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Articles by Edward Lyon

Florida Deputy Falsifies Drug Field-Test Results, Freeing 11 From Jail

by Ed Lyon 

Steven O’Leary was a preacher before switching his career to law enforcement. The career-changing, job-hopping cop held jobs at two different departments before being hired as a deputy with Florida’s Martin County Sheriff Department (“MCSD”) in February 2018. O’Leary’s record with his prior departments was ...

In Washington State, a Man’s Home Is No Longer His Castle

by Ed Lyon 

Most Americans are familiar with the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees them security in their persons and homes from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Perhaps this is where the axiom that a man’s home is his castle originated, or maybe it was the other ...

Arrests Do Not Necessarily Represent Solved Crimes

by Ed Lyon 

Statistics show that the United States of America incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other legal jurisdiction in the world. The entry into the incarceration nation begins with the simple arrest by a member of one of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies throughout ...

Texas Misuses Privacy Law to Withhold In-Custody Death Information

by Ed Lyon

Chapter 552, § 108(a)(2) of the Texas Government Code (“TGC”) was passed by the state legislature in 1979. The law’s intended purpose was to protect the privacy rights of innocent and wrongfully convicted defendants who were accused of committing a crime but were either never formally ...

When Prosecuting Crimes by Police, Feds Appear to Move Slowly

by Ed Lyon 

In November 2013, Hickory, North Carolina, police Sergeant Robert George allegedly removed a woman driver from her auto and slammed her face-first onto the ground. She required corrective surgery. 

Charged by local prosecutors in 2014, the case then languished in an unadjudicated limbo. Four years ...

Birth Pangs of Bail Reform Come to Texas

by Ed Lyon 

For scores of years, excessive bail amounts for fiscally impoverished individuals accused of crimes have been a major factor in jail overcrowding. This, in turn, leads to violence and excessive additional costs to cities, counties, and parishes across the United States. 

Far exceeding its intended ...

Jurors Showing More and More Savvy Toward Trial Evidence

by Ed Lyon 

For many decades, prosecutors have been the true kings of U.S. courtrooms. Longtime Dallas, Texas, prosecutor Henry Wade attained infamy for stating, “Guilty ones are easy to convict. It takes real effort to convict the innocent.”

His Houston, Texas, counterpart John Holmes gained a like measure ...

‘Ban the Box’ Movement Expands in New Direction

by Ed Lyon 

For many people, the negative effects of being in jail or prison follow them throughout their lives after they re-enter society. Probably one of the most pervasive of these effects is obtaining employment they are qualified for in all aspects, save for their carceral ...

Forensic Entomology Helps Nevada Murder Convictee Get Exonerated After 17 Years in Prison

by Ed Lyon 

In June 2001, 18-year-old Kirstin Blaise Lobato narrowly escaped being raped in Las Vegas, Nevada. With her small pocket knife, she wounded her attacker’s genitals. He was left intact but did sustain enough of an injury to make him cry. 

On July 8, 2001, ...

Sexual Assaults and Harassment by Members of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Costing Taxpayers Millions

by Ed Lyon 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (“LASD”) is the largest of its kind in the U.S. According to recent figures, it tops another list—it’s apparently the most feloniously libidinous as well.

Considering the cost of the resulting lawsuits and the price tag to defend against them, ...

 

 

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