Loyola Law School faculty members pride themselves on being accessible to the media and part of the public discourse on news of legal significance. Visit Loyola's Summary Judgments faculty blog to read faculty opinions on current legal issues. Highlights of recent media appearances and quotations include:
11/28- San Francisco Chronicle
CALIFORNIA’S EXECUTION MORATORIUM RAISES QUESTION OF REDUCING SOME OF THOSE SENTENCES
11/26- Dr. Phil
When she was 17 years old, Kiera, a straight-A student, was convicted of murdering Christian Henton during a drive-by shooting and sentenced to 60 years to life in prison. But Kiera insists she was at school at the time of the murder and doesn't know how to drive.
11/24- KCRW
GUILTY OF MURDERING AHMAUD ARBERY: 3 WHITE DEFENDANTS FACE VERDICTS FROM NEARLY ALL-WHITE JURY
Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan were deemed guilty today for murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black 25-year-old, when he was out jogging in February 2020. The nearly all-white jury found Travis McMichael guilty on all nine charges, including malice murder, meaning he had intent to kill Arbery. The other two men were convicted on lesser murder charges. All face life in prison without parole. And they face another trial for federal hate crime charges early next year.
Guest: Jessica Levinson, Professor, LMU Loyola Law School.
11/24- CBS News
LEGAL EXPERT DISCUSSES CHARLOTTESVILLE RALLY CIVIL CASE AND WISCONSIN PARADE CRASH
11/23- Reuters
MAXWELL TO CHALLENGE ACCUSERS, SEEK DISTANCE FROM EPSTEIN AT SEX ABUSE TRIAL
"[Maxwell's lawyers] want to say the real villain is no longer around to be prosecuted, so they're using her as a scapegoat," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
11/21- Los Angeles Times
PROBLEMS IN SAN DIEGO CRIME LAB COME TO LIGHT IN AUDITS AND INTERNAL DOCUMENTS
11/20- KPCC
JURY FINDS KYLE RITTENHOUSE NOT GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES
Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges Friday after pleading self-defense in the deadly Kenosha shootings that became a flashpoint in the debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice in the U.S. Rittenhouse, 18, began to choke up, fell to the floor and then hugged one of his attorneys upon hearing the verdict. He had been charged with homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering after killing two men and wounding a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle during a tumultuous night of protests over police violence against Black people in the summer of 2020. The former police youth cadet is white, as were those he shot. The jury, which appeared to be overwhelmingly white, deliberated for close to 3 1/2 days. Rittenhouse could have gotten life in prison if found guilty on the most serious charge, first-degree intentional homicide, or what some other states call first-degree murder.
Guest: Laurie Levenson, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School.
11/20- MSNBC
THE RITTENHOUSE TRIAL JUDGE'S PERFORMANCE WAS CONTROVERSIAL — BUT IT WASN'T UNFAIR
After Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges, questions will swirl about whether the trial was fair and whether Judge Bruce Schroeder, the Wisconsin trial judge who presided over the case, put his thumb on the scale in favor of Rittenhouse.
Article by LMU Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
11/19- NBC 5 Chicago
WERE THE TEARS REAL? DEFENSE ATTORNEY ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON RITTENHOUSE TESTIMONY AFTER VERDICT
Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University, said she thought Rittenhouse came off as “quite coached.”
“This is a big credibility call for the jury,” she said. “The jury can either see (Rittenhouse) as a clueless kid or he's trying to evade answering questions. It can hurt him if the jury doesn't think he's sincere."
11/19- KNX-AM
DOES RITTENHOUSE FACE ANY POSSIBILITY OF CIVIL ACTION?
11/17- Sacramento Bee
CAVIAR SELLER STAYED WITH CALIFORNIA TREASURER AND HER STAFF ON WORK TRIPS, EX-STAFFER SAYS
Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson said the actions McCoy described and the records obtained by The Bee don’t suggest that Ma violated any laws or regulations, but she noted that the situation described was “weird.” “A lot of what this brings up is larger questions about how she’s spending taxpayer dollars and who might have influence in her office,” said Levinson, whose work focuses on politics and government ethics.
11/17- New York Times
HE’S REMAKING CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN L.A. BUT HOW FAR IS TOO FAR?
11/16- CBS News
FORMER TRUMP ADVISER STEVE BANNON SURRENDERS TO FACE CHARGES
11/15- Washington Post
A UTAH COMPANY SAYS IT REVOLUTIONIZED TRUTH-TELLING TECHNOLOGY. EXPERTS ARE HIGHLY SKEPTICAL
“It’s the imprimatur that’s the issue. We tend to believe that where there’s science involved it’s reliable,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University, who has studied the issue.
She said she was concerned that people wouldn’t get clearances for jobs or would otherwise be held accountable for things they did not do because of false positives. She noted it also could help the guilty get away.
11/15- KCRW
STEVE BANNON SURRENDERS AFTER DEFYING CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENA. WHAT COULD THIS MEAN FOR JAN. 6 PROBE?
Former White House advisor Steve Bannon turned himself in at the FBI field office in Washington D.C. today. The former Trump administration member does so after his indictment on contempt of Congress charges. Bannon refused to provide information to the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. Bannon also live-streamed his arrival on the Trump-friendly and conservative social media platform GETTR. Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also defied orders to appear at a deposition on Friday.
Guest: Jessica Levinson, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School.
11/15- CBS Los Angeles
POTENTIAL POLITICAL FALLOUT OF RECORD HIGH GAS PRICES ACROSS CALIFORNIA
“The consequences are high when it comes to high gas prices. Voters do things like fill up their gas tanks, go to the market, all of these really affect people’s daily lives. If it becomes more expensive to do the same things you were doing before, you start to blame those in power. Democrats have to be worried about these high inflation numbers, particularly gas prices,” Loyola Law School Professor and Political Analyst Jessica Levinson said.
But of course the price of gas becomes inherently political. And the party in power often gets the blame. Loyola law professor and political analyst Jessica Levinson.
11/13- San Francisco Chronicle
49ERS' DOZENS OF CLOSED MEETINGS WITH SANTA CLARA COUNCIL MEMBERS DRAW SCRUTINY
11/12-KCRW
IF YOU HAVE INFO ON LA SHERIFF’S DEPUTY ‘GANGS,’ WATCHDOG WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU
After failing to force Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva to testify about the alleged existence of gang-like groups among deputies, the Civilian Oversight Commission is taking a different approach. The watchdog agency is now actively gathering public input for a study to investigate deputy gangs.
Pricilla Ocen, Oversight Commission chair and Loyola Law School professor, says because the initial knowledge about cliques came from the public, it makes sense to go back to the original source.
11/12- Los Angeles Times
EDITORIAL: RECALL A CITY COUNCILMAN ONE MONTH AND PUT HIM BACK IN OFFICE THE NEXT? THAT’S ABSURD
11/11- New York Times
THE CORE LEGAL STRATEGY AGAINST OPIOID COMPANIES MAY BE FALTERING
11/10- Los Angeles Times
PROSECUTORS WANT TO CHARGE FENTANYL DRUG DEALERS WITH MURDER
11/9- San Fransisco Chronicle
RECALL OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHESA BOUDIN HEADS TO SAN FRANCISCO VOTERS IN JUNE
11/9- Los Angeles Times
‘RUST’ SHOOTING: WHO COULD FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES IN DEATH OF HALYNA HUTCHINS?
11/9- Bloomberg Law
OUTRAGE DEFENSE STRETCHES TEXAS ABORTION LAW INTO NEW TERRITORY
Adam Zimmerman, a professor who teaches torts at Loyola Law School, said there’s an exacting standard for tort of outrage claims and you have to be able to show the intentional or reckless conduct was aimed at you, that it was so extreme or outrageous that it violates all common decency and morality, and that you were actually injured by it.
“Not just, ‘My feelings have been hurt,’” he said. “We’re talking about PTSD levels of emotional distress.”
11/9- The Guardian
LATE REGISTRATION: YEEZY TO PAY $950,000 TO SETTLE FALSE ADVERTISING LAWSUIT
Lauren E Willis, associate dean for research and law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said she thought it was unlikely that other companies would face legal troubles over shipping delays.
“Although false advertising is false advertising even if the business did not know at the time that it was lying, the government is likely to concentrate its limited resources on pursuing businesses for false statements about delivery only when the government believes the business knew, or any reasonable business should have known, that the statement was false,” Willis told the Guardian.
11/8- San Fransisco Chronicle
11/3- Los Angeles Times
$14-MILLION PAYOUT APPROVED IN L.A. WRONGFUL-CONVICTION CASE