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Paul Callan is a CNN legal analyst, a former New York homicide prosecutor and of counsel to the New York law firm of Edelman & Edelman PC, focusing on wrongful conviction and civil rights cases. Follow him on Twitter @paulcallan. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN)I attended the prescreening of the first two episodes of Ava DuVernay's new Netflix miniseries "When They See Us," which tells the story of the unjustly imprisoned Central Park Five, at a packed Apollo Theater earlier this month. I had served as the lawyer for the two Manhattan assistant district attorneys, former trial bureau chief Nancy Ryan and senior trial counsel Peter Casolaro, whose dogged reinvestigation of the case in 2002 resulted in the dismissal of all charges and freedom for the wrongfully convicted five men: Korey Wise, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana after many years in prison. Ryan and Casolaro were entitled to … [Read more...] about Ava DuVernay’s compelling look at tragic injustice of Central Park Five case

A new scandal at the San Francisco Police Department’s beleaguered crime lab may imperil hundreds of criminal cases based on DNA evidence, The Chronicle has learned. Police confirmed Friday that “irregularities” at the lab’s DNA unit prompted them to reassign a technician and her supervisor while officials conduct an investigation into apparent violations of department testing standards. According to testimony and evidence revealed in a trial late last year, the analyst allegedly filled in the gaps in poor-quality, incomplete genetic evidence. She generated two complete genetic profiles, and both were sent off as definitive test results to the state’s offender tracking database, something that would not have been allowed with the original, lower-quality DNA evidence. State rules specify that only verified, complete samples from suspects or relevant genetic evidence drawn from crime scenes can be legally entered into its database to identify suspects in … [Read more...] about DNA lab irregularities may endanger hundreds of SFPD cases

Pamela Karlan’s formidable reputation as a scholar and Supreme Court advocate, coupled with a deep commitment to progressive causes, have made her a leader of the sometimes disorganized liberal legal movement. Her credentials Karlan, 60, received bachelor’s, master’s and law degrees from Yale University and clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun of the Supreme Court. She is now a director of Stanford Law School’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Karlan made regular media appearances discussing the 2000 presidential election and recount, and was one of the authors of “When Elections Go Bad: The Law of Democracy and the Presidential Election of 2000.” During the Obama administration, she worked in the Justice Department’s civil rights division and received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award employees there can earn. She has also worked on the California Fair Political Practices Commission and for the NAACP … [Read more...] about Who Is Pamela Karlan? Legal Leader Committed to Progressive Causes

close Video Constitutional law experts testify on impeachment for House Judiciary Committee What was billed as a scholarly examination of the constitutional merits of impeachment, devolved into partisan bickering; chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel reports from Capitol Hill. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler opened Wednesday’s impeachment hearing with testimony from three left-wing law professors who consider President Trump to be evil incarnate. If Nadler thought this display would somehow convince the public that the president’s actions merit impeachment, he is sure to be disappointed. The three professors simply failed to make the case. Nadler’s witnesses were Noah Feldman of Harvard University, Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, and Pamela Karlan of Stanford University. GREGG JARRETT: IMPEACHMENT-OBSESSED DEMOCRATS IGNORE LOGIC AND LAW AS 4 PROFESSORS TESTIFY AT HEARING The sole Republican witness … [Read more...] about Hans von Spakovsky: Democrats’ weak impeachment case not strengthened by anti-Trump law professors

Staged reenactment of a disruptive in-flight passenger incident. Staged reenactment of a disruptive in-flight passenger incident. Photo: Green Light Security Consultants Photo: Green Light Security Consultants Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Image 1 of 4 Staged reenactment of a disruptive in-flight passenger incident. Staged reenactment of a disruptive in-flight passenger incident. Photo: Green Light Security Consultants Belligerent airline passengers face new legal peril 1  /  4 Back to Gallery Unruly passengers who disrupt international flights have enjoyed pretty good odds of avoiding prosecution for their misdeeds, but that will change on January 1, 2020 when a new inter-governmental agreement … [Read more...] about Belligerent airline passengers face new legal peril