Criminal Law Blog & News

On this day, October 4, in the year 1988, televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted on 24 federal charges of mail and wire fraud and of conspiring to defraud the public.

On this day, October 3, in the year 1995, former football star O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the 1994 double murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

On Thursday September 29. 2011, in an editorial entitled “ An Invitation to Overreach”, the New York Times joins the  American Bar Association, the Judicial Conference of the United States , and every major organization focusing on criminal justice  in opposing  mandatory minimum sentences.  The Times stated the rise in mandatory minimum sentences has damaged the integrity of the justice system , reduced the role of judges in meting out punishment, and has increased the power of prosecutors beyond their proper role.

On this day, September 30, in the year 1961, dozens of Colorado law enforcement officers from the Denver Police Department  were arrested, stripped of their badges and firearms and hauled to jail for running a massive police burglary ring.

In an opinion dated September 28, 2011, a Florida District Court of Appeal has certified that an appeal from a recent ruling finding Florida’s primary drug prossession statute unconstitutional involves an issue of great public importance that requires immediate resolution by the Florida Supreme Court.  The appellate court’s certification is essentially a request that Florida’s highest court resolve issues recently raised about the constitutionality of Florida's drug statute as quickly as possible. The appellate court’s certification was entered as prosecutors in Manatee County Florida appealed Circuit Court Judge Scott Brownell’s dismissal of drug charges against forty-two defendants to the Second District Court of Appeal.  Judge Brownell’s recent order finding Florida’s drug statute unconstitutional, as well as other similar recent court rulings, have been discussed previously in this blog and can be found here.

On this day, Sept. 29, in the year 1995, atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair was murdered in Texas during a kidnapping and extortion scheme.

On this day, September 28,  in the year 1973, a bomb was detonated at the IT&T (International Telephone & Telegraph) building in New York.  The explosive device was placed in the company's Latin American section and caused extensive damage to several offices.  No one was killed or injured.  Another bomb was detonated that same day at IT&T's Rome headquarters.

On Monday, September 26, 2011, the New York Times reported in a front page story that as a result of decades of passing laws to increase punishments, prosecutors have gained greater leverage to extract guilty pleas from defendants which has dramatically reduced the number of cases proceeding to trial. The Times examined statistics from the National Center for State Courts and the Bureau of Justice Statistics which illustrate this trend towards lower trial rates

On this day, September 27, in the year 1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor, on trial for slapping a police officer, stormed out of the courtroom in the middle of the prosecutor's closing argument.

On this day, September 26, in the year 1879, Anthony Blair was publically hanged in Hamblen County, Tennessee, in front of a crowd of eight to ten thousand people.

On this day, September 23, in the year 1957, a group of black students, who became known as the “Little Rock Nine", were forced to withdraw from an Arkansas High School by an angry mob of violent white segregationist.

On this day, September 22, in the year 1975, U.S. President Gerald Ford survived a second assassination attempt.  Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, just seventeen days after Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme had pointed a gun at the president.

On this day, September 21, in the year 1976, a car bomb in Washington, D.C., set by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, exploded, killing political figure Orlando Letelier and his assistant.

On September 16^th the Fifth District Court of Appeals declared Florida Statute 316.3045 (1 ) ( a ) unconstitutionally overbroad and found that it restricted the right of free expression. This ruling was consistent with a prior ruling of the Second District Court of Appeals from May of this year in a case styled as State of Florida v. Catalano 60 So. 3d 1139 ( Fla. 2^nd DCA , 2011).

On this day, September 20, in the year 1985, Curtis Strong was convicted of selling cocaine to pro baseball players, resulting ultimately in some of  the harshest Major League Baseball penalties since the Black Sox scandal of 1919.

On September 19, in the year 1900, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid committed their first robbery together, taking $32,640 from the First National Bank of Winnemucca, Nevada.

Following the lead of U.S. District Court Judge Mary Scriven, who found on July 27, 2011 that the provisions of Florida Statute 893.13 violated fundamental rights of due process (read the Shelton order here), two State of Florida Circuit Court Judges have now also ruled that Florida’s primary drug prohibition statute is unconstitutional.   On August 17, 2011, Judge Milton Hirsch of the State of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit dismissed thirty-nine felony drug cases finding Florida Statute 893.13 violates due process and is unconstitutional.   Read the Hirsch order here.  Similarly, on September 14, 2011, Judge Scott Brownell of the State of Florida’s Twelfth Judicial Circuit, dismissed forty-two felony drug cases, finding that Florida Statute 893.13 is unconstitutional.  Read the Brownell order here.

On this day, September 16, in 1920, a bomb in a horse-drawn wagon exploded in front of the J.P. Morgan building on Wall Street, killing 38 and injuring 400.  At that time, the Wall Street bombing was considered one of  the deadliest terrorist attacks ever upon civilians on American soil.

On this day, September 15, in 1963 a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four children.  The entire Sixteenth Street wall of the church building collapsed into a basement amid screams of horror and terror.  The explosion at the African-American church marked a turning point in the U.S. 1960s civil rights movement and contributed to support for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On this day, September 14, in 1974, the song “I Shot the Sheriff” was named Billboard magazine’s number one single in the United States.   While the song was written by reggae legend Bob Marley, it was Eric Clapton's version that achieved the top ranking in the music charts.