Today, Paul Cassell, Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, joined Professor Nancy Gertner of Harvard Law School in penning an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal decrying limited funding for the federal defender’s office. Cassell and Gertner explained that the sequestration has had devastating effects on federal defense efforts that will, in the long run, cost taxpayers more money. They wrote: “Only with full funding of federal defenders will we avoid the ripple effect that will clog judicial dockets, delay both criminal and civil proceedings in federal courts — and undermine the efficiency of a federal defender system that has effectively served justice for the past 40 years. ”
Cassell is a former federal judge nominated by George W. Bush. Gertner is a former federal judge nominated by Bill Clinton. For a link to the article, click here.
In addition, Cassell is quoted extensively in an August 19 National Law Journal article, “Abuse Victims Want Case Reopened.” The article, about a district court judge’s ruling that the Crime Victims Rights Act (CVRA) “authorize(s) the re-opening of a prosecutorial agreement — including a nonprosecution arrangement — when it is reached in violation of a prosecutor’s duty under the act to confer with victims.”
“We think this sets an important precedent in cases where there is a dispute about what happened in regard to enforcing the CVRA,” Cassell told The National Law Journal. “Victims are entitled to get facts before the court so the court can make the appropriate ruling. The judge here could have said, ‘I don’t know what happened. There are no facts, and you’re out of court.’ But he didn’t do that.”
Click to read the NLJ Article.