Personal convictions aside, marijuana is legal for both medical and recreational use in the state of Colorado. Since the passage and subsequent enactment of Amendment 63 in November of 2012, adults aged 21 and older may legally grow marijuana, … Continue reading
I just finished reading a great article by Ryan Cooper: How Local Jail Became Hell. www.theweek.com. Ryan makes the point that “the modern American jail primarily houses the legally innocent.” I discuss this issue at length in my book, Arrested: … Continue reading
Alan Caruba, a member of the National Book Critics Circle, has included “Arrested, Battling America’s Criminal Justice System ($19.95 Bascom Hill Publishing Group, softcover) by Dan Conaway in his Picks of the Month post for January on his blog, Bookviews. … Continue reading
Criminal defense: U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain sentenced Bernie Madoff’s assistant, Annette Bongiorno, 67, to six years in prison – a lenient sentence far less than recommended by the federal sentencing guidelines for investment fraud. During sentencing, Judge Taylor … Continue reading
A police officer from Toledo, Ohio, was found guilty Monday of stealing a bag of caramel popcorn from a gas station in the neighboring city of Oregon. Police say that it wasn’t his first time stealing a bag of popcorn. … Continue reading
Hong Kong’s Student Protesters The New York Times writes this morning: “Yet any attempt to remove protesters by force in Hong Kong would inevitably raise parallels with the killing of democracy protesters in Beijing in 1989, an event that … Continue reading
The current crackdown on Hong Kong’s protesters is a reminder to all Americans that any discussion of our constitutional rights as they relate to criminal law in America has to begin with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Why? … Continue reading
Eric Holder’s resignation http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/us/politics/eric-holder-resigning-as-attorney-general.html?_r=0 brings to a close his controversial tenure. From a criminal law standpoint his best accomplishment has been bringing a better sense of balance to America’s federal drug prosecutions and the punishment received by defendants convicted of violating federal drug … Continue reading