Recent Blog Posts

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) shared a letter with me today, signed by nearly 900 organizations urging President Elect Donald Trump to not end the existing protection for so-called DREAMers under DACA.  You can read a  full copy of the letter here: [pdf-embedder url=”http://jessemadamslaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-01-18_daca_organizational_sign-on_letter_v2.pdf”] As a reminder, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) […]

Michael Wines of the New York Times reported this morning that Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, restored the rights of nearly 13,000 ex-felons, “accomplishing on a case-by-case basis what the state’s Supreme Court last month had barred him from doing with a single executive order.”  Nearly 1 in 5 African Americans in Virginia are unable to […]

Back on June  20, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Utah v. Strieff.  The case centered around and arrest for drug possession in Utah.  Narcotics detective Douglas Fackrell conducted surveillance on a South Salt Lake City residence based on an anonymous tip about drug activity. The number of people he observed making brief visits to the house […]

Here is a link to a powerful editorial published in the Boston Globe today, arguing for a ban on assault weapons. http://apps.bostonglobe.com/graphics/2016/06/make-it-stop/

A step backward for justice reform – SB 83 will cut the number of peremptory challenges from 10 to 6 in misdemeanor cases. For the past 8 years, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ) has successfully protected peremptory challenges from proposals by the California Judges Association and the Judicial Council of California who have […]

In 2013, The New Yorker chronicled the harrowing journey of Mark Lytlle, an American citizen, who was deported to Mexico in 2013 .  I’ve had the pleasure of getting at least 3 American Citizens out of immigration deportation proceedings, but the fates of those who cannot afford a lawyer will probably never be known. Here […]

The New York Times published this opinion piece on Monday, arguing the Republican Party’s refusal to appoint a Supreme Court justice is having a crippling effect on the nation’s highest court. Here is a link to the full piece: http://nyti.ms/1sjQvhg

A client of mine was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving, but we resolved the case for an infraction and a fine.  The client thereby avoided an additional point on his driving record, a period of probation that allows law enforcement to search your person, property or vehicle with or without probable cause, and a maximum […]

In a recent case, I was able to reduce the amount of restitution requested by 75% before an order entered, saving my client from paying for damage that had nothing to do with the crime he was convicted of.

Bob Egelko of SF Gate reports this morning that the United States Attorneys office in San Francisco dismissed charges against Brandon Simpson after video of the arrest contradicted the arresting officers version of events.  Egelko reported, “Officer Nicholas Buckley testified that during an encounter in December, Simpson began walking quickly away from him with both hands […]