I am amazed at the way the NY District Attorney’s Office is handling the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund accused of forcing a NYC hotel chambermaid to perform oral sex. Normally, the NY DA’s office has protected alleged victims of sexual crimes with a passion bordering on that […]
Tag: criminal justice system
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Supremes Cause Trouble for DWI Trials
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court today ruled that the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause requires prosecutors to call the actual lab technician who did a DWI lab test on a defendant’s blood rather than just use another qualified technician to read the report prepared by the lab tech. In Bullcoming v. New Mexico the […]
ABC-TV reports that a woman in Joliet Illinois is being charged with battery and reckless conduct for causing the death of one John “Fatboy” Powell by punching him in the face. So why is this noteworthy? Because Fatboy, who was performing at a party with his band the Krazy Killaz, was challenged that he would […]
Conditions in California’s overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, in a 5-4 decision that was accompanied by a blistering dissent by Justice Scalia. The Court ordered the state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates […]
Nassau County passed the first-ever Social Host Law in New York State. The law prohibits anyone over the age of 18 from allowing alcohol consumption by anyone under 21 years of age on premises that they own, rent or otherwise control. Before the law came into effect in 2007, a person would only get arrested […]
Awhile ago I wrote an article for “The Attorney” Magazine about the inequities of the arraignment process in Nassau County. The article resulted in the re-construction and re-alignment of the courtroom where arraignments are held with the moving of the District Attorney’s desk from the front of the courtroom at the right hand of the […]
Edmond Oklahoma, a city of about 68,000, is known for being the site of the first post office massacre (1986); the home of the most-decorated American gymnast, Shannon Miller (1992 and 1996); and the site of Yankee legend Bobby Murcer’s burial place (2008). But from this date forward, it should be known as “Home of […]
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Why Prosecutors Rarely Lose
Here’s a dirty little secret from the courtroom that will probably upset my friends in the criminal defense bar – prosecutors rarely lose. Area DA’s offices all boast conviction rates well above 90%. So why is it? It can’t be that they employ better lawyers, after all most of the assistant district attorneys are barely […]