A North Carolina woman charged in four arson blazes has suggested that Ambien may have caused her behavior: “Her lawyer said she has been taking the prescription sleep aid, Ambien, periodically for the past several years. He said that may have been a factor in the crime.” That defense seems unlikely to succeed because the […]
READ MOREAcquittal in Ambien-Related Vehicular Homicide
The Boston Globe’s John Guilfoil had an item a few days ago about an apparently successful “Ambien defense” to vehicular homicide: An Andover lawyer was acquitted yesterday of a charge of motor vehicle homicide in the death of a Methuen man who was changing a flat tire on Interstate 93 in Tewksbury in July 2006. […]
READ MOREYou Won’t Believe What is Considered Justified Grounds for a SWAT Raid on Your Home
The Fourth Amendment is supposed to ensure that law enforcement cannot conduct unjustified searches of a person or his home. Your house is particularly sacrosanct, as you have the ultimate expectation of privacy when you are in your own home. This is why it is so unbelievable that a federal judge recently ruled that a […]
READ MOREScholarship Applicant Information:Anna Diyamandoglu
Citizens and residents of the United States alike pride themselves on their country’s freedoms. The first and foremost of these freedoms is our first amendment right to speak and publish whatever we believe or wish to express without fear of punishment. Over the last 230 years this right, or luxury even, has served as a […]
READ MOREAmbien and Mens Rea, Take Two
Back in May of 2006 this blog noted some of the potentially complicated issues that can arise in criminal cases where the defendant claims his or her behavior was related to use of the drug Ambien. The issue arises in cases like the one I noted last June where a woman claimed that the drug […]
READ MORESleeping Pills vs. Salvia and the Rhetoric of Risk
Many times when legislators speak about the need to criminalize the hallucinogenic plant salvia divinorum, they cite the risk that somebody could drive when under its influence, a scenario that suggests that salvia is dangerous even if people normally just sit around in their living room while they use it and don’t harm anyone. (See, […]
READ MOREPlea Bargaining
Prosecutors Not Disclosing Extrajudicial Consequences of a Plea Bargain Plea bargaining has become the norm in criminal cases, with 97 percent of federal convictions and 94 percent of state convictions resulting from guilty pleas. Plea bargains have become more and more common as prosecutors increasingly threaten defendants with serious charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences […]
READ MORENew York City homicide rate for 2015 tops last year’s tally, data shows
In a week punctuated by the killing of a 2-month-old boy in the Bronx, New York City’s homicide rate has passed 2014’s record low tally, with 339 killings through Sunday, according to the latest NYPD data. For all of 2014, New York City reported 333 homicides — the lowest number since the modern era of […]
READ MOREDOJ Aims to Fix Crime Lab Issues
DOJ Puts Forth Plan to Fix Problems at Crime Labs- But It’s Not Enough When prosecutors present evidence in court, the evidence should be accurate, as a defendant’s future hangs in the balance. Much of the evidence that prosecutors present comes from crime labs, which conduct testings of DNA, do hair analyses, and evaluate a […]
READ MORENaval Base on Jeju
I am an American, but I have lived and worked in South Korea as an ESL teacher for the past ten years. America has a few military bases set up throughout Korea, which causes concern and problems throughout the peninsula. Some of the old timers claim that the American military presence is necessary due to […]
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