CrimProf Blog has a post noting an NPR story discussing Kennedy v. Louisiana which is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. NPR speaks to Ted Cruz, "the former Solicitor General of Texas, who also participated in Kennedy's Supreme Court appeal," and Judy Benitez, "the executive director of the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault."
Sentencing Law and Policy reports on a new Third Circuit decision, which "reaches some significant conclusions in a federal child porn prosecution." The Court upheld the conviction of the defendant for receiving child pornography, but found that "the double jeopardy clause barred convictions for both receiving and possessing the same images of child pornography, and the entry of guilty verdicts on both of these counts was plain error." The case is United States v. Miller, No. 06-5187 and you may read the opinion here.
Sentencing Law and Policy also notes two new CNN articles specifically dealing with sex offender issues. The first article deals with teens who e-mail naked photos of themselves or other, while the second article discusses the possible criminal charges awaiting members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Grits also continues with its excellent coverage of the FLDS case with this post about the allegations of sex offender involvement.
In the R. Kelly trial, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times will avoid testifying in the singer's child pornography trial as he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The reporter also asserted a First Amendment right and a "reporter's privilege," but the judge was not persuaded by those two arguments. The reporter, who gave the authorities the videotape at issue in the trial in 2002, will still have to provide his notes to the court. As for the trial itself, the prosecution has rested, and the defense is now beginning its presentation. EvidenceProf also has a post about the use of prior inconsistent statements in the case.
The Chicago Tribune has an article discussing a Wisconsin County sheriff who notes that monitoring the thousands of sex offenders in Wisconsin is "one of the most difficult jobs for law enforcement and the state Department of Corrections." The sheriff's comments were made in response to the arrest of a 40-year-old sex offender accused of sexually assaulting a 78-year-old woman last week.
Sorry, but in regards to the Sheriff in Wis., whining about tracking the sex offenders.. Guess what, you helped make the mess that is the registry, stop whining and eat that sandwich! We are the only group in America that continues to have our Civil Rights taken from us almost daily, we are lumped into a singular group. When we have completed our release requirements BY LAW, we are still governed by the same penalties that were placed upon us at sentencing! exposte facto has no meaning to us, nor to the people that create the new 'laws' that erode our inalienable rights. The Fourth Reich is finally here, and Congressional Powers abound!
Posted by: steve | June 16, 2008 at 02:55 PM