Criminal Procedure

“Will Accused Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Get the Death Penalty?”

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“Will Accused Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Get the Death Penalty?”

This was the question being investigated on the Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast.  Here is a description of the show: 

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving brother of the accused for the Boston marathon bombings, has become a face of the media lately. His prosecution and potential sentence raises many questions for both the public and the legal world. Attorneys and co-hosts J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi joinAttorney Jack Cunha and Professor Douglas Berman to discuss the prosecution and trial of the suspect.

  • Jack Cunha, of Cunha & Holcomb, is a practicing criminal attorney based in Boston, Massachusetts. A former instructor at Suffolk and Harvard Law Schools, Cunha lectures nationally for various associations and schools such as The National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Harvard Law, and CLE Programs mainly on criminal defense.
  • Douglas Berman, Professor of Law at The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, has taught a myriad of courses at Ohio State including criminal law, criminal punishment and sentencing, and the death penalty. He is co-author of a casebook, Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes, and Guidelines. He also writes a popular blog titled Sentencing Law and Policy.

Tune in to hear what these experienced professionals have to say as they answer questions such as: Although Massachusetts outlawed the death penalty in 1984, will prosecutors use federal law to seek the death penalty for Tsarnaev? Will the fact that the suspect is only 19 call for mitigation? and more.

 

More on Rape and Victims’ Rights

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More on Rape and Victims’ Rights

After yesterday’s post about the emotional Radio Lab segment, “Rape and Reasonable Doubt”,  I was reminded of a Moral Maze episode that debated victims’ rights and how victims are/should be treated in the criminal justice system.  This Moral Maze debate provides an intellectual take on an issue that is emotionally charged and has high moral stakes.

Here is a part of Moral Maze‘s description of the episode:

The death of Frances Andrade, who killed herself days after testifying against Michael Brewer, the choirmaster who indecently assaulted her, has prompted a debate on how courts handle such cases. Could her suicide have been prevented? Did the defence counsel who cross-examined her, calling her a liar and a fantasist, bear some responsibility for her death? Or is it always important for the defence to challenge prosecution witnesses as robustly as the judge will allow? If so, the duty to protect vulnerable witnesses must rest with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service – and yet their overriding aim is to obtain a conviction. Frances Andrade was persuaded to give evidence (she did not herself initiate the investigation); perhaps she would have been better advised not to?

More on Gideon: An “Unfunded Mandate”?

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More on Gideon: An “Unfunded Mandate”?

Fifty years later, the American legal profession has failed to answer “Gideon’s trumpet,” or so says Stephen Bright, visiting Yale Law professor and president of Southern Center for Human Rights.  According to Bright, Gideon v. Wainwright represents essentially an unfunded mandate.

Following Attorney General Eric Holder’s statements that the nation’s public defense is “in a state of crisis,”  NPR’s Talk of the Nation explored the state of the public defense system with Bright as well as Douglas Wilson, Colorado State public defender.

This discussion runs 30:16 minutes.

Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the seminal decision as was discussed in yesterday’s blog post: Gideon Turns 50.

Gideon Turns 50

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Gideon Turns 50

Fifty years ago today, the Supreme Court handed down the seminal decision of Gideon v. Wainwright.  In Gideon, the Court unanimously held that all indigent defendants charged with a felonies are guaranteed appointed counsel.  This CBS Sunday Morning story provides background on the historic decision.  It runs 2:35 minutes.