Defense attorneys in the Ninth Circuit are celebrating the appellate court’s recent decision in United States v. Liew for its explication of the Brady doctrine and its implicit recognition that sometimes FBI agents are not as forthcoming as they should be. Continue reading “Ninth Circuit Hands Defense an Important Brady Win”
Melissa Geller Named A “New Leader of the Bar” by New Jersey Law Journal
Duane Morris associate Melissa Geller has been named one of the New Jersey Law Journal‘s “New Leaders of the Bar.” With this list, the Law Journal “endeavors to identify attorneys representing the future of the legal profession in New Jersey.”
The honorees will be recognized at the Law Journal’s Professional Excellence event on June 20.
Supreme Court Hears Argument In Honeycutt
The Honeycutt brothers run an operation selling iodine to methamphetamine dealers. One brother makes $269,000 in total profits. The other brother gets paid a weekly salary, but otherwise takes home nothing. They are both charged in a drug conspiracy. The first brother reaches a plea deal with the government, and as a result gets to keep most of the money he made. The second brother loses at trial. At his sentencing, the trial court orders the second brother to forfeit (i.e. give back to the government) an amount equal to the total $269,000 in profits – even though he never saw a dime. Continue reading “Supreme Court Hears Argument In Honeycutt”
New Scrutiny of Civil Forfeiture Laws
The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released a report on March 29, 2017, faulting the DOJ for failing to systematically evaluate its forfeiture data to determine the extent to which seizures benefit law enforcement efforts or present potential risks to civil liberties. While the Inspector General’s (“IG’s”) report specifically focused on the forfeiture activities of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), its conclusions may likely be extended to other arenas in which the federal government initiates civil forfeiture activities, including white collar crime. Continue reading “New Scrutiny of Civil Forfeiture Laws”
Changes Are Coming to the SEC Enforcement Division – What Does It All Mean?
This week reports surfaced that a major shift in the SEC enforcement division had taken place – behind the scenes. The timing is quite interesting as the agency’s annual seminar and SEC Alumni dinner will occur at the end of the month. No doubt this will be a topic, among many, of the annual SEC cocktail regulars in DC.
The reports indicate that the Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar has centralized the power of the enforcement division to “issue subpoenas or formally launch probes,” as Reuters put it. The question that has been asked is – What does all of this really mean, really? Continue reading “Changes Are Coming to the SEC Enforcement Division – What Does It All Mean?”
The Supreme Court of New Jersey Clarifies “Plain View” Seizures (Sort of): State v. Gonzales
“(P)lain view” seizures were recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443 (1971). The doctrine is true to its name: it permits warrantless seizures of illegal contraband that is in the “plain view” of law enforcement. This is the law in New Jersey too. State v. Bruzzese, 94 N.J. 210 (1983).
There is common sense at work here. If law enforcement finds evidence out in the open, it would be unduly burdensome and illogical to require the State to leave the evidence in place while it secures a warrant to support the necessary seizure.
But this exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement requires a dash of kismet and a dollop of good luck: law enforcement must be in the right place, at the right time, to discover and seize the evidence. If they are not, then they cannot.
Yet, what if such a happy fortuity is more than luck, but is also the product of some prior planning or scheming? What if law enforcement’s actions are challenged as pre-textual? When and how is the subjective intent of the police to be considered in evaluating the validity of a “plain view” seizure? Continue reading “The Supreme Court of New Jersey Clarifies “Plain View” Seizures (Sort of): State v. Gonzales”
Supreme Court of New Jersey Increases Protections for Cellphone Billing Records in State of New Jersey v. Lunsford
Cellular telephone billing records are another mundane aspect of modern life. They arrive monthly in the mail or online and hardly anyone I know (at least) spends any great amount of time reviewing them for accuracy or content. In most households, they go into the “to be paid” pile, where they reside until processing.
But telephones are no longer just telephones and cellular telephone bills, if parsed thoroughly and knowingly, can reveal on their face a startling amount of personal information and can provide entrée to much more. In 2016, cellular telephones must be viewed as small super computers and cellular telephone bills can yield as much information as banking or credit cards records can, if not more. Continue reading “Supreme Court of New Jersey Increases Protections for Cellphone Billing Records in State of New Jersey v. Lunsford”
Duane Morris’ Michael E. Clark to Present at ABA’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Mock Trial Institute
Duane Morris special counsel Michael E. Clark, who is this event’s co-chair, will also present during several sessions at the American Bar Association’s (ABA) First Annual Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Mock Trial Institute, to be held on November 16–17, 2016, in Houston, Texas.
On Wednesday, November 16, Mr. Clark will participate in the following sessions: “Jury Selection and Voir Dire,” at 8:30 a.m.; “Initial Jury Charge and Opening Statements” at 10:00 a.m.; “Government Witness Two: FBI Agent” at 10:45 a.m.; and “Defense Witness One – Henry Hornsby” at 2:00 p.m. On Thursday, November 17, Mr. Clark will be a panelist on the topic, “Session One: Discussion of Key Strategies, Issues and Themes in the FCPA Trial,” at 8:30 a.m.
The Supreme Court of New Jersey Narrows the State’s Expungement Statute
N.J.S.A 2C: 52-2(a) permits the Superior Court to expunge convictions of certain classes of offenses under certain enumerated circumstances. As one example, the applicant seeking the remedy must have been “convicted of a crime,” but “…not convicted of any prior or subsequent crime.” The statute also bars from eligibility those who plead guilty in one proceeding to multiple offenses committed within a short period of time.
But what exactly does this last limitation mean in practice? Last week, the Supreme Court of New Jersey addressed and answered this question in In the Matter of the Expungement Petition of J.S. (A-84-13) and In the Matter of the Expungement of the Criminal Records of G.P.B, (A-2-14). So now while a quantum of doubt has been eliminated (and that is always a good thing), the statute is now more restrictive (and, for defense practitioners, this is decidedly not a good thing). Continue reading “The Supreme Court of New Jersey Narrows the State’s Expungement Statute”
Supreme Court of N.J. Issues Two Significant Search and Seizure Opinions
Partner Eric R. Breslin, in Newark, discusses the uptick in the Fourth Amendment search and seizure and ancillary privacy litigation in the last few years in the New Jersey courts. In just April and May 2015, the state Supreme Court issued two significant opinions that would impact both the Fourth Amendment and proper admission into evidence of monitored telephone calls from State of New Jersey v. Ricky Wright and State of New Jersey v. Kingkamau Nantambu. Even through a quick look at the court’s docket for the upcoming term has shown even more decisions coming.
To read the full text of the article, please visit the Duane Morris website.