Articles Posted in Criminal Law and Justice

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“The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, is pleased to announce it is seeking applications for funding under the Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative. This program furthers the Department’s efforts to assist communities to develop effective drug court strategies for nonviolent substance-abusing offenders.”:

Here is a link to the Announcement:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/09DrugCourtResearchSol.pdf

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To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

February 16 – February 20, 2009
U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 19, 2009 Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco, No. 07-2585
Denial of habeus corpus relief by district court is affirmed where the state court reasonably concluded: 1) plaintiff’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not violated because he made a knowing and intelligent waiver of counsel’s conflict of interest; 2) plaintiff cannot satisfy standards set forth in Strickland and adequately prove constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel; and 3) plaintiff right to due process was not violated as he was determined to be competent a week before the trial and no evidence was brought to light indicating the competency determination needed to be revisited.

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 17, 2009 Sledge v. Kooi, No. 07-1547 In a suit brought pro se by plaintiff alleging defendant violated his Eighth Amendment rights while incarcerated, grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is affirmed. When facing pro se litigants who are repeat filers, absent a strong showing that the pro se litigant has acquired adequate experience more generally, a district court should limit the withdrawal of pro se litigant’s special status to specific contexts in which the litigant’s experiences indicates that he may fairly be deemed knowledgeable and experienced.
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Update from the Lexis Alert Service,

February 23, 2009

1. People v. Jackson, 5272, 2369/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1289; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1218, February 19, 2009, Decided, February 19, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.

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QUESTION:

“…We have a defendant charged with child molestation. The child is the defendant’s niece. The defendant is in his 20s, is deaf and mute and family speaks Spanish. The family has created a home sign language to communicate with the defendant. The court has excluded the brother (father of the child molested) as someone to communicate between the court and the defendant due to the obvious conflict. A sister was questioned in court as to her ability to communicate and it was determined that the home sign language was extremely basic information and she did not have the ability to communicate the court process to the defendant nor did she understand the court process. Today we had an certified American Sign Language interpreter who also is a Spanish interpreter. He was able to communicate very basic words i.e. mother, father, Mexico, hospital but did not believe he could communicate well enough with the defendant to explain the court process or the allegations to him.

Have any of you encountered this situation, and if so, how did you handle it?”

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From: Resource Desk, Quinlan’s Law Enforcement Enews Alert, February 17, 2008.

Last year was one of the safest years for U.S. law enforcement in decades. The number of officers killed in the line of duty fell sharply in 2008 when compared with 2007, and officers killed by gunfire reached a 50-year low.

Based on analysis of preliminary data, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) found that 140 officers died in the line of duty last year. That is 23 percent lower than the 2007 figure of 181, and represents one of the lowest years for officer fatalities since the mid-1960s.

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To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

February 11,17, 2009.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE People v. Williams, No. 22mem09 The order of the Appellate Division is affirmed where there is no legal reason to upset the court’s exercise of its discretion in allowing the prosecution to use prior convictions to impeach a defendant’s testimony.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, INTERNATIONAL LAW People v. Romeo, No. 7opn09 Reversal of a conviction for manslaughter is affirmed where the People’s lengthy post-indictment delay occasioned by delaying their prosecution in favor of a Canadian prosecution violated defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, SENTENCING People v. Taveras, No. 2opn09 Sentence for a criminal sexual act in the third degree and falsifying business records in the first degree is affirmed where the actus reus underlying the crime of criminal sexual act in the third degree does not constitute a “material element” of falsifying business records in the first degree, thus the Appellate Division correctly held that the sentencing court’s imposition of consecutive sentences for these crimes was not in error.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE People v. Rouse, No. 8mem09 Order of the Appellate Division is reversed and the indictment dismissed where the People did not satisfy their statutory readiness obligation. .

INSURANCE LAW In the Matter of the Ancillary Receivership of Reliance Ins. Co., No. ssm2ent09 In an insurance dispute, order of the Appellate Division is affirmed where the Appellate Division did not err in concluding that the insurance company could not rely on an August 1993 letter as the basis to avoid coverage under the claims-made policy.
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To be held on April 3-4, 2009 in Tempe, Arizona.

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University will host an international conference, Forensic Science for the 21st Century: The National Academy of Sciences Report and Beyond,” on April 3-4 in Tempe, Ariz. The focal point of the conference, for which CLE will be available, is the long-awaited National Academy of Sciences’ report on the future of forensic science, which will be released at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at a press briefing and via Webcast at www.national-academies.org Early registration for the conference, which offers a $250 discount off the at-the-door rate, closes on Friday, Feb. 27. The conference will include nearly three dozen renowned experts in the field, including both co-chairmen of the NAS forensic science committee, and many others. This conference is a must-attend for any practitioner who produces, uses or evaluates forensic science evidence, including prosecutors, public defenders, private attorneys, judges, forensic scientists, criminalists and others. Details: lst.law.asu.edu/FS09/index.html

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