A dangerous drug is readily available in some states despite efforts by state regulators to ban it. Spice is a slang term for synthetic marijuana. It was once an actual brand but has become shorthand for a wide variety of similar products. It’s a mixture of herbs that have been sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids. The […]
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Amended Rule Likely to Affect Criminal Defendants’ Rights & Increase Preliminary Hearings
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has amended a rule that significantly affects criminal defendants’ rights to a habeas corpus hearing. The amendment is included below with the proposed terms in bold. Specifically, the proposal addresses the issue that arises after a defendant waives the preliminary hearing and subsequently challenges the State’s establishment of a prima facie […]
Microscopic Hair Analysis Is Unreliable
Thousands of defendants in both state and federal court may be in jail based on evidence that the United States Justice Department, as early as 1984, knew was unreliable. In many criminal cases, the prosecution uses lab reports produced by forensic experts that link a defendant to a victim or to a crime scene. In […]
Deal or No Deal: U.S. Supreme Court Finds Defense Counsel Ineffective for Advice on Plea Bargains
The United States Supreme Court has established a new constitutional remedy—to challenge the results of a plea bargain that was accepted or rejected because of bad legal advice. In a pair of cases from Missouri and Michigan, a divided Supreme Court ruled that when a lawyer representing a criminal defendant acts incompetently when advising whether […]
Connecticut poised to abolish the death penalty
The Connecticut Senate voted this morning to abolish the Death Penalty in that state. The Governor quickly went on record to make it very clear that he intends to sign the bill. He stated that the Death Penalty is not workable at all in Connecticut. One can easily draw a parallel to Pennsylvania, which spends […]
