Prosecution roundup

  • “Judges seemed to be troubled that prosecutors in Manhattan had secretly searched the entire Facebook accounts of about 300 people who were not charged with a crime” [New York Times]
  • Goshen, N.Y.: “Dozens of speakers thundered against the proposed asset forfeiture law at two public hearings held Monday by Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus.” [Goshen Chronicle; Neuhaus vetoes measure] Related, forfeiture at work in Pennsylvania [AP/same]
  • Buried lede in breathless story about federal bank fines: “The agency receives a cut of up to 3 percent of its share of the total settlements for its Working Capital Fund, a slush fund common across major government agencies.” [Newsweek]
  • From amid the wreckage: Dan and Fran Keller abuse case [Austin American Statesman]
  • “Missouri’s attorney general announced lawsuits against 13 [St. Louis] suburbs on Thursday, accusing them of ignoring a law that sets limits on revenue derived from traffic fines.” [NY Times via Tabarrok]
  • “It is remarkable enough that an African-American man can be convicted by a jury for breaking into a store that video shows was burglarized by a white female.” [The Open File on Indiana prosecutorial misconduct case via Radley Balko]
  • “Lawyers for California Attorney General Kamala Harris argued releasing non-violent inmates early would harm efforts to fight California wildfires. Harris told BuzzFeed News she first heard about this when she read it in the paper.” [BuzzFeed]

One Comment

  • Re the Facebook issue, “There is no question these Facebook accounts are like someone’s home,” the Judge said.

    “Like” – yeah, maybe. But it seems to me the accounts are definitely – or at least arguably – not identical to someone’s home. Now what?

    That seems to me the very first issue that must be resolved.

    And every time I catch myself thinking I have no sympathy for people who cry “privacy!” after posting personal information on these social vanity sites, I also think how I would react if information I post when paying bills, or ordering a book, or even posting like this, were subject to surreptitious search. This is an important issue for our age.