Call me sentimental, but I kinda miss the days when ACC tournament Friday meant the working world nearly grinding to a halt. These days, it hardly skips a beat. The press of interesting criminal law news certainly hasn't slowed down. Some recent stories of interest include: 1. The News and Observer reports that two former FBI agents will review the work of the SBI lab, which has been called into question in the aftermath of the Greg Taylor case. 2. As always, the death penalty is in the news. As noted here, Washington has followed Ohio in adopting a one-drug execution protocol, rather than the three-drug method used elsewhere. Ohio made news by preventing an inmate suicide, when the inmate was scheduled for execution the next day. (Hat tip: Sentencing Law and Policy.) And Crime and Consequences suggests that the Republican political ascendancy is bringing with it increased legislative interest in expanding the death penalty. 3. Inmate Victor Martin and the ACLU just settled their lawsuit against the Department of Correction, which had prohibited Martin from writing novels his lawyers describe as "urban fiction." According to the News and Observer, the state "paid $10,000 in damages and attorneys' fees and overturned 10 writing-related disciplinary infractions against Martin," and agreed to let inmates write and publish in the future. As an aside, I once represented a fellow who was a big fan of Martin's work. I checked one of his books out on Amazon; apparently, the book chronicles the adventures of a [...]
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