Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich’s article, “The Heat of Passion and Blameworthy Reasons to be Angry,” has been published in the American Criminal Law Review, the nation’s leading criminal law journal.  The article resolves a long-standing conceptual puzzle in voluntary manslaughter cases, when a defendant kills in the “heat of passion” after being provoked.  For decades courts in provocation cases have struggled to determine which features of a particular defendant are properly relevant when assessing the adequacy of provocation.

The article solves this puzzle by identifying a hidden normative component of the heat of passion doctrine: provocation is not adequate if the reason the defendant became extremely angry is due to some blameworthy belief or attribute of the defendant.  A belief is blameworthy if it contradicts the fundamental values of the political community.

The blameworthiness principle also explains when the heat of passion defense should be denied to some defendants—such as possessive men who kill independent women, or defendants who claim “gay panic” or “trans panic”—while allowed for other defendants in arguably similar circumstances.

Jonathan Witmer-Rich, The Heat of Passion and Blameworthy Reasons to be Angry, 55 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 409 (2018).

Professor and Associate Dean Milena Sterio participated as a guest on “The Sound of Ideas” morning radio show on WCPN/90.3.  Professor Sterio discussed recent federal court ruling against the Trump Administration regarding the Administration’s attempt to end the “DACA” immigration program.  She also discussed the recent Supreme Court arguments in the case of “Hawaii v. Trump,” where plaintiffs are challenging the legality of the Trump Administration’s travel ban.  Audio and video of the show are available here.

From right to left: Professors Pamela Daiker-Middaugh, Doron Kalir, Brian Ray, Steve Lazarus, and Milena Sterio

Clinical Professor Doron Kalir presented at the Northeast Ohio Faculty Colloquium on April 27th; his presentation was entitled “Artis v. DC: What Did The Court Actually Say?” Professor Kalir will publish an article (with the same title) with the Notre Dame Law Review Online later this summer. 

On April 21, Professor Claire Robinson May was an invited panelist at the inaugural Beyond the First Year legal writing conference at DePaul University College of Law.

The panel’s topic for discussion was “The Role of Legal Writing Faculty in Encouraging Doctrinal Faculty to Incorporate Legal Writing into Curricula.”

 Professor Alan Weinstein presented at the 2nd Annual Conference on Legal Master’s Programs for Non-JDs at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.  The title of his presentation was, “Integrating the MLS Program and Students within the Law School and University.” Professor Weinstein has also been listed for 11 consecutive months in the top 10% of authors by all-time downloads on SSRN.

The Global Space Law Center appointed its first student members of the Research Council.  This year the Research Council is will submit comments to (1) the ICAO/UNOOSA Space Learning Group which is tasked with determining the respective jurisdictions of air law and space law with respect to suborbital spaceflight and (2) the Hague Space Resources Working Group which is drafting the building blocks for the legal framework of asteroid mining.  Prof. Sundahl also recently squared off against former FAA regulator, Laura Montgomery, at the Center for a New American Security, regarding the obligation under international law for the US to implement new space activity regulations. Prof. Sundahl also participated in a multi-layer assessment of space-related issues for the US Department of Defense overseen by NSI Inc.  In the media, Prof. Sundahl sounded an alarm regarding the launch of a number of nanosatellites operated by the space start-up Swarm Technologies on an Indian rocket without a license from the FCC.

Professor Brian Ray appeared on WKYC Channel 3 News commenting on a request by privacy rights organizations that the Federal Trade Commission investigate YouTube for knowingly collecting data from children in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.  He also worked with the Cleveland State Law Review to organize the Blockchain Law & Technology Symposium, which brought over 30 national experts together to discuss blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, ICOs and the legal and regulatory issues they raise.  Ray moderated the closing panel on Diversity in Blockchain, a new national initiative launched last fall at MIT, and organized a workshop the day before the Symposium with Andrea Tinianow, the creator of the Delaware Blockchain Initiative, to discuss organizing a similar state blockchain initiative in Ohio.  Ray was invited to speak on behalf of the CWRU-CSU IoT Collaborative (IoTC) at several recent conferences, including Data Days CLE, where he spoke about data privacy and the recent controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica’s collection and use of Facebook data, and at an IoTC-sponsored OHTec event discussing the group’s work with industry partners in Northeast Ohio.