The Estrin Report

District attorney recognizes paralegal for law enforcement assistance

Sure like it when everyday citizens find & help solve crimes! Read all about it in this article from California's Auburn Journal:

"The message from the Placer County District Attorney's Office was that law enforcement can't go it alone.

"'Many ignore the call,' District Attorney Brad Fenocchio said, during a ceremony honoring several who stepped up to assist an investigation or put a suspect behind bars.

"Area residents who went above and beyond that call stepped up Tuesday before the Board of Supervisors to receive praise and certificates from the District Attorney's Office.

[snip]

"Paralegal Gayle McMorow noticed some inconsistencies in an 87-year-old woman's checking account, reported what turned out to be theft by a former caregiver, and assisted with a felony elder abuse case that took three years to prosecute."

Congrats to Gayle!!

"Still Guilty After All These Years"

Very interesting op-ed in the NY Times from author & lawyer Scott Turow, all about how advances in forensic technology may also impact statutes of limitations. He raises some intriguing questions about changes in law & the passage of time:

"THIS Friday a 33-year-old man named Juan Luna will go on trial here for the murder of seven people in a Brown’s Chicken restaurant in Palatine, Ill., on Jan. 8, 1993. The investigation of the murders, in which the victims’ bloody corpses were discovered in the restaurant freezer, languished for more than a decade until Mr. Luna’s DNA was identified in the saliva found on a chicken bone at the crime scene.

[snip]

"Greater accuracy in the truth-finding process is a laudable development. But I worry that the growing capacity of today’s forensics to reach farther and farther into the past seems likely to undermine the law’s time-ingrained notions, embodied in statutes of limitations, about how long people should be liable to criminal prosecution. As the Brown’s Chicken case illustrates, DNA analysts [PDF] can now examine scant decades-old specimens and produce results of near-certainty in identifying suspects. Nor are the innovations in forensic science limited to the testing of human DNA. Forensic botany can often establish whether plant fragments found on a victim or defendant have a unique origin. Fire-scene investigation has advanced because of new extraction techniques and instrumentation. Fingerprint identification has been revolutionized both by cryogenic processes for lifting latent prints and computer imaging that allows faster and more reliable identification of partial prints. Forensic pathology, ballistics and forensic anthropology have also moved ahead rapidly.

[snip]

"The law is a fluid thing, and there is an inherent unfairness in initiating a prosecution decades later when legal rules and community expectations have changed. If a jury — or the police and prosecutors — now strongly disapprove of conduct to which they would have once turned a blind eye, it’s natural to wonder whether the defendant would have acted the same way in today’s ethical climate.

"Statutes of limitations have also traditionally embodied a moral judgment that if a person has lived blamelessly for a significant time, he should not have the anxiety of potential prosecution hanging over him forever. Violent crimes are usually the province of young men, and it is often the case that one of the principal purposes of the criminal justice system — keeping the criminally inclined off the streets — vanishes with time."

"ABA to Continue Fight Over Detainee Rights"

Excellent news for supporters of habeas corpus:

"The American Bar Association [PDF link] said last week it will continue to challenge key provisions of a federal bill authorizing military tribunals to try terrorism suspects, even though the legislation ultimately passed by a lopsided margin in the Senate.

"ABA members say they are most concerned about sections of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that deny judicial review of habeas corpus claims filed on behalf of 'enemy combatants' being held at facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other locations.

"'It's a sweeping denial of habeas, so that any alien who is detained by the U.S. can be detained forever without any hope of ever getting to a court. That's just wrong,' said Neal Sonnett, a Miami attorney who chairs the ABA's Task Force on Treatment of Enemy Combatants [PDF link]."

Enron task force receives top award

Good news -- paralegals serving on that task force are included:

"U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week bestowed his office's top annual award to federal prosecutors, FBI agents and paralegals who have served on the Justice Department's Enron Task Force, including those involved in this year's fraud and conspiracy trial of former Enron chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling."

Grant provides aid, paralegal services

Sounds like a good job opportunity in Montana:

"A grant recently awarded to the Montana Legal Services Association will allow the group to bolster its services across the state.

"According to Klaus Sitte, executive director for the association, the $650,000 Legal Assistance for Victims grant [PDF link] through the Montana Department of Justice will fund positions for three attorneys, and three paralegals. Those employees will be assigned to the Butte, Hi-Line and Billings areas."

"Paralegal Charged With Theft"

I hate to find news like this:

"A former paralegal has been arrested for stealing $3,800 from the New York County Public Administrators office [PDF link] while he was employed by a law firm that serves as counsel to the PA.

"Derricke Brown, 43, of the Bronx, has been charged with third degree grand larceny, a class D felony. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison."

What happened on June 13, 1966?

Many important events, we're sure, but one in particular came from the Supremes:

"Washington, June 13--The Supreme Court announced today sweeping limitations on the power of the police to question suspects in their custody. The justices split 5 to 4. In stinging dissents the minority denounced the decision as helping criminals go free to repeat their crimes.

"The majority opinion, by Chief Justice Earl Warren, broke new constitutional ground by declaring that the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination comes into play as soon as a person is within police custody.

"Consequently, under the rulings, the prosecution cannot use in a trial any admissions or confessions made by the suspect while in custody unless it first proves that the police complied with a detailed list of safeguards to protect the right against self-incrimination.

"The suspect, the Court said, must have been clearly warned that he may remain silent, that anything he says may he held against him and that he has a right to have a lawyer present during interrogation."

"Milberg Weiss, Two Name Partners Indicted"

Well, this isn't good news:

"After a six-year investigation, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have indicted the New York securities class action firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman and two of its name partners.

"The charges against partners David Bershad and Steven Schulman of conspiring to make illegal payments to clients in class actions -- and to conceal those payments -- have been widely expected for months, and the two partners took a leave of absence from the firm last week.

"Yet it only became clear over the last few weeks that similar charges would be levied against the Milberg firm...."

"High-profile defense lawyer joins high-profile law firm"

Well, this is an unusual pairing!

"Minneapolis attorney William Mauzy, one of the best-known criminal lawyers in Minnesota, has joined the high-profile law firm of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi to bolster its white-collar defense practice.

"Mauzy joins former U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones and government antitrust attorney Christopher Madel to focus on corporate crime, securities and financial fraud cases as part of Robins' trial and litigation group.

"'This feels like the right fit,' Mauzy said Wednesday. 'The resources are extraordinary. You have teams of paralegals and teams of associates to assist you in trial.'"

'Candygram' Case Delivers Good News for Criminal Defense

Well, this is a fun case....

"Big wins are so rare for criminal defense lawyers in federal court that one good victory can generate a lot of buzz -- sometimes even earning a nickname.

"For attorney Jeffrey M. Lindy, the Feb. 13 decision in United States v. Coles from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was just such a case and has come to be known among the defense bar as 'the Candygram case.'

"Voting 2-1, the 3rd Circuit agreed with Lindy's argument that evidence of drugs found in a hotel room should have been suppressed by the trial judge because the police had 'manufactured' an emergency situation to justify a warrantless search."

Hmm, sounds like current political events....