Throughout the course of a trial, a defendant may decide to take a plea deal, which usually will shorten or lessen their sentence, or allow them different charges. Many times this plea deal will require that they give evidence or testify against someone else in the same case or a current ongoing investigation. This is …
What Accounts For More Arrests Than All Violent Crimes Combined? Marijuana.
Even though the war on drugs began 45 years ago, not much good has come of it. Since the late 1970s, drug possession arrests have skyrocketed. However, illicit drug use among Americans age 12 and older is higher than it was in the early 1980s. Accordingly, there has been no correlation found between drug-related arrests and …
Iowa City Residents Are Concerned About Our Justice System
Recently, journalism students from the University of Iowa interviewed Adam. They wanted to hear a lawyer’s thoughts on why some crimes are more severe but receive less punishment. Students were comparing the sentence lengths of the Brock Turner sexual assault case to the actor Wesley Snipe’s tax evasion case. Brock Turner received a six-month sentence whereas Wesley Snipes’ received a three-year sentence. Adam …
Never Talk to the Police
You have the right to remain silent, but there are better ways to exercise that right than others. A 2013 ruling by the Supreme Court, Salinas v. Texas, states that choosing to remain silent can be used against you in the court of law if you do not formally assert your Fifth Amendment privilege. This ruling …
Muhammad Ali’s Fight For The Right To Fight
Muhammad Ali is well known for his boxing career, but also is remembered for refusing to submit to induction into the Armed Forces of the United States. After his refusal, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. He also was stripped of his boxing title and his ability to …
Police can use illegally obtained evidence in court, SCOTUS rules, sabotaging 4th Amendment
Normally, the Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures, but this principle was in question during Utah v. Strieff. Police spied on a house in Salt Lake City, and when Strieff proceeded to leave the house, they stopped him illegally. After running his name in the police database, they found he had a …
Iowa Supreme Court discusses the problem of wrongful convictions in Rhoades v. State of Iowa
Iowa Supreme Court discusses the problem of wrongful convictions in Rhoades v. State of Iowa, and the limitations on obtaining compensation under the state’s wrongful imprisonment statute. “Remarkably, in the seven years between 1989 and 1996 in sexual assault cases referred to the FBI, DNA results excluded the prime suspect about twenty percent of the …
You can wipe acquittals, dismissals from Iowa Courts Online
The state of Iowa provides public access to online court records. Most of the information is available for free and at any time, however, it may be showing something on your record that was dismissed. This bevy of information provides many values, but can also be detrimental to those who have been to court and …
Former Texas prosecutor disbarred for sending innocent man to death row
Former Texas prosecutor Charles Sebesta has been disbarred due to his acts in a case against Anthony Graves, who spent 18 years in prison, 12 of those years on death row. Graves was convicted of setting a fire that killed six people. There was no physical evidence that linked Graves to the crime. Another man who …
Supreme Court decision in Montgomery v. Louisiana
With the United States Supreme Court decision in Montgomery v. Louisiana, making Miller v. Alabama retroactive, the Court held that states must hold re-sentencing hearings or extend parole eligibility to juvenile homicide offenders who were sentenced to mandatory life in prison. In Justice Kennedy’s words, “The opportunity for release will be afforded to those who demonstrate the truth …
Chemerinsky: The best, worst and most surprising SCOTUS opinions of 2015
Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean of the School of Law at University of California, Irvine. He provided his thoughts on the most notable U.S. Supreme Court opinions in 2015. In the past, Chemerinsky has been critical of the Supreme Court, as chronicled in his book, “The Case Against the Supreme Court.” He discusses and explains the most …
PA Judge Who Sold Juveniles to Jails Gets 28 Years in Prison
A judge in Pennsylvania judge was convicted of sending kids to juvenile detention in return for cash. His sentence was for 28 years after it was determined he took over 1 million dollars in bribes, reported by NPR. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania threw out over 4000 cases that took place between 2003 and 2008. It was …