News outlets are reporting this evening that Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has at long last asked the North Carolina Attorney General to remove him from the Duke Rape case. A couple of predictions: 1. The AG will in fact remove Nifong and appoint a special prosecutor. 2. The special prosecutor, after rveiewing the…
Technology + Law Enforcement = Privacy Risk
Police officers, whether plain-clothed or uniformed, carry a variety of equipment with them on service calls. Police in uniform carry much more equipment than those in plain clothes, and members of special operations teams, such as SWAT and crowd-control units, carry even more, sometimes including full body armour complete with helmet, leg pads, and shield, but one…
Why the 9th Circuit’s BALCO Decision Is a Threat to Privacy Rights
Jacob Sullum, of Reason Magazine, has posted this very insightful op-ed explaining why the 9th Circuit’s recent decision allowing the government to rifle through reams of electronic files in the pursuit of, presumably, Barry Bonds, is a bad omen for privacy rights. Hat tip: Tom Kirkendall, of the always thought provoking Houston’s Clear Thinkers
The Right to Remain Silent. Or not.
The New York Times appears to have stumbled across one of the defense lawyer’s biggest headaches – the fact that some criminal defendants simply can’t help themselves and insist on answering questions – or making written statements – without the benefit of counsel. Remember, if the police (or the FBI, SEC or anyone else) wants…
Duke Finally Does Something Right
Duke University today finally did something right. It invited lacrosse players Colin Finnerty and Reade Seligman to return to school as students in good standing. ABC nes posted this report earlier today. While this gesture does not nearly absolve the Duke administration of its reprehensible prejudgment of this case in its early stages, it is…
Concerns About Saddam’s Execution
Evidently I wasn’t the only one who thought that the imposition of Saddam Hussein’s death sentence was perhaps a bit rushed and unjust. According to the New York Times: Iraqi and American officials who have discussed the intrigue and confusion that preceded the decision late on Friday to rush Mr. Hussein to the gallows have…
NJ Panel Recommends End To Capital Punishment
The New York Times reports that a New Jersey legislative panel has recommended that capital punishment be abolished in the state. Given New Jersey’s politics, I would expect to see this recommendation find its way into an amendment of the state criminal code before too long, and would expect that Governor Corzine would sign it….
He Knows If You’ve Been Bad or Good
There is a very interesting story up on ABC’s website ( I assume the story ran on 20/20, but I did not see it) about the random street murder of a woman in Philadelphia (my home town) in May 2005. The story recounts the efforts of Phialdelphia police to track the killer using variously placed…
More on Regan vs. Murdoch
Yesterday’s New York Times included an interesting story on the brewing litigation between pubslishing diva Judith Regan and her former employer, Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. The article includes the interesting news that Regan’s lawyer, Bert Fields, is considering filing a libel claim against NewsCorp. As the author of the Times article correctly points out, libel cases…