 Comments
Last Friday, Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth stopped to fuel up at a suburban Houston gas station. Soon after, Shannon Miles pulled up, put a gun to the back of Goforth's head, and shot him 15 times. It wasn't a murder---it was an execution; and now, those close to the investigation are asking whether or not nationwide anti-cop rhetoric played a part in it [emphasis mine]:
Surveillance video from the gas station shows that Goforth, 47, had just come out of a convenience store after he had pumped gas and that Miles got out of his red truck, she said. “He runs up behind Deputy Goforth and puts the gun to the back of his head and shoots. Deputy Goforth hits the ground and then he continues to unload his gun, shooting repeatedly into the back of Deputy Goforth,” [Harris County District Attorney Devon] Anderson said. Goforth was shot 15 times and a witness saw the shooting, Anderson said. She added that the shell casings match the .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun found at Miles’ home. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said Saturday that the attack was “clearly unprovoked,” and there is no evidence that Goforth knew Miles. “Our assumption is that he (Goforth) was a target because he wore a uniform,” the sheriff said.
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