9. I love that Judges are now making available virtual pre-trial conferences. I know 9Th Judicial Circuit Judge Harris has been doing this for a while. Makes you wonder why it took a worldwide pandemic to make this procedure nearly universal.
8. Indecent exposure is still a crime. COVID-19≠No Laws. Apparently, a person in Taneytown needed that reminder. The local police department posted in Facebook “Please remember to put pants on before leaving the house to check your mailbox. You know who you are. This is your final warning.” On a side note, when I first heard this story, I assumed like everyone else did, must have happened in Florida. So on behalf of all Floridians, thank you Maryland.
7. Harvey Weinstein thought he was getting out of jail because of coronavirus.
6. Michael Avenatti IS actually getting out of jail because of coronavirus.
5. On a more serious note, Florida needs to amend statute 947.149, Conditional Medical Release. A person sentenced to prison in a federal case who is at higher risk of complication from COVID-19 has a vehicle to allow a judge to amend their sentence to terminate incarceration or place on house arrest. It is part of the recently passed First Steps Act in a section on Compassionate Release. The Florida statute doesn’t allow for this and places many vulnerable people at risk of severe illness or death. Our prisons were not built to handle or treat a pandemic and our judiciary should have the ability to address certain inmates with preexisting medical or age-related conditions.
4. Are law students around the country just faking internet issues if their professor calls on them to explain the Rule in Shelley’s Case?
3. President Donald Trump is looking into a pardon for Joe Exotic.
2. Stay at home orders were implemented to enforce social distancing. People are getting arrested and sent to jails. You know, places where people are crammed into small cells and can’t stay six feet apart much less self-isolate. Issue a fine, ok. Issue a criminal notice to appear, maybe. Take to jail, dumb and counterproductive.
1. Under Governor Desantis’s Stay at Home Order, lawyers are essential. However, my wife can’t say lawyers are “essential” without putting air quotes around the term.