Poisonous situation

Earlier this month the Supreme Court heard arguments in an unusual case arising from a criminal prosecution concerning a woman who tried to poison her best friend and was later convicted of a federal crime for her actions. The case is a test of whether the federal government can use treaties as a basis to prosecute Americans, something that the justices appeared to be skeptical of. The origins of this case go back to 1998 when the government passed a law that banned the use of chemical weapons for anything other than a “peaceful purpose.” The law was derived from a treaty signed in 1993, which represented an international agreement on the subject. The goal of the accord was to prevent terrorist groups from getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction, arguably not to target spurned microbiologists. Read more

Caution

In a strange development in the criminal defense world, experts say that brain scans and other scientific data is increasingly being used in criminal trials, with defense attorneys citing MRIs as proof that their clients ought to be set free or at the least receive special considerations.

Experts familiar with the matter say that lawyers have begun turning to scientific studies, as a criminal defense strategy, to minimize the extent to which their clients ought to be held responsible or punished for certain crimes. Some estimate that as many as five percent of all murder cases now include neuroscience evidence, a surprising development that has exploded in the last few years. Read more