Daily Archives: March 26, 2012 - 3 results

Reports of justifiable homicide in Florida have tripled since the state’s “stand your ground” self defense law was enacted. This is according to an Oct. 15, 2010 investigative article in the Tampa Bay Tribune and Daniel Vice, senior attorney at the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project in Washington, D.C. The recent killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager by a neighborhood watch captain armed with a legal firearm in Sanford, Fla., has sparked outrage across the nation. It’s also drawn …

The knot of contradictory laws governing same-sex marriages in the U.S. may become even more tangled in the months ahead, thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision to wait at least another year before reviewing challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA.) The portion of the law which prohibits the federal government from recognizing gay marriage has been found unconstitutional by federal courts in California and Massachusetts, and challenges are under way in Connecticut, New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. …

The Supreme Court ruled last week that criminal defendants have the right to effective counsel when it comes to plea bargain agreements, expanding the guarantee of good legal representation beyond the courtroom and into the negotiating room. The upshot for defendants: If you feel you got improper advice on taking a plea, or went to trial unaware that a plea offer even existed, you now have legal recourse to appeal.   Sixth Amendment Requirements The court ruled 5-4 in favor …