Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice made news in March when he was indicted for domestic violence/aggravated assault against his girlfriend, Janay Palmer, and married her a day later. Observers speculated that this was a legal maneuver to make the prosecution more difficult by allowing Ms. Palmer to invoke the marital privilege and refuse to testify against Mr. Rice.
If so,…
The near ubiquitous use of smartphones in the digital age has introduced a wealth of new evidence into many types of criminal cases. Law enforcement routinely subpoenas cell phone records to obtain call records that might substantiate contact between a suspect and a victim or co-conspirator, obtain text messages which can be used as admissions or provide helpful context to…
The Washington State Insitute for Public Policy (WSIPP) recently released its January 2013 report entitled “What Works to Reduce Recidivism of Domestic Violence Offenders.” http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/13-01-1201.pdf
The report examines the effectiveness of the “Duluth Model” of domestic violence treatment, after which Washington State domestic violence treatment programs are patterned. The “Duluth Model” intervention is based on a model developed in Duluth, Minnesota, in…
It is considered stock advice in the criminal defense trade that you should not, under any circumstances, talk to the police. The reason is simple: under the Rules of Evidence anything harmful you say can be used against you, but your out of court statements can’t be used to help you. This is because Evidence Rule 801(d)(2) allows an exception to the…
In January the Washington Supreme Court struck down a statute which changed the rules of evidence to allow “propensity evidence” in sex offense prosecutions. The Court ruled, inState v. Gresham, that the legislature’s tinkering with the rules of evidence violated the courts’ prerogative to define the Rules of Evidence and was therefore an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers…
The case of State v. Monday made front-page news in June when the Supreme Court reversed a murder conviction based on the misconduct of a King County prosecutor, Senior Deputy James Konat. http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Supreme-Court-throws-out-Seattle-murder-1417103.php. Most of the ruling’s focus was on racially charged arguments made by Mr. Konat. In addition to using the pronunciation “po-leese” when cross-examining African-American witnesses (Mr. Konat…