I appreciate John’s perspective that it is a shame that the criminal case against Allen H. Weisselberg plead out and did not go to trial due to the serious public interest in the case. My concerns are focused not so much on the fact that the case settled, which I view as inevitable given the … Continue reading Inside a High-Profile Plea Bargain Negotiation: Part II
Yesterday U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh rejected a plea deal for a Maryland couple accused of trying to sell secrets about nuclear propulsion systems on US Submarines to foreign countries. The judge rejected the deal saying they were not “in the best interest of this community, or, in fact, this country.” The judge went … Continue reading Judge Rejects Plea Deal
In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news, on Monday, July 25, a four-woman rowing team arrived in Hawaii, 34 days after leaving San Francisco, setting a new record. As someone who gets motion sick looking at boats, it is hard to imagine spending over a month rowing across the Pacific Ocean in … Continue reading What Does Rowing Across the Pacific Have To Do With Dispute Resolution?
Like many people, I have spent the last many days obsessively watching reports and reading about what is going on in Ukraine. As many readers know, I spent years living in Eastern Europe, including two years living in Belarus, just north of Ukraine. I have taken many trips there over the years. I did a … Continue reading Ukraine
This is a joint message from Nancy Welsh and myself: We at Texas A&M Law have some news to report that is both happy and sad. Let’s start with the sad part. Our wonderful colleague and friend, Michael Z. Green, is going to be leaving us in Fall 2021 to join Chicago-Kent College of Law … Continue reading A Loss And An Opportunity
I don’t know the answer to that question, which is why I am doing a survey to try to find out! I am hoping that you, dear reader of Indisputably, might be able to help. Are you a judge, prosecutor or public defender? If yes, please fill out the survey. If not, do you know … Continue reading What has changed in our criminal courts since COVID-19?
Those words are part of the apology by the Mayor of Fort Worth, Betsey Price, for the police officer killing of Atatiana Jefferson in her home in Fort Worth on Saturday, October 12th. It was followed up by an unconditional apology by the Interim Police Chief, Ed Karus. To watch the full apology see here … Continue reading I’m sorry..there is nothing that could justify what happened on Saturday morning, nothing”
I am conflicted about Alexander Acosta’s resignation and the controversy surrounding his decade old plea deal with Jeffry Epstein. On the one hand, I like it when prosecutors are held accountable for their decisions. It happens far too rarely in this country. But, why do we only question when prosecutors give an “easy” or “good” … Continue reading Acosta and Bad Plea Deals
Prosecutors regularly threaten to add charges if defendants do not accept plea deals. This threat can be serious and can result in substantially more prison time. It seems the rich and privileged defendants in the College Admissions Scandal cases are experiencing this first hand. On Monday, a number of defendants, including Felicity Huffman, agreed to … Continue reading College Admissions Cases and Hard Bargaining
From my dear colleague and Friend of Indisputably, Nancy Welsh: Dear Colleagues, I am posting this in my role as Chair of the Dispute Resolution Research Advisory Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution (“Advisory Committee”). In 2017, the Section’s Task Force on Research on Mediator Techniques issued a comprehensive report analyzing research that … Continue reading What Do We Know About Best Practices in Mediation?
