Trespass vs. Ejectment
Suppose that Bob Boyfriend moves in with Gina Girlfriend. Bob lives in Gina’s apartment for several months. He isn’t on the lease and doesn’t pay rent, but he does buy […]
Cyberstalking
Furious that her ex-boyfriend slept with her best friend, defendant puts up a post on Facebook falsely stating that boyfriend enjoys intimate relations with inbred dogs (actually, the phrase “enjoys […]
News Roundup
A lot of attention was focused on Cupertino, California this week as Apple introduced a new iPhone and company founder Steve Jobs died. There’s a gossamer connection to the blog, […]
Is a Burned Out Brake Light a Basis for a Stop?
We’ll start with a pop quiz: A police officer sees that the right brake light of a vehicle fails to illuminate when the driver applies brakes while driving down a […]
Where to Serve a Sentence
Under existing law, the basic rules for where a sentence should be served are as follows: Misdemeanors, 90 days or less. If a sentence imposed for a misdemeanor is 90 […]
Is Padilla Retroactive?
In a post here [editor’s note: the post shows up with my picture for technical reasons, but it was written by Sejal Zota], a former colleague discussed Padilla v. Kentucky, […]
First Monday: Supreme Court Preview
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2, The Supreme Court shall hold at the seat of government a term of court commencing on the first Monday in October of each year and […]
News Roundup
No single story dominated the criminal law world this week, but that doesn’t mean that it was a dull week by any stretch of the imagination. 1. The News and […]
Empty Your Pockets
Can a police officer order a suspect to empty his or her pockets during a Terry stop? The New York Times reports on claims that New York officers do so […]
You Can Hold Me Down: Restraining the Defendant During Trial
In Stone Free, Jimi Hendix sang: “You can’t hold me down.” Perhaps it’s no surprise but criminal procedure doesn’t conform to Hendrix’s lyrics. As illustrated by the recent case State […]