By Carlyn Kolker
Parallel strategies
3/23/12
A week ago, former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi was convicted
of perpetrating a bias crime and invading the privacy of his
roommate, Tyler Clementi, for setting up a webcam to record
Clementi in a sexual encounter. Clementi subsequently killed
himself.
Now Ravi, who remained silent in the courtroom and didn't
testify at his trial, is chatting it up with the media. He's
spoken to the Newark Star-Ledger and is going on the TV show
20/20. He is sharing quite a lot: Ravi told the Star-Ledger
that he didn't regret turning down a plea deal that wouldn't
have required him to serve time in prison. He has continued to
maintain his innocence and said that in setting up the webcam,
"I got caught up in what was funny, and my own ego."
In November, we wrote about the risky media strategy that
Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach accused of
sexually abusing children, showed when he called into a TV
interview with Bob Costas. Though Sandusky is still awaiting
trial and Ravi has already gone through his, there are still
parallels in the case. As The Record notes, Ravi is awaiting
sentencing, and his words could undermine his case for leniency.
Moreover, if his conviction is thrown out - his lawyers say
they'll appeal - any words could be used against him at a new
trial. A Rutgers professor calls the interviews "an act of
desperation."
A new leaf for Facebook?
3/23/12
Over the years, Facebook has gotten a lot of flack for
sharing user information with advertisers and even, law
enforcement. But even social networking giants can learn new
tricks, it appears. In response to reports that employers have
asked potential job applicants for their Facebook user name and
password, the company is considering stronger privacy controls,
according to a report from the blog Techcrunch. (The Associated
Press had a widely distributed story on the trend). Citing a
Facebook blog statement, Techcrunch says Facebook is considering
asking legislators to pass laws forbidding the practice, taking
legal action against users who intrude on others passwords, and
shutting down third-party applications that violate users'
privacy.
Reading SCOTUS tea leaves
3/23/12
With arguments in the Obama administration's health care
case , the word "barrage" might be apt to describe the kind of
coverage the press (yes, the dreaded news media) is giving the
upcoming arguments. And we have to admit that Summary Judgments
has piled on with (self-promotional drumroll, please) a piece
about two of the "orphan" arguments in the case and how they
found lawyers.
We can't possibly compile all the pixels and bits that have
been written about the health care case to date. But on the eve
of the Big Day (the arguments begin on Monday), we'd like to
turn your attention to a must-read piece about the optics of the
arguments. In "It's Not About the Law, Stupid," Dahlia Lithwick
at Slate argues that it's an "uncontroversial proposition" that
the healthcare law is constitutional. What's more, the
pre-gaming about how the court's moderate conservatives will
vote is just an exercise, she says. The court won't strike down
the law because "the current court is almost fanatically worried
about its legitimacy and declining public confidence in the
institution." But there are plenty of opportunities for the high
court to undo years of legal precedent when it comes to
abortion, voting rights and redistricting, she writes: "The real
action in Roberts' court has yet to come."
When worlds collide
3/23/12
When it comes to the celebrity world meeting the legal
world, it just doesn't get any better than this. In case you've
spent the past few years concentrating on your legal practice
instead of staying on top of what's really important in this
world, Lindsay Lohan is the movie star who has been accused of
so many infractions -- drugs, hit and run, alcohol, probation
violations -- CNN was able to put together a primer on the
subject. Now, Lohan's lawyer has been accused of bad behavior,
too - in this case, plagiarizing legal briefs written on Lohan's
behalf. Attorney Stephanie Ovadia is representing Lohan in a
"right of publicity" lawsuit against hip-hop artist Pit Bull,
accusing him of unfairly using her name in a song. Pit Bull's
lawyers say Ovadia plagiarized tidbits from the Los Angeles
Times, an art law blog and various law firm websites in her
briefs, according to Eriq Gardner at Hollywood Reporter, who
broke the news. Gardner couldn't reach Ovadia for comment, but
he asks some crucial questions: Could "Ovadia, by representing
Lohan, be putting her client in copyright jeopardy? Keep in mind
that Ovadia allegedly lifted work from lawyers, who are known to
be, um, litigious."
Prosecutors behaving badly
3/23/12
A former top narcotics prosecutor in Detroit has been barred
from lawyering for committing the kind of offense she would have
pursued: using false police testimony in a drug case. The
disbarred attorney, Karen Plants, pleaded guilty in March 2011
to using false testimony in a cocaine case to hide the identity
of an informant, the Detroit Free Press reports. But the
two-year suspension of her license was not severe enough for the
state's Attorney Grievance Commission, which sought and won the
stiffer penalty. An attorney for Plants declined to comment to
the Free Press.
Repealing the death penalty
3/23/12
How does a state get rid of the death penalty? That's the
issue Connecticut legislators have been debating for seven
years, without producing a definitive answer. One sticking point
has been whether any bill eliminating executions would apply to
the 11 inmates who are currently on death row, according to
Stateline, a news service of the Pew Center on the States.
Sentiment is high across the state to keep those 11 inmates on
the path to execution, and even a local anti-death penalty group
says it is supporting a bill that would deal only with
"prospective" repeal.
A state's desire to remedy flaws in its death penalty system
can create bureaucracy and unintended consequences, according to
Stateline. A commission that evaluated the Illinois death penalty
produced 85 recommendations. That isn't stopping states such as
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky that are
considering reforms or, in some cases, repeal.
Summary Judgments for March 22
Summary Judgments for March 21
Summary Judgments for March 20
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