Gubernatorial candidates consider broader marijuana laws

The Trump administration recently warned about the potential for marijuana to lead to other drug use, but candidates for New Jersey governor are considering embracing efforts to authorize recreational use in the state. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly’s recent comment that marijuana is a possibly dangerous gateway drug comes after Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he is “definitely not a fan” of expanded use. Nonetheless, New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled Legislature plans to move forw…
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QUICKLINKS Media Inquiries Give to Miami Law Alumni & Development Submit a Story / Faculty Focus PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS J.D. Request Information LL.M. Request Information How to Apply STAY CONNECTED PUBLICATIONS Miami Law Magazine See All Miami Law Publications Clinical Professor Rebecca Sharpless, Director of the Immigration Clinic, published an article “Cosmopolitan Democracy and the Detention of Immigrant Families” in the New Mexico Law Review.  Professor Sharpless researches and writes in the…
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A court in Panama on Friday ordered the release on bail of two partners at a law firm involved in last year’s “Panama Papers” scandal set off by the leak of thousands of documents related to offshore accounts. Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca Mora of the Mossack-Fonseca firm were arrested in February in connection with a bribery scandal involving Brazil’s state-run oil company, Petrobras. The two are accused of money laundering for allegedly setting up offshore accounts to move bribes. The cour…
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Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin asked a member of her legal staff to look into the manslaughter case of a former Tulsa reserve deputy as a favor for her sister-in-law, newly released emails reveal. The governor’s office released 14 pages of emails this week showing Fallin’s discourse with sister-in-law Jane Vanfossen — a friend of the jailed officer Robert Bates’ daughter — and Jennifer Chance, her then-deputy general counsel, over the case, the Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/2occbP2 ) reported. The emails indicate Vanfossen had forwarded a plea of concern from Bate’s daughter to Fallin. “As a tax paying, law abiding citizens (sic) we have been thoroughly disappointed in the bias, influenced by a media with no ethical code, that appears in our court system,” Bates’ daughter Leslie McCrary wrote. “I won’t elaborate on the specifics but would ask for you to please review the statute that is keeping our Dad in jail …” An email from the governor noted Chance had researched the case and would contact Bates’ family. Chance later emailed Bates’ daughter and said the governor couldn’t intervene in the case, but advised that her father could have recourse regarding medical care and treatment under federal laws. In March, a Tulsa media report alleged Chance resigned as deputy general counsel after Fallin learned that Chance had recommended her husband, attorney Derek Chance, to the Bates family. Chance’s March 8 resignation letter states she left her post “to pursue other opportunities.” But the emails indicate Fallin was aware Derek Chance would represent Bates after receiving an email of gratitude in September 2016. “We hired Derek in June of 2016 and as of today this is where we are. Nowhere. UGH! Thank you again,” McCrary wrote. Spokesman Michael McNutt told the Tulsa World in a response to a question of Fallin’s interest in the case that the governor “treated this matter the same as similar requests that she receives by referring it to her general counsel’s office.” Bates was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Eric Harris in April 2015. Bates alleged he mistook his revolver for his Taser when Harris had tried to run away from a Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office undercover gun buy. Oops, you haven’t selected any newsletters. Please check the box next to one or more of our email newsletters and submit again. Oops, you didn’t provide a valid email address. Please double-check the email field and submit again.
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Criminals who deal in bitcoins in Florida could soon be busted for money laundering. Florida lawmakers are poised to pass a bill that will add “virtual currency” to the state’s money-laundering statute, a change hailed by law enforcement although frowned upon by some enthusiasts of bitcoins. The proposed law was crafted after a Miami judge tossed a criminal case against a Miami Beach man accused of selling $1,500 worth of bitcoins he believed was to be used to buy stolen credit-card numbe…
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