Speak

Ted Sampsell-Jones, Making Defendants Speak, (Download PDF) 93 Minn. L. Rev. 1327 (2009).

First, as a matter of constitutional criminal procedure, the Supreme Court should overrule . . . (you’ll be surprised what he suggests here). Second, as a matter of evidence law, courts should abandon the Gordon v. United States test for Rule 609, and should admit fewer prior convictions for impeachment. Third, as a matter of sentencing law, courts should not impose perjury enhancements based on a defendant’s trial testimony. These three reforms would help to put American criminal law back on the right course by making more defendants speak.