"Which is worse? The wolf who cries before eating the lamb or the wolf who does not."— Leo Tolstoy

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

SHIELD ACT endangers Criminal Defense Attorneys and Defendants' Rights to a Fair Trial

Former Prosecutor Joe Leiberman's new  Securing Human Intelligence and Enforcing Lawful Dissemination (SHIELD) Act amends USC, section 798 of title 18, to broaden the definition of "classified information" and includes "narcotics trafficking" within the definition of "transnational threat."  These amendments  give Federal prosecutors  a new tool to intimidate and retaliate against criminal defense attorneys and endanger a defendant's right to a fair trial..

Given the track record of the Department of Justice in committing  prosecutorial misconduct involving confidential informants, the implications for attorneys defending drug trafficking  cases could be quite severe.  More on this later

Shield Act

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