Words of Warning for Prosecutors Using Criminals as Witnesses

In this Article, Judge Trott offers a step-by-step guide to avoiding the many pitfalls facing prosecutors using criminals as witnesses. Because prosecutors cannot choose the company that criminals keep, they must frequently be prepared to deal with snitches, accomplices, and informants in making a case against a defendant. These witnesses frequently have the best, first-hand knowledge of the defendant\u27s criminal activities to offer. However, because of their inherent conflicts of interest, these witnesses can sometimes ruin a case rather than support it. Using newspaper reports from around the country, Judge Trott illustrates how criminal witnesses can turn an otherwise strong case sour when they are not handled carefully by prosecutors and their investigators. Juries are predisposed to dislike and distrust such turncoats, and a skillful defense attorney can spread this distrust to the prosecutor as well. Using these witnesses can also involve the prosecutor in thorny ethical issues when the witness may still be involved in criminal activity, have ongoing contact with the defendant, or proceed without the advice of counsel. To combat this, Judge Trott shows how to carefully and methodically plan the use of criminal witnesses, from the initial contact, to formulating a cooperation agreement, to preparing for trial and making the closing argument to the jury

Study of systematics effects on the Cross Power Spectrum of 21 cm Line and Cosmic Microwave Background using Murchison Widefield Array Data

Observation of the 21cm line signal from neutral hydrogen during the Epoch of Reionization is challenging due to extremely bright Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds and complicated instrumental calibration. A reasonable approach for mitigating these problems is the cross correlation with other observables. In this work, we present the first results of the cross power spectrum (CPS) between radio images observed by the Murchison Widefield Array and the cosmic microwave background (CMB), measured by the Planck experiment. We study the systematics due to the ionospheric activity, the dependence of CPS on group of pointings, and frequency. The resulting CPS is consistent with zero because the error is dominated by the foregrounds in the 21cm observation. Additionally, the variance of the signal indicates the presence of unexpected systematics error at small scales. Furthermore, we reduce the error by one order of magnitude with application of a foreground removal using a polynomial fitting method. Based on the results, we find that the detection of the 21cm-CMB CPS with the MWA Phase I requires more than 99.95% of the foreground signal removed, 2000 hours of deep observation and 50% of the sky fraction coverage.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted to MNRA

FUTURE INTERESTS - POWERS-FRAUD ON A SPECIAL POWER

H was co-trustee under a trust agreement executed by his father which provided for payment of a specified monthly sum to H for life and after his death to his wife W. The trust was to terminate upon the death of the survivor of H and W, and thereupon the other trustee was to deliver 20% of the corpus to each of three named persons, A, B, and C. The trust instrument further provided that H was to have absolute power, with approval of the co-trustee, to prescribe that the distribution of this 60% of the corpus should be made in different proportions than those provided. W predeceased H. H remarried and, desiring to secure a benefit for his second wife from the trust, proposed that each of the three beneficiaries, A, B, and C, agree to pay a sum equal to 7½% of the total trust fund to R, the second wife, on receipt of their 20% shares. A and B agreed to this proposal but C refused to assent. H thereupon purported to exercise his power and changed the percentages to read, 28% to A, 28% to B, and 4% to C. This change was approved by the co-trustee and shortly thereafter the trust was terminated by the death of H. C sought a declaratory judgment as to the effect of the attempted exercise of the power. Held, the attempted exercise was void as a fraud on the power, since it was made for the purpose of benefiting a non-object. Horne v. Title Insurance and Trust Co., (D.C. Cal. 1948) 79 F. Supp. 91

CONFLICT OF LAWS-ENFORCING TAX LAWS OF SISTER STATES

In the recent case City of Detroit v. Proctor, the defendant, a resident of Detroit, was owner of personal property located there in the year 1939. The city levied a tax on this property, which tax became a debt under the laws of Michigan on the first day of April, 1939, and became due and · payable on the 15th of July, 1939. During the month of June, 1939, the defendant removed both his person and his property from the state of Michigan and has since resided elsewhere. The treasurer of the city of Detroit, who is empowered by law to sue in the name of the city for the tax, filed an action in Delaware courts, obtained personal service on the defendant, and attempted to secure a judgment for the amount of the claim. In affirming a dismissal of the action, a superior court of Delaware followed the rule that one state will not enforce the revenue laws of another state. The court found the rule too well established to overthrow, and felt jurisdiction should be refused since the question involves vital interstate relations with which the courts are incompetent to deal without legislative mandate

Chronic opioid pretreatment potentiates the sensitization of fear learning by trauma.

Despite the large comorbidity between PTSD and opioid use disorders, as well as the common treatment of physical injuries resulting from trauma with opioids, the ability of opioid treatments to subsequently modify PTSD-related behavior has not been well studied. Using the stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) model for PTSD, we characterized the impact of chronic opioid regimens on the sensitization of fear learning seen following traumatic stress in mice. We demonstrate for the first time that chronic opioid pretreatment is able to robustly augment associative fear learning. Highlighting aversive learning as the cognitive process mediating this behavioral outcome, these changes were observed after a considerable period of drug cessation, generalized to learning about multiple aversive stimuli, were not due to changes in stimulus sensitivity or basal anxiety, and correlated with a marker of synaptic plasticity within the basolateral amygdala. Additionally, these changes were not observed when opioids were given after the traumatic event. Moreover, we found that neither reducing the frequency of opioid administration nor bidirectional manipulation of acute withdrawal impacted the subsequent enhancement in fear learning seen. Given the fundamental role of associative fear learning in the generation and progression of PTSD, these findings are of direct translational relevance to the comorbidity between opioid dependence and PTSD, and they are also pertinent to the use of opioids for treating pain resulting from traumas involving physical injuries

Qac genes and biocide tolerance in clinical veterinary methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius

Qac genes are associated with increased tolerance to quaternary ammonium compounds and other cationic biocides such as chlorhexidine. This study aimed to determine whether qac genes and increased biocide tolerance were present in 125 clinical methicillin-resistant and susceptible veterinary staphylococci. A total of 125 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP and MSSP) from three archived Australian veterinary staphylococci collections underwent whole genome sequencing, multilocus sequence typing and qac gene screening. Two MRSA isolates (12%) harboured qacA/B genes; both isolates were ST8 from horses. QacJ, qacG and smr genes were identified in 28/90 (31%) MRSP and 1/18 (6%) MSSP isolates. ST71 MRSP was significantly more likely to harbour qac genes than other MRSP clones (p < 0.05). A random subset of 31 isolates underwent minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) testing against F10SCTM (benzalkonium chloride and biguanide), and HexaconTM (chlorhexidine gluconate), with and without the addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as an in vitro substitute for organic matter contamination. Qac genes were not associated with increased phenotypic biocide tolerance but biocide efficacy was significantly affected by the presence of BSA. In the absence of BSA, all MBC values were well below the recommended usage concentration. When BSA was present, regardless of qac gene presence, 50% of MRSA and 43% of MRSP had an F10SCTM MBC above the recommended concentration for general disinfection. Qac genes did not confer increased in vitro biocide tolerance to veterinary staphylococci. Organic matter contamination must be minimized to ensure the efficacy of biocides against MRSA and MRSP