Author: Jules Epstein

One Virginia lawmaker is hoping to limit the use of masks by law enforcement

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Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill that would limit when law enforcement officers can be masked. “It appears to say that people may sue law enforcement who unlawfully wear masks when those officers commit tortious conduct, ” says Prof. Jules Epstein. “In other words, when they do something else that they can be sued about it’s like this is an added factor.” Read More

An Al-generated video of a dead victim was used in an Arizona court case, raising questions about how the tech’s use might spread

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An Al-generated video of a dead victim was used in an Arizona court case, raising questions about how the tech’s use might spread An Arizona court has heard “testimony” at the sentencing hearing for a man convicted of homicide from an Al-generated avatar of the victim. Professor Jules Epstein offers an analysis of how Pennsylvania courts might consider a similar admission and why it matters whether such evidence would be heard by a judge or a jury.

Yes, Oklahoma (and the Rest of Us), There Is a Due Process Evidence Rule

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Yes, Oklahoma (and the Rest of Us), There Is a Due Process Evidence Rule In a January 2025 opinion the Supreme Court affirmed a due process protection against “evidence…so unduly prejudicial as to render a criminal trial fundamentally unfair.” Prof. Jules Epstein explains why the case matters in his regular column for The Legal Intelligencer.

Most Black people who shoot white people and claim self-defense are convicted. One Montgomery County man was an exception.

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A Montgomery County man claiming self-defense has been acquitted of homicide after 10 months in jail. Prof. Jules Epstein questions the DA’s charging decision in the case. “If self-defense is a gray area in a case, it may be reasonable to bring some criminal charges,” Epstein said. “But calling it first-degree murder? Putting a person at risk of life in jail? Making it harder to get bail? All of those seem to be wrong decisions.”

No Masks – No Mas

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Other than the Lone Ranger and Zorro and “superheroes,” the ‘good guys’ never wear masks. Then why are ICE agents masked and is it right to be disturbed by that choice? Masking of police officers is not an American tradition. Far from it – police wear badges with numbers and name tags, and travel in marked cars. We even disclose names of police charged with misconduct despite fears about whether they will have protests near their homes.   And masks have been banned in state after state, going back to at least 1845, when New York prohibited them because they permitted insurrectionists to go unpunished, and later in response to the Ku Klux Klan.   How were masks used beyond hiding identity? As one court explained, by 1867 “masked Klan members had assumed the practice of ‘night riding,’ making nocturnal visits to the dwellings of blacks in order to harass and intimidate.” Church of the Am. Knights of the KKK v. Kerik, 356 F.3d 197, 200 (2nd Cir. 2004).   Beyond masks going against tradition, they intimidate not …