A couple of years ago, a Court of Common Pleas judge in Philadelphia banned me from her courtroom for life. Both the stenographer and her law clerk looked at me with sympathy when the judge issued the edict. Maybe they thought I would be upset. In fact, running a list in this judge’s courtroom was viewed to be a …
I will remember this. This is what the prosecutor promises you. In another context, she could be intending this as a threat. As in: I will get you back for this. In this case, she is trying to entice you into making a concession, and she is putting you on notice that she has a long memory. She …
I only took two years of Latin in High School. It was years before I actually admitted this to my children. Because I often cited the Latin origins of a word, they assumed I was this great Latin scholar. It was not until their education in the language began to overtake mine that I had to admit to them …
Police officers love the “plain view” exception to the Fourth Amendment requirement for a warrant. It is because this exception is so straightforward and understandable: I didn’t need a warrant because I saw it with my own eyes. I immediately recognized it as contraband. So I grabbed it. All the other exceptions are much more complicated, and the law …
The innocent or momentary possession of a firearm or any other type of contraband is a valid defense in Washington, D.C.
Many laypersons suffer from misconceptions about the protections offered by the Double Jeopardy Clause contained in the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. As Blonde Justice pointed out in one of her funnier posts, for example, double jeopardy does not cover the situation in which the defendant is forced to show up twice for court appearances on the same charge. Nor does …
We are having trouble with the sliding door on our mini-van. I take it back to the Toyota dealership shop a couple of times and spend a fortune to get it fixed but there still seems to be a problem with it. Finally, when I complain about having to fix it once again, the mechanic swears to me that …
Self-defense is an affirmative defense to simple assault and other assault charges in D.C. Self-defense is the use of force to protect oneself, one’s family or one’s property from a real or threatened attack. It is an affirmative defense, meaning that the defendant has the initial burden of raising it. In D.C., once the defendant has been able to introduce …