People v. State

You can spot this tell a mile away. Steve Wynn, a billionaire Las Vegas casino developer and operator, has come out against the legalization and regulation of online gambling and poker. He claims: “Even though it would be a benefit to our company, we are strongly opposed.”

His real motivation isn’t hard to read. It’s the same motivation as that of certain nations (Germany, Greece and the Netherlands are specified in the article at the link) which are unwilling to legalize online poker “because it would affect their state-run gaming operations.” Online gambling and poker represents major competition for Wynn’s brick-and-mortar casinos. It’s a heck of a lot easier and cheaper for a bloke with a hankering for poker to saddle up to his (more…)

Jesse Walker at Hit & Run points out the problems with the decision of the cash-strapped District Attorney of Contra Costa County in California to no longer prosecute most misdemeanors, and with his decision to announce that new policy to all the world. Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice had also questioned the wisdom of this DA’s public announcement. Crimes that will no longer be prosecuted include shoplifting, trespassing, burglary, simple assault, lewd conduct, vandalism, and drug cases involving smaller amounts of narcotics.

But it’s not just the incentive effects on the behavior of criminals and the criminally-curious (who now won’t have to worry that their venture into shoplifting will result in an embarrassing criminal record) that makes this policy and the (more…)

Via Jonathan Turley, a woman and her cousin were convicted of the murder-for-hire of the woman’s husband. The families of all those involved in the case belong to a small community of Bukharian Jews in Queens. At sentencing, the cousin, Mr. Mallayev, asserted his innocence: “I didn’t kill nobody in my life…. I live by the Ten Commandments. You both laugh on that…. I feel comfortable with myself. I’m good in front of myself and in front of God.”

If Mr. Mallayev thought his religion had been disrespected by the judge and the prosecutor before, there’s no telling what he thought after Judge Hanophy in response quoted Jesus Christ and compared Mr. Mallayev to Judas Iscariot: “Mr. Mallayev, you took the 20,000 pieces of silver to murder Dr. Malakov…. You say you’re a religious man. There’s (more…)

Douglas Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy asks “Should law enforcement service be an aggravator or mitigator at sentencing?”. He asks the question in connection with the upcoming sentencing of ex-Sheriff Mike Carona for urging his ex-assistant sheriff to lie during a grand jury investigation of charges that Carona took gifts in exchange for favors while in office.

Law enforcement service per se sure as shootin’ should not be a mitigator. Carona’s defense attorneys are asking the judge “to look beyond Carona’s conviction and see the public servant with 32 years behind the badge – years spent advancing the cause of children and homeland security.” Big freaking deal. Carona got paid well by the taxpayers for (more…)

Thanks to a client with whom I bartered legal services for web design, this blog hereby debuts. He is also doing a fine job with my law office website, which is a work in progress.

As a practicing lawyer trying to help clients in their dealings with the State, I hope this blog can engage with and contribute to what has come to be known as the practical blawgosphere.

At the same time, I identify as a philosophical anarchist, a single taxer and a Quaker, and trust that these uncommon perspectives will inform my affirmations here.