In January 2012 the Texas Department of Public Safety realized it had a major problem with one of its employees—a forensic scientist named Jonathan Salvador who had been employed with the agency for six years. He was assigned to the…
Category: Federal Criminal Law
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
It has been hailed by privacy rights activists and legal scholars as the most significant U.S. Supreme Court decision in the “digital age.” The decision was handed down on June 25 in the case David Leon Riley v. California. The…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
Let it be said that Samuel Volpendesto led an interesting, albeit controversial, life. He was a war hero earning a box full of medals, including a coveted Bronze Star. In 1945, during World War II, he volunteered to swim into…
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
PRESENCE OF “NARCO SAINT” LEADS TO DRUG CONVICTIONS
At the turn of the 20th century, Jesus Malverde was a Mexican bandit who roamed the hills of the state of Sinaloa, and as legend has it, stole from the rich…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
In a forceful per curiam decision handed down on May 5, 2014, the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Robert R. Tolan—a budding African-American professional baseball player who…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller held that the Second Amendment codified a “pre-existing” right that allows individuals to keep and bear arms. The court specifically found that the right to self-defense is undeniable…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
Generally the Forth Amendment allows brief investigative stops,Terry stops, only when there exists a particular and objective basis for suspecting criminal activity.
In 1990, in Alabama v. White, the U.S. Supreme Court discussed the weight an “anonymous tip” should…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Sex Crimes
In recent years people who were victimized as children by child pornography have turned to the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (“VAWA”), codified in 18 U.S.C. § 2259, to apply for and receive restitution from defendants convicted of possessing…
2014
To be successful at crime often requires good sense and even better luck.
Puerto Rico resident Jose Luis Bobadilla-Pagan (“Bobadilla”) is undeniable evidence of this point. The First Circuit Court of Appeals in a March 28, 2014 decision upholding…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
The police can lie, deceive, manipulate and fabricate to obtain confessions from criminal suspects. And it’s legal for them to do so, as long as their interrogation techniques are not “coercive.” This caveat notwithstanding, it is shameful when the police…