I mod a worryingly growing list of communities. Ask away if you have any questions or issues with any of the communities.

I also run the hobby and nerd interest website scratch-that.org.

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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • My favorite scene in Criminal Minds is when one of the heroes notices that a person fits the profile for the episode’s kidnapping villain.

    That’s it, guy fits the profile. No screams from inside the house. No suspicious behavior. The justification for exigent circumstances is essentially “it appeared to me in a dream.”

    The hero picks up a potted plant to smash his way into the house and somebody else says “We have to wait for a warrant!” to which he replies “THERE’S NO TIME!” and jumps through the glass window into the house.

    Insanity.













  • The “lawyer dog” case did not hinge on that.

    The suspect,Warren Demesme, did not unequivocally demand a lawyer. He said: “If y’all, this is how I feel, if y’all think I did it, I know that I didn’t do it so why don’t you just give me a lawyer dog cause this is not whats up.”

    The finding was that he asked a question rather than making a statement. The “dog” was completely irrelevant in the decision, but you know Internet pop news sites are going to be Internet pop news sites.

    You can still think the outcome was expecting too much precision by a suspect and disagree with it, but let’s at least be accurate in criticism/discussion instead of perpetuating meme tier inaccuracy.




  • Or contents of a piece of paper.

    In the context of the discussion, I don’t know what you are getting at here.

    But compelling someone to say or type in a password is something where they could assert the 5th. If the police find the password written down on a piece of paper and then type it in themselves over the protest of the defendant, that is not a 5th amendment violation. That’s just using a piece of physical evidence.

    Outrageous. This is taking away the defendant’s rights. Nobody can ever believe that he made this decision if his own free will.

    This was my speculation on how I imagine it could possibly happen, as you say you have seen it written about. I have never seen it happen as a condition this way, but if you provide more detail I can be more precise in answering.

    But if it is say in another hypothetical, a condition on a deferred sentence, then at that point guilt has already been established and a the deferment is an alternative option from the baseline of prison. Again, some specific links to this happening would really help sort what it is you’re seeing.



  • Circumstances? Passwords are contents of the mind, and therefore protected under the 5th. Someone in a situation where they are accused or under investigation has the 5th to fall back on.

    There have been cases recently about the legality of forcing thumbprints on biometrically locked phones, under the theory that a thumbprint is a physical attribute and not something kept in the mind (so you know, lesson there is to keep using a old fashioned passcode). Otherwise, someone on bond or parole or something may have a condition of their arrangement be to allow their devices to be searched. Refusing that is a matter of breaking an agreement made in court.


  • 7th amendment applies to civil suits.

    In the Federal system it does. At the state level, a jury for a particular civil matter is not guaranteed. Judges regularly end up as the finders of fact in state civil cases.

    criminal defendants must consent to bench trial

    Not always. If the case is not serious enough, a jury trial is not guaranteed. This SCOTUS case found 6 months to be the cutoff for a serious enough crime.

    by not contesting any of the facts

    A bench trial where no one is contesting the facts can happen, in that case the defendant is probably contesting the constitutionality of the law, so therefore doesn’t need any dispute any of the facts. But, as in the above link, a case may happen where either the defendant is not guaranteed a jury because the punishment falls below the threshold establsihed, or they waive the jury and the judge sits in as the finder of both law and fact.