Law With Mr. Lafayette

On January 12, the Milwaukee District Attorney amended the criminal complaint against Darrell Brooks, Jr. accused of the “Christmas Parade Massacre” that happened on November 21, 2021. Accused of six charges of first-degree homicide,  an additional 71 charges have been added.  Brooks faces 61 counts of first degree reckless endangering safety with a dangerous weapon, the SUV he drove int...

In this episode of “Law With Mr. Lafayette” the role and purpose of the grand jury is explained. This group of 12 to 23 people reviews evidence and considers whether or not to charge a defendant with a crime.  They have the right to investigate crimes but not to try them.

The eve of the New Year offers listeners with a preview of the lead trial of 2022.  On Monday, January 3, the case of WI v. Edgecomb will begin.  The defendant in this case is Theodore Edgecomb who is accused of shooting and killing Jason Cleereman, a Milwaukee immigration attorney after the exchange of words when Cleereman's wife swerved their SUV to avoid hitting Edgecomb who was on a bicycle.  ...

Earlier this school year, there was a question posed by René Lafayette to his Street & Practical Law students about the law itself.  What impact do current events and inventions have on the law?  Does the law and legal procedure have to change and if so how should the changes occur?  During the course of 2021, several high-profile cases were directly influenced or impacted by th...

René Lafayette, host of Law With Mr. Lafayette, reviews several current cases that are being followed by Street & Practical Law Students as 2021 comes to a close.

Sheriff's investigators have sought and a local judge has issued a search warrant for actor Alec Baldwin's cellphone.  This is the latest development since the October 21, 2021 shooting by Baldwin of Halyna Hutchins, the videographer on the set of the movie Rust.

Over the course of the past two weeks, legal analysts and commentators have been following the developments in MN v. Potter (2021), the case involving defendant Kimberly Potter, a former Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police officer accused of fatally shooting Daunte Wright during the course of a traffic stop in April 2021.

In 1992, 79 year old Stella Liebeck accidentally spilled hot coffee from McDonald's on herself.  The resulting injuries, extensive medical and rehabilitation bills and the corporate indifference of the fast food giant are the lead story in this documentary, but not the only one.  Beside providing background to the "tort reform movement" of the early 2000s, there is also the case of Jamie Leigh Jon...

On December 9, 2021, the jury in the criminal trial of Jussie Smollett, former star of the TV series Empire, returned guilty verdicts in five of the six counts that he had been charged with.  On January 29, 2019, Smollett reported to police that he had been attacked by two white males as one punched him in the face while another poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck.  Within weeks,...

This is a very unusual criminal case originating from Oxford, Michigan.  It began on November 30 with the killing of four students at Oxford High School by a 15 year old sophomore, Ethan Crumbley, who also injured seven other students while firing a 9mm semi-automatic handgun.  What makes the case unusual is that his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley were charged by the District Attor...

On November 30, 2021, Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan was disrupted with a school shooting.  Four students were killed, seven were injured during the 5 to 6 minute attack by a 15 year old sophomore, Ethan Crumbley.  Just days earlier, James Crumbley, Ethan's father had gone to a local gun store with him to purchase a Sig Sauer 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.

On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, my Street & Practical Law students had a unique opportunity to meet and hear the Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, Colonel Christopher Mason, give an overview of the mission of the MSP.  A Trooper for 28 years, Colonel Mason has risen through the ranks culminating in 2019 with his appointment by Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA) as Superintenden...

On Friday, November 19, 2021, a jury in Kenosha, WI found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on five charges that, if the results had been different, would have seen him spend the next 60 years in jail.  How did this now 18 year old end up charged in the first place?  What happened and when?  The events that led up to August 25, 2020, had an impact on three nights of rioting in Kenosha. &n...

The case is Wisconsin v. Rittenhouse (2021), a case dealing with two charges of murder and one charge of aggravated assault Leveled at now 18 year old Kyle Rittenhouse. The setting was Kenosha, Wisconsin during the month of August 2020. It occurred in the aftermath of the shooting by Kenosha police of Jacob Blake, 29, a black man who was shot seven times and left partially paralyzed as a result of...

The facts surrounding the case of Commonwealth v. Carter, a Massachusetts case dealing with the charge of involuntary manslaughter by Michelle Carter against her boyfriend Conrad Henry Roy III.

This is a case about mental illness.  Social Anxiety.  Depression.  Control.  Anorexia. Narcissism.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts charged Michelle Carter with the involuntary manslaughter of her boyfriend Conrad Henry Roy III. This case captured attention and visceral reactions from around the world when the trial began in June 2017.  From a seemingly innocent meeting in Naples, Florida, in F...

After the episode on social media and our First Amendment rights, René Lafayette discusses the topic of personal privacy in the age of "big Tech."  He discusses how our elected officials on the state and federal levels have an obligation to protect us, their constituents from unethical corporate practices including the "capture" of information without users knowledge.  In this episode of...

René Lafayette, Street & Practical Law Instructor presents listeners an overview and specific facts of the events that led to the February 23, 2020 pursuit and murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25 year-old black male.  Drawing from several resources facts are gathered and presented for you to consider in the context of a murder that was videotaped and subsequent released on social media shocking...

In this episode of Law with Mr. Lafayette , Street & Practical Law instructor René Lafayette proceeds to describe a recent Wall Street Journal investigation into social media megastar TikTok. In light of the phenomenal popularity of the social media app, with 1 billion users a month, WSJ discovered hundreds of videos about drug use, eating disorders and pornography sent to WSJ bots programmed...

In this episode, Mr. Lafayette discusses two movies that his students in both Street & Practical Law I & II viewed in classes this week.  The movies are 12 Angry Men , a 1957 classic that brings viewers into the jury room where 12 strangers who heard testimony during a six-day trial now have to decide on the verdict with the 18 year-old defendant's life swinging in the balance.  ...

The American Constitution is more than a document that was written over two hundred years ago.  It represents many of the uniquely American contributions to government.  At once it provides the framework for the national government featuring three co-equal branches and a sharing of power between the national government and the state governments.  That is the essence of federalism. &...

[This episode of Law With Mr. Lafayette is dedicated to a devoted student and teacher of law for over 30 years, his friend and mentor as an educator, Peter M. Fedyszyn, retired member of the Social Studies Department at Blackstone-Millville Regional High School, and "Street Law Meister" to generations of students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in the military, law enforcement inc...

In this episode, Street & Practical Law instructor René M. Lafayette provides us a unique insight to the opening of a new Term for the United States Supreme Court.  The 2021-2022 Term will start on October 4, 2021 when the nine Justices assemble in what Lafayette calls "the marble temple of justice," the Supreme Court Building located at One First Street, NE in Washington, DC.  Touching upon the t...

Follow along as Mr. Lafayette describes the law-making process in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Beginning with the idea through to being signed by the Governor and then becoming part of the Massachusetts General Laws.  Himself a former four-term State Representative in Rhode Island, Mr. Lafayette started as a Page while a junior in high school, eventually becoming a member of the s...

The basis or foundation of law is discussed in this episode, traced from Ancient Greece and Rome to Judeo-Christian principles, and other philosophers.  Both common law and natural law are referenced as well.  In the Declaration of Independence of Independence, its author, Thomas Jefferson made direct reference to Natural Law as the basis for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"...