Law Offices of Michael L. Becker

https://www.latimes.com//trump-ignores-calls-for-police-re

https://medium.com//betsy-devos-is-ack-kinda-sorta-right-a

SCOTUS requires unanimous jury verdicts to convict Most would find it shocking to learn that it took until today to require a jury be unanimous in order to convict in a criminal trial. Up to now, Oregon allowed jurors to convict on a 10-2 or greater vote, while Louisiana until recently allowed convictions on an 11-1 vote (Louisiana independently changed their law in 2019). In Ramos v. Louisiana, the High Court made clear that unanimity is required for conviction in all courts..., state and federal. In doing so, they overturned precedent from 1970, which suggests reduced reliance on the principal of stare decisis (respect for previous rulings). Notably, the Oregon and Louisiana laws allowing for non-unanimous verdicts largely stemmed from Jim Crow, and were originally designed to keep black jurors from stymieing convictions as lone or tandem holdouts. See more

California's Judicial Council today adopted emergency measures in response to COVID 19 that will impact bail settings in misdemeanor and low-level felony cases, requiring bail to be set at $0.00. This will help to ensure that fewer people will be incarcerated pretrial during the pandemic. The Judicial Council also passed a rule that allows a defendant to appear remotely by choice, in some circumstances, but for now preserves the right of a defendant to be present in court for... adversarial proceedings. Courts will be permitted to continue matters for "good cause" if judges feel the safety of court personnel is at risk. Defense attorneys universally oppose the denial of their client's right to be present for proceedings, based on the constitutional right to confront one's accuser. The presence of the defendant in the courtroom is essential in order to allow counsel and client to meaningfully confer during proceedings which can ultimately determine whether an individual must face trial, have evidence suppressed, or have charges reduced or dismissed. See more

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