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Justices wrestle with procedural issues stemming from their own federal criminal law decision

SCOTUSBlog

. ยง 922(g) , the federal statute making it a crime for a convicted felon to possess a firearm, applies only to people who know they are “felons” within the meaning of that law. “The court would have to judge trial tactics — whether a particular lawyer would want to put that kind of evidence in?”

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As Life Without Parole Cases Rise, Finding Public Defenders Grows Harderย ย 

The Crime Report

Only 11 states report having minimum qualifications for lawyers who represent impoverished people facing a lifetime behind bars, according to the nonprofit Sixth Amendment Center. Most states have no rules, and someone just out of law school could handle a life-without-parole case in Illinois or Nebraska.

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Switzerland AG drops decade-old Russia money laundering investigation

JURIST

The Switzerland Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on Tuesday dropped a decade-old money laundering investigation exposed by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died under suspicious circumstances in a Russian jail in 2009.

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โ€˜Outrageous Outcomesโ€™: Plea Bargaining and the Justice System

The Crime Report

However, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers , less than 3 percent of criminal cases have gone to trial in the last five decades. We also have a much higher rate of plea bargain cases than the rest of the world: almost 20 percent higher than just about any other common law country.

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โ€œKill Two Birds With One Stoneโ€: Well-Known Colorado Lawyer and Animal Rights Advocate Pleads Guilty to Murder-For-Hire Plot

JonathanTurley

A well-known Colorado lawyer and animal rights activist, Jennifer Emmi, 43, is facing an impressive array of charges in an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting the girlfriend of her estranged husband. She also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of child abuse, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and evidence tampering.

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Botched robbery leads to latest test of what constitutes โ€œcrime of violenceโ€

SCOTUSBlog

The case involves the interaction of two federal criminal statutes. The first is the Hobbs Act , a 1946 law that makes it a federal crime to commit robbery (or attempt to do so) in a way that affects interstate commerce. United States (which trimmed the definition of โ€œviolent felonyโ€ in the Armed Career Criminal Act).

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Southern Gothic: Alex Murdaugh to Turn Himself in Bizarre Criminal Conspiracy

JonathanTurley

The still unraveling story of Alex Murdaugh, the once powerful South Carolina lawyer, became even more bizarre this week with reports of the arrest of a man, Curtis Edward Smith, 61, accused of shooting him in the head. While Murdaugh allegedly invited his killing, the police did not treat the case as a murder under South Carolina law.

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