So you were hanging out with your buddy Joe, a guy who buys weed off you every now and then. Joe tells you he knows a guy who’s looking to buy more than Joe usually gets, and offers to introduce you. One thing leads to another, and soon you’re making...
If you belong to a certain population, who cares if you get arrested for no reason? Certainly not certain parts of the NYPD, according to former detective Stephen Anderson. If there’s an arrest that needs to be made, and you don’t have a guilty person to arrest, you just “arrest...
Real nice, Google. Because we were bored out of our skull this afternoon, we checked this blog’s stats on Google Analytics. Browsing through the various keywords people have used to find this blog over the past year, all we can say is “The hell is wrong with you people?” Leaving...
This morning’s WSJ has a short article with a long headline, “Manhattan DA Is Put on Defensive: Vance’s about-face on bail in sexual-assault case follows two high-profile court defeats for office.” The blurb from the website’s front page summarizes the story pithily: “The newly surfaced problems in the sexual-assault prosecution...
Everyone knows that eyewitness identifications are completely reliable — that is, you can count on them to be wrong. (Everyone does know this, right?) If the person being identified is a stranger, the chances of a correct I.D. are slim to none. There are lots of reasons for this. Eyewitnesses...
When we were just starting out in the law, we frankly had no problem with the concept of profiling. Not racial profiling — that’s just a logical absurdity along the lines of “most people who commit crime X are of race Y, therefore it’s reasonable to suspect people of race...
So on Thursday the WSJ reported that the Obama administration has changed the rules of investigating terror suspects, to permit interrogation without Miranda warnings in certain circumstances: A Federal Bureau of Investigation memorandum reviewed by The Wall Street Journal says the policy applies to “exceptional cases” where investigators “conclude that...
The Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law has released a troubling study of prosecutorial misconduct in California. The report, “Preventable Error: A Report on Prosecutorial Misconduct in California 1997-2009,” opens by pointing out that of course the majority of prosecutors behave ethically, but then it...
When we were kids, the police were the good guys. They were who you could turn to if you got lost. They were the ones who protected us from the bad guys. They were on our side. When we were kids, of course, we learned a simplified version of reality....
Odds are, if you’re reading this, you’ve lived an admirable life. You applied yourself in school, got a good job, and worked hard to be a valuable member of your community. Through your own efforts, you’ve probably earned a position of respect and responsibility. Maybe you run your own...
As we were coming out of court the other afternoon, we got a call from one of the nice folks over at the WSJ, asking us what we thought about the Manhattan DA’s new Public Integrity unit. We didn’t even know it had been formed — though we had...
When the police ask if they can come in, SAY NO. It doesn’t always end as badly as this, but it almost always ends badly. When the police (or investigators from a regulatory agency, or any enforcement types) ask you questions, SAY NOTHING. You don’t have to talk to them,...
Another good post by Mark Bennett today over at his blog “Defending People,” entitled “Today Only?” He recounts the plea-bargaining tactic some prosecutors use, attempting to force a plea by saying the offer is only good that one day, and won’t be offered again. Did the words mean what they...
You’ve probably all seen the video by now of the motorcyclist recording himself speeding down a Maryland road, only to get pulled over by a plainclothes cop who leaps out brandishing a gun and otherwise behaving inappropriately. And you’ve probably heard how the motorcyclist is now facing trial on charges...
When we left the Manhattan DA’s office some years ago, we firmly believed that prosecutorial misconduct was as rare as it was despicable. We can’t think of a single one of our colleagues for whom it would have even occurred to cut corners, and it certainly would not have been...
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