Notes from practice · D.C. Superior Court
On the Crucible of Cross-Examination
It happens perhaps most often in domestic violence cases that the complainant fails to show up on the morning of trial. The government would have...
Young v. U.S.: The Confrontation Clause Is Still Alive In D.C.
The U.S. Supreme Court has made such a mess of the Confrontation Clause line of cases that the D.C. Court of Appeals declared today that...
Further Guidance on Significant Bodily Injury in Quintanilla v. U.S.
The D.C. Court of Appeals took another step last week in defining what up until recently has been a poorly defined term: the “significant bodily...
Unlawful Entry, Criminal Contempt, Double Jeopardy, and Prior Bad Acts
When people talk about evidence being admitted at trial, they tend to think in terms of physical evidence: guns, drugs, documents, fingerprints, DNA, that type...
D.C. Court of Appeals on “Furtive Gestures”
Sometimes you need to go outside your own jurisdiction to find the right language in support of an argument. For years I have been looking...
Constructive Possession: Intent Required, Not Just Proximity and Knowledge
That a controlled substance can be possessed constructively as well as actually is a court-made decision. As Judge Ruiz put it in her concurring opinion...
Lee v. United States: Mistaken Jury Instructions on the “Defense of Others”
Jamison Koehler
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03/02/2013
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The D.C. Court of Appeals was apparently feeling charitable. In Adrian Lee v. United States, 61 A.3d 655 (D.C. 2013), a decision issued last week,...
The “Quantum of Evidence” Needed to Corroborate a Confession
The “corroboration rule” requires the government to introduce “substantial independent evidence” establishing the trusthworthiness of a confession before that statement can be submitted to the...
Harrison v. U.S.: Reasonable Doubt Through Too Many “Interconnected Inferences”
Yes, they record your personal phone calls from prison. Yes, they have someone listen to those tapes. And, yes, they sometimes find something on those...
Attempted battery assault is a “specific intent” offense
As recent D.C. case law demonstrates, the distinction between general and specific intent crimes is both simplistic and potentially misleading....
Consensual encounters and unprovoked flight under Henson v. U.S.
One of the problems with bad law is that it leads to even worse law. I have never been a big fan of the U.S....
Interpreting “Joint Constructive Possession” in Tamara Smith v. U.S.
If constructive possession is a legal fiction, then joint constructive possession is a double legal fiction....
What is a “Testimonial Statement” under Crawford v. Washington?
Crawford held that a “testimonial” statement can only be admitted if: (1) the government can prove that the witness was unavailable to testify, and (2)...
On bias, extrinsic evidence, and other matters in Longus v. U.S.
Bias is “the powerful distorting effect on human testimony of the witness’s emotions or feelings towards the parties or the witness’ self-interest in the outcome...
Myers v. U.S.: What is “knowing” possession of a firearm?
Previously convicted of a felony, Michael Myers was arrested while carrying a garbage bag that contained the disassembled parts of a shotgun. Was he guilty...