Shame that @ACLU supports the violation of sexual privacy for profit or entertainment https://t.co/VBZ0aounKn@EndRevengePorn@cagoldberglaw — Mary Anne Franks (@ma_franks) January 26, 2015 A wise man recently said, "If you publicly oppose criminalization of anything, zealots of criminalization will accuse you of favoring that thing." The argument is either ignorant or dishonest. Franks doesn't get to plead ignorance here. She knows the argument is dishonest and she makes

The ACLU sued on behalf of several bookstores and publishing associations, the owner of the Village Voice and 12 other alternative newsweeklies nationwide, and the National Press Photographers Association. The groups sent Mesnard and legislative leaders a letter early this month suggesting changes to the law to address its concerns that the law was overly broad. … … "In our view, we're just trying to ask them

A couple of years ago I wrote a post about the prevalence of judges coaching prosecutors: In short, the judiciary acting as an adjunct to the prosecution shouldn’t surprise anyone. Elected judges identify with the state. There are very few who will decide close calls for the defense. There are many more who will bend over backwards to make sure the state wins. What Coker did with

I don’t think I’d heard of Brad Spangler before today, when this popped up in my feed reader: The following message was posted on Facebook, allegedly from Brad Spangler, and I find it difficult to believe. If someone out there is trying to malign him or malign libertarianism through him, then it is a viciously sick joke. I’m suspending judgment until more is known, and I hope

"Let me state boldly; I am against sexual assault. But…" "I am against revenge porn. But…" "I am not a supporter of crime or criminals.…" Of course you are against all the bad things. So you don't need to say it. Please don't. I understand the impulse: if you publicly oppose uncritically believing people who make rape accusations, you will be accused by small-minded people of favoring

The question comes up time and again: should lawyers portray the legal system as some wish it were, or as it really is? Those who think we should portray the legal system as they wish it were—an accurate instrument for finding the truth, with rules that work and players who are above reproach as long as they follow those rules—are deceivers. Their deception has a purpose, perhaps—to

When four felony prosecutors quit or are fired from the Harris County DA's Office in a week, I try to tease out the pattern, or the message that is being sent. #3 in the 182nd. Chief in Court 4. Assistant in Forfeiture Division. Chief in the 176th. What do these four lawyers (there may be more that I haven't heard of) have in common? What message does

If law is the operating system for society, then good lawyers are hackers. In the criminal justice system, there are white-hat hackers and black-hat hackers; which are which depends on your point of view. If you favor safety over freedom, prosecutors wear white hats and people like me wear black. If you prefer freedom to safety, it's the other way around. Whichever way it is, there are

Here's the meat of Illinois's new revenge-porn criminalization statute: 720 ILCS 5/11-46 Sexual exploitation via non-consensual dissemination of a sexual act or intimate parts. (b) A person commits sexual exploitation via non-consensual dissemination of a sexual act or intimate parts when he or she: (1) intentionally disseminates an image of another identifiable person who is engaged in a sexual act or whose intimate parts are exposed; and

Sarah "Bennett's Brain Emeritus" Wood of the Harris County PD's Office is the queen of all things mentorly. After the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association had tried for years to create a functioning mentorship program it was Sarah who created the Second-Chair Program, which has been cranking out better-trained criminal-defense lawyers for at least six years. Sarah also runs the PD's internship program and the Future Appointed