The perils of technology for lawyers

Johnny Manziel's Lawyer Accidentally Texts AP Reporter

Bob Hinton hinted he is doubtful that Manziel can stay clean, and said the quarterback spent more than $1,000 in drug paraphernalia just hours after he was involved in a hit-and-run incident that he informed police about on Monday. Additionally, Hinton said he is seeking a plea deal for Manziel surrounding the alleged assault of his ex-girlfriend in January, but added: "Heaven help us if one of the conditions is to pee in a bottle."

Case of law grad convicted in slaying tests Delaware's death penalty law

from ABA Journal

The Delaware Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty statute in a case involving a law grad accused of killing a former classmate.

An assistant public defender, Santino Ceccotti, argued last Wednesday that the law should be struck down because it allows judges to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors independent of the jury, report Delaware Law Weekly, Delaware State News and the News Journal.

The court is considering the law in the case of Benjamin Rauf, a Temple University law grad convicted of killing classmate Shazim Uppal in August 2015. Speculation by law enforcement was that it was a drug deal gone bad.

Prosecutor's Facebook post calls Orlando nightclubs 'utter cesspools of debauchery'

from ABA Journal

A Florida homicide prosecutor has been suspended from his job because of Facebook rants after the Orlando mass shooting that said the city should be leveled and its nightclubs are “utter cesspools of debauchery.”

The prosecutor is Assistant State’s Attorney Kenneth Lewis of the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, report the Orlando Sentinel and WESH 2 News. He was suspended for violating the office’s social media policy, according to a spokesperson.

He was previously in the news for a Facebook post about “crack hoes.”

His latest controversial post read: “Downtown Orlando has no bottom. The entire city should be leveled. It is void of a single redeeming quality. It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs. It is void of culture. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril. If you go down there after dark there is seriously something wrong with you.