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Maryland Moving at a Misguided PACE
FEATURED
March 14, 2025
Maryland Moving at a Misguided PACE
By: James Trusty
Maryland legislature is considering passing a law ineptly called the Protecting the Admissibility of Creative Expression (“PACE Act”) which would limit the use of rap lyrics, among other forms of expression, in criminal and juvenile proceedings. While prosecution use of rap lyrics in criminal trials is a bit uncommon, the state house move here is in reaction to a 2020 murder case in which a defendant’s post-arrest rap about killing “snitches” with a “.40” may have weighed heavily in the jury’s conviction. In Montague v. State, 471 Md. 657 Md. 2020) the Maryland Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s ruling that Montague’s ruminations about murder and using a .40 caliber weapon—made from a jail phone after his arrest—was not an…
My Brother’s Keeper
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…
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…
Federal Sentencing: A Longer Sentence For Post-Conviction Comments to the Press?
August 2, 2010
Federal Sentencing: A Longer Sentence For Post-Conviction Comments to the Press?
By: Ifrah Law
Lynne Stewart, an attorney who was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to a terrorist group by passing messages to and from her imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, to his followers, was re-sentenced last month by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in the Southern District of New York to 10 years in prison, far more than observers expected. But most surprising was the…
Skilling Having Impact on Pending Honest Services Fraud Cases
July 28, 2010
Skilling Having Impact on Pending Honest Services Fraud Cases
By: Ifrah Law
On June 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its much-awaited ruling in Skilling v. United States, which limited the scope of honest-services fraud. The next step is to look at the lower courts and see how they are interpreting the Skilling decision. After comments made very recently by U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in a high-profile case in the District of Columbia, prosecutors…
In Rare Ruling, Court Permits Discovery Into Motives Behind FTC Subpoena
July 26, 2010
In Rare Ruling, Court Permits Discovery Into Motives Behind FTC Subpoena
By: Ifrah Law
When a U.S. magistrate judge in the District of Columbia issued his ruling in Federal Trade Commission v. Bisaro on July 13, 2010, permitting limited discovery of certain FTC officials regarding an agency subpoena, it had been more than three decades since the D.C. Circuit had found that “extraordinary circumstances” were present that warranted discovery in a subpoena enforcement action. Subpoena enforcement proceedings are typically…
Jeff Ifrah’s Interview for Washington Legal Foundation
July 23, 2010
Jeff Ifrah’s Interview for Washington Legal Foundation
By: Ifrah Law
Jeff Ifrah, author of this blog, was interviewed today for the Legal Pulse, an online publication of the Washington Legal Foundation. In the interview, Jeff discusses cooperation with the government, federal sentencing, health care fraud, and other current issues in white-collar crime. The interview can be found here.
EFF Challenges Subpoenas to ISPs for Identities of Anonymous Posters
July 22, 2010
EFF Challenges Subpoenas to ISPs for Identities of Anonymous Posters
By: Ifrah Law
On July 14, 2010, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that defends the privacy and online rights of computer and Internet users, served a motion to quash two dragnet subpoenas issued by the plaintiffs in a high-profile New York state court case to Internet service providers (ISP’s) Google and Yahoo. The subpoenas demanded the identities of a wide range of anonymous online critics who posted…
