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Punishing the Parent – Should the Parents of a School Shooter Be Criminally Liable for their Parental Failures?
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April 16, 2024
Punishing the Parent – Should the Parents of a School Shooter Be Criminally Liable for their Parental Failures?
By: Abbey Block
Can being a bad parent make you a criminal? A jury in Michigan recently answered yes in the case of Jennifer and James Crumbley – the parents of high school mass shooter, Ethan Crumbley. Although neither Mr. nor Mrs. Crumbley fired a single shot during the school shooting that killed four students (and injured six other people), last week they were each sentenced to ten years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. The high school shooting, which took place nearly three years ago in Oxford, Michigan is undoubtedly a horrific tragedy. Nobody questions that the shooter, Ethan, should be punished severely for his actions. Indeed, in 2023, Ethan, who was charged as an adult (despite being fifteen at the time of…
Was FTX Collapse as Bad as Enron? In sentencing SBF, Judge Kaplan Says Yes
April 1, 2024
Was FTX Collapse as Bad as Enron? In sentencing SBF, Judge Kaplan Says Yes
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
On Thursday, March 28, 2024, 32-year old Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history—a fraud perpetrated through two cryptocurrency entities he founded—FTX and Alameda Research. In late-2023, a jury convicted him on various conspiracy and substantive counts for wire fraud on FTX’s customers, securities fraud on FTX’s customers and investors,…
A Tale of Two Courts
February 16, 2024
A Tale of Two Courts
By: James Trusty
Much has been made of the contemptuous and combustible combination of former President Trump and Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoran, the trial judge in the New York “fraud” case that imperils Trump’s ability to do business in New York. This week we got a glimpse into a different proceeding involving an extremely opinionated subject of an accusation—District Attorney Fanni Willis—presided over by Fulton County…
Nevada Case Points to Perils of Assertion of 5th Amendment in Civil Cases
March 12, 2012
Nevada Case Points to Perils of Assertion of 5th Amendment in Civil Cases
By: Ifrah Law
One of the hardest decisions on which a lawyer may be called upon to advise a client in civil litigation is the decision whether to assert the Fifth Amendment privilege. On the one hand, the overlap between pending civil and criminal matters may make it dangerous for the client to make statements that could incriminate him or her in the criminal case. On the other…
D.C. Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Admission of Handwriting Evidence
March 8, 2012
D.C. Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Admission of Handwriting Evidence
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
If there was ever an open question as to whether forensic handwriting identification is admissible under D.C.’s common law of evidence, the D.C. Court of Appeals has finally put that question to rest. On February 9, 2012, the Court of Appeals held that handwriting comparison and identification, as practiced by FBI examiners, passes the Frye test for admissibility. The issue arose after Robert Pettus’ jury…
DOJ Goes After Smaller Fraudsters, Lets Big Fish Escape
March 5, 2012
DOJ Goes After Smaller Fraudsters, Lets Big Fish Escape
By: Nicole Kardell
Successful criminal prosecutions of mortgage fraud seem to have one thing in common: a fraud figure well below $10 million. One of the recent cases that generated a fair amount of press involved the convictions of co-conspirators in a mortgage scheme carried out by an ex-NFL player. That scheme, which took place during the housing boom in the early 2000’s, resulted in 10 convictions. Former…
Justice Would Be Served by an ‘Open File’ Policy for Prosecutors
March 2, 2012
Justice Would Be Served by an ‘Open File’ Policy for Prosecutors
By: Jeff Ifrah
A couple of years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice made an effort to systematize and improve its discovery obligations under Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 Supreme Court case that requires prosecutors to disclose information in their files that would tend to exculpate criminal defendants. A U.S. attorney, speaking at a conference of defense lawyers, commented at the time that the department takes its Brady…
D.C. Circuit Tackles Ex-Prosecutor’s Allegations of Privacy Violations
February 20, 2012
D.C. Circuit Tackles Ex-Prosecutor’s Allegations of Privacy Violations
By: Ifrah Law
After a nearly decade-long legal battle, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking to dismiss once and for all the privacy suit of Richard Convertino, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit who alleges that the DOJ illegally gave the press details of an internal investigation into his alleged misconduct. In February 2004, Convertino filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of…
