Category: Federal Criminal Law
Blagojevich and the Complexity of Jury Instructions
In the wake of the conviction in federal court in Chicago of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on one criminal count of lying to the FBI and the mistrial on 23 others, mostly involving political corruption, the question of the complexity of many white-collar crime cases has been widely discussed. In one newspaper account, a… Read More
DOJ Official Seeks to Clear Her Name After Contempt Charge
A recent filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia uncovered a sidelight to the story of the botched prosecution of former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). In April 2009, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan set aside the verdict in the criminal case against Stevens and dismissed the case on the grounds of… Read More
Judge Weighs In on DOJ ‘Side Agreement’ With Bank
In a rare occurrence, a so-called deferred prosecution agreement entered into by the U.S. Department of Justice with a target of a criminal investigation has been subject to scrutiny by a federal judge, and the result wasn’t favorable to the government. In fact, a judicial ruling in the case of a fired Miami bank executive… Read More
Heritage, NACDL Session Weighs In on Criminal Intent
An unusual coalition of the conservative Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) recently issued a study entitled “Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law.” See this blog’s discussion at Crime in the Suites: Has Congress Eroded the Intent Requirement in Criminal Law? and the… Read More
Has Congress Eroded the Intent Requirement in Criminal Law?
Last week, bloggers Solomon Wisenberg (Letter of Apology blog) and Professor Douglas A. Berman (Sentencing Law and Policy blog) reported that the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers released a joint report entitled “Without Intent: How Congress Is Eroding the Criminal Intent Requirement in Federal Law.” The study — based on… Read More
IFRAH Law
