Criminal Law

When I No Longer Feel the Butterflies

Posted on October 11, 2011
If I ever stop feeling those butterflies when I'm about to go into a jury trial, make an opening statement to a jury, a closing argument, or an argument to an appellate court, I'll know for sure the time to quit practicing law has come.  I mean it...

The story of a CJA Voucher

Posted on October 08, 2011
"Frustrated" is not an accurate description for my feelings about the length of time it has taken to have a CJA Voucher processed and paid. Yes, the and paid is a very important step in this process. I filed a CJA Voucher on April 24, 2011. It was near mid-August, and the voucher had still not been audited at the District Court's CJA Clerk's Office...

eMarketing reflections - a new blog from Australia

Posted on January 23, 2010
Jeroen Hoekman, an eMarketing specialist, has started his new blog eMarketing reflections. The content, however, is not only relevant to eMarketers, but to all who use or may be thinking of using social media. Aftter all, when we use social media (facebook, twitter, etc...

Lou Gehrig's Speech on July 4th, 1939 and my friend Jorge L. Arroyo Alejandro

Posted on July 04, 2009
On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig reminded the world that even though he'd had a bad break, he had an awful lot to be thankful for. Watch a tribute to the Iron Horse which reminds us this Independence Day of all we have to be thankful for in our lives.This also brings to the minds of many of us at the Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers the passing away last October of our dear friend and Past President, Jorge L...

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Obama and the Dems Better Get their Act Together

Posted on June 17, 2009
I was so glad that the Obama administration decided to take on health care. And I was extremely glad when he pushed for a public option. Truly, I'm all for telling insurance companies to go to hell, and would like to see universal health coverage, but would settle for a single payer system...

Mireille Mathieu - Je ne suis rien sans toi

Posted on February 06, 2009
This is my favorite Mireille Mathieu video, most likely because of the passion she brings to the music.

Hillary's Moment

Posted on February 22, 2008
Will this be the moment from the debate last night that changes the momentum? It was not my favorite moment, as I much prefer the discussion on the issues, but if it helps, so be it.

Barack Obama: There Will Be Bamboozling

Posted on February 21, 2008
Is this what this guy is all about? I have been feeling that he has been the one playing the race card all along, just as his wife has, and I'm more convinced than ever that is the case. There will be buyer's remorse with Obama.In Puerto Rico he has promised things that he knows he is not capable of ever delivering, but I guess it's okay for him to baboozle us...

Nuevo Blog - Puerto Rico

Posted on January 07, 2008
If you can read Spanish and are interested in Puerto Rico's history, you will find the columns appearing at the new blog - Puerto Rico - authored by Francisco Ortíz Santini, quite interesting. The blog consists mostly of his columns published in El Vocero newspaper...

The Voice and the Genius

Posted on November 17, 2007
As you can tell, we are into absolutely legal music.

Chega de Saudade - Antonio Carlos Jobim & Joao Gilberto Reunited

Posted on November 17, 2007
Two musical giants who have given so much joy to so many for so long.

Yet Another Political Discrimination Case from Puerto Rico Reaches the First

Posted on October 22, 2007
Today's decision by the First Circuit in Carlos Calderon-Garnier v. Hon. Anabelle Rodríguez, No. 06-2222 (1st Cir., Oct. 22, 2007) involves an interlocutory appeal in yet another Puerto Rico political discrimination case. The appeal is from the denial of qualified immunity...

Meetings before President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status and Congressional Action on October 23, 2007

Posted on October 21, 2007
Meetings will be held at the Department of Justice next Tuesday, October 23, 2007 presided by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status. We last posted here on the Report by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status.Also on Tuesday the House of Representatives will be going through the markup of what appears to be an Amendment In The Nature of a Substitute to H...

New Look for Macondo Law

Posted on October 21, 2007
Perhaps getting a new look on Macondo Law will make me want to post more regularly. It's not as if I don't want to post, or have run out of things to write about. Recently I have had a lot of work to get out. I can say that I am cautiously optimistic about the outcome of Gall v...

Happy Birthday to "El Gabo" and Cien Años de Soledad

Posted on March 05, 2007
The story of Macondo turns 40 as Gabriel García Márquez turns 80 on March 6th. Our congratulations and thanks to him for such enjoyable times in our many readings of "Cien Años de Soledad" and the many other great novels.

Some PRACDL Members Compete in World's Best 10K Race

Posted on February 27, 2007
In the photo to the right are attorney Lydia Lizarribar (the lady in blue), her secretary, the one and only Mayra Martell (standing next to Lydia) and the latter's daughter (who ran for about 3 miles and then walked the rest of the way). The lady on the left side of the photo is Mayra's sister-in-law...

David Bowie & Mick Jagger - Dancing In The Street - 1985

Posted on July 20, 2006
Great video. Hat tip to TalkLeft.

Luis Balbino Arroyo Colón

Posted on June 10, 2006
Luis Balbino Arroyo Colón, all of age 16, earned his bachelors degree with a 4.0 grade point average from the University of Puerto Rico, with a major in Physics. He now plans to go on for graduate studies in Physics and, then, for a law degree! At his graduation ceremony he was awarded all sorts of prizes: a recognition as the outstanding student in the Arts and Sciences Faculty, the Enrico Fermi Award, given to the best student in the Physics Department, and the Luis Stefani Raffucci Award, the top academic award granted by the UPR's Recinto Universitario de Mayaguez...

Top 10 Law Schools for 2007 from U.S. News & World Report's

Posted on April 03, 2006
U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the top 10 law schools for 2007:Yale Law SchoolStanford Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolColumbia Law SchoolNew York University School of LawUniversity of Chicago Law SchoolUniversity of Pennsylvania Law SchoolUniversity of California, Berkeley School of LawUniversity of Michigan Law SchoolUniversity of Virginia School of Law

Report by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico?s Status

Posted on December 22, 2005
There is very little that goes on in this lovely island of Puerto Rico that is not somehow permeated with status politics. Today The White House released the Report by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico‚?s Status. I have always favored statehood for Puerto Rico as a preferable solution to independence...

A Lesson from my Friend Carlos

Posted on November 17, 2005
My friend Carlos has passed on. He had long suffered from muscular dystrophy. Recently he had some breathing problems and had to be hospitalized. He developed a pneumonia and three days ago, early in the morning, he stopped breathing.As is natural, some of us who knew Carlos all our lives were talking about him...

Rosa Parks, R.I.P.

Posted on October 25, 2005
It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Rosa Parks. Her last name -it seemed to us- should have been Spark rather than Parks, for her one woman act of defiance certainly was a spark for the civil rights movement.

Harry Potter

Posted on July 18, 2005
Scholastic, the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, said a record 6.9 million copies of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" were sold in the first 24 hours in the U.S. And you just wait until Harry starts blogging!

End of Term - My Pick of the Worst Decisions

Posted on July 12, 2005
The term is up, and I have let sufficient time pass to allow everyone else in the blogosphere to comment about it. To me the following were the biggest disappointments: the remedies portion of U.S. v. Booker, No. 04-104 (Jan. 12, 2005); Kelo v. City of New London, No...

Nino's Dictionary -- or -- The Meaning of "Shall" from Booker to Castle Rock

Posted on June 30, 2005
During Oral Argument in United States v. Booker last October 4, 2004 (transcript here), Justice Breyer and Justice Scalia had the following exchange:JUSTICE BREYER: All right, if I believe that that is just out of the question, it's so complicated, nobody could do it, it would [*45] be a radical change, Congress could never have intended that, what about a much simpler approach? What you would do is take 3553(b), and you say, "Read the word 'shall' -- i...

Director of the U.S. Marshals Service Resigns

Posted on June 27, 2005
Law.com reports here that the director of the U.S. Marshals Service, Benigno Reyna, announced his resignation Friday, following strong criticism over inadequate security for federal judges. The resignation is effective July 31, 2005, bringing to a close his tenure in that office since October 2001.

On Edgar Ray Killen's Conviction

Posted on June 21, 2005
Justice delayed is justice denied, but there is always a modicum that can be achieved even 41 years later. Such is the case with the conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for manslaughter in the deaths of Andrew Goodman, then 20, and Michael Schwerner, then 24, and James Earl Chaney, then 21, three young, idealistic civil rights workers who were in Mississippi in 1964...

Chief Judge Steven J. McAuliffe (D.N.H.) to sit by designation in Marquez-Marin v. Gonzales, et al.

Posted on June 21, 2005
First Circuit Chief Judge Michael Boudin, at the request of District of Puerto Rico Chief Judge José Antonio Fusté, has designated Chief Judge Steven J. McAuliffe, District of New Hampshire, to preside over Marquez-Marín v. Gonzales, et al., Civil No...

Marquez-Marín v. Gonzales, et al. - Complaint by Former AUSA

Posted on June 17, 2005
Here is the Complaint in Marquez-Marín v. Gonzales, et al. No. 05-1619 -HL. Most of the stuff alleged therein has been vox populi for some time now. Former AUSA Carmen Marquez-Marín is a straight shooter, incapable of including allegations in a complaint that are not true...

I saw Bert on TV - He's Distracting Us

Posted on June 15, 2005
I actually got to see H. S. "Bert" Garcia, our Texan U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico, on the TV news last night when they showed a portion of a press conference the U.S. attorney's Office gave to announce a number of indictments in what they call a $4 billions a year money laundering operation and drug trafficking conspiracy...

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