Right to Remain Silent - Not Really

A booster (read - big donor), who is now in prison for fraud and money laundering, is claiming to have given a cool $2 million in benefits like prostitutes, dinners, and cash to various players at the University of Miami starting in 2002.    As it should, the NCAA is reviewing this claim.

And this is how, by posting this letter to the players suspected of taking the perks:

"The purpose of this letter is to apprise you that the NCAA enforcement staff is requesting to schedule an interview with your clients regarding their knowledge of or involvement in possible NCAA violations concerning the University of Miami, Florida, football program.

"Interviewing your clients is important in order for the enforcement staff to conduct a thorough investigation, and both the staff and the institution request you and your clients' cooperation in this matter. However, at this time, all attempts to schedule and execute interviews with [blank] have been unsuccessful. As a result, this letter serves as a formal and final request by the NCAA enforcement staff for interviews with [blank] to be completed by Nov. 23, 2012.

"If we do not hear back from you or your clients by that time, the staff will consider the non-response as your client's admission of involvement in NCAA violations. You may contact me at [blank] in order to arrange this interview. Your assistance in this matter is appreciated."

If only criminal cases were that easy.  Mr. Defendant, the police officer said you killed someone.  If you say absolutely nothing, we will assume you admit the allegations and you will spend the rest of your life in jail.  If you didn't do it, you would say so, right?

I know the fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination is limited and not available in situations like this, but it still does not seem an appropriate way to investigate and determine sanctions.  This is why judges go through such great pains in jury selection to dismiss jurors who think that a defendant must testify or would hold it against a defendant who chooses not to testify.  The burden is on the investigators, the prosecution and police.

As for the college kids?  Some would argue paying them for their athletic participation would avoid this.  But we have to remember they are only 18, 19, and 20 year olds who are getting money and huge benefits thrown at them.  They don't know how to use the word no yet and paying them wouldn't stop it at all.  But that's a topic for a different post.  Maybe a different blog.

Tweet

Juvenile Illiteracy

I posted the link to Caleb Sosa on Monday, but I just didn't have time to discuss it.  And, wow, is there a lot to discuss.

First, like most news articles, it is light on the facts that would allow the reader to make any informed decision other than the one the article wants you to draw.  They do not tell us what the evidence against Sosa was - eyewitnesses, DNA, or just the confession at issue.  We don't know whether the confession was even admissible at trial against him.

Second, the article discusses how Sosa could not even write his initials without instruction, yet he was about to sign off on a plea but then rejected it.  The key being HE WAS ABOUT TO SIGN HIS NAME FOR A PLEA.  Did he learn to read and write while locked up?  He has gone from not knowing how to write the first letters of his name to being able to read and sign legal documents yet it is not discussed.

Third, it would have been an interesting civil trial, had the city lawyer filed the appropriate paperwork.  A claim that the police violated Sosa's civil rights by forcing him to sign a confession he couldn't read would be difficult to prove.  Even at fourteen, a person should be able to read.  Sosa would have to bring in his family and teachers and describe how they had failed him for his entire life by letting him live without learning the most basic skills. 

The trial would essentially put the city of Detroit's education system and parental structure on trial.  I am certain that Sosa made it through elementary school.  Sosa would basically have to put on witnesses to demonstrate his illiteracy and explain how they all let it happen.  It is no secret that reading and writing levels in large cities are horribly low.  Total illiteracy though?  How can we as a society allow this to happen?

Fourth, as JeffO has pointed out, the money is a large amount for a headline, but spread over 40 years it is $27,500 per year before taxes.  That's hardly a sum enough to justify spending time in prison as an innocent man. 

My first jury trial involved a 25-year-old man who claimed illiteracy.  The victim claimed that the defendant shot him twice in the stairwell of an apartment building because the victim got in an argument with the defendant's girlfriend.  The gun was recovered a month later inside the girlfriend's apartment.  When the defendant was arrested, he spoke to the police.  They wanted him to write his own statement, but he said he could not read and write.  The police wrote his statement for him, read it to him, and then he signed it.  He was able to sign his name.  An hour later, the defendant wanted to make another statement.  He had some changes to the first one.  They went through the same process and the defendant signed it. 

At trial, he claimed the detective never read him the statements and he did not know what he was signing.  His mother took the stand and described his illiteracy.  I only asked the mother whether she read to him and if he understood what she read.  She agreed he did. 

The problem with the statements was that they both provided a defense to the shooting.  Why would the detective, when he could write anything he wanted without the defendant knowing, write two separate statements that contained defenses?  If he was fabricating the statements, why wouldn't the detective write the most damaging confession possible?

The evidence in my case was overwhelming and the defendant's version of events did not match the physical evidence.  The jury found him guilty.

Illiteracy is an enormous problem in society and also a hurdle police officers must overcome on a daily basis.  The Caleb Sosa civil trial would have been a hard look at the education system in America and I would have loved to follow it.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to due to a procedural error. 

Tweet

How Much Is Freedom Worth?

It was a deadly combination this weekend.  A cold, out of town guests, the holidays, and spotty internet combined for the death of any in-depth post this morning. 

But, this story popped up this weekend.  Caleb Sosa, from Detroit, spent two years in juvenile lock-up when he was 14 for murder.  He was acquitted two years later.  The interesting twist is that Sosa then sued the City of Detroit for violating his civil rights.  Through the City's inaction, by not filing timely paperwork, a judge awarded Sosa $1.1 million.

There will be more on this later this week when the cold goes away and internet returns.

But for now, I wonder if there are people who read this article and think they would serve two years in jail for that much money when they got out.  If not, how much would it take?   

Tweet

How to Honor a Life

I've been to three wakes in the last three weeks.  The deceased were not my immediate family or close friends.  They were either distant relatives or some of my best friends' loved ones.  All three carried a similar theme.

Pictures adorned the funeral parlors for each person, illustrating the life a person is capable of living.  Decades of history greeted each mourner.  Wedding pictures, candid snapshots, military pictures, and baby pictures showed us who the person was in life - happy, gleeful, and inevitably giving.

In death, they remind us of how fragile life is and why we cannot take even one moment for granted.

The reality of our mortality is that we must live a giving and purpose-driven life.  We all hope to live a healthy and eternal life.  Unfortunately, until modern science catches up with those wishes, we are stuck with striving for a healthy and prolonged one.  But what do we do with the years between birth and death?  How do we make them truly count?  Our loved ones spent their lives laying bricks that would be the building blocks of future generations.  My grandparents immigrated to America for a chance at success.  They faced hardships few can even imagine today - traveling across the world with infants in tow, learning a new language, prejudices, few social programs to rely on.  For what?  So that my children and I can spend more time in front of the television?  So that we could all work at jobs we don't like?

No.  Life is fleeting, and leaving you every moment.  Even as I sit here writing this, it ticks away in irretrievable seconds.  The seconds are not wasted if they are aimed at a purpose, towards success.  It is success that needs to be defined for every individual.  Whether it be children, financial wealth, fame, critical success, or just being happy.  What do you define as success?

I'm a goal driven person.  I spend the end of each year documenting my goals for the next year and how to achieve them.  This goal driven life is a new phenomenon for me.  I used to flounder in the tide of uncertainty, waiting for someone to steer my ship to whatever course they wanted for me.  It was only in the last few years I grabbed the wheel and began to chart my own course.  My goals for 2012 are not all achieved.  In truth, most of them are not.  Still, I'll put my list together for 2013, including the unaccomplished tasks of 2012.  I try not to get bogged down in failures because I'm aware that they line the steps to success.  I've discovered there are two things required for success - deciding what is important to you and moving past the fear of failure.

I have failed and will continue to do so.  You should too.  It's what our deceased relatives and friends  wanted for us.  They spent a lifetime using their gifts and talents to show the road to success for all of us.  Try and dare greatly.  Fail.  But always push.  Always continue and eventually you will succeed.

It's the way to honor those that went before us.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  Thank you for coming by and reading the blog.  I love being able to provide you a glimpse into the law and the life of an ADA, as well as the posts like this one that deal with neither.  Your continually increasing support pushes me to make this site better every day.

Tweet

Thanksgiving: A Time for Families and Fake Mustaches

Every year sons and daughters criss-cross the globe, returning to their roots to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones.  They return to the place that helped create who they are, to give thanks to the people that helped mold them.

And sometimes, they get involved in the family business.

Ronald Scott Catt, his son Hayden, and his daughter Abby were arrested this weekend in a string of bank robberies that stretched from Oregon to Texas.  The father and children team used masks and distinctive vests to commit the robbery and were tracked down via video surveillance and credit cards purchasing the items from Home Depot.

Rumors are circulating that Ronald Scott had lost two jobs in the past two years.  Now, the Scott family gets to spend their Thanksgiving together in close quarters, and possibly many more.

Apparently, the fake mustache didn't work for Hayden.  It did for these two robbers here and here.  Personally, I think it's an insult to real mustaches everywhere, especially during Movember.

Tweet

Prosecuting the Absconders

In between murders, rapes, burglars, and robbers, we prosecutors sometimes get time to focus on other public menaces.  These are the ones who bilk the system for their own benefit.  The person collecting unemployment checks while getting paid under the table.  Or the wealthy man collecting food stamps. 

Or the people who lie to get out of jury duty. 

Jose Bocanegra, Jr. missed his scheduled jury duty four times, for four different reasons.  The first time he claimed he was a convicted felon (False).  The second?  He claimed he was the sole caretaker for an invalid (False).  Third?  He just didn't show up.  Fourth?  He left because the line was too long.  The Texas judge had seen enough and a warrant issued for Bocanegra.  A judge found him guilty of contempt and sentenced him to five days in jail.

His reasoning for avoiding?  It was too far away.

It's not only our friends in Texas (Mark Pryor) who are going after jury duty dodgers.  Colorado joined the cause recently too. 

Susan Cole was a little more deliberate in her attempts.  She arrived at jury duty with curlers and mismatched shoes, claiming post traumatic stress from a violent domestic incident that occurred in the military.

Like so many people before her, Ms. Cole's ploy was foiled by bragging.  The judge who dismissed her from service heard her months later on a radio show explaining how she fooled everyone to avoid jury duty.  Investigators debunked her claims and she pleaded guilty to perjury and attempt to influence a public servant. 

Instead of the community service that is jury duty, Ms. Cole has a felony to go along with forced community service. 

The funny part?  Most lawyers would have struck these jurors anyway so they would not have served. 

Check out my position on jury service here. 

Tweet