Jury Instruction Corner Thomas Lundy

Comments to the Judicial Conference of the United States Practice & Procedure Committee regarding a proposed amendment to define how federal courts should navigate an emergency suspension of rules (new Criminal Rule 62), such as those posed by COVID-19 and directed by the CARES Act (H.R. 748, 2020).

Coalition letters to the Maryland State Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and House of Delegates Judiciary Committee regarding proposed legislation (SB 921, HB 1213) to eliminate restrictions on jury eligibility for those with criminal convictions.

Behind Closed Doors Thomas K. Maher, Christopher Fialko August/September 2000 53 The Fifth Amendment Is Alive and Well In United States v. Dickerson, 166 F.3d 667 (4th Cir. 1999), a divided panel of the Fourth Circuit held that 18 U.S.C. § 3501 effectively overruled the Supreme Court's decision i

The role of the grand jury in capital prosecutions Thomas K. Maher, Christopher Fialko

This Time, With Feeling: The 'In the Moment' Approach to Selecting a Jury

Rather than a bulwark against "hasty, malicious and oppressive prosecution," today's federal grand jury is too often a rubber stamp, leading many to agree that "a good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich." 

NACDL calls upon Congress to halt the dangerous erosion and abuse of the federal grand jury and enact the modest proposals outlined in our Federal Grand Jury Reform Report & "Bill of Rights."

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure applicable to criminal forfeiture.

Letter to members of the Judicial Conference regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure applicable to criminal forfeiture.

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, except those related to criminal forfeiture.

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure applicable to criminal forfeiture.

Letter to the Judicial Conference Standing Committee on Rules of Practice & Procedure regarding proposed rule changes to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.

Brief Amici Curiae of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies in Support of Defendant-Appellant’s Petition for Rehearing En Banc. 

Argument: In violation of his constitutional rights guaranteeing notice, due process, and trial by jury, Melvyn Gear was convicted of possessing a firearm while holding a non-immigrant visa because the jury was not instructed on that most subjective of the crime’s elements:  knowing possession.  Contrary to four circuits around the country, the Ninth Circuit panel applied a cramped and compressed plain error standard that failed to properly protect the surpassing constitutional rights at stake. The brief amici was filed to bring those decisions and their reasoning to the Ninth Circuit’s attention.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, court administrators have faced increasing challenges to ensuring that juries are representative, allowing for a fair and impartial trial.

A new development in New Mexico courts in the matter of In re Grand Jury Presentation Concerning James Bort Jones resulting in a pre-indictment mechanism enabling investigation targets to alert grand jury to exculpatory evidence.