This week in California, the hot topic in the legal industry is whether a prosecutor’s consulting with the makers of a major motion picture “Alpha Dog” based on a criminal defendant’s story creates a conflict sufficient to require recusal. Gina Rubel published her two cents on this topic on The Legal Intelligencer’s Blog.
Details about the court case can be found in Dan Slater’s article Are Books and Movies the Right Venue for Prosecutors’ Cases? of the Wall Street Journal. Slater writes that matters such as this continue the “age-old debate over whether it’s proper for prosecutors to try their cases in the news media.”
Adam Liptak of the New York Times also writes on the case in his recent article, When Literary and Prosecutorial License Collide. He writes about the Hollywood case and a second decision this week where Santa Barbara prosecutor Joyce Dudley published a novel with similarities to a rape case that she was trying. The appeals court also disqualified Dudley, but the decision of the same Supreme Court reversed that.
As Gina said in her blog for The Legal Intelligencer, “I believe that as long as we abide by the guidelines set forth in the various rules of professional responsibility and attorneys conduct strategic and solid voir dire, then the public has a right to know. In this case, Hollywood was a fugitive. Telling his story in a movie is no different than telling it on ‘America’s Most Wanted.’ In fact, the movie may have helped lead to his capture.”
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Filmmaking, Novel Writing and Pretrial Publicity Redemption
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Court Decision Perpetuates Fodder in Mumia Case
Today, a Federal Court overtured the death penalty in the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. To this, I certainly have something to say since I was Judge Sabo's law clerk in the mid-90's when we heard the PCRA matters. I published my two cents on The Legal Intelligencer's Blog at http://thelegalintelligencer.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/court-decision-perpetuates-fodder-in-mumia-case/.
Details about the Court's ruling can be found in Shannon Duffy's article, Abu-Jamal’s Death Sentence Overturned, But Conviction Upheld.
As I said in my blog for The Legal Intelligencer, this decision just gives rise to plenty of fodder for the media, continues to keep the case alive and perpetuates the injustice to the Faulkner family.
Here is some of the coverage today......
Court orders new death-penalty hearing for Abu-Jamal; murder ...USA Today - 59 minutes agoA federal appeals court has ruled that black activist Mumia Abu-Jamal cannot be executed for murdering a Philadelphia police officer in 1981 without a new ...
US court overturns death sentenceBBC News, UK - 2 hours agoA US federal appeals court has overturned the death sentence imposed on former Black Panthers member Mumia Abu-Jamal. The court said Abu-Jamal's conviction ...
US court orders new hearing for death row campaignerAFP - 4 hours agoWASHINGTON (AFP) — A US federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction against Mumia Abu-Jamal, but ruled the death-row campaigner cannot be ...
US court says Mumia death sentence may be reviewedInternational Herald Tribune, France - 7 hours agoPHILADELPHIA: A US federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal for killing a white policeman in 1981 ...
Court: Mumia Deserves New HearingThe Associated Press - 7 hours agoPHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday said former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal cannot be executed for murdering a Philadelphia police ...
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! Emergency protest March 28Bay Area Indymedia, CA - 57 minutes agoby Partisan Defense Committee ( pdcbayarea [at] sbcglobal.net ) On March 27, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision upholding Mumia ...
New Hearing On Sentence But Not Murder Conviction For Death Row InmateAHN - 1 hour agoWashington, DC (AHN) - The Third Circuit US Court of Appeals on Thursday refused to reinstate the death sentence of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal in the ...
Mumia Abu-Jamal to Be Re-Sentenced, Date Not Yet ScheduledBay Area Indymedia, CA - 1 hour agoThe Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The court has called for a sentencing hearing that would result in ...
Abu-Jamal conviction upheldphillyBurbs.com, PA - 1 hour agoFormer Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal can’t be executed for murdering a Philadelphia police officer without a new penalty hearing. The murder conviction was ...
BREAKING! Court rules against new trial for Mumia! SF Actions Friday!Bay Area Indymedia, CA - 2 hours agoby SF Mobiliation to Free Mumia LOCAL PROTESTS SET FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 28 FOLLOWED BY NATIONAL PROTEST APRIL 19 (SAN FRANCISCO) AND APRIL 26 (PHILADELPHIA). ...
RIGHTS-US: Court Rules No Death Row for Mumia Abu JamalIPS, Italy - 2 hours agoBy Adrianne Appel BOSTON, Mar 27 (IPS) - A federal court has ruled that Mumia Abu Jamal, known the world over in the fight against the death penalty, ...
Court: Mumia deserves new hearingWLOS, NC - 3 hours agoPHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Prosecutors in Philadelphia are reviewing a federal appeals court ruling that orders a new sentencing hearing for a former Black ...
He Still Shot the SheriffReason Online, CA - 3 hours agoRemember Mumia Abu-Jamal, the cop-killing NPR contributor who rallied legions of campus radicals during the 1990s to protest his innocence? ...
Death sentence lifted for time being against Black PantherMonsters and Critics.com - 3 hours agoWashington - A federal appeals court Thursday upheld a lower court decision to suspend the death sentence against Black Panther member Mumia Abu-Jamal. ...
Cop's Widow Reacts to Third Circuit Court of Appeals Granting ...SunHerald.com, MS - 3 hours agoBy The Lyons Press "Today, after 26 years of waiting, my family and I can finally say that Mumia Abu-Jamal is officially a 'murderer. ...
Federal appeals court backs new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-JamalJURIST - 4 hours ago[JURIST] Journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal [advocacy website; Philadelphia Inquirer archive], convicted in 1982 of killing Philadelphia ...
No death for Mumia Abu-Jamal — at least for nowPhiladelphia Inquirer, PA - 5 hours agoBy Emilie Lounsberry In a major victory for world-famous death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, a federal appeals court today refused to reinstate his death ...
US court overturns rights campaigner's death penaltyRaw Story, MA - 5 hours agoA US federal appeals court on Thursday overturned the death sentence passed against human rights campaigner Mumia Abu-Jamal, while upholding his conviction ...
Court: Mumia deserves new hearingKGAN, IA - 7 hours agoPHILADELPHIA (AP) -- It's up to prosecutors now to decide whether to seek another death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal . The former Black Panther has been on ...
No death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal without new hearingCNN - 1 hour agoBy Bill Mears WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, sentenced to death for gunning down a Philadelphia police officer 27 years ago, ...
Court says famed death-row inmate deserves new penalty hearingInternational Herald Tribune, France - 7 hours agoAP PHILADELPHIA: A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of former Black Panther and celebrity death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, ...
National DigestAnnapolis Capital, MD - 3 hours agoPHILADELPHIA - A federal appeals court has ordered a new penalty hearing for celebrity death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals ...
News Minute: Curfew in Baghdad...Economic report...TI's guilty pleaLocalNews8.com, ID - 1 hour agoPHILADELPHIA (AP) - Prosecutors say they are weighing their options now that a federal appeals court has ruled that former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal ...
Cop's Widow Reacts to Third Circuit Court of Appeals Granting ...SunHerald.com, MS - 3 hours agoBy The Lyons Press "Today, after 26 years of waiting, my family and I can finally say that Mumia Abu-Jamal is officially a 'murderer. ...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Governor Spitzer's Indiscretions
In today's Legal Intelligencer blog, I wrote about "Legal Strategy versus Media Management: When a Governor Faces Federal Charges." I comment on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's public address regarding the his alleged patronage of a prostitution ring, the Emperors Club VIP. I ask, "Which takes priority, the legal strategy or the media management?" For my opinion, you'll have to to click on one of the two links above.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The Lawyer, The Judge and The Ascot
Today, in my blog for The Legal Intelligencer, I wrote about a Lawyer Reprimanded for Fashion Choice where a Milwaukee County courthouse, state prosecutor Warren Zier was reprimanded by Judge William Sosnay for wearing an ascot to court. His rebuke has garnered media attention from the Wall Street Journal to the Chicago Sun-Times -- which I'm sure was not his intention when he tied his ascot that morning.
To read the full post at The Legal Intelligencer Blog - go to http://thelegalintelligencer.wordpress.com.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Legal Intelligencer: Gina Rubel Contributes to Blog
I recently began contributing to The Legal Intelligencer online. I'm blogging on Lawyers and the Media . My most recent post addresses when the media receives an unintended email and media policies.
While you're there, check out my post in memory of Judge Cipriani.
