An Alford plea,in United States law,is a guilty plea in criminal court,whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence. In entering an Alford plea,the defendant admits that the evidence presented by the prosecution would be likely to persuade a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
MG Alfred A. Valenzuela is a retired United States Army major general who commanded United States Army South (USARSO) at Fort Buchanan,Puerto Rico. He frequently discusses how he overcame his childhood as a gang member.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces is an Article I court that exercises worldwide appellate jurisdiction over members of the United States Armed Forces on active duty and other persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The court is composed of five civilian judges appointed for 15-year terms by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The court reviews decisions from the intermediate appellate courts of the services:the Army Court of Criminal Appeals,the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals,the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals,and the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.
James Andrew Wynn Jr. is an American jurist. He serves as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and formerly served on both the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court.
John Marsh Tyson is an American jurist and government official,who currently serves as a Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He also previously served on the court from 2001 to 2009.
Paul Martin Newby is an American judge,who was first elected to a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2004. He was elected Chief Justice of that court in 2020.
The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court for the U.S. state of Alaska. The court consists of five justices,one of whom is internally chosen to serve as chief justice for a three-year term. The justices are appointed by the governor of Alaska from slates of candidates approved by the Alaska Judicial Council,an independent commission of Alaskan lawyers and lay citizens. Each justice faces a judicial retention election after their third year of service and once every ten years thereafter.
North Carolina v. Alford,400 U.S. 25 (1970),was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that there are no constitutional barriers in place to prevent a judge from accepting a guilty plea from a defendant who wants to plead guilty while still protesting his innocence under duress as a detainee status. This type of plea has become known as an Alford plea,differing slightly from the nolo contendere plea in which the defendant agrees to being sentenced for the crime,but does not admit guilt. Alford died in prison in 1975.
John D. Altenburg Jr. is a lawyer for the U.S. Army and a retired major general. In December 2003,Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld named Altenburg as the appointing authority for military commissions covering detainees at Guantanamo. He resigned,effective November 10,2006.
Rives Kistler is an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. After college and law school on the East Coast,he moved to Oregon where he worked in private practice before joining the Oregon Department of Justice. Kistler then joined the Oregon Court of Appeals before appointment to the Oregon Supreme Court in 2003.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court,which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin,is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight judges.
Robinson O. Everett was an American lawyer,judge and a professor of law at Duke University.
The Montana Supreme Court is the highest court of the Montana state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court which reviews civil and criminal decisions of Montana's trial courts of general jurisdiction and certain specialized legislative courts,only having original jurisdiction in a limited number of actions. The court's Chief Justice and six Associate Justices are elected by non-partisan,popular elections. The Montana Supreme Court meets in the Joseph P. Mazurek Building in Helena,Montana,the state's capital,an international style building completed in 1982 and named in the honor of former Montana Attorney General,Joseph P. Mazurek.
The Stolen Valor Act of 2005,signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20,2006,was a U.S. law that broadened the provisions of previous U.S. law addressing the unauthorized wear,manufacture,or sale of any military decorations and medals. The law made it a federal misdemeanor to falsely represent oneself as having received any U.S. military decoration or medal. If convicted,defendants might have been imprisoned for up to six months,unless the decoration lied about is the Medal of Honor,in which case imprisonment could have been up to one year. In United States v. Alvarez (2012),the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was an unconstitutional abridgment of the freedom of speech under the First Amendment–striking down the law in a 6 to 3 decision.
H. F. Gierke III was an American judge who served as the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces from 2004 to 2006. He was a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces,from 1991 to 2004,and a Justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court from 1983 to 1991. Gierke also served as the National Commander of The American Legion,from 1988 to 1989.
Cheri Lynn Beasley is an American attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2019 to 2020. Beasley had previously served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and as a district court judge in Cumberland County,North Carolina.
The Wake Forest University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Wake Forest University. Located in Winston-Salem,North Carolina,Wake Forest University School of Law is a private American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). The school was established in 1894. U.S. News &World Report consistently ranks the school among the Top Tier Law Schools in the nation. The current dean is Jane Aiken.
Albert Diaz is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Diaz is the first Hispanic judge to serve on the Fourth Circuit. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals,Diaz was a North Carolina state superior court judge and an appellate judge for the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.
United States v. Alvarez,567 U.S. 709 (2012),is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was unconstitutional. The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was a federal law that criminalized false statements about having a military medal. It had been passed by Congress as an effort to stem instances where people falsely claimed to have earned the medal in an attempt to protect the valor of legitimate recipients. A 6–3 majority of the Supreme Court agreed that the law was unconstitutional and violated the free speech protections under the First Amendment. Despite reaffirming the opinion that was previously issued by the Ninth Circuit,it could not agree on a single rationale. Four justices concluded that a statement's falsity is not enough,by itself,to exclude speech from First Amendment protection. Another two justices concluded that while false statements were entitled to some protection,the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was invalid because it could have achieved its objectives in less restrictive ways.
United States Army