Defense Bar President Praises Commission Vote on Retroactivity of Cocaine Base Sentencing Guideline -- Washington,
DC (December 11, 2007) – Carmen D. Hernandez, president of the
13,000-member National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, issued
the following statement praising the decision of the U.S. Sentencing
Commission to make the 2007 cocaine base guideline amendment retroactive
for all affected federal prisoners. More
Supreme Court Decisions Affirm Judicial Discretion, ‘Advisory’ Sentencing Guidelines -- Washington,
DC (December 10, 2007) – In two cases today, the U.S. Supreme Court
affirmed its confidence that experienced federal judges have the
discretion to craft an appropriate sentence that is “sufficient, but not
greater than necessary” to accomplish the goals set forth by Congress
in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Today’s cases firmly establish
that the federal sentencing guidelines are “advisory” only and that
sentences within and outside the guidelines must be “reasonable.” More
Innocence Network and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Announce Joint Task Force to Review Cases Impacted by Discredited FBI Bullet Analysis -- Washington,
DC (November 19, 2007) – The Innocence Network and the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers announced today that they are
forming a Joint Comparative Bullet Lead Analysis Task Force to ensure
that convictions resulting from discredited FBI bullet analysis are
properly reviewed. More
Wyatt ‘Embracery’ Indictment Dismissed -- Washington,
DC (November 14, 2007) – A rare indictment of a criminal defense
lawyer on misdemeanor grand jury tampering charges was dismissed today
following a short hearing. NACDL member Deborah Wyatt, of
Charlottesville, VA, had been under indictment since 2005 on five counts
of “embracery,” an ancient common law misdemeanor, because of her
efforts to get an Albemarle County grand jury to hear exculpatory
evidence she wished to provide on behalf of a client. The indictment was
finally unsealed last week. More
Defense Bar, Business and Legal Groups Support Legislation -- Washington,
DC (November 13, 2007) – The National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers fully supports H.R. 3013, “The Attorney-Client Privilege
Protection Act of 2007, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives
Monday afternoon with no serious opposition. NACDL President Carmen D.
Hernandez stated, “The attorney-client privilege is our oldest privilege
at common law. It has served the public interest well for hundreds of
years by ensuring frank and confidential communications between persons
and their lawyers in potential civil and criminal matters. The criminal
defense bar hopes that the Senate will now pass this legislation without
further delay.” More
PAKISTAN: Thousands of Lawyers Beaten, Detained by Police -- Washington,
DC (November 6, 2007) – The Constitution of the United States was
ordained by our founders to “establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity.” The Preamble to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan declares
that “the independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured" and is
“[d]edicated to the preservation of democracy achieved by the
unremitting struggle of the people against oppression and tyranny.” Gen.
Pervez Musharraf’s “Proclamation of Emergency” holding Pakistan’s
constitution “in abeyance” was declared illegal and contrary to the rule
of law by a majority of the justices of the supreme court just before
their resignations. More
Statement of Alan Silber, Lawyers Assistance Strike Force Committees for The Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers -- Washington,
DC (November 5, 2007) – Alan Silber, representing the Virginia
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (VACDL) and the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), today issued the
following statement in response to the Circuit Court’s unsealing of a
misdemeanor indictment alleging that Charlottesville criminal defense
lawyer Deborah C. Wyatt violated Virginia common law by informing the
grand jury of her availability as a witness on behalf of her client. More
World Day Against the Death Penalty -- On
Wednesday 10 October, celebrities and activists will mark the World Day
Against the Death Penalty with an important press conference hosted by
the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. More
ABA Report, Lethal Injection Case, Show Death Penalty System Is Fatally Flawed -- Washington,
DC (September 26, 2007) – The announcement yesterday by the U.S. Supreme
Court that it will review lethal injection protocols and the release
Monday of a report from the American Bar Association on Ohio’s death
penalty laws and procedures[1] are further reasons why the United States
needs to impose an immediate moratorium on all state and federal
capital trials and executions, the President of the National Association
of Criminal Defense Lawyers said today. More
Ethics v. Expediency: Public Defender Fined for Refusing to Try Case 2 1/2 Hours after Appointment -- Washington,
DC (August 27, 2007) – An Ohio public defender was fined $100 and
given a three-day suspended sentence for refusing to go to trial
unprepared in a multi-witness assault case the same day he was
appointed. Portage County Municipal Court Judge John Plough imposed the
sentence on Brian Jones after a three-hour hearing late Friday
afternoon. More
NACDL President Condemns Jailing of Public Defender -- Washington,
DC (August 17, 2007) – Carmen Hernandez today condemned the jailing
of a public defender who refused to go to trial unprepared. Brian Jones,
a public defender in Portage County, Ohio, was arrested for contempt
after refusing to begin the misdemeanor assault trial of Jordan Scott.
Mr. Scott’s case was assigned to Mr. Jones on Wednesday; the trial was
to have begun at 1:30 pm Thursday. More
Defense Lawyers Bar Supports Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Bill -- Washington,
DC (July 12, 2007) – The National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers (NACDL), a member organization of the Coalition to Preserve the
Attorney-Client Privilege, fully supports the Attorney-Client Privilege
Protection Act of 2007 introduced today in the U.S. House of
Representatives. The attorney-client privilege – the oldest privilege
under common law – exists to protect the public in civil and criminal
matters by ensuring frank and honest communications between client and
lawyer. More
Executions and Madmen -- Washington,
DC (June 28, 2007) – Defense lawyers, legal scholars and mental health
advocates breathed a sigh of relief today when the Supreme Court
narrowly reversed the case of a mentally-ill Texas death row inmate. The
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) applauded the
ruling for upholding centuries of “compassionate precedent” over recent
attempts to streamline death sentences in the state and federal courts. More
Guidelines Only One Factor Among Many At Sentencing, Supreme Court Holds -- Washington,
DC (June 21, 2007) – In a Federal Sentencing Guidelines decision handed
down today, the Supreme Court again made it clear that the guidelines
are merely advisory. Counsel may argue that the case falls outside the
“heartland” of the guidelines, or that the guidelines sentence fails
properly to reflect the sentencing factors Congress identified, or that
the “case warrants a different sentence regardless.” The Court
reaffirmed that district courts must exercise discretion based on the
individual characteristics of the defendant and the circumstances of the
offense, imposing a sentence that is “sufficient, but not greater than
necessary” to comply with the goals of sentencing. More
Passenger Case Is a ‘Victory for Common Sense' -- Washington,
DC (June 18, 2007) – Today’s Supreme Court decision holding that
passengers in a car that has been illegally stopped by police have the
same right as the driver to challenge the stop is a “victory for common
sense,” said Martin S. (Marty) Pinales, president of the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). More
Supreme Court Declines to Re-impose Death Sentence -- Washington,
DC (May 21, 2007) – The U.S. Supreme Court today dismissed the state’s
appeal of a lower court decision which threw out a Missouri prisoner’s
death sentence. A majority of the Court, in an unsigned “per curiam”
opinion, relied on an argument made by the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers, in a “friend of the court” brief, that the
trial court misinterpreted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act of 1996 (AEDPA) and federal case law when it dismissed death row
inmate William Weaver’s original habeas corpus petition in 1996. More
‘Crack’ Guideline Long Overdue, Criminal Lawyers Say -- Washington,
DC (April 28, 2007) – The National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers has fought for fairness in drug sentencing since the first set
of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines was drafted 20 years ago. NACDL has
actively participated in the guidelines comment and amendment process
continuously since then. On May 1, the Sentencing Commission will send
an amendment to the cocaine base (“crack”) guideline to Congress which
will bring some small measure of fairness back into drug sentences, and
NACDL supports the new guideline as a sensible and progressive first
step toward ending the unfair disparity in cocaine sentencing. More
National Criminal Bar Supports Judicial Pay Increase -- Washington,
DC (April 19, 2007) – When a first-year associate on Wall Street, who
has never represented a client or seen the inside of a courtroom, will
earn more this year than the most experienced New York state jurist, the
repercussions of the state legislature’s hostility toward the bench
threatens to undermine public confidence in the judicial system itself,
the president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
said last week. Despite one of the highest costs of living in the USA,
New York’s judges have not received a single pay raise or cost of living
adjustment since 1999. The governor’s proposed budget included $111
million to alleviate the crisis, but the pay increase was dropped during
backroom negotiations. The reason, it seems, was that lawmakers want a
pay raise too. More
Defense Lawyers Urge Investigation Into U.S. Attorney Dismissals -- Washington,
DC (March 14, 2007) – In light of recent revelations regarding the
dismissal of U.S. Attorneys by persons in the Attorney General’s office
and the White House, President Martin S. Pinales of the National
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers today made the following
statement. More
Supreme Court, Congress Must Restore Habeas Corpus -- Washington,
DC (February 21, 2007) – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
is extremely disappointed in the decision in which a divided panel on
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that none of the prisoners at
Guantanamo Naval Base have any right to challenge their indefinite
imprisonment in federal court. The court ruled, in effect, that the
United States can imprison people virtually forever without judicial
review. These prisoners were captured by the United States, are confined
in prisons built by the United States, are guarded by members of the
United States Armed Forces, are subjected to interrogation by the United
States intelligence services, and may be imprisoned for the rest of
their lives, yet they cannot even petition a court for a writ of habeas
corpus for determination whether their imprisonment was the result of a
mistake. More
D.C. Circuit Vacates Officer’s ‘Gratuity’ Conviction -- Washington
DC (February 9, 2007) – After a 6-year struggle, a veteran D.C. police
detective has been cleared of wrongdoing by the full U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a case that could affect overzealous
public corruption prosecutions nationwide. More
National Legal Group Files Lawsuit Challenging Illinois Police Defense of Traditional Lineups -- Chicago,
IL (February 8, 2007) – Citing wrongful convictions due to mistaken
eyewitness identification and the urgent need to reform traditional
police eyewitness identification procedures, the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), in conjunction with the MacArthur
Justice Center of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University
School of Law, filed a civil lawsuit today against the Illinois police
departments who participated in a controversial study of eyewitnesses
and police lineups. The police refused to provide the underlying data
and protocols supporting the report’s controversial conclusion that
eyewitnesses are less likely to falsely identify an innocent suspect in
traditional simultaneous, non-blind lineups—where suspects all stand in
one room—than in lineups in which the witnesses view the suspects one at
a time and the administrator does not know which person might be the
real suspect. More
Lawsuit Challenges Chicago Police Defense of Traditional Lineups -- The
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers will file a lawsuit
tomorrow against the Chicago police and other Illinois police
departments that participated in a controversial study of eyewitness and
police lineups. The police refused to provide the underlying data and
protocols supporting the report’s controversial conclusion that current
eyewitness procedures—those that use traditional line ups where all
suspects stand in a room together—are more effective than new procedures
in which witnesses view one suspect at a time under the supervision of
an officer who does not know who the suspect is in the line up. More
Natl. Criminal Defense Bar Warns Cook County Board Public Defender Budget Cuts Would Break Down System -- Washington,
DC (January 31, 2007) – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
sent a representative to the Cook County Board of Commissioners budget
hearing Tuesday night to warn that cutting the public defender budget
could have serious consequences not just for poor defendants but for the
court system itself. More
New York State Bar Association Recognizes 3 NACDL Lawyers -- Washington,
DC (January 25, 2007) – “The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
is proud that the New York State Bar Association Criminal Justice
Section will recognize three of our distinguished members at its Annual
Meeting in New York City Jan. 25,” NACDL President Martin S. Pinales
said Thursday. “The annual awards are among the most prestigious
criminal bar awards in the country, reflecting these three lawyers'
personal efforts to maintain and improve the integrity and highest
principles of the criminal justice system. For that, we are all in their
debt.” More
Supreme Court Reaffirms Right to Trial By Jury -- Washington,
DC (January 22, 2007) – Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued another important
decision on the right of a defendant to be sentenced only on the facts
proven at trial. The case, Cunningham v. California, No. 05-6551, is the
latest in a long line of truth in sentencing cases beginning with
Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) and crystallized in Blakely v. Washington
(2004). The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed an
amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the case. More
Military Commission Rules ‘Designed to Convict’ Experts Say -- Washington,
DC (January 18, 2007) – The National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers (NACDL) today criticized the Defense Department’s Manual for
Military Commissions, stating that the rules are unfairly weighted in
favor of military prosecutors and were finalized without a public
comment period. More
NACDL President Calls for Asst. Sec. Stimson’s Resignation -- Washington,
DC (January 15, 2007) – Martin S. Pinales, President of the preeminent
organization representing the nation’s criminal defense lawyers today
released a letter sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling for the
dismissal of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs
Charles D. “Cully” Stimson. Mr. Pinales was reacting to Mr. Stimson’s
recent characterization of the pro bono representation provided to the
Guantanamo detainees by leading law firms as “shocking” and suggested
that “corporate CEOs are going to make those firms choose between
representing terrorists and representing reputable firms.” More
Criminal Defense Bar Applauds N.J. Death Penalty Study; Other States Must Reassess Capital Punishment – Washington,
DC – (January 5, 2007) The National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers (NACDL) opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and
supports reforms, including abolition of capital punishment. The NACDL
welcomes the recommendations of the New Jersey Death Penalty Study
Commission that the state death penalty be abolished, and that the
resulting cost savings be passed on. The Association encourages the
other 37 states which still have the death penalty to follow New
Jersey’s example. More
2007-2008 Officers and Newly Elected Board of Directors Members Sworn in at Annual Meeting -- 2007-2008 Officers and Newly Elected Board of Directors Members Sworn in at Annual Meeting. More