Notes from practice · D.C. Superior Court
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...
On Gideon and the arrogance of public defenders
At the Defender Association of Philadelphia, the office policy in multi-defendant cases was to represent the defendant with the most serious charges, the worst fact...
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,...
Motive, Intent, Identity, and Absence of Mistake Under Drew
One of the disadvantages to practicing law in D.C. is that the courts here do not use the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE). You can’t...
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...
Dorsey v. U.S.: “I Want to Speak to a Lawyer”
Although you might think that invoking your right to remain silent and invoking your right to a lawyer would have the same legal effect, you...
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...
Michigan v. Long Is Ripe for Reversal
Courts seem to be bending over backwards to avoid basing decisions on Arizona v. Gant. In an opinion issued last month by the D.C. Court of...
Jackson v. U.S.: Being nervous does not mean you are dangerous
Without more specifics, the defendant’s movements were insufficient to arouse a reasonable fear in the officer that Mr. Jackson was presently dangerous....
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....