David Marshall Nissman (born 1953) [1] is an American attorney and legal author who served for a time as the U.S. Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands.
David Marshall Nissman (born 1953) [1] is an American attorney and legal author who served for a time as the U.S. Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands.
Born in Queens, New York, Nissman graduated magna cum laude from Emory University in 1975, and earned a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1978. [2]
In 1978, Nissman became a deputy district attorney in Eugene, Oregon, [2] [3] [4] [5] also teaching as an adjunct at the University of Oregon School of Law and writing several legal textbooks, including Beating the Insanity Defense (1980), The Prosecution Function (1982), and Law of Confessions (1986). [2]
In 1984, he declared his intent to run for a seat on the Oregon Supreme Court, against incumbent Hans A. Linde. [2] [3] Running in a three-way race in the primary, Nissman came in third with 25% of the vote, with the other two candidates being forced into a runoff election. [6] In 1986, he prosecuted double-murderer Daniel Nick, who killed two neighbors with a shovel and claimed as his defense that he believed the victims were aliens sent to spy on him. [7]
By 1988, Nissman had relocated to the U.S. Virgin Islands, as an Assistant United States Attorney, [8] [9] with a 1989 report that in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo devastating the islands, a ham radio operator sent a message purporting to be from Nissman that "said his life was in peril and asked to be rescued", though the reporters "could not verify that Nissman had sent such a message". [10] By 1994, Nissman was chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney in the Virgin Islands, [7] and by the end of 1994, he had become the Acting U.S. Attorney. [11]
On April 18, 2002, Nissman was formally appointed by President George W. Bush as the 19th U.S. Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands.
During his tenure the U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted many high-profile cases, including a case against the V.I. government for fraudulently circumventing the competitive process and awarding a $3.6 million contract for major sewer repairs on St. Croix to a local company with no experience. The government later cancelled the contract. [12]
Nissman retired as U.S. Attorney in 2004. [13]
After his retirement, the U.S. Attorney's Office Building on St. Croix was named the David Marshall Nissman Justice Center. [14]
As of 2012 [update] , he was a senior partner of ILP + McChain Miller Nissman. In January 2024, Washington, D.C.-based Community Redevelopment Inc. issued a press release announcing that Nissman had joined its board of directors. [15]
Nissman married Carolina Zapata, with whom he had three children. [1]
The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Politics of the United States Virgin Islands takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic dependency, whereby the Governor is the head of the territory's government, and of a multi-party system. United States Virgin Islands are an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior. Executive power is exercised by the local government of the Virgin Islands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
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Kevin Leese Mannix is an American politician, business attorney, and former chairman of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Hans Arthur Linde was a German Jewish American legal scholar who served as a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1977 to 1990.
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Arno Harry Denecke was an American jurist born in Illinois. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1963 to 1982, and as the 37th Chief Justice of the court from 1976 until leaving the bench. The World War II veteran retired from the United States Army at the rank of colonel in 1974.
The Virgin Islands Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction for the United States Virgin Islands. The court is composed of nine judges. They are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. Effective January 29, 2007 the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands assumed jurisdiction over appeals from the Superior Court.
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The Willamette Law Review is a law review academic journal published by Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1959 as a successor to an earlier publication, the triannual publication is housed in the Oregon Civic Justice Center. The journal is edited by students of the law school with oversight by the college's faculty. As of 2019, the Willamette Law Review has published a total of 55 volumes.
The Oregon State Bar (OSB) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulates the legal profession. The public corporation is part of the Oregon Judicial Department.
Charles H. Turner was an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Prior to his presidential appointment as U.S. Attorney, Turner worked under his predecessor, Sidney I. Lezak, for 14 years. He was appointed as Lezak's replacement by President Ronald Reagan.
Leland v. Oregon, 343 U.S. 790 (1952), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the constitutionality of placing the burden of persuasion on the defendant when they argue an insanity defense in a criminal trial. This differed from previous federal common law established in Davis v. United States, in which the court held that if the defense raised an insanity defense, the prosecution must prove sanity beyond a reasonable doubt, but Davis was not a United States constitutional ruling, so only limited federal cases, but not state cases. Oregon had a very high burden on defense, that insanity be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. At that time, twenty other states also placed the burden of persuasion on the defense for an insanity defense.
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Derek M. Hodge was an American Virgin Islander politician and lawyer who served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands for two terms from 1987 to 1995 under Governor Alexander Farrelly. The Virgin Islands Daily News called him a "towering figure in local politics," referring to his political career, which spanned several decades.
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The Fountain Valley massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on the afternoon of 6 September 1972 at the Fountain Valley Golf Course in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. The incident left eight resort employees and tourists dead. Another eight were either shot at or wounded.
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