November 2012
Finding information about the government’s expert requires more than a 10-minute Google search. Learn how to find an expert’s journal book and social media writings.
Articles in this Issue
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Affiliate News
Affiliate News Gerald Lippert Affiliate News November 2012 6 2012-2013 NACDL & Affiliate CLE Calendar December 14 New Mexico: NMCDLA’s End-of-Year Trial Skills Seminar Las Cruces, New Mexico Contact: NMCDLA Executive Director Cathy Ansheles at 505-992-0050 or email cathy@nmcdla.org
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Book Reviews: Federal Criminal Discovery
Federal Criminal Discovery is an important addition to the practice books that lawyers find themselves reaching for on a daily basis. It provides a comprehensive review of discovery issues in federal criminal cases, and is written for criminal defense lawyers of all levels of experience. It provides both legal authority and strategy, and it arrives at a turning point in the development of law in this area.
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Book Reviews: Letters From the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars
Book Reviews: Letters From the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars Bob Lindemeier Book Reviews November 2012 52 Letters From the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars By Jenny Phillips Pariyatti Publishing (2008) Letters From the Dhamma Brothers is a story about men who committed
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Book Reviews: Reasonable Doubt
As I read Reasonable Doubt by Peter Manso, two distinct feelings struck me about what this book was not. This is not a story about an innocent defendant being wrongfully convicted, and it is actually not a particularly entertaining or easy read. It is the absence of these attributes which actually makes this an essential text for criminal trial practitioners, especially younger lawyers.
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Creating an Environment Where Jurors Want to Tell Lawyers Their Secrets
Criminal defense lawyers are quite capable of having meaningful conversations. They have such conversations with friends, professional associates and clients, and with witnesses during pretrial interviews. On occasion, defense lawyers have meaningful conversations with police officers and judges. Clearly, as a group, criminal defense lawyers are capable of important, sensitive conversations in virtually all circumstances, professional and social.
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From the President: Be Proud and Be Loud
The erosion of the right to privacy and the increase in waivers of procedural rights that benefit law and society are two issues of prime concern to NACDL.
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Gideon's Champions: Kindel and Williamson Defend the Indigent Accused
Shanelle Kindel and Karin Williamson, both public defenders, are proud of the work they do for clients.
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NACDL News: Conference Focuses on Reforms to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparity In the Criminal J
The Foundation for Criminal Justice (FCJ) and NACDL recently sponsored an historic conference on racial disparity — Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System — in New York City on Oct. 17-19, 2012.
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NACDL News: Experts Discuss Law Enforcement’s Use of Drug Detection Dogs
On Oct. 23, NACDL hosted a panel discussion on two pending Supreme Court cases challenging law enforcement’s use of drug detection dogs — Florida v. Harris and Florida v. Jardines.
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NACDL News: Flawed and Unjust Guantánamo Military Commissions Exposed Again
NACDL News: Flawed and Unjust Guantánamo Military Commissions Exposed Again Ivan J. Dominguez NACDL News November 2012 13 On Oct. 16, 2012, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the conviction for material support for terrorism of Salim Ah
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NACDL News: NACDL Adopts Ethics Opinion Concerning Plea Agreements Barring Collateral Attack
At its fall board meeting in New Orleans, La., on Oct. 27, 2012, NACDL’s Board of Directors adopted Formal Opinion 12-02 concerning plea agreements barring collateral attack.
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NACDL News: NACDL and FCJ Co-Sponsor ‘Gideon at 50: Reassessing The Right to Counsel’
The Frances Lewis Law Center and Washington and Lee Law Review hosted a symposium on Nov. 8-9, 2012, focusing on recent developments in the area of indigent criminal defense in light of the 50th anniversary of the landmark decision of Gideon v. Wainwright.
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NACDL News: News From New Orleans
NACDL News: News From New Orleans Ivan J. Dominguez NACDL News November 2012 12 Above: Miami, Fla., attorney Susan Bozorgi was elected to NACDL’s Board and sworn in by NACDL President Steven Benjamin at the fall board meeting on Oct. 27, 2012. Left: Rutgers School of Law, Newark, student
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Sentencing: Here They Go Again: Congress Once More Raises Penalties for Child Pornography Offenses —
Over the past 20 years, federal and state law enforcement officials have become zealous proponents of child pornography laws that punish such crimes with increasingly severe sanctions. As a result of the routine imposition of mandatory minimums as well as massive Guideline sentences, sex offenders now constitute — for the first time — the fourth largest group of offenders in the Bureau of Prisons, costing the public well over $307 million a year just to house.1 Practitioners, academics, and even the federal judiciary, however, have consistently criticized such a sentencing scheme that results in child pornography offenders receiving sentences exceeding 11 years’ imprisonment, on average, which is far higher than for any other major offense category.2
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State Legislative Update
The South Dakota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers had a busy legislative session, with victories and disappointments that spanned a variety of policy areas.
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Stopping the Train Before It Leaves the Station: Convincing Prosecutors Not to Charge Your Client
There are two kinds of overtures made to prosecutors pre-indictment. The first is: “Ok, you got my client, but this is what he can do for you,” and its cousin: “She didn’t do exactly what you think she did … but this is what she can do for you.” The second is: “I know you and your agents are convinced my client is guilty, but I want to show you why I believe a jury would acquit.” Skill is involved in advancing either message, and the difference between an artful presentation and an inartful one can determine whether the client avoids prison entirely or spends the rest of his life behind bars.
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The Restoration of Rights: A New End Game in Criminal Defense Representation (Inside NACDL)
NACDL has launched the Restoration of Rights Project, an online resource to help lawyers and clients combat the consequences that flow from a criminal conviction.
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United States v. Skinner: Using a Cell Phone Is Not A Consent to Search
On Aug. 14, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued the opinion in United States v. Skinner.1 In Skinner, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized data maintained by a cell phone service provider in an effort to derive as closely as possible the real-time geographical information residing on defendant Melvin Skinner’s “pay-as-you-go” mobile phone.2 The “cell tower” data was subsequently used to establish Skinner’s location as he transported drugs interstate on public roadways. DEA agents tracked the cell phone they learned was associated with Skinner, locating the device’s signal at a rest stop. Soon thereafter, law enforcement officials encountered a motorhome filled with over 1,100 pounds of marijuana. After litigating the merits of the seizure at some length, the trial court denied Skinner’s motion to suppress the government’s search of the motorhome, eventually resulting in a conviction for drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit money laundering.3
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Using the Web (Visible, Invisible and Deep) to Investigate Government Experts
The Internet is here to stay, and it is getting bigger and bigger. As of August 8, 2005, Google reported it had indexed over 11.3 billion active pages.1 At the end of 2010 there were 255 million websites, 21.4 million being new that year.2 Who used it? Two billion users worldwide with an increase of 14 percent that year alone. An estimated 2.2 billion individuals will access the Internet in 2012.3