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Baltimoronic Investigation
FEATURED
July 8, 2025
Baltimoronic Investigation
By: James Trusty
June 24, 2025, may mark the day that the criminal justice system for Baltimore, Maryland finally established its lunacy. If the allegations are correct, an employee of Pretrial Services committed what Maryland officials view as a cardinal sin—he or she let ICE know that there was an illegal alien coming to the office. Armed with that information, ICE showed up at the courthouse, was allowed up to the 4th floor, and arrested an illegal alien. There are no allegations of disruption to the Pretrial Services office, no suggestion that the arrest caused a courthouse-wide panic, and no lawyers rushed to microphones to announce the alien had been tortured, beaten, and shipped off to a Salvadoran prison. But the Baltimore City…
Biden and DOJ’s Spiteful Ploy Boomerangs: How Politics Destroys Privilege
June 30, 2025
Biden and DOJ’s Spiteful Ploy Boomerangs: How Politics Destroys Privilege
By: James Trusty
During the pre-indictment period in which I was one of President Trump’s lawyers, there was a considerable amount of then-sealed litigation over the Special Counsel Office’s (“SCO”) insatiable search for incriminating evidence. We regularly found ourselves fighting against prosecutors providing ex parte information to the Court in support of their singular claims that Donald J. Trump did not have the same legal privileges as almost…
AI Conversations Feel Private. Could They Be Privileged?
June 11, 2025
AI Conversations Feel Private. Could They Be Privileged?
By: Robert Ward
The New York Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI continues to spark debate, and not just about copyright. Most recently, a federal magistrate judge ordered OpenAI to preserve chats that the company might otherwise have deleted at a user’s request. In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that it may be time for a version of the attorney-client or physician-patient privilege, but for AI. While any attempt…
When a Guilty Plea is a Bad Gamble: SCOTUS Weighs in on Double Jeopardy and the Dual Sovereignty Rule
June 19, 2019
When a Guilty Plea is a Bad Gamble: SCOTUS Weighs in on Double Jeopardy and the Dual Sovereignty Rule
By: James Trusty
On Monday, the Supreme Court handed down Gamble v. United States, No. 17-646, an interesting decision on Double Jeopardy with practical and predictive ramifications beyond its limited facts. Terance Martez Gamble was caught possessing a loaded handgun in Mobile, Alabama, after previously having been convicted for robbery. He pleaded guilty and received one year in jail. Federal prosecutors then indicted him for felon-in-possession, based upon…
Tyson KO’s Indiana: How a Self-Described Junkie Found Nine New Friends in the Supreme Court
February 20, 2019
Tyson KO’s Indiana: How a Self-Described Junkie Found Nine New Friends in the Supreme Court
By: James Trusty
There’s a saying that many prosecutors know as an exhortation to “take the long view” and to use discretion even where the law seems to permit an aggressive approach—it’s that “bad facts make bad law.” In the case of Indiana prosecutors seeking to cash in on a car seizure from a low-level drug dealer, their failure to back-down from a harsh forfeiture unified the Supreme…
The Cliffhanger – Paul Manafort’s Sentencing Drama
February 14, 2019
The Cliffhanger – Paul Manafort’s Sentencing Drama
By: James Trusty
A hit man walks into a restaurant where Tony Soprano and his family are eating dinner while the jukebox blares a Journey song. The last show of the highly successful series ends with an abrupt cut to black before the audience knows the fate of Tony and his family. The end of The Sopranos series was both ominous and frustrating. In a federal criminal court,…
New York AG Puts Crypto Exchanges in the Crosshairs
December 28, 2018
New York AG Puts Crypto Exchanges in the Crosshairs
By: George Calhoun
Following on the heels of the SEC’s announcement of subpoenas to crypto exchanges and token issuers, yesterday New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced “the Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative,” which he described as “a fact-finding inquiry into the policies and practices of platforms used by consumers to trade virtual or ‘crypto’ currencies like bitcoin and ether.” The first phase of the initiative appears to be…
How One Simple Meeting Presages the Future of Federal Prosecution
September 28, 2018
How One Simple Meeting Presages the Future of Federal Prosecution
By: James Trusty
For many years, it has been the federal government, with its multitude of prosecutorial and regulatory arms, that has been able to throw its policing weight around, causing business owners to snap to attention with a crisp salute. But as the traditional business model has morphed into clouds of technology-driven, international and multinational enterprises, this “cop” may have met his match. Amidst all of the…
