There are times when courts of appeals entertain certain issues of the law because the trial court failed to take reasonable steps to safe guard to appearance of impropriety. The decision handed down by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals…
Category: Appeals
2016
A criminal trial is undertaken. Errors are made by the prosecution and the court. Objections are lodged by the defense attorney. Conviction is obtained and sentence imposed. The case is final.
A federal appeal, however, is available. It must…
2016
Category: Appeals | Criminal Law | Murder
Let us start by stating that most police officers are decent, hardworking people who make good faith efforts to fulfill their sworn duty to protect and serve. On a daily basis, they face dangerous, and often fatal, risks as they…
2016
It was indeed a rare occasion. Seven out of the eight U.S. Supreme Court justices agreed on June 23, 2016 on the same legal conclusion. That’s truly rarefied air.
The issue involved was whether States can impose criminal penalties…
2016
A criminal trial can sometimes be a confusing process in which important issues can be left unattended when procedural arguments become convoluted. This was recently illustrated in a DWI case, Smith v. State, decided by the Texas Court of Criminal…
2016
Category: Appeals | Drug Crime
The nation’s police seem to feel uncomfortable with the fact that they are now under constant scrutiny. The scrutiny they are under is not by their internal investigations departments or by their supervisory agencies, but by the public. We do…
2016
Category: Appeals | Federal Criminal Law
There are more than 10,000 registered sex offenders in the State of Colorado.
In 1992, lawmakers in Colorado created the Sex Offender Management Board (“SOMA”), charging it with the task of developing and implementing “standards” for the assessment, evaluation,…
2016
Category: Appeals | White Collar Crime
Corruption came into being the moment mankind learned that a few men could hold sway over most other men. It became known as power—the powerful few controlling the lives, even the very existence, of the powerless majority. It didn’t take…
2016
Category: Appeals | Capital Crimes | Murder
U.S. Supreme Court decisions are often perplexing; sometimes impossible to understand, much less rationalize.
That was the case when the Court on April 12, 2016 refused to block the execution of Kenneth Fults by the State of Georgia.
…
2016
Category: Appeals | Federal Criminal Law | Sex Crimes
For many sex offenders, the prospect of registration for life is actually worse than imprisonment. Many offenders complain they can never pay their debt to society or be free of their past crimes, no matter how successful their rehabilitation. May…