Yesterday was another full day for the Chilean students visiting from Hurtado University Law School. In the morning, alumn Reyna Morales gave a talk in Spanish on criminal procedure and law. Afterwards, MULS Professors Tom Hammer, Michael O’Hear, Chad Oldfather, Dan Blinka, and Greg O’Meara, S.J., participated in a Q&A panel. The Chilean students came prepared with a range of questions dealing with the types of legal defenses available to defendants, the rights of juveniles, and issues of due process in Guantanamo, among other topics.
In the afternoon, we drove to Madison to visit Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson at the State Capitol, accompanied by former Supreme Court Justice and MULS professor Janine Geske. The Chief Justice greeted the delegation in the hallways of the Capitol, and then invited the members to sit in the Supreme Court Hearing Room to offer an overview of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s work. With warm humor, the Chief Justice then answered the many questions that the Chilean students posed.
One student asked if the justices are ever influenced by their political affiliations when they write their decisions. The ... Read more..
Archive for September, 2009
Broward County and Sunrise law enforcement officers are investigating the shooting deaths of three members of a Sunrise family who were killed this weekend and found dead in their home last Sunday. Police officials mentioned murder-suicide as a possibility publicly earlier in the week, but have also stated that they are still investigating and cannot be sure about the cause of the deaths at this point in time, says Broward criminal attorney William Moore. Though the investigating law enforcement agencies have not released the names of the deceased individuals, a family friend has identified them as 35-year-old Quincy Kelly, his 32-year-old wife Lisa Kelly, and their 12-year-old daughter Soroya, who was a student at the Westpine Middle School.
Police discovered the bodies of the family members this Sunday after responding to a domestic disturbance phone call on Northwest 21st Street in Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney Moore has learned. Relatives of the family members approached police officials and directed them to a locked rear bedroom. When they got to the room, police officials breached ... Read more..
Last week, we were privileged to hear Professor Michael Klarman speak on “Why Brown v. Board of Education Was a Hard Case.” This was one of the most enjoyable and interesting talks I have heard in a long time. I highly recommend it, and you can click here to get the webcast. My guess is that this would still be as funny and insightful on the audio. There were two particular points that he made in reviewing the history of the case that linked to conflict resolution theory that I want to highlight here.
First, Klarman noted that, contrary to typical practice, the justices facing the Brown decision did not take a straw poll at their first conference discussing the case. In fact, as he notes, by his count, there would have been only four votes to overturn Plessy at the beginning and nothing near the unanimity that the Court presented in its decision the following year. What was the import of not taking this poll? As Klarman notes, this allowed the justices to change their mind and to preserve fluidity in their thinking. In ... Read more..
This morning TLC announced that essentially Jon Gosselin had been fired from it’s hit show “Jon and Kate Plus Eight.”
As of November 2nd, Jon Gosselin will no longer be a star of the program, and the program will change to “Kate Plus 8.”
“Given the recent changes in the family dynamics, it only makes sense for us to refresh and recalibrate the program to keep pace with the family,” CNN reported TLC President Eileen O’Neill as saying.
People interviewed with a source close to Jon: “Given Jon’s recent antics, there was no way the show could continue to portray him as a doting Dad, not while all this other crap was going on.”
The series first aired on April 16, 2007, portraying a happy couple coping with raising a set of twins and sextuplets.
But after 10 years of marriage, the couple announced they would be filing for divorce. Ratings soared as news leaked of the couple’s marriage trouble.
The premiere of the fifth season had 9.8 million viewers, and it was the most watched show that Monday night.
“The family has evolved, and we are ... Read more..
The well-known movie director, Roman Polanski, was recently arrested in Zurich, Switzerland by Swiss authorities because of a sex crime he committed in the United States in 1977.
In 1978, Polanski fled the U.S. to avoid sentencing for the charges against him - he allegedly had sex with a 13-year-old girl.
According to a New York Times report, supporters of the director are asking the question, “Why now?” After all, this crime was committed in a different country more than 30 years ago.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office says the arrest was simply a matter of opportunity - Polanski was in a place at a time when the authorities “knew he would be available.”
Many people wonder why the arrest wasn’t made in the past, because authorities have apparently had the opportunity before, the New York Times reported.
Polanski has openly traveled around the world in the last 30 years - but has avoided visits to countries like Britain where extradition might be easier for Los Angeles authorities to achieve.
According to the New York Times, the victim of Polanski’s crime has publicly forgiven him.
Polanski, ... Read more..
