MTACDL delivers valuable services to members through this site. Log in and read how to join the MTACDL listserver where members discuss current criminal defense issues. Update your contact intformation in "my account" so that members can reach you more easily. Add your free listing to the find-a-lawyer map which displays your location to public visitors to the MTACDL site. Schedule a meeting in the MTACDL chatroom with a colleague in a distant location. Browse materials from the brief bank. Or catch up on the latest criminal defense appellate decisions.
"The New Zeland police have launched a wiki open at anyone wanting to edit and make suggestions to the Police Act as part of a wider revamp. New Zealand's current Police Act is nearly 50 years old. In March 2006 a review undertaken. Following this a new website wiki.policeact.govt.nz has been launched to allow people to suggest wording for the new Policing Act. It uses similar wiki technology to the popular user-generated site Wikipedia. The wiki version of the Policing Act will be viewed by New Zealand parliamentarians, before an official bill is introduced into Parliament."
NZ Police Superintendent Hamish McCardle, the officer in charge of developing the new act, said the initiative had already been described as a "new frontier of democracy".
"People are calling it 'extreme democracy' and perhaps it is," he said.
Today, Judge Ann Aiken of the Oregon Federal District Court ruled that two provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), "50 U.S.C. §§ 1804 and 1823, as amended by the Patriot Act, are unconstitutional because they violate the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution."
This case arose over warrantless surveillance of an innocent Oregon attorney who was falsely suspected of involvement with the Madrid train bombing based on a mistaken fingerprint identification.
Submitted by mjewell on Wed, 09/26/2007 - 1:06pm.Public Content
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of Kirk Spencer for sexual intercourse without consent. The child hearsay declarant was 3 1/2 years-old. The Court analyzed child hearsay statements made to a private counselor and a foster parent. The US Supreme Court rulings in Crawford v. Washington and Davis v. Washington were analyzed as well as the correct procedure for consideration of child hearsay evidence in Montana under MCA, 46-16-220. The Court held that use of the child's statements to non law enforcement personnel did not violate the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause and that the District Court complied with the requisite procedure under MCA, 46-16-220 for introduction of the hearsay evidence. The decision is available on the Montana Supreme Court website. The citation is 2007 MT 245 (decided 9/25/07). The case number is 05-627. Search for a copy of the opinion here.
Submitted by mjewell on Wed, 09/26/2007 - 9:40am.Public Content
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday granted certiorari [orders list, PDF] in 17 cases for the October Term 2007, among them notable cases dealing with lethal injection, voter ID laws and subsequently seized evidence. In Baze v. Rees (07-5439) [docket; cert. petition], the Court will consider whether lethal injections of death row inmates constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. At issue is the three-drug mixture [DPIC backgrounder] of an anesthetic, a muscle paralyzer and a substance to stop the heart used in Kentucky and 36 other states. Opponents of the method claim that it does not contain enough anesthetic to relieve pain; however, the Kentucky Supreme Court in upholding the injection [JURIST report] last November ruled that the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment does not ban all pain. Last week, a federal judge in Tennessee held [JURIST report] that the state's execution protocols, which use the same three-drug cocktail, violate the Eighth Amendment because they do not ensure that prisoners are properly anesthetized before they receive a lethal injection. AP has more.
Submitted by admin on Fri, 09/21/2007 - 1:15pm.Public Content
[JURIST] Federal prosecutors on Thursday handed down an indictment accusing Milberg Weiss name partner Melvyn Weiss [firm profile] of conspiracy, racketeering, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The indictment stems from a long-running US Attorney investigation into allegations that Milberg Weiss [firm website] paid up to $11.3 million in illegal kickbacks since 1984 to individuals to serve as lead plaintiffs in class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors announced that former Milberg Weiss partner William S. Lerach has agreed to plead guilty [press release; JURIST report] to conspiracy to obstruct justice and will forfeit $7.75 million to the government, pay a $250,000 fine, and will serve one to two years in prison.
Submitted by admin on Thu, 09/20/2007 - 8:46am.Public Content
[JURIST] A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Tennessee's execution procedures constitute "cruel and unusual" punishment, derailing plans to execute a death row inmate next week. US District Judge Aleta Trauger [official profile] held that revised death penalty protocols [PDF text; JURIST report], devised by the Tennessee Department of Corrections in April at the request of Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen [official website], do not ensure that prisoners' are properly anesthetized before they receive a lethal injection and thus violate their constitutional Eighth Amendment rights. The Tennessee Attorney General's office has not yet decided whether or not it will appeal the decision.
Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/19/2007 - 7:31am.Public Content
[JURIST] US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell [official website] pushed for new and permanent changes to a recently passed temporary surveillance law in a statement [PDF text] to the House Judiciary Committee [official website] Tuesday. The Protect America Act 2007 [S 1927 materials], passed [JURIST report] by Congress in August, gives the Executive Branch expanded surveillance authority for a period of six months while Congress works on long-term legislation to "modernize" the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) [EFF Q&A] by establishing judicial oversight of domestic wiretapping. McConnell urged the panel to permanently update FISA to include the provisions of the Protect America Act, including changing the definition of electronic surveillance to exclude limitations on governmental surveillance "directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States." He pointed to threats both from terrorist groups and from China and Russia, nations which he says are spying on US activities and assets nearly at "Cold War levels." McConnell also proposed granting liability protection to members of the private sector connected to government anti-terror work, including telecommunications companies that aided government surveillance without a court order. McConnell made a similar push last week at a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee [JURIST report].
On this generation of Americans falls the burden of proving to the world that we really mean it when we say all men are created free and are equal before the law. All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.
