New! Public Records on Fastcase

Fastcase has just launched its new public records search! Need to find out whether your new bankruptcy client has filed before (or whether they've disclosed all of their assets)? What about finding more information about the spouse in a family law proceeding, or whether a potential defendant is judgment-proof for a lack of assets? What about researching an opposing witness?

You can do all of this and more now that Fastcase has joined forces with ChoicePoint, the leading public records search company -- and without any increase in your Fastcase subscription. You pay only when you use the service, and at affordable, fixed rates.

In some cases, this kind of due diligence is required by statute (bankruptcy, for example) - in other cases, it's just good lawyering to find out everything you can about the parties, witnesses, or potential parties in a suit. Fastcase has been recognized as a leading resource for bankruptcy lawyers (as in this ABC News story), and public records searching makes the service even more comprehensive.

To use the service, Fastcase users select Search Public Records from their home page, fill out a credentialing form (as required by federal law) and submit to ChoicePoint for verification. Once credentialed, Fastcase users can use the Search Public Records link on their Fastcase home page.

The Bullet-Matching Mistake: How to Move Forward

Since the 1960s, the FBI has used "bullet matching" as evidence in criminal cases. However, recently the practice has been successfully challenged in a number of cases. Public defenders and watchdog organizations are now bringing challenges to help identify defendants who were wrongfully convicted using such evidence.

Bullet matching was first used to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and was central to FBI criminal testimony for 40 years. The procedure rests on the assumption that all bullets molded in the same batch should have the same chemical makeup, and thus an investigator would be able to identify whether a fragmented bullet matched those in a suspect’s possession. Bullet-matching has been used in thousands of trials, and has been a pivotal factor in proving guilt in several dozen.

The FBI eliminated bullet-matching from its criminal investigations after former agent William Tobin brought to light its statistical inconsistencies and the large margin of error inherent in its use. After thorough investigations by both Tobin and the National Academy of Sciences, it became apparent that bullets within the same box could have varying chemical make-ups, and more importantly, up to 35 million bullets with the same composition could exist at any one time.

Today, Barry Scheck from the Innocence Project has dedicated himself to publicizing the error rates of bullet matching so that wrongly convicted defendants may appeal their sentences. Several have successfully appealed their convictions, but for some, the time to appeal their sentences may already have passed.

Click to find out more about the cases that may be reversed due to bullet matching, including the convictions of Wayne Lee Hunt and Robert Kulbicki.

Florida Bar Upgrade

If you are a Florida Bar member and would like to upgrade to the Fastcase Premium plan, please follow the instructions below in the slide show:

The Florida Bar Memeber Benefit Overview

Are you a member of the Florida Bar? All members of The Florida Bar have free access to sections of the Fastcase database. Check out the slide show below to see what is free on Fastcase just for being a member of The Florida Bar.




To get started with your member benefit, please go to www.flabar.org and click on the Fastcase Logo. You will be asked for your Bar # and password. After entering in that information you will be taken directly to our Quick Caselaw Search page.


Happy Searching!

The Blog and Freedom of Speech

Robin Lustig at the BBC has recently conducted a survey of blogging in countries where curbs on the right to free speech are extensive, focusing particularly on the Middle East. Lustig met with Arab activists and journalists to discuss how blogging has opened up the public forum in many highly-restricted societies, and notes a resounding enthusiasm for the growing news-blog phenomenon. Many of his participants asserted that they would trust a news blog far more than any state-controlled news agency, regardless of questions of bias and authenticity of news often associated with the world of blogs.

However, bloggers are not universally safe behind the cover of the internet. One Egyptian online journalist has been imprisoned for “insulting Islam” and denouncing Hosni Mubarak. In the U.S., the laws that curtail what can be published in print also apply to blogs, although many write their online journals unaware of potential consequences. To read more about blogs and the law, click here for an article from the Washington Post.

Fastcase Text Overlay Tutorial

Would you like to see a brief video on how to use Fastcase? Please watch our brief tutorial and learn how to accelerate your legal research tasks!

(There is no audio accompaniment)

Losing Faith: Government Funded Faith Based Programs Challenged In Court

The Federal Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit has ruled that InnerChange's Freedom Initiative should not be allowed to accept government funds to support their rehabilitation program in prisons. InnerChange's doctrine is based on Christian values, which promotes that one can change their life through "the power of the Gospel." The court found the program violated the First Amendment because “the indoctrination and definition criteria had the effect of advancing or endorsing religion.”

This is seen as a significant loss for government funded faith based programs and a victory for separation of church and state advocacy organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which brought the suit against InnerChange. InnerChange is still offering the program in prisons but only through privately collected funds.

Study - Violent Media Poses Risk to Public Health

According to a new study by L. Rowell Huesmann at the University of Michigan, violence in the media poses a risk to public health by encouraging aggression in young people, and is second only to smoking as a threat to society. After 50 years of research, Huesmann has confirmed that the exposure of children to violence in movies and on television both desensitizes them to brutality and poses cruel or violent behavior as a societal norm. Less research has focused on video games, but it seems that violent games may be an even greater hazard; many games, including war games like Call of Duty, or the infamous Grand Theft Auto, require children and teenagers to actually perform aggressive or sadistic acts, further contributing to a familiarity and sense of comfort with violence. Most importantly, Huessman’s study concludes that violence in the media has a causal relationship with violent tendencies in adolescence; conversely, children who exhibited aggressive behavior were no more likely to then watch violent media as they grew older.

For a description of how Huesmann and his colleagues conducted their study, click here. Also, Tipper Gore on explicit music and media.