Archive for the ‘Fifth Amendment’ Category

Does Netflix’s The Irishman Reveal What Really Happened To Jimmy Hoffa? – Yahoo News

Key point: Questions have risen once again about what happened to one of America's most famous union bosses.

On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the Teamsters Union, disappeared.

Hed gone to a restaurant in suburban Detroit apparently expecting to meet a couple of mafia figures whom he had known for decades. Hed hoped to win their support for his bid to return to the unions presidency. A few customers remembered seeing him in the restaurant parking lot before 3 p.m.

Sometime after that he vanished without a trace.

The FBI has long assumed that Hoffa was the victim of a mob hit. But despite a decades-long investigation, no one has ever been charged with his murder. His body has never been found.

Yet even though his physical remains are missing, Hoffa lives on in our collective cultural consciousness.

Martin Scorseses The Irishman is only the latest film to offer a fictionalized version of Hoffas story. Before that there was Sylvester Stallones F.I.S.T. (1978), Danny DeVitos Hoffa (1992) and the made-for-TV movie Blood Feud (1983).

Hes been the subject of countless true crime books, most famously Charles Brandts I Heard You Paint Houses. He inspired an episode of The Simpsons. And he crops up in tabloids such as the Weekly World News, which claimed to have found him living in Argentina, hiding from the vengeful Kennedys.

Ever since I started researching and writing on the history of the Teamsters, people have asked me where I think Hoffas body is located. His story, Ive learned, is the one aspect of labor history with which nearly every American is familiar.

Hoffas disappearance transformed him from a controversial union leader into a mythic figure. Over time, Ive come to realize that Hoffas resonance in our culture has important political implications for the labor movement today.

The rise and fall of the Teamsters Teamster

Hoffa became a household name in the late 1950s, when Robert F. Kennedy, then serving as chief counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee, publicly grilled him about his mob ties.

While other witnesses avoided answering questions by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, Hoffa, the newly elected leader of the nations largest and most powerful union, adopted a defiant stance. He never denied having connections with organized crime figures; instead, he claimed these were the kinds of people he sometimes had to work with as he strengthened and grew his union in the face of employer opposition. He angrily dismissed any allegations of corruption and touted the gains his union had won for its membership.

Story continues

The verbal sparring between Kennedy and Hoffa became the most memorable part of the hearings.

To the benefit of big business, it turned Hoffa into a menacing symbol of labor racketeering.

But to his union members, it only enhanced his standing. They were already thrilled by the contracts Hoffa had negotiated that included better pay and working conditions. Now his members hailed him as their embattled champion and wore buttons proclaiming, Hoffa, the Teamsters Teamster.

His membership stayed loyal even as Hoffa became the target of a series of prosecution efforts.

After becoming attorney general in 1961, Kennedy created a unit within the Department of Justice whose attorneys referred to themselves as the Get Hoffa Squad. Their directive was to target Hoffa and his closest associates. The squads efforts culminated in convictions against Hoffa in 1964 for jury tampering and defrauding the unions pension fund. Despite that setback, Hoffas hold on the Teamsters presidency remained firm even after he entered federal prison in 1967.

When he finally did leave office, Hoffa did so voluntarily. He resigned in 1971 as part of a deal to win executive clemency from the Nixon administration. There was one condition written into the presidents grant of clemency: He couldnt run for a position in the union until 1980.

Once free, Hoffa claimed that his ban from union office was illegitimate and began planning to run for the Teamsters presidency. However, he faced resistance not from the government but from organized crime figures, who had found it easier to work with Hoffas successor, Frank Fitzsimmons.

Hoffas meeting at the restaurant on July 30, 1975, was part of his efforts to allay that opposition.

Clearly, things didnt go as planned.

Some theorize that the mafia had him killed in order to ensure that he would not run against Fitzsimmons in the Teamsters upcoming 1976 union election.

But after no arrests and multiple fruitless excavations to try to locate his body, Hoffas case remains, to this day, unresolved.

From man to myth

In Andrew Lawlers history of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, he writes, To die is tragic, but to go missing is to become a legend, a mystery.

Stories are supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end. But when people go missing and are never found, Lawler explains, theyll endure as subjects of endless fascination. It allows their legacies to be re-written, over and over.

These new interpretations, Lawler observes, can reveal something fresh about who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.

The myth of Hoffa lives on, even though almost five decades have passed since that afternoon in July 1975.

What shapes has it taken?

To some, he stands for an idealized image of the working class a man whod known hard, manual labor and worked tirelessly to achieve his success. But even after rising to his leadership post, Hoffa lived simply and eschewed pretense.

As a Washington Post article from 1992 put it, He wore white socks, and liked his beef cooked medium well He snored at the opera.

Meanwhile, his feud with the Kennedys pitted a populist tough guy off the loading docks against the professional class, the governing class, the educated experts. The Washington Post piece ties Hoffas story to that of another working-class icon. Watching Hoffa go up against Bobby Kennedy was like watching John Henry go up against a steam hammer it was only a matter of time before he lost.

But Hoffas myth can also serve as a morality tale. The New Republic, for instance, described how Danny DeVitos 1992 film reworks Hoffas life into the story of an embattled champion of the working class who makes a Faustian pact with the underworld.

In the movie, Hoffas Teamsters are caught in hopeless picket line battles with mob goons who the anti-union employers have hired. In order to get those goons to switch sides, Hoffa makes a bargain with mafia leaders. But the mafia ultimately has Hoffa killed when he tries to defy their control, becoming the victim of his own unbridled ambition.

Finally, the underworlds mysterious role in Hoffas death keeps his story compelling for Americans who have a fascination with conspiracy theories. It supports the idea of an invisible cabal that secretly runs everything, and which can make even a famous labor leader disappear without a trace.

Hoffas story is often intertwined with theories about the Kennedy assassination that attribute the presidents murder to an organized crime conspiracy. Both Hoffa and Kennedys murders, in these accounts, highlight the underworlds apparently unlimited power to protect its interests, with tentacles that extend into the government and law enforcement.

Did Hoffa taint the labor movement?

Over two decades after he went missing, a 1997 article in The Los Angeles Times noted that No union in America conjures up more negative images than the Teamsters.

This matters, because for most Americans who lack first-hand knowledge about organized labor, Hoffa is the only labor leaders name they recognize. And as communications scholar William Puette has noted, the Teamsters notoriety is such that for many people in this country the Teamsters Union is the labor movement.

A union widely perceived as mobbed up with a labor leader notorious for his Mafia ties has come, in the minds of some Americans, to represent the entire labor movement. That perception, in turn, bolsters arguments against legislative reforms that would facilitate union organizing efforts.

The other themes in Hoffas myth have similar negative implications for labor. He represents a nostalgic, white, male identity that once existed in a seemingly lost world of manual work. That myth also implies that the unions that emerged in those olden times are no longer necessary.

This depiction doesnt match reality. Todays working class is diverse and employed in a broad spectrum of hard manual labor. Whether youre working as a home health aide or in the gig economy, the need for union protection remains quite real.

But for those working-class Americans who see their society controlled by a hidden cabal of powerful, corrupt forces like the puppet masters who supposedly had JFK and Hoffa killed labor activism can appear quixotic.

For these reasons, the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa continues to haunt the labor movement today.

[ Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversations newsletter. ]

David Scott Witwer, Professor of American Studies, Pennsylvania State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This article first appeared last month.

Image: Netflix's The Irishman.

Read the original article.

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Does Netflix's The Irishman Reveal What Really Happened To Jimmy Hoffa? - Yahoo News

Army veteran who refused to give up firearms citing Fifth Amendment found guilty of defying Florida’s new ‘red flag’ law – MEAWW

A US Army veteran became the first in Florida to be charged with defying the states newly adopted red flag law after he refused to turn in his firearms, including an AR-15.

Jerron Smith, 33, who is suspected of shooting at his friends car, was found guilty by a jury in Broward County in southeastern Florida last Friday, December 6, in less than an hour.

Judge Ernest Kollra ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for Smith who faces up to five years in prison.

Floridas new red flag law came into effect in the wake of the shooting tragedy in a high school in Parkland in February 2018 in which 17 people lost their lives.

It was just after a month after the horrific incident that Smiths weapons were confiscated by the deputies after a shooting took place outside his residence in Deerfield Beach.

Smith was accused of repeatedly firing at his best friends car during an argument over a cellphone on March 28 night. The police came to his house to seize off all the weapons and other items under a Risk Protection Order. They had found several magazines stocked in his bedroom.

According to a criminal complaint filed against Smith, it was said that he had shot at least half a dozen times at the vehicle of Jackson Levon while he was inside it.

Under Floridas red flag law, authorities with the backing of the judge can seek to remove weapons from people who are perceived as threats to themselves and others. Apart from Florida, 14 other states have such laws.

Smith told the jury that he was unaware of the legal requirements when the deputies came to his house. He repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, believing that the police could not search his home without showing a warrant or his consent.

According to a report in the local Sun-Sentinel, Smith's lawyer could not present a convincing argument that his client did not fully understand the new law. The date for Smiths sentencing is yet to be decided.

The Sun-Sentinel also said in a report in September that guns have been taken from 2,0000 residents of the state in a year-and-half since the new law was passed.

But figures showed that South Florida, which includes places like Broward County where mass shootings are not rare, has not been as agile in implementing the new law like most other big counties.

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Army veteran who refused to give up firearms citing Fifth Amendment found guilty of defying Florida's new 'red flag' law - MEAWW

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Public Service Announcment: If You Own a Closely Held Business Entity, You Have Waived Fifth Amendment Rights - JD Supra

Another US court says police cannot force suspects to turn over their passwords – TechCrunch

The highest court in Pennsylvania has ruled that the states law enforcement cannot force suspects to turn over their passwords that would unlock their devices.

The states Supreme Court said compelling a password from a suspect is a violation of the Fifth Amendment, a constitutional protection that protects suspects from self-incrimination.

Its not an surprising ruling, given other state and federal courts have almost always come to the same conclusion. The Fifth Amendment grants anyone in the U.S. the right to remain silent, which includes the right to not turn over information that could incriminate them in a crime. These days, those protections extend to the passcodes that only a device owner knows.

But the ruling is not expected to affect the ability by police to force suspects to use their biometrics like their face or fingerprints to unlock their phone or computer.

Because your passcode is stored in your head and your biometrics are not, prosecutors have long argued that police can compel a suspect into unlocking a device with their biometrics, which they say are not constitutionally protected. The court also did not address biometrics. In a footnote of the ruling, the court said it need not address the issue, blaming the U.S. Supreme Court for creating the dichotomy between physical and mental communication.

Peter Goldberger, president of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, who presented the arguments before the court, said it was fundamental that suspects have the right to to avoid self-incrimination.

Despite the spate of rulings in recent years, law enforcement have still tried to find their way around compelling passwords from suspects. The now-infamous Apple-FBI case saw the federal agency try to force the tech giant to rewrite its iPhone software in an effort to beat the password on the handset of the terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in his San Bernardino workplace in 2015. Apple said the FBIs use of the 200-year-old All Writs Act would be unduly burdensome by putting potentially every other iPhone at risk if the rewritten software leaked or was stolen.

The FBI eventually dropped the case without Apples help after the agency paid hackers to break into the phone.

Brett Max Kaufman, a senior staff attorney at the ACLUs Center for Democracy, said the Pennsylvania case ruling sends a message to other courts to follow in its footsteps.

The court rightly rejects the governments effort to create a giant, digital-age loophole undermining our time-tested Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, he said. The government has never been permitted to force a person to assist in their own prosecution, and the courts should not start permitting it to do so now simply because encrypted passwords have replaced the combination lock.

We applaud the courts decision and look forward to more courts to follow in the many pending cases to be decided next, he added.

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Another US court says police cannot force suspects to turn over their passwords - TechCrunch

Stephen Gottlieb: Stiffing The Subpoenas And The Charges – WAMC

The White House orders members of the govenment not to testify and refuses to produce documents requested by House committees. It stonewalls subpoenas or turns to the courts, which could delay proceedings well past the 2020 elections. Is the possibility of impeachment stymied?

Some of us can remember when Republicans commonly charged people with being Fifth Amendment Communists. The obvious point was that their reason for invoking the Fifth Amendment was to hide their connection to the Communists. Otherwise, why not answer?

Actually, even for innocent people it was often safest not to answer because investigators often drew outrageous inferences. The U.S. Supreme Court, for example, lambasted one agency for assuming that a person who wore overalls was a Communist.

But sometimes were entitled to answers. In lawsuits, federal courts can order disclosure unless its unfair or improper.[1] They must consider the parties relative access to relevant information.[2] But if people refuse to answer once orders are issued, courts can direct[] that the matters embraced in the order or other designated facts be taken as established for purposes of the action, as the prevailing party claims.[3] Similarly, when Trumps people refuse to testify, Congress could take facts as established for purposes of impeachment.

The harm under investigation here is considerable and effective remedies for disclosure are appropriate. The seriousness of the issues makes refusal to testify egregious and justifies effective remedies for failure to testify or turn over documents. The Presidents dealings with Russia and Ukraine were extremely dangerous to the extent that they reveal that American foreign policy is up for sale. If Mr. Trump is or suspects hes president because of what Russia did for him, or that he might remain president because of what Russia or Ukraine might do for him, there is at least the temptation to distort American foreign policy to get their help, weakening America and making us more vulnerable to our enemies. Thats a big constitutional no-no, embodied in all the language of the impeachment and emoluments clauses.[4]

His defenders insist that there is no evidence of an explicit quid pro quo. Thats not a satisfactory defense. People in high places are rarely stupid enough to make exchanges explicit I will do this if you will do that. Seeking favors is an impeachable high crime because they create temptations and because the participants often understand and expect there will be a quid pro quo, though Trumps judicial appointees may not get the point.[5] For the same reason, the emoluments clause says zero about quid pro quos just taking a benefit from a foreign power violates that clause. It prohibits accept[ing] any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or Foreign State. The crime under the emoluments clause is merely to accept the benefit.[6]

My high school sent me to a citywide competition about the meaning of brotherhood. One of the judges was the great news anchor, Walter Cronkite. One was the famous Manhattan District Attorney, Frank S. Hogan. And the third was the Manhattan Borough President, Hulan Jack. Shortly thereafter, Hogan convicted Jack for accepting a gift. Jack did some things I admired, but Jack accepted the gift knowing the donor wanted to do business with the City. Statutes prohibit accepting such gifts, whether or not theres an explicit deal because the temptations are obvious. Its well understood that illicit business is done with a wink and a nod. Take this is enough where other arrangements are pending.

In this case, Trump has admitted asking for a favor that he had no right to accept, a favor barred by more than one clause in the Constitution. The fact that he didnt get what he asked for is irrelevant. His behavior was as corrupt as it was for the Manhattan Borough President. Thats enough. And the consequences of Mr. Trumps behavior are much more serious.

[1] F.R.C.P. 26(c)(1).

[2] F.R.C.P. 26(b)(1).

[3] F.R.C.P. 37(B)(2)(A).

[4] See also Impeachment for Corruption, my commentary for April 10, 2018, and Is America For Sale? my commentary for June 20, 2017.

[5] McDonnell v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2355 (2016) (although governor accepted loans and gifts, introducing donor to officials did not violate honest services law); McCutcheon v. FEC, 572 U.S. 185 (2014) (aggregate statutory limit on political donations did little to prevent quid pro quos); Skilling v. United States, 561 U.S. 358 (2010) (honest services doctrine limited to bribery or kickbacks, not including scheme to deceive).

[6] Art. I, 9, 8.

Steve Gottliebs latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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Stephen Gottlieb: Stiffing The Subpoenas And The Charges - WAMC