View Post

CA Legislature Kills Crime Bills

Last week the California Assembly Public Safety Committee killed bills introduced to address rising gun crimes, homelessness and the Newsom administration’s blanket policy of granting early releases to thousands of violent and serious criminals.  Ashley Zavala of KCRA News reports that  AB 328, introduced by Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), would require mandatory prison sentences for criminals who use a gun …

View Post

Bribery at Cal. Bar

How did the now-disgraced Thomas Girardi avoid the scrutiny of the California State Bar’s discipline folks for so long despite “over 200 misconduct complaints against Girardi dating back to at least 1984.” He handled those folks the old-fashioned way. He bribed them. From a letter from the Bar Chair to all California attorneys: The May report found that Girardi intentionally …

View Post

Another Texas Murderer Facing Justice

Tonight Texas is set to execute its second murderer this week, Arthur Brown, Jr., for the murders of four people, including a pregnant woman.  Jolie McCullough of the Texas Tribune reports that Brown was convicted, along with two accomplices, of the 1992 execution-style murders and attempted murders of two others who survived.  The facts presented in a 2012 decision by …

View Post

‘Defund the Police’ Is Over. Now What?

William Galston, the WSJ’s resident contrarian columnist*, has this column with the above title. Galston notes the political developments in Chicago, New York, and Washington and has this advice for his fellow liberals: These events prove that dealing with the crime surge is back on the national agenda. Democrats must find a way to demonstrate their commitment to public safety …

View Post

DC Police Chief: “Lock Them Up”

Last year homicides in Washington, DC reached a twenty year high while the brain-dead City Council was passing a law to shorten sentences for violent and serious crimes.  The Daily Mail reports that yesterday Meto Police Chief Robert Contee made a startling suggestion.  “What we got to do, if we really want to see homicides go down, is keep the …

View Post

Texas To Execute Double Murderer

A Dallas murderer who killed his estranged wife and her  6-year-old daughter in 2009, faces execution by lethal injection later today.  Juan Lozano of the Associated Press reports that Gary Green decided to kill his wife, Lovetta Armstead and her three children after she informed him that she sought to annul their recent marriage.  On the day of the murders …

View Post

More on the D.C. Crime Bill

The Federalist Society Criminal Law Practice Group has this teleforum Wednesday at 11:30 am ET / 8:30 am PT on The D.C. Crime Bill: What Happens Next? (See Michael Rushford’s post, earlier today.) The event features “an opening address from U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty [Tenn.], followed by a discussion of the bill and what may come next” led by Zack …

View Post

Biden Bails on DC Penal Code Reforms

A District of Columbia penal code revision intended to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and reduce the consequences for crimes, such as robbery and burglary, has been withdrawn by the DC City Counsel Chairman after President Biden announced that he would sign a bill to block it.  Because the District of Columbia is not a state, Congress has the last word …

View Post

SCOTUS Monday and Standing

This morning was an order list release day at the U.S. Supreme Court. No decisions were issued and no new criminal cases were taken. The court took up a case on admiralty law and choice-of-forum clauses in contracts. The court turned down a case on standing in an Establishment Clause case. We are interested in standing here at CJLF because …