Technology in the Courtroom

I recently received this e-mail from a colleague regarding the use of technology in the courtroom and thought some of you would be interested.

Hello all,

Check out this recent article from the Huffington Post.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennett-l-gershman/prosecutorial-misconduct-_3_b_8633424.html

Nothing really new cited in this article. Basically a rehash of last year's Wired Magazine article, The Sneakiest Way Prosecutors Get a Conviction: PowerPoint. Both authors are essentially focusing on cases that are a few years old. These cases and similar topics have been covered during past NDAA courses.

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/prosecutors-powerpoint-presentations/

Here is a Michigan case that supports the use of PowerPoint and rejects portions of the Glasmann v. Washington case that is often used as the model example of prosecutor  "PowerPoint error." Here is the link:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8483397013019598391&q=young+powerpoint&hl=en&as_sdt=4,23

These topics and many more will be covered during the NDDA’s next Digital Prosecutor Course in January in Vegas. Scroll down  my e-mail for more details on the course.

Register for The Digital Prosecutor at:

http://www.ndaa.org/digital_technology_training.html

Cheers,

 

APA Patrick Muscat

Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office

313-224-6643 desk

313-213-0600 cell

pmuscat@waynecounty.com

www.thevisualtrial.com

Utah Journal of Criminal Law Seeking Scholarly Submissions

The Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (UACDL) and the Criminal Law Section of the Utah State Bar jointly publish the Utah Journal of Criminal Law as a service to their members.  Further, all judges in the State of Utah receive free copies.  The journal is published twice a year in the spring and fall.

The Editorial Board welcomes submissions of an academic nature including original articles, case notes, comments, practice checklists and pointers, book reviews, tributes, etc.  Articles may be defense - or prosecution - oriented but must be balanced discussion of an academic nature.

Persons interested in submitting articles for publication should email submissions to executivedirector@uacdl.org.  The deadline for the spring issue is September 1 and March 1 for the fall issue.  Articles accepted for publication will be edited by a judge or academic editor, criminal defense lawyer, and prosecutor for completeness and scholarly content.  The journal generally follows The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. 2010) but emphasizes all easily readable and understandable citation forms.  Cite as: 1 UTAH J. CRIM L. __ (2014).

2015 Basic Prosecutor Course

We had a really great Basic Prosecutor Course this year.  The faculty and presenters were outstanding and the students were great.  These new young prosecutors are going to make a name for themselves!

We changed up a couple things that really added to the cohesiveness of the group as well as kept some of our traditions.  You'll see several photos from our annual kickball game.  We had a great time! While we advised the players NOT to slide on the turf, you'll see that one of the players was overcome with athletic zeal and ignored that advice.

A huge shout out to the full-time faculty.  They are always great!  Matt Bates, Steve Garside, Sandi Johnson, Donna Kelly, Josh Player and Troy Little.  I also want to thank the presenters who came up just for one class.  I know it's inconvenient but appreciate their willingness to help.  So thanks to Ryan Robinson, Trooper Rob Cowart, Rick Westmoreland, Branden Miles, Jeff Gray, Ed Berkovich, and Kim Gibb.  And thanks to Marilyn for all her hard work putting the conference together.  She only had to babysit one or two presenters to get their materials submitted.

 On Thursday we were privileged to have 11 Moldovan law students join us.  They were here for three weeks as part of the Leavitt Institute for International Development.  (http://www.leavittinstitute.org/)  They were hosted by Judge Lindberg.  They sat in on the lectures, the break out sessions and joined the faculty for lunch.  It was interesting to talk with them.  Unanimously, their biggest concern for their legal system is the level of corruption in their country.  It was almost disheartening to listen to them.  And yet, the purpose for bringing them to the states is to expose them to our system and hopefully help them overcome their own challenges. 

We had interesting socks and bright shoes during the course that had to be documented so please don't think the photographer has a foot fetish.  Just lots of bright colors to be seen.

The Golden Kickball award (somehow a photo was not taken) was awarded to Michelle Jeffs, Weber County.  The award is voted on by the faculty and represents the overall best student of the course. 

So again, thanks to all who participated.  You made it a great course.

And finally, the alleged wife abuser really only did touch his wife with his lips!