C|M|LAW’s Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law Milena Sterio has posted On Crimean Secession, Fairness, and Self-Determination on IntLawGrrls.com, a blog on international law, policy, and practice.  She argues that “the Crimean issue is complex, and that instead of simply proclaiming that Ukraine is right and Russia is wrong, we need to step back and analyze the region’s history, as well as to take into account its population’s true desires.”

To read her thoughts on Crimean secession, click here:

http://ilg2.org/2014/03/19/on-crimean-secession-fairness-and-self-determination/

Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich

On March 7, 2014, C|M|LAW Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich commented on Fox 8 News regarding the re-enactment, organized y Cuyahoga County prosecutors, of a fatal 2012 police shooting.

Witmer-Rich said re-enactments can be helpful.  He noted that “[i]t might be the case it will be helpful for the grand jury to see things as they happened in real time.”  He also said that re-enactments do shed light on how events might have transpired and even escalated.

“How would a reasonable officer react in these circumstances?” said Witmer-Rich, “Seeing it happen in real time might really give the grand jury a better sense of how to draw conclusions of how a reasonable officer would’ve behaved.”

Watch here:

http://fox8.com/2014/03/07/what-really-happened-shooting-re-enactment-may-be-helpful/

Professor Patricia J. Falk

C|M|LAW Professor Patricia J. Falk’s 1998 article Rape by Fraud and Rape by Coercion, 64 Brook. L. Rev. 39 (1998) was cited on March 8, 2014, in a much anticipated decision by The Supreme Court of Canada. The decision involved a sexual assault case in which the man intentionally perforated a condom and was convicted of sexual assault.  The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the conviction.

Writing about “the distinction made in U.S. criminal and tort law between deceptions going to the fact (“fraud in the factum”) which vitiate consent for the purposes of rape and battery and other deceptions that act as inducements (“fraud in the inducement”) which do not”, on pages 33-34 of the opinion, the court says:

“A further example is the distinction made in U.S. criminal and tort law
between deceptions going to the fact (“fraud in the factum”) which vitiate consent for
the purposes of rape and battery and other deceptions that act as inducements (“fraud
in the inducement”) which do not. As expressed by one leading text, the rule is that
“if the deception relates not to the thing done but merely to some collateral matter”
the consent is valid: R. M. Perkins and R. N. Boyce, Criminal Law (3rd ed. 1982), at
p. 1079. No matter how beguiling it appears at first, the distinction has proved
unworkable. It is not helpful in differentiating between legally effective and
ineffective consent and where it attempts to draw the line has no basis in principle:

see, e.g., P. J. Falk, “Rape by Fraud and Rape by Coercion” (1998), 64 Brook. L. Rev.
39, at p. 159-61.”

Here is a link to the decision – http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13511/index.do   The reference to Professor Falk’s article is not visible on the html page, but you may view it by clicking on the small PDF icon in the right hand corner of the gray box at the top of the page.  The list of references appears on page 10.

On February 20, 2014, C|M|LAW Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Enrichment Heidi Gorovitz Robertson served on a panel entitled “The Most from a Lease” at Crain’s Shale Summit 2014.  Robertson and the two other panelists highlighted potential legal and logistical issues for current and prospective lessees of mineral rights in Ohio.  In particular, the panelists spoke about the role of landmen and brokers in the leasing process, the impact of unitization on lessees’ rights, rights of access to the surface and subsurface, pipeline leases, and more.  The event was attended by nearly 300 lawyers, journalists, industry professionals, landowners, environmentalists, and others.

Video coverage of the event is available here:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20140224/MULTI/302289999

The event program is available here:

Click to access CC93076213.PDF