For civil libertarians, there are few heroes who can match Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish judge who ordered the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998 and later worked to identify human rights violations committed during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. He will be the first recipient of ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism. I will have the honor of serving as the interviewer of Judge Garzón at the award luncheon on Saturday, May 14th, and to explore his views of contemporary civil liberties issues as well as his famous career.
Continue reading “Baltasar Garzón To Receive Human Rights Award and Speak in New York”
Category: Courts
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Here’s a great legal war-story from U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson (via lawhaha.com) that needs no commentary:
“A very-veteran criminal defendant was about to be tried in federal court in Wyoming on bank fraud charges. The allegation was that, while in the county lockup on an unrelated stolen-vehicle charge, he had used the jail phone to call a local bank and, posing as a prominent wealthy individual, persuaded the bank to deliver a cashier’s check for $10,000 to the jail for the ostensible purpose of bonding out the man’s “nephew” (the nephew’s name, of course, being the defendant’s own).
Continue reading “Speak No Evil”
Below is today’s column in USA Today on the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Continue reading “Bin Laden: A Time To Reflect”
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has severed his office’s relationship with King & Spalding after the firm abandoned its representation of the House of Representatives in the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In my view, Cuccinelli is right to do so. While I have long been critic of DOMA, I have been highly critical of the firm’s handling of the case and dumping a client under pressure. Paul Clement has now left the firm and will represent the House of Representatives as part of Bancroft PLLC.
Continue reading “Virginia Severs Ties With King & Spalding”
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama announced that he was considering an Executive Order that would mandate that all contractors who receive Federal money must disclose their political contributions. Since I am not a big fan of Executive Orders and since President Obama was not a big fan of Executive Orders when he was a candidate, I was not especially enthralled about the possibility of another Executive Order. However, once I read what the proposed Executive Order was going to do, I have to admit that I embraced it with open arms. Continue reading “John Yoo Calls the Kettle Black”
Broward Circuit Court Judge Ilona Holmes probably does not like bringing work back home with her, but sometimes works shows up anyway. Holmes, her sister and her sister’s family were ordered at gun point by several Broward Sheriffs Deputies on Easter Sunday in a botched police raid. The police went to the wrong address. Police were responding to a report of a break-in next door.
Continue reading “Florida Police Mistakingly Raid Judge’s Home and Order Family Out of House at Gunpoint During Easter Dinner”
As expected, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s effort to bypass the appellate court has failed with a denial at the United States Supreme Court. The Rule 11 motion was turned down — as it is in the vast majority of cases. The Obama Administration opposed the motion and is expected to continue to try to slow the momentum of the challenge.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Denies Virginia’s Effort To Get Expedited Review”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Twenty five year-old Ryan James Stephens will probably never be confused with actors Rex Harrison or Eddie Murphy but he may be the new Dr. Doolittle. Stephens has been charged with violating Cincinnati’s ordinance prohibiting citizens from “talking” to police dogs.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has issued an interesting decision concerning the prerogative of police to order a suspect to exit a car after smelling marijuana smoke coming from within. Seems the opinion turned on the Bay State’s decision to decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of the wacky weed in 2008.
Continue reading “Odor Of Marijuana Not Enough For Probable Cause”
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley (left) wants Judge Raymond G. Dougan Jr. (right) removed from criminal cases. Dougan is not being accused of being a drunk, pill-popper, or mentally incompetent. His offense is being too pro-defendant in criminal cases for the tastes of Conley. This appears to becoming a trend of prosecutors seeking to remove judges or boycott (or in one case, arrest a judge) who rule too often against the prosecutors or police.
Continue reading “Boston District Attorney Demands Removal of Judge Viewed As Being Too Pro-Defendant in Criminal Cases”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Forty-three year old belly- dancer, Dorothy McGurk, has learned just how expensive internet dancing can be. Receiving $850.00 in monthly alimony due to a disability, the Staten Island resident was hauled before a county judge by her husband, Brian McGurk, who caught her dancing act on her blog and who now claims his ex-wife’s disability has actually “slip-sided away.”
Continue reading “Gut Feeling: New York Belly Dancer Loses Alimony”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
This is a question frequently asked by police officers to use the consent exception to the requirement to obtain a warrant. Note the difference compared with “Can I search you/your car?” A “yes” answer has exactly the opposite meaning depending upon which question was asked. Police officers are well aware of this fact.
In the case of J.W.E. v. State of Florida, this question, and its answer, were critical.
Lorain (Ohio) Magistrate Daniel Cook may have to recuse himself from a recent theft case. It appears that two citizens who came before him decided to leave with their own measure of justice: they stole Cook’s gavel. The alleged gavel grabber is Christopher Collins, 47, who was promptly arrested in the world’s most moronic act.
Continue reading “Ohio Man Arrested For Stealing Gavel of Judge From Courtroom”
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is under fire for continuing her political advocacy while she continues to hear cases in U.S. appellate courts. In a prior column, I criticized the increasingly public and political profiles of current justices. O’Connor was viewed as a justice who, while on the court, maintained a “base” and an active speaking schedule. Various critics have now noted with good-faith concern that O’Connor is lending her name to political causes while sitting as a federal judge.
Continue reading “Former O’Connor Criticized for Political Activities While Continuing To Sit As Judge”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Forty-one-year old Michelle Astumian sure has moxie. Facing a sentencing hearing in a San Luis Obispo, CA court for two counts of forging drug prescriptions and one of passing a fraudulent check, she presented Judge Barry LaBarbera with a doctor’s note in an effort to delay the proceeding. The savvy Judge dispatched a deputy DA to verify the note and was quickly told it was a fake. Nonplussed, Astumian collapsed when the Judge ordered the $45,000.00 bond revoked and her into custody. No word on the nature of her mysterious ailment, but her trip to the hospital granted her wish to delay the sentencing. I’d call that winning the battle only to insure losing the war.
Source: KVEC
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger