Notes from practice · D.C. Superior Court
Worthy v. United States: The DCCA on Prior Consistent Statements
Just because you repeat something over and over does not make it true. Nor are you permitted to “bolster” your own witness. A “prior consistent...
Judge Easterly Lets The Facts Speak For Themselves In Damning the Government for Brady Violations
You suspect it happens all the time: the prosecutor withholds exculpatory information from the defendant, thereby preventing the defendant from mounting an effective defense. The...
Williams v. U.S.: Brandishing Knife in Self-Defense Not Excessive
You have the right to use a reasonable amount of force in self-defense assuming that (1) you actually believe that you are in imminent danger...
Holmes v. United States: Video-Assisted Testimony Not Hearsay
It was a creative argument. But, not seeing it go very far, I was frankly surprised that the D.C. Court of Appeals devoted an entire...
Owens v. United States: The Standard for Defining State-of-Mind in an RSP Case is a Subjective One
In law school, we learned the difference between a subjective standard in defining a mental state and an objective one. The subjective standard focuses on...
Jacobs v. United States: Narrowing the Definition of “Seizure” in D.C.
You are sitting in a legally parked car on the side of the road minding your own business when a police car pulls in directly...
Navarette v. California: Anonymous Tips, Reasonable Suspicion, and Car Stops
The state of the law with respect to reasonable suspicion, anonymous tips and car stops is already pretty muddy. Now, with Navarette v. California, 572...
Refining the Definition of “Testimonial Evidence” under Crawford v. Washington
Police questioning results in “testimonial” evidence if the primary purpose of the interrogation is “to establish or prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal...
The Duty to Disclose Includes the Duty to Preserve
Police officers fail to preserve a critical piece of evidence, in this case a video recording taken of the incident in question. The defendant moves...
No Strong-Arming of Defendants Into Accepting Pleas
When the two defendants opted for trial, rejecting a deferred sentencing agreement that had been offered by the government, Judge Brian Holeman may have been...
Is Concession of Guilt In Opening Statement A Guilty Plea?
During the defendant’s opening statement at trial, Denardo Hopkins’ lawyer got up in front of the jury and conceded that this client was guilty of...
Adam Ortberg v. United States: Unlawful Entry Requires More Than “General Intent”
The common law distinction between “general intent” and “specific intent” offenses doesn’t work. This is what the D.C. Court of Appeals emphasized once again in...
PDS Launches Criminal Law Blog
Jamison Koehler
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09/25/2013
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The Public Defender Service (PDS) has just begun a blog — the PDS Criminal Law Blog — that reviews recent D.C. Court of Appeals opinions. ...
Mitchell v. U.S.: Cruelty to Children is a General Intent Offense
In Pennsylvania, the offense is known as endangering the welfare of a child. In D.C., it is cruelty to children and, as the D.C. Court...
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...