For the week of June 14, 2010 (cross-posted from the Central District Federal Public Defender blog).
Videos to Play for Your Jury. Fascinating demonstrations of change blindness here and here. Now if only there were some sort of authority for putting on expert testimony regarding the unreliability of eyewitness identification...
Imagination Feeds Memory. Slate has a fine eight-part series showing how memories can be altered.
Defensive Use of the Collective Knowledge Doctrine. A note on that topic at the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho Blog.
More on the Holder Memo. Alan Vinegrad limns some of the implications of the Holder Memo at the New York Law Journal.
History of Street Gangs in the United States. That report, prepared under the aegis of the Department of Justice, can be found (along with topically related documents) here.
Hare's Antipathy for Psychopathy Peer Review. More on l'affaire Hare (which we touched on in last week's Roundup) at Scientific American.
We Are Shocked, Shocked. Snitching Blog notes a recent case involving convictions secured through testimony by a snitch who later admitted she made the whole thing up. That just doesn't happen. (Admitting it, we mean.)
Penny for Your Shot. Utah executed Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad today, and by all accounts Gardner's heart and lungs were obliterated without a hitch. To reward all participating marksmen, the Utah Department of Corrections will issue commemorative coins, which, it explains, are "a little more modern than . . . ribbons."
Got Conficker? The June 2010 issue of the Atlantic has an accessible and interesting article about the Conficker computer worm. The ideas in the article may suggest possible defenses to various computer-access crimes. (H/T Myra Sun.)
Operation Stolen Dreams. That's the catchy title of the Justice Department's new nationwide takedown of mortgage fraudsters. According to the DOJ, the action is "the largest collective enforcement effort ever brought to bear in confronting mortgage fraud."
Operation Nice Dreams. That's not the catchy title of NPR's new series on "The New Marijuana."
Attorney Sanctioned for Cross. Cross examination, that is. A Minnesota trial court judge ordered criminal defense attorney David McCormick to write an apology to a police officer whose truthfulness on the witness stand McCormick had dared to challenge. McCormick responded by asking the judge to recuse himself for his bias in favor of the police witness. Of course only time will tell whether McCormick's response will be taken as grounds for new sanctions...
Research Geek Site of the Week. The Supreme Court Database.
The Week in Sausage Making. Measures introduced include S. 3494 (to prevent mail, telemarketing and internet fraud targeting seniors).
Top of the Ninth - 9th Cir. decisions released during the week.
U.S. v. Villavicencio-Burruel
(immigration) (defendant failed to exhaust administrative remedies
because he did not pursue appeal from removal hearing) (Cal. PC § 422
making of criminal threats is crime of violence).
U.S. v. O'Donnell
(prohibition on "mak[ing] a contribution in the name of another person"
under 2 U.S.C. § 441(f) extends to giving money to others to donate to
federal candidates in one's own name).
U.S. v. Gossi
(loss amount for restitution for bank fraud is based on value of
property when bank reacquired it; restitution obligations of
codefendants were irrelevant).
Howard v. Clark
(habeas) (failure of defendant's lawyer to interview surviving victim
of fatal shooting who would have testified defendant was not shooter
was IAC requiring remand for hearing on prejudice; lawyer's failure to
call expert on eyewitness identifications was not IAC).
Belmontes v. Wong (habeas) (order) (on remand from Supreme Court, affirming district court's order denying habeas).
Banjo v. Ayers
(dismissing § 2254 petition) (state court petition for habeas was no
longer "pending" during five-month period between dismissal of original
petition and successive petition).
SCOTUS Focus.
Dolan v. U.S. (a district court shall order restitution within 90-day deadline, except sometimes).
Dillon v. U.S. (federal sentencing guidelines are advisory in all contexts, unless the context is 18 U.S.C. § 3582).
Holland v. Florida (filing deadline under AEDPA is subject to equitable tolling).
Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder
(second or subsequent drug possession is not aggravated felony under
federal immigration law where underlying state conviction was not based
on fact of prior conviction). Fifth Circuit Blog's analysis here. Query whether C-R solidifies the prior-conviction exception to Apprendi.
City of Ontario v. Quon (search of police officer's text messages to colleagues and mistress was reasonable) (noting in dicta that cell and text messaging may be "essential means or necessary instruments of self-expression").
Cullen v. Pinholster
(granting cert. from 9th Cir. below) (whether federal courts may reject
state court adjudication as unreasonable within § 2254 based on factual
predicate petitioner could have presented to state court but did not)
(whether federal courts may grant § 2254 relief on IAC where trial
counsel, having consulted with family members and psychiatrist who
disclaimed certain bases of defense, failed to seek out different
psychiatrist and other family members).
Short Circuits - other persuasive authority.
U.S. v. Semrau (W.D. Tenn.) (R&R) (finding that fMRI-based lie detection does not satisfy requirements of Rule 702).
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Suggestions or corrections? Email Michael_Drake@fd.org.
