In February of 2015, former N.Y. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was indicted on charges of fraud and extortion. According to the Wall Street Journal, the charges arose from two schemes in which he allegedly used his political power to elicit kickbacks. The U.S. Attorney brought charges for extortion as well as for mail and wire […]
READ MORE“You’re Gonna Do What I’m Gonna Say”: Further Police Follies
This video is about police response to bicyclists, not drug users. What’s astounding about it, from my point view, is simply the number of brazen lies that are told by police in their reports. The claims they make are not even remotely accurate but appear to have been, rather, an elaborate set of falsehoods generated […]
READ MOREArizona v. Johnson: SCOTUS To Roll Back 4th Amendment Protections?
A non-drug law case with important implications for Fourth Amendment restraints on drug law policing, Arizona v. Johnson, is being heard in the United States Supreme Court today. The case is about whether police may “pat frisk” people for weapons in the context of a traffic stop when they think they might be gang members […]
READ MORERecent Ruling Could Impact Tsarnaev’s Friends
A recent ruling by the US Supreme Court involving a Florida fisherman could possibly have an impact on criminal cases brought against friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev. This is the indication that legal teams involved in the case have given to the media. John Yates, a commercial fishing boat captain was convicted […]
READ MORESecond Alleged Atlanta Terrorist Ehsanul Islam Sadequee Begins Trial; Representing Self
We closely followed the trial of Syed Haris Ahmed, who was convicted for providing material support to terrorism in early June–all of our posts may be found here. The trial of Ahmed’s alleged co-conspirator, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee on terrorism charges began yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Sadequee has apparently taken […]
READ MOREJudge alleges ‘fraud on the court’ by government attorneys in Dobyns case
Former ATF Agent Beats Federal Government in Court Take a former football player, mix in some motorcycles, add arson, murder, and smuggled guns and you the result is a former ATF agent who goes on to write the best selling book and is countersued by his former employer. Jay “Jaybird” Dobyns, born in Indiana in […]
READ MORETop 10 Drug Law Stories of 2006
Well the year isn’t officially over yet, but I thought I better do this before everybody goes on vacation, including me. So without further ado, here are the Drug Law Blog Top 10 stories from 2006. Some of these got covered on this blog. Some didn’t. But they’re all related to the basic issues with […]
READ MOREUS Justice Department Tracking American Motorists
According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, the US Justice Department has been gathering and storing records of hundreds of American motorists. The report claims that this database can track the movements of vehicles across the country. The news has been confirmed through government documents as well as by former and current […]
READ MORERepresentative William Jefferson Convicted on 11 of 16 Counts
We did not weigh in yesterday, but the biggest federal criminal defense news was clearly the conviction of U.S. Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana in his criminal trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, as reported by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The jury of eight women and four men returned a verdict of […]
READ MORENew York Prosecutor Highlights Need for Regulations to Fight Data Encryption
A top prosecutor of New York Country says that Apple and Google should be legally required to give police access to customer data that may be deemed necessary when investigating crimes. According to Cyrus Vance, Manhattan District Attorney, federal and state governments should consider passing laws that forbid devices like smartphones, tablets etc. to be […]
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