Walk into criminal court some time to listen to closing arguments. Odds are you will hear the prosecution talk about holding the defendant accountable for his crimes. But who holds the government accountable when it errs?
Judges are extremely reluctant to do so.
Consider this week’s 5-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Utah v. Strieff. At issue was what consequences should follow when the government violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures in seizing evidence.
The facts of the case are simple enough.
A...
June 23, 2016
Experienced litigators learn the hard way that some institutions regard themselves as too big to comply with the humdrum requirements of the law. I've seen large institutions simply ignore a subpoena, not even bothering to show up as directed. Yale University is notorious for doing this; so are some of the state's larger hospitals.
Judges are reluctant for reasons I do not understand to issue capias warrants requiring these institutions to appear in court. Only little people get arrested, taken into custody, and hauled into court for ignoring a subpoena.
Add Facebook to the list...
June 18, 2016
I’m not hopping on the bandwagon circling the Santa Clara County, California, courthouse. Don’t add my name to the million-plus names of those calling for the scalp of Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky. Far from a goat, Judge Persky is a hero.
Would that there were more judges like him.
Judge Persky presided over the sexual assault trial of a Stanford college student, Brock Turner, accused, and then convicted by a jury, of raping a fellow student. Mr. Turner and his victim attended a frat party. The victim was intoxicated, passed out; the defendant, too was...
June 16, 2016
What should the law require in the wake of the shooting of Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla shot to death by zoo officials last weekend at the Cincinnati Zoo?
Some basic facts don’t seem to be in dispute.
On Saturday, a 3-year-old boy on a visit to the zoo with his mother managed to get over a fence and into a moat where Harambe, a 450-pound silverback gorilla, was kept. Harambe took an interest in the boy, and, in videos suddenly gone viral, is seen to be engaged with the boy in a way that is intermittently endearing and alarming.
Zookeepers, concerned to prevent harm...
June 5, 2016
May 17, 2016
Gov. Dannel Malloy will soon be given an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to the Second Chance Society to which he committed more than one...
May 4, 2016
The Federal Reserve Board holds the key to why Donald Trump could easily become the next president of the United States, and it has nothing to do...
April 29, 2016
If your child suffers a serious unexplained injury, the state just might seek to terminate your parental rights. It will do so in a closed courtroom,...
April 29, 2016
Donald Trump walked away from the so-called "Acela primaries" in the Northeast a complete winner, sweeping the Republican contests in Connecticut,...
April 22, 2016
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, a troubled young man, walked into an elementary school and killed or seriously wounded more than two-dozen people,...
April 15, 2016
State and federal law enforcement agencies make millions of dollars each year manipulating asset forfeiture laws. Generally, these laws...