Hour 1
The hot chicks of law
Lustitia A/K/A Lady Justice
Prudentia A/K/A Prudence
Why are § 1983 civil rights actions so hard to win?
A lesson about Constitutional Law.
The Test of a First-Rate Intelligence Is the Ability To Hold Two Opposed Ideas in the Mind at the Same Time
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/01/05/intelligence/
Aren’t prosecutors afraid they’ll send the wrong person to prison (an innocent person) and a criminal defense lawyer of help an actual criminal (who the lawyer knows will reoffend) avoid prison?
Prosecutors don’t care if they sent innocent people to prison. They just want to rack up convictions with long sentences. We criminal defense lawyers don’t care if our clients are guilty. We defend them because they’re constitutionally innocent, and that’s what we do
https://www.quora.com/Aren-t-prosecutors-afraid-they-ll-send-the-wrong-person-to-prison-an-innocent-person-and-a-criminal-defense-lawyer-of-help-an-actual-criminal-who-the-lawyer-knows-will-reoffend-avoid-prison/answer/Justin-Schwartz-3
The Takeover of America’s Legal System
At first, the conventional wisdom held that this was “just a few college kids”—a few spoiled snowflakes—who would “grow out of it” when they reached the real world and became serious people. That did not happen. Instead, the undergraduates clung to their ideas about justice and injustice. They became medical students and law students. Then 2020 happened.
All of sudden, critical race theory was more than mainstream in America’s law schools. It was mandatory.
* * *
Another cornerstone of the rule of law is an impartial judiciary. Some judges, however, have begun to see themselves not as impartial adjudicators, but as agents of social change—believing, like Slaughter, that they cannot be neutral in the midst of moral emergencies.
During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, for example, Massachusetts Superior Court judge Shannon Frison vowed on Facebook to “never be silent or complicit again, in any courtroom or any context.” “As the very keepers of justice,” she said, judges “not only stand with the protesters—we fall with them.”
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-takeover-of-americas-legal-system?s=r
Is The Legal Function Fiddling While The Rule Of Law Is Burning? The Case For An Integrated Response
The legal establishment has also sidestepped other internal challenges—its law schools’ antiquated, doctrinally-steeped pedagogy and “one-size-fits-all” approach; failure to recruit a diverse cohort with a learning-for-life mindset and invest in their upskilling that includes affordable self-help tools and experiential learning opportunities; lack of diversity, inequality, gender pay gap, “usual suspect” talent pool and emphasis on pedigree; and lack of collaboration/ team building. The legal industry devalues “soft skills”—empathy, resilience, inquisitiveness, and passion, among others. These are core attributes that not only contribute to professional success but also to human fulfillment.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2022/04/11/is-the-legal-function-fiddling-while-the-rule-of-law-is-burning-the-case-for-an-integrated-response/?sh=6b92055522d3
Oklahoma seeks death penalty for defense lawyer who fell in love with her client and ‘helped him kill his ex-girlfriend and victim’s parents’
The are each charged with multiple counts of murder and burglary.
The documents state that Eichor’s 69-year-old mother’s murder was ‘especially heinous’ because she ‘suffered mental anguish’ before she was shot to death, as the suspects ‘began firing gunshots striking and killing her husband, Jack Randall Chandler, as she attempted to hide from the intruders, seeking refuge in her closet.’
Eichor also ‘suffered serious physical abuse, torture and pain prior to and during the course of her death,’ according to the new documents, because she ‘heard intruders enter the home she shared with her parents and began firing gunshots striking and killing her parents, Jack Randall Chandler and Evelynn Kaye Chandler.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10681863/Oklahoma-seeks-death-penalty-lawyer-allegedly-helped-client-kill-ex-girlfriend-parents.html
A federal jury awarded Darryl Howard $6 million. The city of Durham will not pay him.
A man who successfully fought to have two murder convictions overturned, was pardoned by the governor and won a $6 million judgment for civil rights violations by a Durham police detective will likely never see most of the money after the Durham City Council decided it won’t pay.
* * *
The judgment marks the first time a jury has found “a bad faith finding,” against a Durham employee, City Attorney Kimberly Rehberg said.
https://www.newsobserver.com/article260159540.html
Lawyer Who Urged Client to Kill Adverse Witness Denied Retrial
Paul W. Bergrin was a high-profile criminal defense attorney. During the representation of a client in a drug case, evidence showed he instigated the murder of Kemo McCray, a witness against his client, by telling the client and his friends “no Kemo, no case” several times. McCray was killed by a friend of the client.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/lawyer-who-urged-client-to-kill-adverse-witness-denied-retrial
Amendment allows lawyers to carry guns into the courtroom
“This is one of the most stressful situations in a courtroom I would imagine. We’re talking about physical violence often, emotional violence, power and control. Someone who is abusing their partner is seeking to have power and control over them, right? And when that person gains the strength and courage to go to court and try to seek protection from our legal service, that is a signal to their abusive partner they are losing that control, right? And that is when we often see violence escalate,” Drochelman said.
https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2022/04/04/sheriff-lawmakers-oppose-lawyers-with-guns
Hour 2
Officers confused as they pull over empty self-driving car
The officer peers into the vehicle, realizes that there is indeed no one inside, and returns to the police car.
At this point, the Cruise car looks like it’s about to flee the scene when it suddenly speeds off.
However, once it passes through the green light and reaches the other side of the junction, the car’s hazard lights come on as it comes to a halt by the sidewalk.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/cops-confused-pull-over-empty-self-driving-car/
Jackson County prosecutor’s office drops charges in Keith Carnes’ case
“The Court concludes the petitioner, Keith Carnes, has met the burden of proof necessary to establish his “gateway cause and prejudice’ claim that the state failed to disclose material evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963 ). Mr. Carnes, therefore, is entitled to habeas corpus relief,” the Missouri Supreme Court said in its ruling Tuesday.
https://www.kmbc.com/article/jackson-county-prosecutors-office-insufficient-evidence-to-retry-keith-carnes/39677439#
Faulty Police Field Tests Said This Trucker Was Carrying 700 Gallons of Meth. It Was Diesel.
“This massive drug seizure impacts way beyond our region where it was headed,” Pharr Chief of Police Andy Harvey said in a Facebook post.” This stemmed from a patrol officer’s attention to detail when he observed something out of the ordinary and he used our resources to further investigate.
https://reason.com/2022/04/08/faulty-police-field-tests-said-this-trucker-was-carrying-700-gallons-of-meth-it-was-diesel/
This is great policing!” But a DEA crime lab would later invalidate those field test results . . .
FHFA Suspends Foreclosure for Borrowers Applying for HAF Assistance
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issued guidance providing that servicers of loans sold to either entity must delay initiating any judicial or non-judicial foreclosure process, moving for a foreclosure judgment or order of sale, or executing a foreclosure sale for up to 60 days if the following criteria are met: . . .
https://www.cfsreview.com/2022/04/fhfa-suspends-foreclosure-for-borrowers-applying-for-haf-assistance/#page=1
A Lesson comparing § 1983 claims and foreclosure in the courts
… claim before the small claims action was filed. Brandt’s reason for failing to make a timely appearance in the action notwithstanding,(FN4) the trial court ordered the judgment vacated, primarily on the basis that the court frowns on default judgments, but also because Brandt had alleged a viable defense. The court ordered that the matter be set for a pretrial in front of the court commissioner…The power is yours.
Lby and Associates v. Brandt (Wis. App. 2000)
Leave of Court to amend an answer may be sought at any time in the furtherance of justice.
Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.190(e)
Central Boat Rentals v. M/V Nor Goliath, No. 21-60501 (5th Cir. 2022)
We have jurisdiction to review this interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. §1292(a)(3) as the district court’s grant of summary judgment determined the rights and liabilities of parties in an admiralty case.
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/21-60501/21-60501-2022-04-12.html
Why do we need expensive lawyers to fight court cases? Why can’t we fight court cases ourselves and leave it to the judge to decide the final verdict?
Before the case gets to court, both sides meet with a qualified professional who gets the basic facts, narrowly defines the issues, and works out what evidence is relevant and what is not. The judge gets a neatly defined set of pleadings delineating the issue, the evidence has been twice scrubbed before it gets anywhere near the court room. That allows the judge to deal with the trial with comparative expedition and then move on to the next case in the already overburdened docket.
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-need-expensive-lawyers-to-fight-court-cases-Why-cant-we-fight-court-cases-ourselves-and-leave-it-to-the-judge-to-decide-the-final-verdict/answer/Colin-Riegels
Music Credits
The Godfather Theme Song
https://youtu.be/HWqKPWO5T4o
Lawyers, Guns and Money
https://youtu.be/F2HH7J-Sx80
Danheim – Mannavegr (Full Album 2017) Viking Era & Viking War Music
https://youtu.be/8tilKaOINmE
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