Migrant family separations under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies began in the summer of 2017. Then Homeland Security chief John Kelly was actually one of the original architects of the family separation policy that began percolating in March…
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
Criminal Jurisdiction:
A Criminal Law Blog from a Defense Perspective
2019
Category: Sex Crimes | Sex Trafficking
Keith Raneire’s “company” secrets swelled to the surface after it was caught in the cross currents of women empowerment and a heighted focus on human and sex trafficking inside U.S. borders.
Raneire purportedly founded NVIXM as a self-help program…
2019
Category: Drug Crime | Marijuana
With House Bill 1325, an agriculture farm bill, the Texas Legislature inadvertently changed the definition of marijuana. In an effort to legalize hemp farming, lawmakers created a distinction between hemp and marijuana. Hemp is now defined under the new…
2019
This country now has a corrupt, dishonest, and unethical businessman serving his first term as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer—President Donald J. Trump.
As a matter of disclaimer, let us say at the outset, we strongly believe the…
2019
Category: Bank Fraud | Federal Criminal Law | Fraud
The CEO of the Teachers Federal Credit Union recently pled guilty to federal bank fraud for assisting a former state senator obtain a fraudulent loan.
Federal prosecutors charged that the CEO loaned $10,000 to the former state senator currently…
2019
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Federal Firearms
Penalty Provisions of Federal Gun Law Struck Down
In the opening line of a June 24, 2019 ruling in United States v. Davis, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by the court’s four liberal justices, stated: “In…
2019
Category: Criminal Law | Forfeiture
Texas law enforcement can seize, and keep, an individual’s private property—cash, cars, houses, or ranch/farm equipment, for example—when they suspect the property is connected to criminal activity.
According to the Institute for Justice, the federal government and all 50…
2019
Category: Constitutional Law | SCOTUS
Most people share the common misunderstanding that under our constitution a person cannot twice be put in jeopardy for the same offense. This legal concept is known as “double jeopardy.” The Double Jeopardy Clause is located in the Fifth…
2019
Category: Corruption | Crimes Against Children | Criminal Justice Reform
The Flores Settlement Agreement is a 1997 court settlement that places limits on the length of time in which migrant children can be held in detention and defines the conditions under which these children are incarcerated.
President Trump’s administration…
2019
The Founding Fathers created the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically to limit the power of the government to seize and search people, their property, and their homes.
The Constitution Center says, “Today the Fourth Amendment is understood…