The War on Rights
Well, I’m sure you noticed that this place you’ve arrived at is known as “Fresno Criminal Defense.” So I’m also sure you’re not expecting me to write about the War in Iraq, or Afghanistan, nor will I — as I did yesterday — have anything to say about the Mexican-American War, although actually all those countries have some kind of tie-in with the War about which I will write: a War we are losing in every possible way.
A War, in fact, which we cannot win. Because to win, you see, we’d have to be something other than what we are…
A Modern Professional Police Force
Four years ago, Justice Scalia of the United States Supreme Court laughingly suggested that “the increasing professionalism of police forces” meant that the deterrent effect of the Exclusionary Rule the courts had previously applied to violations of constitutional rights, particularly the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, was not really necessary anymore. (See Hudson v. Michigan (2006) 547 U.S. 586; ignore the fact that Scalia had to twist the source he relied upon to arrive at his conclusion.)
“[M]odern police forces are staffed with professionals,” Scalia said.
If Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer gets his way, well, if this ever was true — and I seriously doubt it ever was — it certainly will not be going forward.
Time to Fight Back?
Today’s newspaper brings the inane story of attorney Rick Berman being threatened with criminal charges for attempting to get into a courthouse without removing his watch.
Clowning Around With Justice
Originally, the working title for this post was “Institutionalizing Bigotry, Prejudice & Tolerance.” For years, I’ve thought about the connection between bigotry, prejudice, tolerance and about how they evolved. The ability to categorize things — friends, enemies, food, danger, among others — is not important just for people. It’s important to the survival of just about any living thing on the planet. The problem is that the same neurological processes that make this work are also behind bigotry, prejudice and tolerance. It takes a higher order of evolution to get past interacting with the world based solely on the instinct to lump everyone you meet into the same small set of categories and then respond as if your twisted picture of the world is absolutely accurate.
Which is apparently why many law enforcement officers have so much difficulty with distinguishing between people they just don’t like or understand, and criminals.
The Very Definition of a Police State
Yesterday afternoon, I stood in the backyard at the home of friends, waiting. The day before, my friends were married in that backyard; yesterday the reception was held there. People were arriving; the reception was just getting underway.
The beginning noises of the reception were drowned out by the buzz of a small airborne black-and-white vehicle. I watched as the helicopter appeared to be repeatedly circling the yard in which I was standing. I could just read a few of the words on the tail. One stood out in capitals: “POLICE.”
Shooting Holes in the U.S. Constitution
Mary was angry as she waited in line at the grocery store in the rain. Ahead, she could see the cause of the delay: some stupid older dude with long gray hair, struggling to empty his pockets into the bowl before going through the metal detector.
Where did he find jeans with pockets in the first place?!
Who is the King?: Sowing the Seeds of Disrespect for the Law
Break a law that you did not know existed. It doesn’t matter how vaguely worded that law is. If a police officer wants to arrest you for it and if a Deputy District Attorney decides she wants to prosecute you for it, you will be prosecuted. You will, unfortunately, almost certainly lose: you’ll either realize that you’re going to lose and take an offer, or you’ll be convicted. Even if somehow, some way you win, you will lose, because you will have paid an attorney, or posted bail, or — in the event you were too poor to hire an attorney and the offense did not require you to post bail — you will have lost time, effort and sleep over the case.
Unless you’re a police officer.
Submitizens II
Nicole Black’s recent article in The Daily Record may help snap me out of the funk I’ve been in since the day I wrote Submitizens.
The funk started not so much because of the rules implemented by the court — the day California courts honor the United States Constitution will be a surprising day indeed! — but rather because of the reaction of other defense attorneys to my opinions regarding the newly-implemented rules.