Friday, January 14, 2022

“Whatever it is that I have said here today”


In one of my favorite movies (Back to School), Dean Martin, dean of the fictional Thornton Melon School of Business, gives a speech during the groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the school’s future, state-of-the-art building.  He said:

The business of America is business.  And the business of an educational institution such as ours is to create young minds that understand that the business of America is the kind of business that it actually is.

Perhaps acknowledging the nonsensical nature of what he’s spewing, Dean Martin concludes: “Whatever it is that I have said here today . . .”  The Dean’s circle speak then provokes a humorous, headshaking response from Thornton Melon.

Monday, January 3, 2022

Miranda Madness

Judge Bruce Schroeder’s scolding of the prosecutor during the Ritttenhouse trial drew a great deal of media attention.  Unfortunately, media outlets were less interested in discussing the underlying problem that caused the judge’s eruption. 

The underlying problem is a common one.  Prosecutors frequently—some, routinely—will comment on defendants’ post-arrest, post-Miranda silence.  In the Rittenhouse trial, the prosecutor did this in two ways.  FIRST, he asked Rittenhouse on cross-exam to admit that this is the first time he’s chosen to talk about the incident, thus implying that he had declined to talk to police upon his arrest.  SECOND, because the state has to go first at the trial, the prosecutor also got Rittenhouse to admit that he had the “benefit” of listening to the state’s witnesses and seeing the state’s video evidence before finally talking about the incident.

Disorderly Conduct

Check out my recently published article, Disorderly Conduct: An Investigation into Police and Prosecutor Practices.  I wrote the article in response to some pretty outlandish claims by law professors about how the police are allegedly using the disorderly conduct statute.  You can read my article's abstract after the jump.  You can also read my Q&A / interview about the article at the Kenosha County Eye.  And you can find the article itself on the LMU website.  All of my articles, organized by topic, are available on the articles page of my website.  Enjoy!