SC pulls up Gujarat for lapses in '02 riot cases.
Byline: Sanjay K Singh NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Gujarat government over the '02 riot cases, saying that it would not allow the derailment of the criminal justice administration system relating to the riots. The criminal justice procedure has been...

Vidal offers to guarantee Erap; Backs proposal to release Estrada on recognizance.
Byline: EDMER F. PANESA & FERDIE J. MAGLALANG Anti-hunger advocacy program lauded Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal yesterday expressed support for the initiative from MalacaA[+ or -]ang to allow former President Joseph Estrada to be freed on "recognizance" and expressed willingness to be one of...

Fitness to stand trial in juvenile court: the worst of both worlds? Juveniles who may be unfit to stand trial because of mental disability or developmental unfitness arguably enjoy neither procedural protection nor increased care and treatment.
Fitness to stand trial (1) is a basic element of the due process protections afforded to a criminal defendant. if a person is unfit to stand trial due to a physical or mental disability, it violates fundamental fairness to convict the person. In Illinois, juveniles may be...

Are verdicts, too, like sausages? Lifting the cloak of jury secrecy.
If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.(1) This Comment argues that jury deliberations should be transcribed as part of the ordinary trial record and be subject to a limited judicial review. Such limited review is the proper way...

Estrada petitions Supreme Court.
Former President Estrada asked the Supreme Court yesterday to stop the trial of his plunder case set by the Sandiganbayan on Monday and every Wednesday and Thursday thereafter. Through his lawyers, Estrada said the trial should be cancelled pending resolution of his petition challenging the constitutionality of...

Know when to hold 'em: minimizing disclosure of corporate environmental information.
I. INTRODUCTION Complying with the vast amount of environmental laws is a daunting task for a corporation today. A corporation may find it necessary to hire an environmental consulting company to conduct an environmental audit to assess its compliance with environmental laws and determine any appropriate adjustments...

Criminal Law - First Circuit allows guilty plea for misprision to stand under plain error review.
Criminal Law--First Circuit Allows Guilty Plea for Misprision to Stand Under Plain Error Review--United States v. Caraballo-Rodriguez, 480 F.3d 62 (1st Cir. 2007), cert. denied, 128 S. Ct. 489 (2007) The federal misprision statute requires that a person with knowledge of a felony report such knowledge to...

Pandya case: HC deletes Modi's name.
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat High Court has deleted the name of chief minister Narendra Modi as a party from the Haren Pandya murder case. Modi's name was deleted from an appeal filed by Pandya's father Vitthal Pandya challenging the CBI investigation in the case. A division bench of Justice...

To act or not to act: will New York's defeated death penalty be resurrected?
Introduction I. The Rise and Fall of New York's Death Penalty Statute A. Supreme Court Jurisprudence on Capital Punishment B. New York's 1995 Statute in Light of Supreme Court Mandates C. The Jury's Role In New York Capital Trials D. The Anticipatory Deadlock Provision E. New York's Death Penalty...

Citing foreign and international law to interpret the constitution: what's the point?
Some years ago, I was lecturing in Brazil and Argentina on constitutional issues, and I spoke one day to a group of Brazilian judges on criminal procedure and due process rights in the United States. When I was finished, up stood one very frustrated Brazilian judge who complained that...