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A Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Trial
FEATURED
April 15, 2025
A Luigi Mangione Death Penalty Trial
By: James Trusty
The Attorney General’s recent announcement that DOJ will seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione raises a host of interesting legal and philosophical issues, and it almost certainly reflects a dramatic about-face from the Biden administration’s approach towards federal prosecutions for death-eligible offenses. Aside from having personally prosecuted three death penalty trials while I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland and when I was Chief of the DOJ Organized Crime and Gang Section, I spent a number of years on the Attorney General’s Capital Review Committee (“CRC”). The Committee was comprised of a number of “grey heads” who had personally handled death penalty cases and who developed a solid working knowledge of the intricate field of capital litigation. Ultimately,…
Trouble in Paradise: White Lotus Character’s Legal Woes Illustrate Civil Forfeiture’s Overreach
April 14, 2025
Trouble in Paradise: White Lotus Character’s Legal Woes Illustrate Civil Forfeiture’s Overreach
By: Abbey Block
Last Sunday, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the season finale of White Lotus – a widely popular show that centers around the week-long vacation of several ultra-wealthy patrons of the fictional “White Lotus” resort in Thailand.[1] The show follows a dynamic cast of quirky characters as they navigate their opulent getaway. One of those characters in this most recent season was Timothy Ratliff…
Amending Arbitration Clauses – No Notice, Big Problem?
April 8, 2025
Amending Arbitration Clauses – No Notice, Big Problem?
By: Robert Ward
Many websites’ terms and conditions allow online service providers to make changes without providing prior notice to users. Often, the terms state that the user agrees to read the terms and conditions, and that continued use of the website constitutes acceptance of any modification. A recent Fourth Circuit decision highlights the potential risk that such unilateral change-in-terms provisions might pose to another common feature of…
Time to Face the (Hidden) Music
August 2, 2021
Time to Face the (Hidden) Music
By: James Trusty
A Texas man named Guy Reffitt has found himself at the edge of the new legal frontier, a place where privacy rights and encrypted technology face aggressive prosecutors willing to push for their strongest criminal case. This Guy did not bring a lot of sympathy to the legal battle—he is alleged to have traveled from Wylie, Texas to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, with…
Of Permits, Preliminary Injunctions, and Pine Beetles
June 29, 2021
Of Permits, Preliminary Injunctions, and Pine Beetles
By: James Trusty
Last Independence Day, there was a big firework show at Mt. Rushmore, the first one since 2009. President Trump joined Governor Kristi Noem, and the show was well-attended by South Dakotans and tourists alike. Governor Noem liked it so much that she put in for a permit this year, only to be rejected by the National Park Service. That’s when the real fireworks began. The…
Biden’s aggressive Justice Dept – Civil Rights Division putting local police on notice. Here’s how
May 19, 2021
Biden’s aggressive Justice Dept – Civil Rights Division putting local police on notice. Here’s how
By: James Trusty
This article was originally published on FoxNews.com on May 16th, 2021. Department of Justice priorities obviously can change with new administrations, and history shows this with regularity. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was greatly concerned with the Mafia’s activities, and John Ashcroft wanted more obscenity and pornography prosecutions. Generally, the subject matter emphasis pops up and recedes, while the rank and file of DOJ continue prosecuting…
When Double Jeopardy Means No Jeopardy
March 25, 2021
When Double Jeopardy Means No Jeopardy
By: James Trusty
In March of 2019, on the afternoon in which Paul Manafort was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance unveiled an indictment against Manafort for mortgage fraud and similar state offenses. As rumors had begun to swirl that President Trump might pardon Manafort’s two federal prosecutions, Vance announced that, “No…
Civil or Criminal Liability: Charging A Payment Processing Case by Coin Toss?
August 17, 2020
Civil or Criminal Liability: Charging A Payment Processing Case by Coin Toss?
By: James Trusty
In the eyes of federal investigators, when is a payment processor considered a benevolent alternative to traditional banks, and when is it viewed as a shady facilitator of all things criminal? In other words, is the client another Paypal or Venmo, or are we looking at a potential WireCard AG prosecution? We have noticed in recent cases that prosecutors are across the board in their…
