by Marc Neff
Facebook Fraud a Serious Concern
Hacking of Facebook accounts has become a “major issue” for the popular social networking site. Richard Allan, Facebook’s head of European public policy, recently addressed the growing concern, promising that the site would counter the problem through the implementation of “sophisticated methods of tracking unusual user behavior.” Concern over user’s privacy arose recently after hackers...
by Marc Neff
Juror’s Use of iPhone Causes Mistrial in Manslaughter Case
The Florida Court of Appeals recently overturned a manslaughter conviction because a juror used his iPhone to look up a definition during jury deliberations. In 2006, Jose Tapanes was convicted of manslaughter after fatally shooting his neighbor during a heated argument. Tapanes claimed to have feared for his life at the time of the argument so as to render his decision to shoot his neighbor...
by Marc Neff
New Jersey Court Throws Out State’s Fraud Suit Against Springsteen Ticket Sellers
The New Jersey Superior Court recently threw out a lawsuit filed by the State against ticket resellers Orbitz Worldwide and TicketNetwork Direct. The suit arose from the sale of tickets to Bruce Springsteen shows at Giants Stadium last year, six days before Ticketmaster began selling tickets. The state alleged that the resellers had violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act by offering tickets,...
by Marc Neff
Counsel can be Deemed Ineffective for Failing to Advise a Defendant of Collateral Consequences
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently considered whether a defendant’s counsel was ineffective for failing to inform him that a guilty plea to indecent assault would result of the loss of his vested pension rights under the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act (PEPFA). Defendant Joseph Abraham, a high school teacher, had offered $300 to a student in exchange for sex, and also touched...
by Marc Neff
US Supreme Court Holds State Employer May Investigate Employees’ Electronically Stored Data When Search is Legitimately Work-Related
The United States Supreme Court recently heard arguments in the case of Ontario v. Quan, wherein a police officer brought suit against his police department for invasion of privacy. The police department had issued texting/paging devices to its officers for the purpose of work-related use. All of the officers were allotted a predetermined amount of text messages and/or data transfer, which...
by Marc Neff
United States Court of Appeals Hears Arguments in Two Students Cases, Suspended for “Bashing” School Officials on the Internet
A recent hearing held before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit involved constitutional issues of free-speech, as applied to two students suspended for creating fake MySpace pages claiming to be their school principals. One student, a high school senior from Pittsburgh, was suspended in 2005 when he created a fake MySpace page to parody his principal. On the profile...
by Marc Neff
Supreme Court of the United States Holds Failure to Inform Defendant of the Potential for Deportation Prior to Entering a Plea of Guilt Amounts to Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
In a recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, the Court held that an attorney who fails to inform his client of the potential for deportation associated with a plea of guilty amounts to ineffective assistance of counsel. The case captioned Padilla v. Kentucky involved a defendant, Jose Padilla, who was a permanent resident of the United States for over forty years. In that...
by Marc Neff
Courts Begin Cracking-Down on E-Savvy Jurors
In today’s ever-evolving world of electronic communication, the consequences of constant information exchange are being seen in the courtroom. Mistrials, delays and the overturning of convictions are just some of the outcomes caused by jurors who cannot help themselves from “twittering” away on their cell phones, PDAs and computers; both inside and outside of the courtroom. The problem,...
by Marc Neff
Superior Court of Pennsylvania Upholds Suppression Order, Holding Pennsylvania Constitution Provides Greater Protections than Federal
The United States Constitution contains what is known as the Bill of Rights; the first ten amendments to the Constitution which provide American citizens with their Fundamental Rights. These amendments alone apply to individuals solely within the confines of the Federal Government and Legal systems. The Fourteenth Amendment then applies those Fundamental Rights, as set forth in the Bill of...
by Marc Neff