As a trial and appellate lawyer, I pay attention to word and phrase choices because of the potential effect on the reader or listener. You may be familiar with the saying, ‘it’s not what you say (write) but what the other person hears (reads).’ The point is that the listener…
From CrimProf Blog, Editor: Kevin Cole, Univ. of San Diego School of Law Friday, July 3, 2020 Sundby on Interrogation Law By CrimProf BlogEditor Share Scott E. Sundby (University of Miami School of Law) has posted The Court and the Suspect: Human Frailty, the Calculating Criminal, and the Penitent in the Interrogation Room (Washington…
Akorede Omotayo, The Right to Silence–or the Presumption of Guilt. This is an interesting discussion from another country on something we are familiar with. It will be recalled that the right to silence formerly comprises the privilege against self-incrimination and the right not to have adverse inferences drawn from his…
Be careful of who you talk to if you are in trouble. I think it’s fair to say that CAAF has narrowed the who and when requirement for an Article 31, UCMJ, warning, as illustrated in a recent Air Force case. Thus, Article 31(b), UCMJ, warnings are required when (1)…
I have used the title of a new paper by Prof. Richard Leo. Of the 1,705 post-conviction DNA and non-DNA exonerations that have occurred from 1989 to the end of 2015, approximately 13 percent of these wrongful convictions were due to false confessions, and virtually all of these occurred in…
I don’t often look at the Naval Justice School site, less robust than it used to be. But today I did decide to see if there is a new issue of the Naval Law Review. Sure enough, there’s an article of interest to military justice practitioners. You’ll have to scroll…
Can a failure to file a pretrial motion equal ineffective assistance of counsel? The BLUF is yes in some cases. In some instances I have argued IAC on appeal for failing to make a meritorious motion. The NMCCA has issued an interesting opinion in United States v. Spurling, in which they…
Prosecutors ask CID, NCIS, OSI, CGIS agents all the time why they didn’t believe the accused in the interrogation. The answer often is a variant of, “he was nervous.” Yeah, right. First they are told and usually escorted to the LE office. The escort won’t tell them why or what’s…
Eyewitness Memory for People and Events (Chapter 25) Gary L. Wells Iowa State University, Department of Psychology Elizabeth F. Loftus University of California, Irvine – Department of Psychology and Social Behavior January 16, 2013 Handbook of Psychology, Vol. 11, 2013, Forensic Psychology, Chapter 25, R.K. Otto and & I.B. Weiner…
SCOTUSBlog has this of potential interest. The petition of the day is: New Mexico v. Herring Issue: Whether Berghuis v. Thompkins requires advice that a suspect has the right to stop talking at any time in order to establish an implied waiver of Miranda rights. This case illustrates, again if…