Criminal Law

Pandering with child porn illegal

Posted on May 19, 2008
From CNN: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a law aimed at preventing child pornography, ruling a provision dealing with "pandering" illicit material does not violate constitutional protections on free speech.Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority,...

R. Kelly Child Porn Trial

Posted on May 11, 2008
I can't believe its taken 6 years to get here! Trials can be slow to schedule but this was 2002! From Townhall.com: On the first day of his child pornography trial in Chicago, a suit-clad R. Kelly faced nearly 150...

I've seen a lot of great stories

Posted on May 11, 2008
I've seen a lot of great stories relating to sex offender restrictions over the past several weeks but have been swamped at work. From Fox News: School and law enforcement officials have told a St. Joseph man that he can't...

Veto of Sex Offender Registration Reform

Posted on May 01, 2008
And this was his own party that controls the legislature! From the Bangor Daily News: AUGUSTA, Maine ? Gov. John Baldacci on Wednesday pocket-vetoed a bill aimed at improving the state?s sex offender registry, effectively negating a year of work...

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Drug Prosecutor Under Investigation for Child Porn

Posted on April 18, 2008
This goes with my experience that sex cases cut accross all socioeconomic lines and are not confined to stereotypical drooling monsters hiding in the trailer park. From the Bangor Daily News: An assistant attorney general who?s reportedly under investigation for...

Drug Prosecutor Under Investigation For Child Porn

Posted on April 18, 2008
From the Bangor Daily News: An assistant attorney general who?s reportedly under investigation for alleged possession of child porn has been fired. Officials say James Cameron, who?s in charge of the state?s drug prosecutors, was fired Friday after a lengthy...

Female sentenced for sexual abuse of teenage boy

Posted on April 11, 2008
This sentence struck me initially as a bit heavy but I think the details of the story make it clear that this woman has a problem. The reader comments are always interesting in these stories. From the Bangor Daily News:...

"Abandoned" DNA used by Police

Posted on April 03, 2008
Haven't seen this yet but I am sure we will. From the New York Times: The two Sacramento sheriff detectives tailed their suspect, Rolando Gallego, at a distance. They did not have a court order to compel him to give...

Banishment in NH

Posted on March 20, 2008
I am dealing with informal banishment in one of my current cases and really need to dig into any constitutional arguments against it. Anyone got any good cites? From the Manchester Union-Leader: DERRY ? A proposed ordinance under consideration by...

French Kissing a Minor to Be A Registerable Sex Offense

Posted on March 10, 2008
This type of legislation will inevitably start appearing in the legislative cycle in other states. While the conduct described below seems wholly inappropriate, I would be concerned about a 13 3/4 year old kissing a 18 1/4 year old being...

Obscured computer Images Descrambled for Trial

Posted on March 10, 2008
From CNN: He faces up to 20 years in prison for charges that include sexually abusing a minor and videotaping the alleged abuse, taking a child without parental consent and holding him against his will. "We've got the evidence," said...

Exited Utterances and Rape

Posted on February 29, 2008
"Excited utterances" are usually hotly contested exceptions to the normal hearsay rules.  What follows is a noncomprehensive survey of recent Maine excited utterance cases in the context of sex crime cases. State v. Watts, 2007 ME 153 (upholding conviction)The State acknowledges that the victim?s statement, ?Watts just rapedme,? repeated by her sister on the witness stand, was hearsay...

The US Military's On Sex in Combat

Posted on February 25, 2008
The military's stance on sex in combat is that there shall be none.  I previously spoke about General Order Number 1 but couldn't locate a copy for posting.  After inquiry, it now appears that there are 3 versions with the CJTF-82 version being the most restrictive...

Hillary's Career in Criminal Defense

Posted on February 25, 2008
I alone among my defense bar colleagues am a Republican and have occasionally toyed with the idea of running for higher office.  Obviously some opposition researcher toyed with the idea of making this case of Hillary's a potential point of attack...

(My) Sex Criminal Archetypes

Posted on February 24, 2008
Child molestation cases (in my experience) tend to be matters consisting of four types(in decreasing order of occurence):  First, an "adult" who is intellectually a child, or is obviously psychologically damaged in some way, perpetrates an act on a child...

Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry

Posted on February 23, 2008
Via Sex Crimes a new ruling on Massachusetts's registration requirements.The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the Sex Offender Registry Board must change its registration form so sex offenders can clearly identify themselves as homeless...

Around the Web

Posted on February 20, 2008
Haven't been over to a public defender for awhile just due to time constraints but two recent posts caught my eye . . . Why Kids Lie (and they certainly do) My own young kids have recently  told lies although thankfully they are too young to be very convincing...

GPS Tracking Update

Posted on February 19, 2008
Via Sentencing Law & Policy A comprehensive series on the ins and outs of GPS tracking of sex offenders.  They haven't tried it yet in my jurisdiction but its coming.  There is a program run by Volunteers of America to track early releasees by GPS but sex offenders are not eligible...

Online Dangers Overrated?

Posted on February 19, 2008
Just anecdotally from my reviews of police reports it appears that chatrooms are the hunting grounds of choice and while there may be chatrooms connected with these social networking sites that the sites themselves are really secondary to the chat.  I have found it more and more useful to review an opposing witness's "pages" on these sites...

NY legislation to protect teenagers who use social-networking sites

Posted on February 14, 2008
With online aliases so easy to create this strikes me as a throwaway charge to be included on an indictment so that the prosecutor has something to toss in plea discussions.  I can't imagine there is going to be a lot of these charges in isolation...

Access to Church for Sex Offenders

Posted on February 01, 2008
I have been sometimes disturbed to hear of sex offenders being denied access to church under circumstances that strike me as egregious and punitive (ie denied access by their PO despite full knowledge of the entire church community of the offenders offense)...

Tentative Progress from the Maine Legislature on SORNA

Posted on January 25, 2008
From the BDN:As the Legislature?s Criminal Justice Committee begins the difficult and emotionally charged task of remaking the state?s sex offender registry in the wake of a Maine supreme court ruling and changes to federal law, lawmakers must ensure that the public is protected without excessive punishment or shaming...

National College Of Sexual Assault Defense Lawyers?

Posted on January 17, 2008
I had a recent inquiry by a colleague in Florida (whose website I will link when I catch up with my posting edits) whether there was any interest out there in starting a national organization of criminal defense lawyers devoted to the education and support of defense lawyers who have an interest and expertise in the defense of sex crimes...

Questionable Military Sex Assault Statistics

Posted on January 16, 2008
Via Sex Crimes I found this post from Feminist Law Professors blog:Less than two years ago, according to this account, ?Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day...

Maine's SORNA Act MAY be made less draconian!

Posted on January 07, 2008
From the Bangor Daily News:AUGUSTA, Maine ? With a growing number of legal challenges to Maine?s sex offender registry, members of the Legislature?s Criminal Justice Committee are discussing rewriting the law this session creating a new registry system...

Say What!

Posted on December 06, 2007
I am a little stunned that the Democratic Congress who often rightfully chastises the Bush administration for civil rights violations came up with this masterpiece. From CNET:The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including "obscene" cartoons and drawings--or face fines of up to $300,000...

Falsely Accussed & Now Rebuilding A Life

Posted on November 26, 2007
From the New York Times:As a boy, Jeffrey Mark Deskovic could swim the length of a pool underwater without coming up for air. On sultry days at the Elmira state prison, where he spent most of his 16 years behind bars for a rape and murder he did not commit, Mr...

Around the Blogosphere

Posted on November 13, 2007
Sentencing Law & Policy links to an article on Virginia's civil commitment scheme.

Children's Museum Director Busted

Posted on November 07, 2007
These stories can be interesting as they give insight into different investigative techniques. From CNN:(CNN) -- The chief operating officer of the National Children's Museum was arrested Tuesday and is charged with distributing child pornography over the Internet, authorities said...

Longarm Statutes in Action in Massachusetts

Posted on November 06, 2007
It sounds here like they are focusing on the production of pornography for now but wouldn't be surprised if the indictment came back with additional charges. From The Boston Herald:A federal court judge in Boston yesterday said she was ?deeply concerned? after viewing a ?shocking? video allegedly showing a Nantucket contractor and high school sailing coach raping a child...

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