TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Several long time readers have emailed us that they are experiencing difficulties when viewing the blog. The problem -we think- is that Google is going out of their way not to play nice with browsers by companies they don't like. For instance Google has now made it nearly impossible for us to view pending comments with our IPhone. 

Please let us know if you are experiencing difficulties. In the meantime you can try clearing the history and cache on your internet browser on a regular basis and that should help. 

ANONYMOUS JURORS? 
David Ovalle is one of many media members reporting that the Judge in the George Zimmerman trial is considering keeping the names of jurors anonymous for six months after the conclusion of the trial. 
Scott Ponce of Holland and Knight was up in Sandford on behalf of the Herald arguing against the Judge's decision. Ponce does a lot of the media motions in Florida. 

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT....except when you don't. 
In Salinas v. Texas, the Supreme Court held yesterday that silence during a "pre-custodial" interrogation is admissible as evidence of guilt. Justice Scalia, DOM's great friend to the defense joined Justice Thomas in concurring in the result, giving the plurality opinion of Roberts, Alito and Kennedy the gravitas of law. 

In this "up is down, down is up" world of jurisprudence, in order to invoke the protections of the Fifth Amendment, including the right to remain silent, you must speak up:

Petitioner’s Fifth Amendment claim fails because he did not expressly invoke the privilege against self- incrimination in response to the officer’s question. It has long been settled that the privilege “generally is not self- executing” and that a witness who desires its protection “ ‘must claim it.’ ...Because petitioner was required to assert the privilege in order to benefit from it, the judgment of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejecting petitioner’s Fifth Amendment claim is affirmed.


 Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor fought the good fight against the evil empire. 
So remember to advise your clients: in order to remain silent....SPEAK UP. 

See You In Court.