The release of the first part of Jack Smith’s report at midnight was the special counsel’s version of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision: we had seen it before. Putting aside the public filings where Smith fought to get this information out before the election, there was little new in the report. What the report did not contain is an explanation of how Smith destroyed his own cases against Trump. However, one notable element was Smith’s reliance on a dubious concurrence by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the subject of a prior column on what would be an interpretation that was too clever by half. Continue reading “Jacksonian Obstruction: Smith Explains How He Was Planning to Circumvent the Decision in Fischer”
Category: Criminal law
Below is my column in the New York Post on the statement by Acting Justice Juan Merchan in the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump. Merchan’s effort to justify the handing of the case sounded like the second defense argument made in the hearing. It likely changed few minds in the court of public opinion.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Merchan’s Monster: Judge’s Attempt to Calm the Townspeople Fails Spectacularly in Trump Trial”
Below is my column at Fox.com on the sentencing of President-Elect Donald Trump. The conviction should be overturned on appeal. However, the most lasting judgment will be against the New York court system itself in allowing this travesty of justice to occur.
Here is the column: Continue reading “With the Trump Sentencing, the Verdict is in . . . for the New York Legal System”
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump to go forward today. The bare majority was secured when Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted with their liberal colleagues, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. However, part of the rationale for the decision was that Acting New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated that he was going to issue an unconditional discharge without any jail or probation. The question is whether Merchan could pull a bait-and-switch and decide to impose punishment. It is highly unlikely but intriguing. Continue reading “Green Light: Supreme Court Votes to Allow Trump Sentencing But Could Merchan Pull a Bait-and-Switch?”
Below is my column in the Hill on the sentencing this week of President-Elect Donald Trump in Manhattan. Judge Juan Merchan waited to schedule the hearing for just ten days before the inauguration, limiting the time available to appeal. His order suggests that, if there is any interruption or delay in his sentencing, he might follow the advice of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and suspend sentencing for four years, a terrible option that we previously discussed. One could call that passively aggressive, but it seems quite actively aggressive.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Trump Sentencing: Curtain to Fall on Merchan’s Hamlet on the Hudson”
There is an interesting criminal case out of Florida in which FedEx driver Latavion Lewis was charged with grand theft, illegal dumping, and an organized scheme to defraud. Yet, in this case, the grand theft was to throw out packages rather than deliver them. It is a type of Grinch Grand Theft charge that only raises questions about the handling of a certain case in 1966.
This week, Judge Mary Dimke of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington issued an interesting ruling. In United States v. Bolen, she rejected spousal immunity in a criminal case where she believed the couple got hitched for evidentiary rather than romantic reasons. Continue reading ““Decidedly Not Credible”: Federal Court Rejects Spousal Immunity in Criminal Case”
Proposition 36, which increases punishments for some retail theft and drug possession offenses, overwhelmingly passed in California despite the opposition of Gov. Gavin Newsom and most Democrats. Newsom denounced the measure as something that “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.” Despite discussing her tough-on-crime record in the election, Vice President Kamala Harris refused to support the measure or even state if she voted for it. Now, however, two shoplifters may have given the law the greatest endorsement.
Today, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team in the prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump. The final collapse of the House of Willis came after months of her spending enormous amounts of time and money to try to stay at the lead of the high-profile case. Lawfare holds little value unless you are the lead warrior. Continue reading ““No Authority to Proceed”: Georgia Appellate Court Disqualifies Fani Willis”
Almost twenty years ago, the country was outraged by allegations of an African-American stripper that she was hired and then gang raped by white Duke Lacrosse players. The story followed an all-too-familiar pattern. The media, professors, and pundits immediately treated the allegations as true and declared the crime as a manifestation of our racist society. Many demanded immediate suspensions of all of the students as the racial and class conflicts were emphasized in the media. As I wrote previously, Duke University joined the mob against its own students and discarded any semblance of due process or fairness. Now, the accuser Crystal Mangum has admitted that she made the whole thing up in an interview on the independent media outlet “Let’s Talk With Kat.” The problem is that little was likely learned in higher education from the experience. Continue reading “Former Stripper Admits that She Lied About Gang Rape by Duke Lacrosse Players”
On Monday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was again the victim of a swatting call at her north Georgia home. This call, however, had a lethal difference: an officer was involved in a crash in rushing to the scene to join the bomb squad. A woman was killed. The incident will trigger a new Georgia law on swatting and raise questions over legal responsibility for such lethal consequences from such crimes. Continue reading “Greene Case Could Trigger New Georgia Law on Swatting”
President-Elect Donald Trump gave President Joe Biden and his critics a major boost this weekend by stating on NBC’s Meet The Press that he believes that the entire J6 Committee “should go to jail.” Despite weeks of saying that he did not plan any campaign of retribution and “success will be my revenge,” Trump undermined those statements with the statement, which the media is now playing up as proof that he is going to unleash a vengeance campaign. Many in the media are also omitting that Trump immediately said “no” to whether he would direct either the Attorney General or the FBI director to indict or investigate. The fact, however, is that there is no viable criminal case to be made against the J6 Committee members for their investigation or report. We need to move beyond the rage rhetoric if this country is going to come together to face the tough challenges ahead. Continue reading “No, the J6 Committee Should Not “Go to Jail””
Yesterday, I was notified by the Justice Department confirming that a recent swatting indictment includes the person or persons responsible for my own swatting a year ago. One of the defendants, Thomasz Szabo, was arrested a couple weeks ago. Continue reading “Justice Department Indicts Alleged Swatters of Turley, Members of Congress, and Others”
I have previously written about the dubious investigations of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6th and the alleged violation of the standards for the use of lethal force by the officer who shot her. I strongly disagreed with the findings of investigations by the Capitol Police and the Justice Department in clearing Captain Michael Byrd, who shot the unarmed protester. Now, Just the News has an alarming report of the record of Byrd that only magnifies these concerns. Continue reading “Report: The Officer Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Had a Long History of Disciplinary and Training Problems”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the effort of Alvin Bragg to suspend the criminal case against President-Elect Donald Trump for almost five years. It would be a terrible choice for the court and for the country.