Legal briefs

Crime

Mathew Bianchi is a New York City Police Officer. In the course of his work, he often issues traffic tickets or other infractions to people. Sometimes, some of those people flash what is called a “courtesy card” to Officer Bianchi. When this happens, Bianchi ignores the courtesy card and writes the ticket anyway.

Courtesy cards are issued by the New York City Police Union. Union members get these cards and give them out to friends, relatives, and union supporters. They also dole them out in exchange for meals or home improvement jobs. The tradition has been that bearers of these cards get a free pass. However, Officer Bianchi does not follow this tradition. As a result, he was punished by his superiors in the police force. Bianchi filed a lawsuit against the NYPD claiming retaliation. Recently, the city settled the lawsuit with Bianchi paying him $175,000. The settlement does not legally curtail the use of courtesy cards. Perhaps, though, it will empower other officers to do the right thing and reject their use. You can read more about it here.

More crime

New York City recently legalized jaywalking. Over 200 people have been killed while jaywalking in NYC over the last five years. One council member voting against the proposal said, “How can anyone imagine this is a good idea considering the amount of pedestrian deaths we continue to have each year?” Supporters of legalized jaywalking claim the fines disproportionately impact communities of color. They argue that blacks and Latinos are specifically targeted by police for jaywalking tickets. If that is true, then simply legalizing jaywalking is a bizarre solution to the problem. You somehow help minority citizens by making it more dangerous to cross the street? Wouldn’t a better solution be to punish any police officer who unjustifiably targets a racial minority? You can read more here.

Still more crime

Washington State Representative, Jenny Graham, has introduced a bill that would hold criminal defense lawyers liable for crimes committed by their clients. The proposed bill says:

Any person injured by an individual who was previously arrested for a violent offense, and subsequently released from custody before trial for such offense as a result of the advocacy of their criminal defense counsel, has a cause of action against such criminal defense counsel if: (a) The individual caused the injury after being released from custody; and (b) the criminal defense counsel failed to adequately consider the risk of public harm that could result from the individual being released from custody.

Now, I have heavily criticized the bail reform movement. The pendulum has swung much too far toward leniency ushering dangerous criminals in and out of a revolving door at the jail. This bill, however, is a wild overcorrection. Defense lawyers advocate for their clients. That is what they are supposed to do. The burden on assuring public safety is on the prosecutor and the judge, not the defense attorney. Such a law would have a detrimental chilling effect on the important role of the criminal defense attorney. The bill has been referred to committee, but has not received a hearing. Hopefully, that is as far as it will get. See more here.

Last one on crime

A new Illinois law eliminates the word “prostitute” from the criminal code. They will now use the phrase “person engaged in the sex trade.” Makes all the difference.

Free speech

Recently, President Trump issued an executive order directing government officials to stop making requests to social media companies to censor user posts. The Biden administration had been actively colluding with social media companies to censor conservative speech on the internet, as I have written about extensively. You can find those links here. You can read the executive order here.

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