Part of the job I love the most is travel. I don’t mean exotic glamour travel. When I say travel, I’m talking about prison visits. And when I talk about prison visits, I’m talking about South Georgia (and sometimes Northwest Georgia). When I come back to the office, I can’t help but tell people about […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-08-16 07:20:292014-08-16 07:20:29Places to Eat and See on Prison Visits in Georgia
A lawyer wrote me yesterday with an interesting question. The lawyer is writing a Brief of Appellant where the client was convicted of child molestation. The lawyer’s question was whether it was proper to use the victim’s name in the Brief. Are there any rules or traditions that govern the use of the victim’s name? […]
Cory Doctorow has a post up at Boing Boing about a copyright dispute (of sorts) between the Harvard Law Review and Carl Malamud. Parker Higgins and Sarah Jeong have written a commentary on the whole mess, calling out the Harvard Law Review as a copyright troll: Of course, far be it from us to call […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-06-01 08:41:242014-06-01 08:41:24The Tyrannical Weight of Tradition in the Law
Over at Grits for Breakfast, is a post discussing that, while cell phones are rampant in Texas prisons, there are few prosecutions. The writer references a comprehensive story about the number of cell phones seized in Texas versus few actual prosecutions for those offenses. The Texas Tribune reports: Prison officials said one challenge was linking the […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-05-05 09:23:502014-05-05 09:23:50Rhetoric Aside, Most Inmates Have Cell Phones
A professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School told the Washington Post that “Given these recurring problems with lethal injections, if I had to be executed, I would choose a firing squad.” That article and one in the ABA Journal details the problems with supply of lethal injection drugs throughout the nation.
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-05-04 07:55:142014-05-04 07:55:14Harvard Medical Professor would Take Firing Squad over Lethal Injection
Jeff Davis has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the State Bar of Georgia. Before that, he was the Director of the Georgia JQC, the agency that governs ethics and Georgia judges. Georgia lawyers and citizens should be proud. I don’t know much about the JQC from before Mr. Davis was its director, […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-05-01 10:28:292014-05-01 10:28:29Congrats to Jeff Davis, Champion of Judicial Ethics
Governor Deal has vetoed House Bill 837, legislation that would have limited disclosure about private probation companies from open records requests. The Peach Pundit provides exclusive coverage on the veto in an article describing all of yesterday’s vetoes and in a specific post addressing HB 837. Greg Bluestein has also covered the veto. Why is […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-04-30 05:58:092014-04-30 05:58:09Governor Hands Private Probation Companies a Rare Legislative Loss
The American Bar Association has released a formal ethics opinion regarding how far attorneys may go in monitoring social media postings of jurors. Attorneys or their representatives may monitor any activity that is publicly available, but they may not “friend” a juror in an effort to monitor their private social media postings. Nor may attorneys […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-04-29 06:20:412014-04-29 06:20:41New ABA Guidelines on Monitoring Jurors Via Social Media
The Economist reports that executions are on the decline and that fewer Americans support the death penalty today than they did in 1994. In fact, most death penalty sentences are handed down in narrow areas of the country: Earlier this month a vote to repeal the death penalty narrowly failed in New Hampshire, but similar […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-04-28 09:32:042014-04-28 09:32:04The End of the Death Penalty / The Rise of Deaths in Prison
Governor Deal has signed into law the aptly-named “guns everywhere law” that increases the number of places in the State that guns will be allowed. Those places include churches (though the church must “opt in,” which may make for an exciting deacon/vestry meeting at a church near you), bars, schools, and even certain places within […]
00J. Scott Key/wp-content/uploads/SK-Logo-Black-White.pngJ. Scott Key2014-04-27 06:54:282014-04-27 06:54:28Unintended Consequences of Georgia’s New “Guns Everywhere” Law
Places to Eat and See on Prison Visits in Georgia
/by J. Scott KeyPart of the job I love the most is travel. I don’t mean exotic glamour travel. When I say travel, I’m talking about prison visits. And when I talk about prison visits, I’m talking about South Georgia (and sometimes Northwest Georgia). When I come back to the office, I can’t help but tell people about […]
An Initial Problem about Initials
/by J. Scott KeyA lawyer wrote me yesterday with an interesting question. The lawyer is writing a Brief of Appellant where the client was convicted of child molestation. The lawyer’s question was whether it was proper to use the victim’s name in the Brief. Are there any rules or traditions that govern the use of the victim’s name? […]
The Tyrannical Weight of Tradition in the Law
/by J. Scott KeyCory Doctorow has a post up at Boing Boing about a copyright dispute (of sorts) between the Harvard Law Review and Carl Malamud. Parker Higgins and Sarah Jeong have written a commentary on the whole mess, calling out the Harvard Law Review as a copyright troll: Of course, far be it from us to call […]
Rhetoric Aside, Most Inmates Have Cell Phones
/by J. Scott KeyOver at Grits for Breakfast, is a post discussing that, while cell phones are rampant in Texas prisons, there are few prosecutions. The writer references a comprehensive story about the number of cell phones seized in Texas versus few actual prosecutions for those offenses. The Texas Tribune reports: Prison officials said one challenge was linking the […]
Harvard Medical Professor would Take Firing Squad over Lethal Injection
/by J. Scott KeyA professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School told the Washington Post that “Given these recurring problems with lethal injections, if I had to be executed, I would choose a firing squad.” That article and one in the ABA Journal details the problems with supply of lethal injection drugs throughout the nation.
Congrats to Jeff Davis, Champion of Judicial Ethics
/by J. Scott KeyJeff Davis has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the State Bar of Georgia. Before that, he was the Director of the Georgia JQC, the agency that governs ethics and Georgia judges. Georgia lawyers and citizens should be proud. I don’t know much about the JQC from before Mr. Davis was its director, […]
Governor Hands Private Probation Companies a Rare Legislative Loss
/by J. Scott KeyGovernor Deal has vetoed House Bill 837, legislation that would have limited disclosure about private probation companies from open records requests. The Peach Pundit provides exclusive coverage on the veto in an article describing all of yesterday’s vetoes and in a specific post addressing HB 837. Greg Bluestein has also covered the veto. Why is […]
New ABA Guidelines on Monitoring Jurors Via Social Media
/by J. Scott KeyThe American Bar Association has released a formal ethics opinion regarding how far attorneys may go in monitoring social media postings of jurors. Attorneys or their representatives may monitor any activity that is publicly available, but they may not “friend” a juror in an effort to monitor their private social media postings. Nor may attorneys […]
The End of the Death Penalty / The Rise of Deaths in Prison
/by J. Scott KeyThe Economist reports that executions are on the decline and that fewer Americans support the death penalty today than they did in 1994. In fact, most death penalty sentences are handed down in narrow areas of the country: Earlier this month a vote to repeal the death penalty narrowly failed in New Hampshire, but similar […]
Unintended Consequences of Georgia’s New “Guns Everywhere” Law
/by J. Scott KeyGovernor Deal has signed into law the aptly-named “guns everywhere law” that increases the number of places in the State that guns will be allowed. Those places include churches (though the church must “opt in,” which may make for an exciting deacon/vestry meeting at a church near you), bars, schools, and even certain places within […]