Incompetent defense is a tragic reality.
Consider the case of Jason Baldwin who spent more than half his life in a maximum security prison. He was one of three teenagers convicted in 1994 of the murder of 3 little boys. He and his co-defendants, Damien Echols and Jessie Miskelley Jr. – more famously known as the West Memphis Three – were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, death by lethal injection, and life imprisonment, respectively.
Here is an aspect of criminal trial proceedings that rarely reach the consciousness of the general public. It almost never reaches the understanding of jurors: the snitch culture inherent in our criminal justice system.
The reality is this. When you incentivize someone to lie, they will. This is especially true when that incentive is to receive money or get out of jail themselves.
“I will not rest until every last trace of the influence you had on this sport has been destroyed like the cancer it is.”
These are the words of Aly Raisman. She is now a doubly famous Olympic Gold gymnast who has courageously used her Olympic fame as a platform to speak for all the girls and women who were systematically abused at the hands of former sports injury Doctor Larry Nassar.
Raisman is speaking about institutionalized abuse of women and girls.
Wrongful convictions cases are more frequent than you can imagine.
Let’s take a look at the case of Jason Strong. He was released in 2015 after 15 years in a maximum security prison. He was innocent of the crime for which he was convicted: the torture and murder of Mary Kate Sunderlin, whose death remains under investigation.
Did you know? The 2017-2018 session in our state’s legislature is full of gun bills as a result of House Republicans’ commitment to “defend second amendment rights” in this session.
As a result, most of the gun bills you will see below have been introduced by Republicans. However, only a few have been introduced by Democrat House Representatives. Even some Senate Republicans are in on the action.
A battle over gun ownership rights is happening right here in Michigan. Now it’s headed to the Supreme Court. Michigan’s Supreme Court, that is.
It may not be long before our nation’s highest court is hearing cases similar to this one. Repeated gun violence and terrorist threats have resulted in students making a protest across the nation on March 14th. It makes for a more dramatic backdrop for this gun rights battle.
In the wake of all the student protests, school shootings, and terrorist threats made across Michigan, it might be helpful to have a guide for what student rights are in school.
Most school discipline isn’t about terrorist threats and most of the time school discipline can be handled in school. However, sometimes school discipline matters become legal issues that will end up going to court.
Thanks to several decades of police procedural television, many people know a lot of legal speech. Some of you also know some of the more important constitutional rights that may be used to defend you in a court of law if you should find yourself facing charges after being searched or having your property seized.
An article was published in MLive about the Washtenaw Intermediate School District. It covered how the county has adopted a new program – Handle With Care.
Handle With Care is basically a training and informational program designed to help teachers and school administrators to recognize the signs of trauma in children.
We have now reached the point where – as horrible as school shootings are – there are those who treat it as a joke, or make light of becoming the “next school shooter.”
Mainly teenaged boys.
Why would someone jeopardize their future in order to do something like this? At the best, it was a terrible joke, but is it really worth it?
