Criminal defendants can now question the validity of lab results in court, thanks to a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court.
In a 5-4 ruling, the court said that allowing prosecutors to submit forensic evidence without questioning by the defense is a violation of Sixth Amendment right to face one’s accuser, according to The New York Times.
The decision invalidates the theory of neutral scientific evidence.
“Dispensing with confrontation because testimony is obviously reliable is akin to dispensing with jury trial because a defendant is obviously guilty,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority.
The court heard the case Luis Melendez-Diaz of Boston, who was arrested for drug distribution & trafficking, along with two other men.
After their arrest, police found 19 plastic bags containing a white powder in the back seat of their vehicle. A lab report identified the powder as cocaine, which was entered into evidence used to convict Melendez-Diaz, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
The decision came in the wake of a wave of scandals at crime laboratories that included hundreds of tainted cases in Michigan, Texas and West Virginia.
Now, ... Read more..
Archive for June, 2009
As the world continues to grapple with the death of Michael Jackson, questions to the legitimacy of the allegations against Michael Jackson arose throughout the proceedings and remained relevant up to—and may remain well after—his recent death.
The most common and unanswered question is, if the allegations were true, why did only one of the alleged victims testify?
The judge presiding over the 2005 case, Judge Rodney Melville, said he would allow prosecutors to present to the jury testimony concerning the five boys whom they allege Jackson molested when the boys were between the ages of 10 and 13.
However, of the alleged victims, only one testified.
The remainder of those who testified for the prosecution were individuals who avowed they observed the molestation.
If these alleged victims were still minors at the time of the trial, then there is obvious reasoning for the avoidance of any public trial, which would conjure up latent emotions or memories. But this was not necessarily the case.
In point of fact, some—such as actor Macaulay Caulkin—were in their mid-twenties at the time of the trial. Underscoring this point is ... Read more..
Since the passing of Michael Jackson on June 25th, there has been a myriad of information being strewn throughout the internet, across media channels and laden in the majority of conversations of Jackson’s past.
Topics ranging from his undeniable brilliance in music with the lasting mark he made on contemporary music to the less than kind allegations and whispers of misconduct which hovered over Michael for a number of years.
In most conversations surrounding Michael Jackson there is bound to be chatter concerning his private life: finances, family, misconduct and marriage.
The latter being of the least popular topics, it was and remains to be the most convoluted.
Both marriages for Michael Jackson ended in divorce with only one of them producing anything other than PR speculations.
Jackson’s most scrutinized marriage, to which both supporters and critics of Michael Jackson stood in amazement and bewilderment as they learned of the union was that of his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley. He later married Debbie Rowe, which also made headlines with the critics.
Jackson and Presley were married in De La Vega, Santa Domingo in 1994 under ... Read more..
As the world awaits the autopsy results for the late Michael Jackson, the rumors, hushed conversations and occasional clamoring over Jackson’s past continue to traverse the populous.
Of the numerous topics of interest which tell the Michael Jackson story what seems to be of the least prioritized to most is that of his unsuccessful attempts at marriage.
Jackson’s first marriage to Lisa Marie Presley (daughter of Elvis Presley) lasted just under two years and was seen more of a public relations stunt than a union of hearts.
On November 15, 1996 Jackson’s marriage to Debbie Rowe, a former nurse, took place at a hotel suite in Sydney, Australia.
She knew Jackson for 15 years before they were married, and was apparently six months pregnant at the time of their marriage.
The Jackson - Rowe marriage seemed to produce the largest amount of scrutiny, as there was not a clear line of intent or relationship to draw the two together.
Even though Jackson and Rowe were friends for 15 years, all who knew the two were just as shocked as the general public over the marriage.
Seemingly, the ... Read more..
Ponzi mastermind Bernie Madoff’s day of
reckoning has come. A federal judge sentenced Madoff to 150 years, the maximum sought by the prosecution, according to CNN.
Following the sentence, Madoff offered an apology to his victims.
I live in a tormented state for all the pain and suffering I created, Madoff said. “I left a legacy of shame. It is something I will live with for the rest of my life.
Madoff orchestrated a massive securities fraud that swindled investors out of billions of dollars. Much of that money is still unaccounted for, and Madoff is expected to be forced to pay back his victims.
Madoff’s defense attorney had asked the judge for a 12 year sentence, arguing that at age 71, his client’s life expectancy would make even that sentence a life sentence.
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