Criminal Law Course @ Moritz College of Law

Welcome back (and feel free to come by)

Hey folks.  Long time no see.  I have been thinking of you all not only as I try to wrap up my grading, but also as I worry if you are in the "right" frame of mind for returning to law school.  I am not really sure what the "right" frame of mind is, but I am sure that the Spring Semester of the 1L year can be even tougher socially and emotionally than the Fall Semester (in part because the "newness" factors and virtues are gone and the stress realities and annoying factors remain).

If you want or need a pep talk, feel free to stop by for a chat in the days and weeks ahead.  Indeed, feel free to vent on this blog, as you no longer need to try to impress me and can thus be even more candid about how Moritz and your professors are treating you.  In addition, I remain willing/eager to provide feedback on any writing samples or job hunts or any other professional (or personal) concerns you have these days.

"Was FBI grooming Portland suspect for terror?"

The title of this post is the headline of this article in the Seattle Times, which stuck me as blog-worthy in light of our class discussions today.  Here is how the piece starts:

FBI undercover operatives helped fund Mohamed Osman Mohamud's would-be terrorism plot to detonate a car bomb during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony on Friday at a crowded public square in the heart of the city.

Operatives helped him find components needed to create a bomb and schooled the 19-year-old Somali-born man in how to set off the explosives. The sting operation enabled the FBI to amass a formidable amount of details about what a grand-jury indictment Monday charged was Mohamud's attempt to use a car bomb as a "weapon of mass destruction."

But Mohamud's attorneys and some local Muslims are raising questions about whether the operatives who posed as co-conspirators played their role too well. Defense attorney Steve Sady questioned whether the operatives were "basically grooming" Mohamud to try to commit a terrorist attack.

"The information released by the government raises serious concerns about the government manufacturing a crime," according to a statement released by Sady and Steven Wax, public defenders assigned to represent Mohamud.

Mohamud, through his attorneys, pleaded not guilty on Monday.

Law-enforcement officials say that they gave Mohamud plenty of opportunities to opt out of the bomb plan and that he was committed to carrying out the crime at the time, place and location of his choosing.

"I am confident there is no entrapment here," Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday in Washington, D.C. "There were ... a number of opportunities ... that the defendant in this matter was given to retreat, to take a different path. He chose at every step to continue."

"'Castle doctrine' coming under fire; Critics: Right to kill intruder is being used to defend criminals"

The title of this post is the headline of this timely article appearing in today's Columbus Dispatch.  Here is how the article gets started:

Ohio prosecutors warned two years ago that the "castle doctrine" would add an unwelcome page to the playbook of criminal-defense lawyers.

The 2008 law, designed to protect the grandmother who shoots an intruder in her home in the middle of the night, increasingly is being used to defend murder suspects as not legally responsible for their deeds.

The castle doctrine states that people are presumed to be acting in self-defense when they use deadly force and injure or kill someone who illegally enters their occupied home or vehicle.

But critics say the law is silent about the appropriate level of force in response to threats, as well as the fault or criminal conduct of people who create situations that imperil themselves. "It was not made to protect drug dealers from drug dealers, but that's how it's being used," Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk said.

In rural Pike County, a man who ripped off a drug dealer's wares shot the dealer through the heart after he broke a window in an attempt to enter the defendant's car. Defense attorneys contended that the man acted lawfully. A jury convicted him of reckless homicide rather than murder.

In Franklin County, a man fatally stabbed an acquaintance who pushed his way into the defendant's home during an argument. His attorneys said the law granted him an absolute right to defend himself with deadly force. The prosecution countered that the law "is not a license to commit murder."

Open thread for Election Day (and Oliwood legislators)

Exciting times today with contested elections all over the place, and with the Oliwood legislature in session to consider proposals to reform the state's rape law.  This post provides an open thread for anyone and everyone eager to raise questions or make comments about any part of today's activities.

Here is one key question for collective consideration that merges today's events:  Have any major contested races in Ohio or elsewhere focused on criminal justice issues and need Oliwood legislators worry about what future political opponents might say about how they respond to proposals to reform the state's rape law?

UPDATE:  Kudos to all the members of the Oliwood legislature for a job well done, especially all of the drafters of proposed legislation. 

As a follow-up to the prior inquiry, I wonder if any of the legislators would have acted/spoken differently if he/she knew that our legislative session was being recorded and streamed/archived on the internet.  That is what all Ohio legislators now know.

Looking at the sad Rutgers case through the lens of criminal law doctrine

The media is starting to buzz a lot about a sad back-to-school story coming from Rutgers.  This link gets you to a segment about the case from the Today show, and here are the basics via MSNBC:

The suicide of a university student — after a recording of him having a sexual encounter with a man was broadcast online — has stirred outrage and remorse on campus from classmates....

A lawyer for Clementi's family confirmed Wednesday that he had jumped off the George Washington Bridge last week....

Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, and fellow Rutgers student Molly Wei, both 18, have been charged with invading Clementi's privacy.  Middlesex County prosecutors say the pair used a webcam to surreptitiously transmit a live image of Clementi having sex on Sept. 19 and that Ravi tried to webcast a second encounter on Sept. 21, the day before Clementi's suicide.

Collecting or viewing sexual images without consent is a fourth-degree crime. Transmitting them is a third-degree crime with a maximum prison term of five years.

Ravi wrote Sept. 19 on what is believed to be his Twitter page, which has since been deleted, but is still accessible though Google's cache system: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam.  I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

Two days later, Ravi apparently posted another entry referring to iChat, an internet messaging service with a live video feed.  "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again," Ravi wrote in the Sept. 21 post.

The website Gawker reported that a user called cit2mo who posted messages on a website called JustUsBoys may have been Clementi.  In a thread called "college roommate spying," the post from cit2mo on Sept. 21 at 7:22 a.m. said: "so the other night i had a guy over. I had talked to my roommate that afternoon and he had said it would be fine w/him. I checked his twitter today. he tweeted that I was using the room (which is obnoxious enough), AND that he went into somebody else’s room and remotely turned on his webcam and saw me making out with a guy. given the angle of the webcam I can be confident that that was all he could have seen," cit2mo wrote.

"I’m kinda pissed at him (rightfully so I think, no?) ... I feel like the only thing the school might do is find me another roommate, probably with me moving out … and i’d probably just end up with somebody worse than him ... I mean aside from being an asshole from time to time, he’s a pretty decent roommate," he added.

He added at 9:28 a.m. that day, that "I feel like it was 'look at what a fag my roommate is' ... and the fact that the people he was with saw my making out with a guy as a scandal whereas i mean come on ... he was SPYING ON ME ... do they see nothing wrong with this? unsettling to say the least."

ABC News and The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that on Sept. 22 Clementi left a note on his Facebook page that read: "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry." On Wednesday, his Facebook page was accessible only to friends. 

In addition to being eager to hear student responses to this sad story, I want to know whether and how you think criminal law doctrines will play out in this kind of case. And the first students to provide links to the New Jersey criminal law statutes referenced in this story get extra Berman brownie points.

Any special predictions and/or resolutions for 2009?

A new year, a new President, a new semester of law school, a new set of classes and professors, a new set of grades for courses completed last year ... law students have so many interesting things to look forward to as we start 2009.

In addition to wanting folks to share their (law-related?) predictions and/or resolutions for 2009, I also encourage everyone to take a few minutes to look back on all the great 2008 reflections to be found in the comments to these recent posts:

• Eager for student thoughts (or venting) about law school grading systems
• Congrats and now start working on deep reflections, suggestions and looking ahead
• Any advice or suggestions for President-elect Barack Obama?

New Sentencing Project report on felon disenfranchisement

In these comments to a prior post, a few class members talked about felon disenfranchisement.  Anyone interested in this important topic (which also highlights state law variations), should be sure to a new report from The Sentencing Project. The report, titled "Expanding the Vote: State Felony Disenfranchisement Reform, 1997-2008," is available at this link.

Terminator signs bill to terminate DWT (driving while texting)

In light of the recent railway tragedy, this story in the Los Angeles Times was not a big suprise, "Schwarzenegger outlaws text-messaging while driving."  Here are excerpts:

California drivers chafing at the ban on holding cellphones can soon forget about texting, too: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has banned motorists from sending, writing or reading messages on electronic devices starting Jan. 1.  Schwarzenegger signed legislation Wednesday that imposes a $20 fine for a first offense of texting while driving and a $50 fine for any subsequent violation....

Schwarzenegger said in a statement that he was "happy to sign" the prohibition against text-messaging, which surveys show is widespread among drivers.  "Banning electronic text messaging while driving will keep drivers' hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road, making our roadways a safer place for all Californians," said Schwarzenegger....

Insurers, bicyclists and cellphone companies backed the measure that Schwarzenegger signed Wednesday, as they did the ban on holding a cellphone while driving, which took effect July 1. The earlier law allows drivers to use cellphones only with hands-free devices such as headsets; another law prohibits drivers younger than 18 from using any kind of phone or texting device while behind the wheel.