Updated introduction. I'm a criminal defense lawyer from Salem and Boston, Massachusetts. I’ve argued cases from small local courts to SCOTUS. I post about criminal law, prisons, policing, climate change, and my dog.

Vegan since 1989. Drive an EV (a Bolt). Grew up a punk and metal kid, but listen widely esp funk and hip hop.

I try to boost Indigenous voices, not talk over them.

#Introduction #CriminalLaw #SalemMA #mapoli #prisons, #bail #appellateMastodon #appeals #vegan #punk #metal

The MA SJC issued an important opinion yesterday in Commonwealth v. Dew. A defense lawyer repeatedly posted racist and Islamophobic comments on Facebook, including from the courthouse and including comments about his clients. The Court held that this was an actual conflict of interest. Where there is an actual conflict of interest, the defendant need not show how it specifically affected his case.

[And as to that attorney, good riddance.]

#AppellateMastodon #law

https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2023/06/15/e13356.pdf

This is the kind of scholarship that I'm here for. The authors take the long-settled criminal legal concepts of felony murder and accomplice liability and expose them for what they are: racist in application and in conception. Quote follows. /1

#FelonyMurder #Criminology #AppellateMastodon @law

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4411658

March's appellate-jurisdiction roundup is up. It features a court's skipping appellate-jurisdiction issues to address subject-matter jurisdiction, party status for discovery appeals, appealing §1447(e) remands, and much more.
#AppellateMastodon #AppellateTwitter

https://finaldecisions.org/the-month-in-federal-appellate-jurisdiction-march-2023