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Virtual Reality Creating Jury Reality
FEATURED
January 7, 2025
Virtual Reality Creating Jury Reality
By: James Trusty
A Florida Judge may have unwittingly ushered in a new age of criminal justice, where slickly made virtual reality (“VR”) presentations turn judges and jurors into witnesses, and VR headsets provide subjective “testimony” in a powerful and difficult to challenge manner. Broward County Judge Andrew Siegel agreed to don a virtual reality headset in a preliminary proceeding[1] where the defendant was accused of aggravated assault. Miguel Albisu, the defendant, was accused of waving a gun at wedding guests and he claims self-defense. The defense hired an artist to create a “defendant’s perspective,” and the result is a historical first—the judge took in a defense expert’s testimony about self-defense that included a guided tour of the reality contained on a VR…
How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power
December 6, 2024
How Thick is the Blanket? – Preemptive Pardons as a Presidential Power
By: James Trusty
As the presiding judge scolded Hunter Biden’s attorneys this week, “The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.”[1] But what exactly is that history he claims is being re-written? Judge Scarsi was challenging…
Supremely Improbable
July 30, 2024
Supremely Improbable
By: James Trusty
President Biden’s pronounced objectives for Supreme Court “reform” are improbable, politically lifeless under a particularly lame duck presidency, and motivated by transparently November-driven calculations. But even if the proposed changes are doomed from the start, they push public discourse on a couple of issues that are red meat for the democrats. The stated reforms are superficially simple ones: 1) to “clarify” that “there is no…
Barney Frank’s Advice to Poker Players After ‘Black Friday’
May 9, 2011
Barney Frank’s Advice to Poker Players After ‘Black Friday’
By: Ifrah Law
In the wake of the catastrophic consequences of last month’s “Black Friday” for online poker players in the United States, many players are wondering about their next step. Pocketfives.com recently interviewed Congressman Barney Frank and although he agreed that is “difficult to figure out what to do,” he still had some concrete advice for the online poker player universe. Frank felt that the events of…
Bank Hit With FCA Complaint Over Mortgage Lending
May 3, 2011
Bank Hit With FCA Complaint Over Mortgage Lending
By: Ifrah Law
On May 3, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil case against Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, asserting that Deutsche Bank was liable for more than $1 billion to the U.S. government for its statements and actions during the mortgage meltdown of the last few years. This case is one of the few that has emerged from the mortgage crisis, and like many…
The Disintegration of White-Collar Criminal Bernie Madoff
April 27, 2011
The Disintegration of White-Collar Criminal Bernie Madoff
By: Ifrah Law
In December 2010, Bernie Madoff contacted the Financial Times to say that he was ready for his second prison interview. It had been two years since news broke of Madoff’s 16-year, $65 billion Ponzi scheme, and just 17 months since he began serving his 150-year sentence. By the time he was interviewed, his oldest son, Mark, had hanged himself on the second anniversary of Madoff’s…
DOJ Shows Its Continuing Strong Interest in FCPA Violations
April 21, 2011
DOJ Shows Its Continuing Strong Interest in FCPA Violations
By: Ifrah Law
Over the course of several years, officials of the United States Department of Justice have made clear the Department’s intent to enforce vigorously the dictates of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In general terms, the FCPA prohibits the offering or giving of things of value to any foreign official to assist in obtaining or retaining business. Last November, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer warned…
Strike Force Hits Hard at Massive Medicare Fraud
March 31, 2011
Strike Force Hits Hard at Massive Medicare Fraud
By: Ifrah Law
Last month, the Federal Medicare Strike Force charged 111 defendants in nine states for their alleged participation in fraud schemes that reportedly cost Medicare almost a quarter billion dollars. Last month’s sweep resulted from the Justice Department’s and Health and Human Services’ work with the FBI, the HHS inspector general, and various state and local law enforcement officials. It represents the largest federal takedown of health-care…
