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My Brother’s Keeper
FEATURED
February 20, 2025
My Brother’s Keeper
By: Abbey Block
Am I my brother’s keeper? Or more specifically, can lawyers be sued for their clients’ bad behavior? A newly proposed bill out of Washington state says yes. The bill, HB 1891, provides the following legal framework, under which an attorney can be sued for injuries caused by his or her client who is released from detention pending trial: Any person injured by an individual who was previously arrested for a violent offense, and subsequently released from custody before trial for such offense as a result of the advocacy of their criminal defense counsel, has a cause of action against such criminal defense counsel if: (a) The individual caused the injury after being released from custody; and (b) the criminal defense…
DOJ Memo Sneaks In Seismic Changes
January 31, 2025
DOJ Memo Sneaks In Seismic Changes
By: James Trusty
Amidst the tidal wave of Executive Orders, presidential appointments, and policy announcements, it is easy to treat last week’s Interim Policy Memo from the Acting Deputy Attorney General[1] as just another ripple of nominal change that occurs when democrats replace republicans or republicans replace democrats. And, indeed, although there are portions of it that reflect the recurring philosophical tug-of-war over the tough on crime approach…
Virtual Reality Creating Jury Reality
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….
Federal Strike Forces Will Boost Medicare Fraud Enforcement
December 17, 2010
Federal Strike Forces Will Boost Medicare Fraud Enforcement
By: Ifrah Law
In October 2010, federal enforcers announced a plan to nearly triple the number of its Medicare fraud strike force units around the nation. In view of the magnitude of health care fraud, this plan is understandable, but the vast majority of providers, who comply with the law, will also see their compliance and other costs increase. The new strike force teams are a central feature…
ISPs Take Note: Court Rules E-mails Have Full 4th Amendment Protection
December 15, 2010
ISPs Take Note: Court Rules E-mails Have Full 4th Amendment Protection
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has just issued a trail-blazing opinion that is good news for anyone who has ever sent an e-mail – and that needs to be carefully read and adhered to by all Internet service providers (ISPs). We noted six months ago that ISPs have been all too ready to satisfy prosecutors’ requests for access to customer e-mails…
Stacking the Deck Against Defendants in Conspiracy Cases?
December 13, 2010
Stacking the Deck Against Defendants in Conspiracy Cases?
By: Ifrah Law
Are prosecutors stacking the deck against defendants in conspiracy cases? A case now on appeal in the Second Circuit is posing that interesting question. On appeal from his conviction in a fake reinsurance deal scheme, former General Re Corporation assistant general counsel Robert Graham is arguing that the government denied him a fair trial by preventing a key witness from testifying. By amending the original…
Time to Make Brady Compliance Part of Prosecutors’ Culture
November 17, 2010
Time to Make Brady Compliance Part of Prosecutors’ Culture
By: Ifrah Law
On Thursday, November 4, 2010, Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, defended the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent efforts to address its compliance with Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 Supreme Court case requiring prosecutors to disclose information that would tend to exculpate criminal defendants. Rosenstein, speaking before a group of defense attorneys at an American Bar Association town hall meeting, said that the DOJ…
The Struggle to Revive ‘Honest Services’
November 16, 2010
The Struggle to Revive ‘Honest Services’
By: Ifrah Law
On November 16, 2010, the Los Angeles-based Daily Journal published an article by Jeffrey Hamlin, an associate at Ifrah PLLC, on a recent U.S. District Court ruling. The following is the full text of the article. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the much-watched case of former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, limited the federal “honest services” statute to traditional or “paradigmatic” bribery and…
