A Fairfax County gym teacher was falsely accused of molesting a twelve-year old student who had a vendetta against him, and was prosecuted based on the flimsiest of evidence (basically, the word of the student who held a grudge, and her friend, with contrary eyewitness and physical evidence). It took a jury all of forty-seven […]
Archive | Criminal Law
Text of the FBI Memo on Miranda and Questioning of Terror Suspects:
Following up on my post from yesterday about the FBI’s new policy of using the “public safety” exception to Miranda to question terrorism suspects — The NY Times has the text of the FBI’s memo, found here. The larger interesting question is why should the new policy be limited to suspected terrorists. Presumably FBI agents […]
Justice Department Guidelines Cut Back on Miranda Rights For Terror Suspects:
The Justice Department has just announced new guidelines, apparently expanding the “public safety” exception to Miranda to allow extended questioning of terror suspects. The WSJ has the story here. Such extended questioning will require approval of Justice Department lawyers. How does Eric Holder reconcile these new guidelines with the position that he supported in Dickerson […]
Mother Arrested for Encouraging Fighting Underage Son to “Beat Him Down. Body Slam Him”
CNN reports. She “faces child endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor charges, police said,” but she could also be prosecuted as an aider and abettor of the underlying battery by the son. (Encouraging someone to commit a specific crime, including when the crime is in progress, is a form of aiding and […]
Significant Child Pornography Restitution Ruling in the Fifth Circuit
Today the Fifth Circuit gave victims of child pornography who are seeking restitution a significant victory. The Fifth Circuit agreed with my arguments that the relevant restitution statute does not contain a proximate cause requirement for most categories of losses for which restitution can be awarded. As a result, a victim of child pornography need […]
Federalist Society Debate about Miranda and Questioning Suspected Terrorists
By Paul Cassell on February 9, 2011 9:58 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure
Professor Guiora (a colleague of mine at Utah) and I recently debate the appropriateness of Miranda warnings in the context of terrorism investigations. Here’s a link to the Federalist Society’s podcast of the debate, which revolves around whether or not the “public safety” exception to Miranda should apply in the context of questioning suspected terrorists. I argue that, under […]
D.C. Circuit Argument on Victim’s Right to Restitution in Child Pornography Cases
On Monday, I’ll be in the D.C. Circuit arguing an interesting case concerning a crime victim’s right to restitution in child pornography cases. I represent “Amy”, who is the victim depicted in the “Misty” child pornography series — apparently the most widely disseminated series on the web. She has filed restitution requests of approximately $3,000,000 […]
Gov. Deval Patrick’s New Tough-on-Crime Position?
So reports the Boston Herald: The Bay State’s liberal governor yesterday morphed into a tough-on-crime high sheriff who axed the state’s parole board, installed a hard-line prosecutor as the new executive director and vowed to file a tough anti-felons bill …. Patrick, who opposes the death penalty and pushed to limit public access to criminal […]
Time to Codify a Miranda Exception for Terrorists?
By Paul Cassell on October 21, 2010 10:27 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Terrorism, Uncategorized
Today at 12:15 at the University of Utah College of Law I will be debating my colleague Amos Guiora about whether Miranda rights should be extended to terrorists. I have previously blogged here and here about my view that Miranda’s “public safety” exception means that law enforcement officers investigating terrorist incidents need not give Miranda warnings. […]
When the Innocent Confess
Do innocent suspects ever confess to crimes? Yes, and sometimes with extensive detail about the crime. How could this happen, short of police coercion? The NYT reports on research by UVa law professor Brandon Garrett on the question. New research shows how people who were apparently uninvolved in a crime could provide such a detailed […]
“Rape by Deception” Turns Out to be a Plea Bargain
A few weeks ago, Israeli newspapers reported that an Arab man had been convicted of “rape by deception” after having intercourse with a Jewish woman while pretending to be a Jew. Various blogs ran with the story. The more sober blogs noted that the crime of rape by deception was established as a crime in […]
“Entrapment” Arguments, and False Alternatives
In editing People v. Watson, 990 P.2d 1031 (Cal. 2000), for the entrapment unit of my Criminal Law class, I was struck by the elementary yet common flaw in the concurrence. Here is the fact pattern: One March evening in 1997, Bakersfield police officers conducted a vehicle theft “sting” operation. They staged an arrest of […]
An Interesting “Rape by Fraud” Case from Israel
The Guardian (UK) reports: A Palestinian man has been convicted of rape after having consensual sex with a woman who had believed him to be a fellow Jew. Sabbar Kashur, 30, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Monday after the court ruled that he was guilty of rape by deception. According to the […]
Collateral Estoppel in the Wone Wrongful Death Case?
I haven’t been at all following the investigation of the killing of Robert Wone, and the trial of Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky, and Dylan Ward for allegedly obstructing justice in the investigation. But reader Ellen Fredel raised an interesting legal question: The trial judge — the case was tried without a jury — made detailed […]
A Crime Victim’s Right to Appellate Review?
The Denver University Law Review has just published my latest article, entitled “Protecting Crime Victims in Federal Appellate Courts: The Need to Broadly Construe the Crime Victims’ Rights Act’s Mandamus Provisions.” The article deals with the question of appellate review of denials of assertions of crime victims’ rights by federal district courts. There […]