Two of the witnesses who were supposed to testify about racial profiling in Georgia’s notorious Operation Meth Merchant sting campaign have decided instead to invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent, leaving the ACLU without much evidence in its legal challenge to Meth Merchant arrests. A third witness who apparently also has knowledge of racial profiling […]
READ MOREPeople v. Cabonce on Intoxication and the Insanity Defense
It was not error for a court to instruct a jury that an insanity defense “might not” be established when a defendant’s insanity was due “primarily” to the use of , the First District Court of Appeal held 1/9/09 in People v. Cabonce(A117286). (Above: Jack Daniel’s Wildberry Whiskey, a drug that was involved in People […]
READ MORE“TV and billboard lawyers” — most personal injury law firms on TV and billboard ads lack solid professional track records
Although Ken Shigley is a practicing attorney in Atlanta and isn’t a Memphis personal injury or accident lawyer I wanted to share his latest blog post with all of my readers. Ken has written an exceptional post concerning “billboard” and “tv lawyers”. Even though he is writing about Atlanta, the same thing rings true here […]
READ MORECriminal Sentencing Overhaul has Bipartisan Support- But a Long Way to Go
In the 1980s and 1990s, federal lawmakers passed a number of tough-on-crime measures to address growing concerns about the crack epidemic and high crime rates. Now, decades later, the outcome of the crime laws has become apparent: mass incarceration, unfair outcomes, and penalties that do not fit the crime. The federal government realizes that something […]
READ MOREFederal Wire Fraud Crimes– 18 USC 1343
Three Notorious (Recent) Cases of Wire Fraud Wire fraud is the act of fraud used in electronic communication. That’s simple. Easy to understand. The American Supreme Court mucked things up — for the laymen — when they “several times observed the wire fraud statute has a long arm.,” Pasquantino v. United States. Despite the Court’s […]
READ MOREFort Lauderdale Attorney Scott Rothstein Pleads Not Guilty to Information Alleging $1.2 Billion Dollar Ponzi Scheme
In response to allegations uncomfortably similar to those against former New York celebrity lawyer and arch Ponzi-schemer Marc Dreier, Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein, head of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, P.A., appeared in response to a criminal information in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday. The information charges Rothstein […]
READ MOREFDA Proposes Guideline on Access to Experimental Drugs
The AP reports today that the FDA has released proposed guidelines that would allow “greater numbers of seriously ill patients [to] get experimental medicines [and] allow drug companies to charge for the medicines.” Interestingly, however, the for Better Access to Developmental Drugs is characterizing the proposed guidelines as little more than a “smokescreen.” “They’ve taken an […]
READ MOREAn Abigail Alliance Interview
The Abigail Alliance For Better Access to Developmental Drugs recently lost the en banc rehearing of its argument in the DC Circuit, but this interesting case might well end up ultimately being decided by the Supreme Court. The following is a transcript of a short conversation I had with Scott Ballenger, the attorney who worked on […]
READ MOREBoston Globe on Medical Self Defense and the Abigail Alliance
The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on the movement to assert the right of “” and on the Abigail Alliance’s case still-pending before the en banc DC Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s a complicated issue in part because of the difficulty of drawing the limits on the assertion of such a right. As author […]
READ MOREHard Times and Drug Law: A Q&A With “Dry Manhattan” Author Michael A. Lerner
Alcohol prohibition was repealed in America in 1933, during tough economic times. Today, with our economy in shambles yet again, the discussion around drug policy reform seems to be gaining traction. Michael A. Lerner is the author of the terrific book Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City. I asked him a couple questions intended to […]
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