by Ed Lyon
Jon Goldsmith of Montgomery County, Iowa, attended a summer festival last year in adjoining Adams County. He witnessed police misconduct there so outrageous he felt he had to make the public aware of it. Unfortunately for him, the police did not agree with his colorful expressions on ...
by Ed Lyon
As far as marijuana is concerned, the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) has little need for a canine corps. The city’s two-legged, blue-clad human-type cops seem to have the best olfactory sense in the world for detecting “the odor of marijuana.” At least, that is what ...
by Ed Lyon
As societal standards continue to evolve, devolve, and change for better or worse, legislatures continue to enact laws to prohibit illegal acts and protect people. New technology always opens opportunities for improvement, as well as attendant avenues for less-than-stellar individuals to take advantage of law-abiding citizens. ...
by Ed Lyon
The word ring has traditionally been used as a verb to describe what a bell does, whether it is mounted on a steeple or on the wall inside a residence. A product innovation by Amazon converts it to a trade name: Ring™.
The home security ...
by Ed Lyon
At present, it is believed that close to 20 million U.S. citizens are convicted felons. One of the many rights these citizens lost at conviction was jury service in federal courts. Twenty-seven states prohibit exes from jury service. Meanwhile, there are 22 states that do allow ex-felons ...
by Ed Lyon
Human nature being what it is, since the need for an organized law enforcement body arose, police have generally been a necessary evil.
Judging from the seemingly countless articles detailing officer misconduct in Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, police seem to be ...
by Ed Lyon
There is a time-worn, yet usually quite-accurate saying that states: “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Thanks in great part to Philadelphia attorney Emily Baker-White’s efforts as leader of The Plain View Project (“PVP”), a national study of cops’ social media posts, that old adage has taken on ...
by Ed Lyon
Readers of Criminal Legal News and Prison Legal News are familiar with the fact that criminal convictions occur mostly as a result of guilty or no-contest pleas.
A recently released report by the Pew Research Center confirms a steady erosion of citizens asserting their right to a ...
by Ed Lyon
Television crime dramas really do reflect reality when they show that one of the first things that occurs in an arrestee’s life is an arraignment. It is at this proceeding a judge hears whatever evidence the government’s and arrestee’s attorneys present, along with their arguments for a ...
by Ed Lyon
As reports of police abusing and even murdering citizens continues to rise over the years, databases of their misdeeds are emerging all over the U.S. These databases provide citizens with a great deal of transparency into these crimes that were formerly shrouded in secrecy by police departments, ...
