By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Everyone arrested in Brooklyn is brought to Central Booking, the maze-like warren of cold cement beneath the courthouse at 120 Schermerhorn Street downtown. It is not a pleasant place. You wait there for hours while cases upstairs grind ahead until it’s your turn to see a judge. In fact, conditions in Brooklyn …
Sex Crimes
LimeWire Child Pornography Conviction Reversed
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Does putting an illegal image in a shared folder on LimeWire or 360Share constitute “distribution” of child pornography if there is no proof anyone actually downloaded the image? No, according to a new decision in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In United States v. David George Husmann, the appellate court reversed …
SDNY: Teen Inmates at Rikers are Routinely Abused
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has written to the mayor and other city officials advising them that an investigation has revealed systematic tolerance of abuse of adolescent inmates on Rikers Island. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara concluded that “adolescent inmates at Rikers are not adequately protected from …
Flubbed Jury Instructions on Entrapment Leads to Reversal of Child Porn Distribution Conviction
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma In a case recently decided in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Scott Kopstein went to trial after engaging with an undercover officer on the internet and, thinking she was twelve years old, sending her child pornography. He did not really deny the substance of the charges, but he argued entrapment — …
Reduced Sentences for Federal Drug Offenders
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma At last, some good news for the thousands of people in federal prison for drug crimes who are ready to get on with their lives. The United States Sentencing Commission today voted to make the two-level reduction for narcotics offenses retroactive — in other words, people who have already been sentenced for drug crimes …
New York High Court Strikes Down Cyberbullying Law
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma One month after Albany County passed its anti-cyberbullying law, an anonymous teenager obligingly posted “Cohoes Flame” — a Facebook page of photos of his classmates along with crude “descriptions of their alleged sexual practices and predilections, sexual partners and other types of personal information.” An investigation revealed the teen’s identity; he was arrested and charged …
New York’s High Court Rejects Child Pornography Offenders’ Claims Based on Board of Examiners Position Statement
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma We have written before about how sex offender registration rules routinely lead to defendants being unfairly assessed as moderate- to high-risk offenders. Now, unhappily, the Court of Appeals, which is New York’s highest court, has embraced the harsher — if not more irrational and emotionally charged — approach to these cases, permitting courts …
Choice Quotes from the Late Harold Baer
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma The Honorable Harold Baer, who passed away earlier this week, was one of the legendary judges deciding cases in federal court in Manhattan. A stalwart for civil liberties who landed in the middle of contentious political battles, he was also quick witted and plainspoken in court. Though I only appeared before him …
Federal Agents to Start Recording Post-Arrest Statements
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma In general, federal authorities interview people after their arrests without recording. We advise our clients to invoke their Miranda rights and refuse to make any statements until consulting with an attorney. Experience shows that statements made by defendants when they are first arrested — they are frightened, their guard is down, they …
Paying Respects on Mother’s Day
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Antonio Yarbough, just three months out of prison for a triple homicide he did not commit, paid his respects to the murder victims on Mother’s Day. As reported in the New York Daily News, Tony laid two bouquets on the graves of his mom, Annie Yarbough, and his sister, Chavonn Barnes, at a …
New York Sex Offender Registration and Child Pornography
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Studies show that first-time child pornography offenders are among the least likely convicts to recidivate. Nonetheless, since 2008, New York courts presume that child porn offenders present at least a moderate risk of re-offense for purposes of sex offender registration. This presumption comes from the dubious, overly literal proposition that the children victimized in …
Crusading Comic Book Artist Al Feldstein Passes Away at 88
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma The death of Al Feldstein is a major cultural event. His sensibility, if not his work itself, helped inspire me to become a journalist and then a lawyer. While Mad Magazine was a wonderful achievement, the bigger story is Feldstein’s socially conscious and horrifying writing for Shock Suspenstories and the other EC “New …
How Many Innocent People are on Death Row?
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, asserts that 4.1% of the people now on death row would be exonerated if they stayed on death row indefinitely. There have, in fact, been 143 death row exonerations since 1973, when …
Supreme Court Limits Financial Liability of Child Pornography Possessors
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Federal law provides that people who are convicted of possession or distribution child pornography must pay restitution to the victims depicted in the images. The goal of restitution generally is to make up for the harm suffered by the victim. Courts have struggled with what that means in the child pornography context, …
Child Pornography Victim Disappointed in Paroline Ruling
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma “Amy,” the victim of child pornography who sought restitution in the Paroline case decided by the Supreme Court today made a statement through her lawyers that was picked up by the Washington Post. Not surprisingly, she was disappointed in the ruling, suggesting that it would force her and others abused in the …
What Would You Need After Getting Out of Prison After 22 Years Because Someone Else Murdered Your Family?
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Many people have asked us how they can help Antonio Yarbough, who was freed two months ago after serving 22 years in prison for a triple homicide that he did not commit. Tony just moved into a small apartment in Queens. He lacks everything from toothpaste to trousers. Former intern Martha Lineberger, Esq. …
Football Coach Takes the Field After Child Pornography Charges Dropped
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma Minnesota State football coach Todd Hoffner will get his job back and is looking to protect his privacy after a judge dismissed child pornography charges against him. Although it is not crystal clear what happened, it looks like overzealous human resources officials from the university found images and videos of Hoffner’s children on a …
Federal Drug Sentences Reduced
By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma The U.S. Sentencing Commission announced today that it will lower the sentences calculated under the Sentencing Guidelines for possession, distribution and importation of illegal drugs. The new drug sentencing guidelineswill have far-reaching consequences, affecting thousands of cases in the federal system. It means that the Guidelines sentence — no longer mandatory on …