This book describes the formal rules and informal practices involved in the development and resolution of a criminal case, from the decision to charge to disposition by trial or plea, and sentencing. Analysis of the work of prosecutors and defense attorneys in a hypothetical case helps students to contexualize criminal procedure doctrine by demonstrating the way in which the attorney applies constitutional and statutory law. The Practice of Federal Criminal Law: Prosecution and Defense can be used in conjunction with criminal procedure courses using traditional casebooks as well as in skills training courses and prosecution and defense clinics.
Providing a complete view of U.S. legal principles, this book addresses distinct issues as well as the overlays and connections between them. It presents as a cohesive whole the interrelationships between constitutional principles, statutory criminal laws, procedural law, and common-law evidentiary doctrines. This fully revised and updated new edition also includes discussion questions and hypothetical scenarios to check learning. Constitutional principles are the foundation upon which substantive criminal law, criminal procedure law, and evidence laws rely. The concepts of due process, legality, specificity, notice, equality, and fairness are intrinsic to these three disciplines, and a firm understanding of their implications is necessary for a thorough comprehension of the topic. This book examines the tensions produced by balancing the ideals of individual liberty embodied in the Constitution against society’s need to enforce criminal laws as a means of achieving social control, order, and safety. Relying on his first-hand experience as a law enforcement official and criminal defense attorney, the author presents issues that highlight the difficulties in applying constitutional principles to specific criminal justice situations. Each chapter of the text contains a realistic problem in the form of a fact pattern that focuses on one or more classic criminal justice issues to which readers can relate. These problems are presented from the points of view of citizens caught up in a police investigation and of police officers attempting to enforce the law within the framework of constitutional protections. This book is ideal for courses in criminal law and procedure that seek to focus on the philosophical underpinnings of the system.
Federal Criminal Practice combines substantive federal criminal law, Federal Criminal Procedure, and the Federal Rules of Evidence, with a mock case. The course explores the basis for federal criminal jurisdiction and the investigation of federal criminal cases as well as each step of the prosecution defense of a federal criminal case. Students apply what they learn from lectures and discussion in a manner that expands their understanding and develops their practical skills. Course materials consist of a textbook, mock case materials, and a teacher's manual. The mock case involves an arson of a business committed to collect insurance proceeds. Classes involve lectures, discussion, and written and oral exercises. Students write a search warrant application, an indictment, and a substantive exhibit/witness list. Students examine witnesses before the grand jury, conduct voir dire, present opening statements and closing arguments, and conduct direct and cross examination.
Federal Criminal Discovery thoroughly covers each of the different methods of discovery available to the parties in federal criminal cases. It serves as an invaluable resource for judges, academics, prosecutors, and defense lawyers by providing an exhaustive discussion on the statutory and constitutional bases for discovery, and by covering the existing law fairly while examining both sides of the issues.
Defining Federal Crimes, Second Edition (available for free to students in e-book format) frames federal criminal law as a distinctive world created and shaped by the interplay between the three branches of the federal government. It provides an overview of basic doctrine while inviting students to explore the many difficult and unsettled questions that continue to perplex judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and policymakers. Particularly since students' basic Criminal Law courses draw on penal laws from any number of jurisdictions, this book will be their first exposure to an actual criminal law system, in which each law-shaping institution can react to the moves of the others. New to the Second Edition: Reorganization of the domestic Commerce Clause section and exploration of the Supreme Court's aborted engagement with the Treaty Power in Bond v. U.S. (Ch.2) Inclusion of the Court's deployment of the "rule of lenity" in Yates v. U.S. and reorganization of the mens rea section, including Elonis v. U.S. (Ch.3) Revisions to highlight the growing tension between the cases precluding mail fraud liability for deceit that "merely" causes the victim to enter into a transaction and those permitting liability an intangible property "right to control" theory (Ch.4) Considerable revision to the "under color of official right" extortion sections to accommodate McDonnell v. U.S.; a new case (Ocasio v. U.S.) exploring the interaction between "under color of official right" complicity and victim status in "fear of economic loss" extortion; a new case (U.S. v. Baroni--the "Bridgegate Case") offering an interesting use of the "misapplication" prong of section 18 U.S.C. 666 (Ch.6) New cases emerging from the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, including U.S. v. Miller (Ch.7) New case (Rosemond v. U.S.) in Aiding and Abetting discussion; a new section on Accessory after the Fact and Misprison of Felony liability, including U.S. v. Olson; substantial revision of Material Support of Terrorism section (Ch.8) Substantial updates to Ch.9, including coverage of the opioid crisis and enforcement responses to it; exploration of the Court's analysis of McFadden v. U.S.; discussion of Congress's use of its appropriations power to limit the federal prosecution of medicinal marijuana cases, including U.S. v. Kleinman; a new case (U.S. v. Campbell) about the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act; a new section on prior felony informations and their use for plea bargaining leverage, including U.S. v. Kupa; new discussion of the charging policies of the Attorneys General and of disparate judicial analyses of narcotics mandatory minimums Extended discussions of corporate liability to include recent judicial efforts to oversee deferred prosecution agreements (Ch.11) Reorganization of Ch.12, with more attention given to the clash between Chevron deference and the rule of lenity Professors and students will benefit from: Comprehensive overview of the many federal criminal offenses prosecutors use to charge political corruption and explores difficult questions associated with criminalizing aspects of the political process Framing of apparently diverse offenses like money laundering, RICO, and material support of terrorism as the complicity-broadening devices that make them intellectually interesting and practically potent Use of "Notes and Questions" to situate major cases in their proper political and historical contexts, tie together topics from different parts of the book that touch on similar themes, and explore lingering doctrinal ambiguities
