Andrew Fleischman Profile picture
I work on behalf of the wrongfully or unfairly convicted. I also try cases.
5 subscribers
Jan 22 5 tweets 1 min read
The problem is that there's no good faith definition of "jurisdiction" under which illegal immigrants aren't subject to US jurisdiction.

They have to pay taxes. They can be convicted of crimes. They can be sued. They can be deported.

That's what jurisdiction is. When you say we don't have "jurisdiction" over them you have to come up with some tortured definition where if you can imagine a law does not apply to illegal immigrants (or people here on a visa), that means no jurisidiction.
Dec 5, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read
A quick and dirty explanation for why Shannon Stillwell was acquitted of the murder of Shymel Drinks in the YSL case (in my view).

1. The victim was killed with a .40 caliber, and there was no evidence that Stillwell ever owned a .40. The gang "expert," Viverito, tried to claim that she recognized the bottom of a Glock 27c in a video that Stillwell posted on social media, but she has no special expertise or training with firearms, and her whole basis is that she held one, once, at a gun store.
Nov 26, 2024 17 tweets 4 min read
I want to talk for a minute about a very good, bipartisan bill that you should support: the SLAPP protection act.

A SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) is a weak defamation suit that you file, not to win the case, but to impose litigation costs. /1 So for instance, let's say you go to a restaurant and have a terrible experience. You write a review describing your experience, and the restaurant sues you. Now, you have to pay a lawyer 300 dollars an hour, or take your review down and apologize. /2
Nov 25, 2024 4 tweets 1 min read
Last year my daughter was learning to ride a bike. A large dog, off leash, starts chasing her. She is terrified. It's jumping on her.

The useless piece of shit owner is like, trying to instruct his dog to stop, and I have to sprint up the street to try and grab the dog off. The dude is giving these half assed apologies about how his dog isn't scary and won't hurt my kid. Which the dog has already fucking done.

My wife, always calm, gave the man a thorough talking to.
Nov 7, 2024 6 tweets 2 min read
The case against Jackie Johnson is extremely dumb. When Ahmaud Arbery was murdered, she decided not to bring charges. For that she is being charged with obstruction and violation of oath of office.

She was dead wrong. But take ten seconds to think about this case. /1 The claim is that she was showing favor to Gregory McMichaels, a former investigator in her office, by not proseucting him.

But DA's use their discretion like this all the time, and in a hundred different ways. Veterans, young people, people with substance abuse. /2
Nov 6, 2024 5 tweets 1 min read
Bad stuff I expect to happen:

Mifepristone ban
Tariffs
Nutty district and appellate judges
Ending support for Ukraine
Insane deficit spending
Conservative SCOTUS basically forever Bad stuff that could happen:

Repealing CHIPS act
Federal vaccine skepticism
Increasingly bold censorship efforts from State AG's
Sep 25, 2024 6 tweets 2 min read
Ok, so let's go through the 2005 affirmance of Marcellus Williams prosecution.

According to the Supreme Court of Missouri, the evidence against Williams was:

1. His girlfriend
2. His cellmate
3. Items in the girlfriend's possession that belonged to the victim. Image Williams' defense was that his girlfriend was a prostitute turning him in for a 10k reward who had actually been the person to rob the victim, and that she had lied about him giving her a ride because his car didn't work. Image
Sep 18, 2024 4 tweets 2 min read
The problem with having Tim Pool sue you is that Tim Pool uses Tim Pool's judgment to select his lawyer and that is not a recipe for success.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Image I am not saying that Tim Pool is bought and paid for but I certainly might say pretty much whatever you wanted me to for 100k a video
Aug 22, 2024 4 tweets 1 min read
There are not a lot of people who can just wander into a diner or a donut shop and instantly connect with the people there. Retail politics is hard! If I were going to offer some advice, try asking questions that have more open-ended answers. Not "how long have you worked here" but "what's the best donut here?"
Jul 10, 2024 7 tweets 3 min read
Cities can be sued for the civil rights violations of their police officers when those violations are the result of a policy. Either official (mass arrest orders) or unofficial (looking the other way when bad stuff happens).

/1


ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/2…
Image In the 5th Circuit, several George Floyd protesters sued because they were beaten and shot with pepperball rounds. /2
Image
Image
Jun 27, 2024 4 tweets 1 min read
A doctor and a lawyer are chatting at a party. But every few minutes, someone comes up and pesters the doctor about some ailment and asks for advice. After a couple of hours, the doctor, exasperated, asks the lawyer how it is that no one bothers asking HIM for advice? The lawyer takes a sip of his whiskey and a drag on his cigar before responding that that used to be a problem for him, but now he just bills people who ask him for advice at his hourly rate. Once that happened a couple of times, nobody bothered him again.
Jun 20, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read
Ok so let's talk about mistrials and double jeopardy, since everyone is talking about it in the context of the YSL trial.

If a mistrial occurs, and the defense just DOES NOT OBJECT, the defendant can be retried. If it's defense requested, same deal.

/1 Image The only time that the defense can request a mistrial AND bar retrial is when they can get a judge to find that the State deliberately provoked the mistrial.

This is hard as hell because no prosecutor is going to admit that and the judge has to work with them every day.

/2 Image
Jun 19, 2024 23 tweets 7 min read
So let's talk for a minute about recusal motions in Georgia, how they work, and what the remedies are.

A valid recusal motion in Georgia must be:

1. Swift
2. Sworn
3. Sufficient

/1 Image The motion must be swift:

You have to file it within 5 days of learning whatever reason you have for wanting the judge recused.

/2
Jun 13, 2024 5 tweets 2 min read
It appears that Georgia Rule of Professional Responsibility 3.4 (f) actually has a pretty major typo that changes its meaning.

They changed an "and" to an "or" that eviscerates the rule.

Left: Georgia Right: ABA

Under Georgia's rule, you can almost always request secrecy.
Image
Image
It makes total sense to say that you can tell employees not to tell people about things, so long as it's not adverse to their interests.

It makes no sense at all to say you can tell anyone to remain silent, so long as it's not adverse to their interests.
Jun 12, 2024 6 tweets 1 min read
Let's take a breath and summarize.

Kenneth Copeland did not want to testify. His lawyer left town.

The State and a Judge took this opportunity to threaten to hold Copeland in jail for years if he refused to testify, and threatened to charge him with perjury if he deviated. This may surprise you, but it is relevant whether a witness has been threatened with criminal charges unless he testifies as the State insists he does. That is part of his feelings towards the parties. It is Brady evidence.
Jun 10, 2024 15 tweets 6 min read
Let's go through some relevant law. First off, judges are not supposed to talk to parties without opposing counsel present except in a few, limited circumstances. Here's Uniform Superior Court Rule 4.1. Image I am not aware of any rule that permits a judge to meet ex parte with a witness.

See e.g. Arnau v. Arnau, 207 Ga. App. 696, 697 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993) (judge who met with expert presumptively prejudiced losing party even if testimony was cumulative).
Image
Image
May 31, 2024 6 tweets 2 min read
People keep saying these charges never would have been brought against anyone else.

That's dumb.

If you become a national news story over something that is arguably criminal, there is a very good chance you will be charged. No matter who you are. Like, remember that subnormal dude who slapped his kid at a restaurant last week?

Very good odds that he ends up catching a charge or a child services investigation. Not because of his politics but because he is in the public eye.
May 14, 2024 17 tweets 3 min read
People often mess up hearsay but the rule is easy.

1. Out of court statement

That means any statement made by someone who is not in the witness chair

It also means statements by the witness that were made before they got to court. 2. For the truth of the matter asserted.

In other words, do you give a shit if the dude is lying?

If I said I am the world's greatest lawyer, you can't bring that in to argue that it's true.

But you can bring it in to show I'm delusional.
May 10, 2024 7 tweets 2 min read
Thrilled to report that my client, Meagan Dwyer, prevailed in her anti-SLAPP motion today against Stephanie Britt, a Savannah cheerleading fixture who claimed that Dwyer had gotten her kicked out of a cheerleading association (the USASF) by reporting misconduct around children. Image There were many problems with Britt's lawsuit, starting with the fact that it did not specify what Dwyer had said, explain how it was untrue, or establish that it led to Britt being kicked out of the USASF.

/2
Apr 29, 2024 7 tweets 2 min read
If you are ever arrested, the two biggest things you can do to help yourself:

1. Be polite and reasonable with the officer. If he responds by acting like a jerk, that just helps you more when a jury looks at the video.

2. Politely decline to answer questions. I have seen so many cases where a cop has a borderline arrest, and a judge takes his demeanor into account. A super nice officer who chit chats with the defendant while he waits for backup wins suppression motions.

A guy who enjoys being a jerk often doesn't.
Apr 5, 2024 5 tweets 2 min read
District Attorney Fani Willis has opened up a website to sell merch, particularly on "Fani Friday." You too can have your very own Fani T. Willis fan club t-shirt.

the-official-fani-store.printify.me/product/672427…

Image
Image
The perfect shirt for people with a bench warrant Image