Tag: Brock Turner

From judge to social media pariah to JV tennis coach to fired.

This is certainly a new defense for rape.

Striking back against a judge for going too soft on a defendant will only hurt more people in the end.

* “It was a mistake. I swear to God,” remarks Giuliani outlining the excuse for conflicting testimony that works like a charm for every other criminal defendant. [CNN]

* Law professors point out that Trump’s lawyers are bad at their jobs, which isn’t news but will somehow dominate the news cycle and still not sway anyone who isn’t already on board with these facts. [Politico]

* Judge Aaron Perksy — who sentenced rapist Brock Turner to a mere six months — may get recalled today. So it’s a good time to remind everyone of this older post laying out exactly how dangerous and misguided this is. Persky may deserve to lose his job in due course… but embracing the recall mechanism for judges who hand down lenient sentences is a one-way road to needless mass incarceration, usually with a heavy dose of racial bias. [Slate]

* Liverpool player injured in nasty tackle has achieved immortality as the subject of a law school exam question. [BBC]

* The NFL may have a new problem with its disastrous anthem policy — it violates multiple state constitutions… in states with perennial playoff teams too. [Slate]

* Despite the death of the prime suspect, Arizona law firms went ahead and beefed up security in the wake of the recent paralegal murders. [AZ Central]

* The GOP tax bill accidentally put a tax on victims of sexual abuse because that’s what happens when you railroad a bill through both chambers in the middle of the night with a bunch of hand-written amendments in the margins. [Bloomberg]

* Sex workers are taking action against SESTA/FOSTA, the ill-conceived anti-human trafficking law that really just puts legitimate sex workers in danger — almost like that was the politicians’ plan all along. [Gizmodo]

* Grumpy cat should be a little less grumpy after winning $710,000 in a licensing case. [Courthouse News Service]

* Remember that judge who gave a Stanford swimmer 6 months for a rape conviction? Yeah, he’s poised to get kicked off the bench. [NY Daily News]

* Can you get a DUI in an autonomous vehicle? A lot of people aren’t familiar with State of Oregon v. The Autobots. [Versus Texas]

* Ty Cobb is a lot less eager to meet with Mueller under oath than his client. [New York]

* Apparently “AI” is now a verb. That’s… awful. [Legal Week]

* Your summer associate lunch plans have taken a hit — Le Bernardin sued over everything from shortchanging employees to sexual harassment. [Le Bernadin]

* Your work email is probably in the Dark Web. It’s also probably on your firm website, but that doesn’t sound as menacing. [National Law Journal]

* New York will only do business with ISPs that adhere to net neutrality in a move that many states are expected to copy. I’m sure the states rights-loving politicians who worked tirelessly to kill neutrality will hail this as a triumph of federalism. [New York Law Journal]

* This weekend was full of huge news in Trumpland. Following Michael Flynn’s guilty plea, President Trump tweeted that he fired Flynn because he lied to the FBI. If you recall, Trump originally said that he’d fired Flynn because his former NSA adviser had lied to Vice President Pence. [New York Times]

* Here’s why Trump’s shift is pretty important, according to Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller: “Oh my god, he just admitted to obstruction of justice. If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI when he asked Comey to let it go, then there is your case.” [The Hill]

* Slow your roll, prosecutors. President Trump is now saying that he never asked former FBI director James Comey to stop investigating Flynn, even though Comey testified to that version of events before Congress. Per Trump, it’s “[j]ust more Fake News covering another Comey lie!” [CBS News]

* But wait, there’s even more! It seems that President Trump wasn’t the author of that tweet. Apparently it was written by one of his lawyers, John Dowd, who now says it was “[his] mistake” as he’s “out of the tweeting business” and “did not mean to break news.” [Washington Post; Axios]

* Finally, in case you missed it, the Senate passed its version of the tax bill in the dead of night as it was still being written, with a 20 percent tax rate for corporations. Now, President Trump — the client who will never be satisfied — says that rate might go up to 22 percent. [CNBC]

* Last, but not least, President Trump has endorsed accused child-toucher Roy Moore via tweet (obviously) for the Republican Senate seat that was left open by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. This has reached a whole new level of ridiculousness. [CNN]

* In other news, CVS is planning to buy Aetna for $69 billion. We’ve not yet seen which law firms are representing the companies on the deal, but this is a move that could seriously change the way our health care system looks. (And as an aside, it could seriously change the way your EOBs look, since CVS is a fan of those absurdly long receipts.) [DealBook / New York Times]

* Brock Turner, the former Stanford swimmer who served just three months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, is now appealing, claiming that his trial was “fundamentally unfair.” Most would counter that raping an unconscious woman in the street is what’s really “fundamentally unfair,” but that’s neither here nor there. [NBC News]

* While Harvey continues to devastate Houston, Texas Republicans will strip insurance policy holders of most of their protections if they don’t file their claims by Friday. Victims will still have insurance — but if the insurance company delays or otherwise frustrates payouts — which some inevitably will — claims filed after Friday won’t enjoy the same interest penalties to keep insurers honest and will shift attorney fees onto those who lost their homes in many cases, decreasing the likelihood a wronged policyholder can vindicate their rights. So… good job Texas. [Dallas Morning News]

* If you’re looking to put a price tag on Charlotte Law’s demise, this former faculty member says the school defrauded taxpayers to the tune of $285 million. [Charlotte Observer]

* What’s this? Is this a media outlet talking about millennials and the workplace in a fair, even positive light? Preposterous!!! [American Lawyer]

* Apparently “yadda, yadda, yadda” doesn’t get you out of a CFPB investigation. [National Law Journal]

* The effort to recall the Brock Turner rape sentencing judge is back on track. [Law.com]

* Victims of Trump’s Muslim Ban may be nearing a settlement with the administration. At least until some white supremacist group Tweets this story to the President and he demands the DOJ pull out of any deals. [Law360]

* Which 2016 SCOTUS opinions are getting the most love from lower courts? [Empirical SCOTUS]

* Why would liberal states “remain [] member[s] of this union when the president is a raving narcissist that some describe as a sociopath?” Some law professors are having a difficult time imagining Donald Trump as president, and have said that things like secessions or coups could become real possibilities under Trump’s leadership if he should win the election. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Biglaw firms in the U.S. have made great strides when it comes to parental leave, but across the pond in the U.K., they don’t seem to be doing as well; in fact, these firms seem to be “hemorrhaging female talent,” and it’s “crippling” law firm diversity and career progression for lawyers with children and families. [The Lawyer (sub. req.)]

* Speaking of the U.K., its High Court has ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May must seek parliamentary approval before attempting to leave the European Union, writing “the Crown — i.e. the government of the day — cannot by exercise of prerogative powers override legislation enacted by Parliament.” Sorry, Brexit bros. [New York Times]

* “[A] well-intentioned majority acting in the name of tolerance and liberalism, can, if unchecked, impose its views on the minority in a manner that is in fact intolerant and illiberal.” Trinity Western University has won the right to operate a Christian law school, despite the fact that it intends to discriminate against LGBTQ students. [Globe and Mail]

* “They changed the legislative nature of the judicial system, they changed the American constitution, they paved the way for a lot of people’s lives.” Loving, the film that tells the tale of Richard and Mildred Loving’s landmark Supreme Court victory that struck down legislation prohibiting interracial marriage, is out in theaters this Friday. [Reuters]

* Glamour has named Emily Doe, the college student who survived Stanford swimmer Brock Turner’s sexual assault and helped to change a California law that once allowed for lighter sentences in sexual assault cases where victims were unconscious or intoxicated, as one of the magazine’s Women of the Year for 2016. Congratulations. [Glamour]

* The New York Times has obtained Donald Trump’s tax records from 1995, revealing a nearly $916 million loss that would have enabled him to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period. Marc Kasowitz, name partner of Kasowitz Benson, represents Trump, and has threatened the paper with “prompt initiation of appropriate legal action” for its publication of his client’s tax records. [New York Times]

* George Mason University will host a grand opening ceremony this week for the twice renamed Antonin Scalia School of Law Antonin Scalia Law School — a ceremony that five SCOTUS justices will reportedly attend — and some students and faculty are planning to protest the Koch brothers’ funding of scholarships by wearing red tape over their mouths to symbolize their voices being taken from them. [Big Law Business]

* Katherine Magbanua, the woman who is suspected of connecting Florida State University law professor Dan Markel’s alleged killers, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, with the family of Markel’s ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, has been arrested on murder charges. According to police, she has “received numerous benefits from the Adelsons since Markel’s murder.” We’ll have more on this later today. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* According to Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida, Orlando-based firm Butler & Hosch violated the WARN Act when it closed suddenly in May 2015 and conducted mass layoffs of more than 700 employees without giving them 60 days of advance notice. The firm, which is bankruptcy, could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages. We may have more on this later today. [Orlando Sentinel]

* Following the embarrassment that was former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner’s light sentence in the sexual assault of an unconscious woman at his school, California Gov. Jerry Brown has broadened the state’s legal definition of rape to include penetration with a foreign object, mandate prison time if the victim was unconscious at the time of the assault, and forbid judges from granting probation or parole in such cases. [Reuters]

* “Frankly, USD has been a bit behind in that, in part, up until 2014, we had no problem with the bar exam. When you’re hitting in the high 80s or 90s, you don’t worry about much.” Unofficial results from the South Dakota bar exam are out, and after years of declines in passage rates for graduates of South Dakota Law, administrators are ready to take action now that only about 50 percent of graduates passed the test. [Argus Leader]

* “I was empty and then this woman walked into my life. I didn’t think it would happen again and it did. She is it.” LGBT rights pioneer Edie Windsor, the plaintiff whose Supreme Court case rendered DOMA unconstitutional in 2013 and laid the groundwork for the high court to declare that marriage equality was a fundamental right just two years later, remarried in New York last week. Our very best wishes! [New York Times]

* New Mexico is totally cool with putting a bunch of restrictions on judges using social media. [New Mexico Appellate Law Blog]

* In the merger between LinkedIn and Microsoft, Wilson Sonsini (LinkedIn’s counsel) left their fingerprints all over the agreement. [Big Law Business]

* If the legislative body you’re a part of refuses to get down to business, I guess this is what you have to do. Rep. John Lewis is leading a sit-in on the House floor to force a vote on gun control. [Slate]

* Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Network might be held liable for someone pretending to be a lawyer. [Legal Profession Blog]

* Polygamous Mormon sect leader Lyle Jeffs is on the run, after being put on house arrest as he awaited trial for food-stamp fraud and money laundering. According to his half-brother, “Blame the judge for this. Everybody knew that he was going to do this. Everybody.” [Jezebel]

* Proposed law to stop the ‘Brock Turner Problem.’ [Huffington Post]

* ATL columnist Jeena Cho is featured in ALM’s “STEM Cells” series. [CodeX]

The severity of Brock Turner's sentence depends on just how much you take into account.

Judges should not be stripped of sentencing discretion or recalled because of one sentence out of whack with what many view is fair.

* Justice Thomas calls a woman a "venireman." First of all, say what you will about PC language policing of generic terms, but when "juror" is available, you consciously chose to be a sexist. Plus, the proper term is veniretrix. [Clear Writing] * The pay raises on this of the Atlantic are helping our legal brethren on the other side too. [Legal Cheek] * Best. Press release. Ever. Nicely played, Nancy Pelosi. [Wonkette] * These are the law firms that GCs actually recommend to their friends. [Law360] * Read Joe Biden's moving letter to the survivor of the Stanford rape. [Buzzfeed]

A former sex-crimes prosecutor shares her views on the case of Brock Turner, the former Stanford student convicted of rape.

Criminal defense lawyers should keep the power of social media in the back of their mind.