Constitutional Laws » Supreme Court http://www.jordan-parliament.org Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:45:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Paying Misdemeanor Fines http://www.jordan-parliament.org/paying-misdemeanor-fines http://www.jordan-parliament.org/paying-misdemeanor-fines#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:20:42 +0000 Admin http://www.jordan-parliament.org/?p=257 If a fine or cost is assessed in your Municipal Court case, that amount is due when it is assessed. If you sign a Note and then fail to pay that Note on time, a pay or serve warrant may be issued.

Many cases are scheduled at the same time for arraignment court.  A misdemeanor offense may seem minor in comparison to other criminal charges. Many people are able to pay fines and all these other assessments. Public defenders and assigned counsel represent most defendants, whose ability to pay these fees is largely illusory.

Penal Law § 60.35(5)(a). A Fine is a way to dispose of your case by paying money. The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibits the imposition of excessive fines, but the Supreme Court has never found that any statutory fine violated that provision.

]]> http://www.jordan-parliament.org/paying-misdemeanor-fines/feed 0 Some Bizarre Death Penalty Laws http://www.jordan-parliament.org/some-bizarre-death-penalty-laws http://www.jordan-parliament.org/some-bizarre-death-penalty-laws#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:17:07 +0000 Admin http://www.jordan-parliament.org/some-bizarre-death-penalty-laws Recently I had a Federal judge reject my attempts to keep a client on death row from being executed. I was appointed to represent the defendant after he had lost his trial; lost his appeal in state court; and lost his attempt to convince the trial judge to find his case constitutionally flawed pursuant to a “writ of habeas corpus.” I was appointed, as Federal law provides, to represent him in relation to his final “appeals” to Federal court.

After I was appointed to represent him I asked the judge to let me have investigators and the funds to thoroughly review his case. Eventually the court agreed to let me do this. The evidence of guilt was overwhelming but the investigation revealed that the trial attorneys had failed to put on hardly any evidence in the phase of the trial in which the jury is supposed to hear all the evidence relevant to the question of whether he should live or die. The Supreme Court has made it increasingly clear over the years that it is unconstitutional in this day and age to execute someone unless the jury is provided a complete overview of the defendant’s life. The good, the bad and the ugly. Yet this clearly did not happen in this case. Easy answer right? Just retry the defendant on the question of whether he should be executed. Wrong!

The problem is I did not find out all of this information until it is too late. The law provides that if an allegation is made that the trial lawyers failed to do something it has to be raised in the first state writ of habeas corpus. If it wasn’t raised then it may never be considered again. Why wasn’t the evidence presented in the first state writ of habeas corpus? The defendant had a lawyer didn’t he? Yes, but one that worse than having no lawyer at all. The trial court appointed a lawyer who had just graduated from law school and had no experience in death penalty litigation. It appears she simply had no idea what she was supposed to do because she raised no meaningful issues in the state writ of habeas corpus. Well, in that case the courts should just allow the defendant another chance to file a state writ of habeas corpus right? Wrong again. The courts are afraid that if the failures or inadequacies of state habeas counsel could result in “do overs” the death penalties appeals really would never come to an end. So if state habeas counsel drops the ball, to bad, so sad,” for the defendant.

Consider the upshot of all this for a moment. The defendant is guilty. As a practical matter the only question is whether he should spend the rest of his life in prison or be executed. The Supreme Court says no automatic death penalty. The jury must here all relevant evidence about the defendant before it can make such a momentous decision. The court appoints the defendant a lawyer who fails to put even a fraction of all the relevant evidence before the jury. The first appeals lawyer can’t do anything about it, even if he knew about it, because the law says in the first appeal the lawyer can only talk about things that were before the court at trial and the whole point is the trial lawyer did not place any of this information before the court. The court then appoints an inexperienced lawyer who has no idea what she is supposed to do to prepare and file a state habeas petition. She does no investigation and thus makes no mention of the failure of the first attorneys to present any of this evidence. Then the courts appoint the defendant a new attorney and tell that attorney that he is limited to carrying forward the frivolous claims of the first habeas attorney. When he informs the court of all the important evidence the jury never heard, the court then responds, “the defendant failed to raise these issues in the first habeas corpus and thus cannot raise them now.” Really? The nearly retarded defendant with a fourth grade education on death row? He didn’t do anything but sit in his cell. The courts initially failed to appoint competent attorneys for the defendant. The attorneys that the court assigned to the defendant failed him and the public, who would like to believe that before people are executed, the jury that imposed the death sentence was making an informed decision. In reality, the courts are far more responsible for the failure of this evidence to presented to the jury than the defendant himself. In fairness to the judges the law provides for this “Catch 22,” but sometimes the law promotes more injustice than justice.




By: Broden & Mickelsen

]]> http://www.jordan-parliament.org/some-bizarre-death-penalty-laws/feed 0 Distance Learning Law Degree http://www.jordan-parliament.org/distance-learning-law-degree http://www.jordan-parliament.org/distance-learning-law-degree#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:45:19 +0000 Admin http://www.jordan-parliament.org/distance-learning-law-degree Distance Learning Law Degree

There are many different branches of law, so there are various legal careers dealing with different aspects of the law. Potential legal career could include being lawyers or attorneys to becoming police officers, court staff, legal support and administrative staff in private law firms or public administration. Therefore getting a distance learning law degree will open a up a wide range of career opportunities in the legal industry.

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As societies progress, the legal systems and laws will become much more complex and intricate. Competition for careers within the legal industry will also be very competitive. That is why it is crucial for those looking to enter into the legal profession or those looking to improve their career prospects in the legal industry to make sure that they have the knowledge, legal skills and qualifications to improve their chances of getting a successful career in the legal industry.

It used to be rather cumbersome and tedious to get a law degree since you have to sacrifice several years of your life to study at a law college or university full time. Now with many colleges and universities offering distance learning law degrees, it is much easier to graduate with one. This is especially so for those with an existing career or family commitments. They can now study online at their own time and at home or wherever they are to get their law degree and to secure a career or improve their career prospects in the legal field.

There is a wide range of choices when it comes to finding the ideal online law degree program to join. You can choose distance learning law degrees ranging from paralegal, legal administration to criminal justice, law enforcement, correction officer, constitutional law and administrative law. You can find a degree which you are interested in for the legal career that you wish to pursue.

Depending on the branch of law you wish to pursue a career in, you may need existing skills or qualification, and this is something you should look into before you apply for a distance learning program

Here are some of the universities and colleges that offer online law degree programs. They are the University Of Phoenix Online, Concord Law School, Strayer University Online, Capella University Online, DeVry University and South University Online.

Research them out before you make any application. If possible, ask the universities for some referrals so that you can communicate with some of the present and past distance learning students during your due diligence in choosing a good law school offering distance learning law degrees.

Watch the video related to constitutional law

Professor Ivan Bodensteiner of the Valparaiso University School of Law shares his thoughts on Constitutional Law, the Supreme Court and related issues.

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Constitutional law?
Like my other question, I need a one sentence definition for this term. Wikipedia doesn't make it very clear what they mean.

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