Criminal Law and Policy

Professor Thomas Leith Provides Perspective to Article on New York State Court of Appeals Judgements

Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the Criminal Law Clinic Thomas Leith spoke with Newsday for the article “New NYS Court of Appeals hears more cases; prosecutors win fewer of them, data shows.” The article looks at data from the first year of the NY State Court of Appeals under Chief Judge Rowan Wilson which shows more judgments in favor of defendants.

“There’s a feeling now within the defense bar that, under Judge Wilson, you have a shot,” said Leith. “The feeling under Judge DiFiore was that your chances of winning or even getting your case to the top court were never very good.”

There is also a trend in which the court is hearing more cases under Judge Wilson. “The big uptick in cases heard under Judge Wilson is really important,” Leith said. “I think everybody should be happy that more cases are being decided” because the top court can clarify statutes and settle instances where mid-level courts issued differing opinions on a legal issue.”

The article may be behind a paywall.

Professor Gregory Germain Weighs in on Jury Nullification in the Luigi Mangione Trial

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with The Hill on the possibility of jury nullification for the Luigi Mangione trial, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Jury nullification occurs when a jury returns a not guilty verdict even though jurors believe beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant has broken the law. This may happen when jurors disagree with the law or the punishment.

“I think it’s very unlikely that a case like this is going to confront something like jury nullification,” said Germain. “Most of us hate insurance companies and have had difficult experiences dealing with insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean we think people should be going around murdering insurance executives in the street.”

Germain noted that it’s unlikely potential nullifiers will be able to hide that level of bias during the jury selection process. He adds that while Mangione does have a large fanbase, most “people who want to live in a civilized society are not going to find him to be an appealing defendant.”

Syracuse University College of Law AALS 2025 Annual Meeting Participants

Several College of Law professors will be panelists, moderators, and discussants at the 2025 American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Jan. 7 – 11 in San Francisco, CA.

January 8

Professor Robert Ashford

Section: Socio-economics

Event: Modern Monetary Theory, Pedagogy, and the Future of Socio-Economics

Event Role: Speaker

4:30 PM – 6 PM

Room 202, Level Two South

This panel will focus on the potential contributions of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to socioeconomics and the study of law. In particular, the discussion will consider the role of the state, mechanisms for achieving full employment (including job guarantees), the relationship (or lack of one) between fiscal policy and inflation, the importance of community investment, and how to make these topics accessible and relevant to law students and legal scholars.

January 10

Professor Lauryn Gouldin

Section: Criminal Procedure

Event: New Perspectives on Fourth Amendment Suspicion

Event Role: Moderator

12:50 PM – 2:20 PM

Room 210, Level Two South

In many respects Fourth Amendment doctrine has evolved to expand law enforcement power to act on suspicions, frequently to the disadvantage of disfavored groups. Reversing these patterns is not just a matter of academic interest but a pressing need, amplified with the advent of more intrusive and pervasive surveillance technologies. Participants in this discussion will address the ways that suspicion is defined and constructed, its role (or failed potential) in constraining government power, the need for alternatives to suspicion to regulate mass data surveillance, and the potential for suspicion to serve as cover for bias.

Professor Nina Kohn

Section: Aging and the Law

Section Role: Executive Committee Member

Event: Marginalization of Older Adults

Event Role: Speaker

12:50 PM – 2:20 PM

Room 211 Level Two South

In alignment with the conference theme of Courage in Action, this year’s program will focus on discussing the difficulties older adults experience in accessing basic needs, including healthcare and utilization of health technology; housing, aging in place, and long-term care; employment and retirement; and estate planning. As we age, we face significant life transitions that intersect with the law in these areas as well as others that can be challenging to navigate.

January 11

Professor Cora True-Frost

Section:  Law Professors with Disabilities and Allies

Section Roles: Speaker (True-Frost)

Event: Works-in-Progress

Role: Speaker (True-Frost)

8 AM -9:30 AM

Room 211, Level Two South

A key goal of the Section is to support our members in every aspect of their careers, including their scholarship. This panel provides section members with the opportunity to present a work-in-progress and receive feedback from senior scholars and other section members.

Professor Robert Ashford

Section: Socio-Economics

Section Role: Secretary

Event: The Future of Socioeconomics

Event Role: Speaker

9:50 AM – 11:20 AM

Room 158 Upper Mezzanine Level South

The Section believes that it is time to re-think the basic relationship between law and economics. Economics was introduced into legal scholarship as a tool for conservative political positions in the 1980s. It is time to recapture this valuable branch of modern knowledge and apply it to pressing topics such as climate change, automation and employment, and the relationships between the underregulation of finance, corruption, instability, and racial inequality. Participants will explore how a combined legal, economic, and social science approach can be productively applied to these topics.

Faculty Fellow Maria Cudowska

Event: Developing Courageous Leaders: Trailblazing and Diverse Approaches to Leadership Education for Law Students

9:50 AM – 11:20 AM

Room 207 Level Two South

It has been said that a “law degree is a leadership degree” and much has been written on the need for law schools to educate leaders. Fortunately, many legal educators have responded in interesting and courageous ways. Starting with visionaries like Dean Donald Polden and Professor Deborah Rhode–both of whom courageously fought for their vision of leadership development as part of legal education–the field has continued to evolve and grow. Fortunately, leadership development and leadership education–like leadership itself–is not limited to a one-size-fits-all approach. A plethora of different approaches to leadership development have emerged recently with different focuses, tactics, and desired outcomes. In this discussion group, we will discuss and celebrate these different approaches as we look at how law schools can best develop their students into good lawyer-leaders.

Professor Gregory Germain Provides The Hill with Legal Insights into President-elect Trump’s State Cases

The Hill’s article “Trump allies remain in legal peril despite his election victory” called upon Professor Gregory Germain’s blog post for insight into what happens to Trump’s criminal and civil cases after his election.

“In all likelihood, the state criminal cases will be put on hold during Trump’s presidency,” he wrote. “If they try to continue with the prosecutions, or even to impose a stayed sentence, I suspect the decisions will be reversed on appeal.” 

Professor Gregory Germain Discusses Haitian Group’s Lawsuit Against Trump and Vance

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Newsweek about a recent criminal complaint filed by The Haitian Bridge Alliance against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. The Alliance claims that Haitian immigrants have received death threats after Trump said that they are stealing family pets in Springfield, OH.

“Knowledge of falsity is difficult to prove when politicians spread rumors. The Supreme Court would likely recognize that politicians have qualified immunity for lies under the First Amendment—otherwise, the bare-knuckle election process would be hampered,” says Germain. However, Germain said that highlighting Trump’s “reckless statements” may be the plaintiffs’ aim.

“We’d Be in Uncharted Waters” Professor Greg Germain on a Possible Jail Sentence in Donald Trump Criminal Case

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Newsweek on the September 18 sentencing of Donald Trump in the false business records criminal case. Germain believes an appeals court would strike down any prison term.

“If Judge Merchan sentenced him to jail in the middle of the election for this records violation, I think the courts would do whatever is necessary to prevent it. We’d be in uncharted waters,” he said. “But I don’t think Merchan will sentence him to jail. I think there were serious problems with the case, and it should be reversed on appeal in due order without upsetting the election cycle.”

Thomas M. Leith Joins Syracuse Law Faculty and Named Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic

Thomas M. Leith has joined the faculty of Syracuse University College of Law and was named Director of the Criminal Defense Clinic (CDC.) Leith is an Associate Teaching Professor who teaches Legal Communication and Research and Trial Practice courses.

At the CDC, Leith will oversee Syracuse Law student-attorneys as they represent clients charged with misdemeanors and violations in Syracuse City Court and town courts in Onondaga County. Clients are represented at pretrial hearings and trials and are assisted in managing the civil consequences related to their criminal cases. All criminal cases are assigned to the Clinic through the court.

Prior to joining Syracuse University, Leith was the Managing Attorney of the Criminal and Appeals Programs at Hiscock Legal Aid Society (HLAS) in Syracuse, New York. He joined HLAS in 2020 as a Staff Attorney in Appeals. As Managing Attorney, he oversaw programs at HLAS representing indigent clients in their criminal, Sex Offender Registry Act, and family court appeals, post-conviction advocacy, and indigent parole clients in their hearings and appeals.

Leith spent the previous ten years as a trial-level public defender: first with Brooklyn Defender Services in Brooklyn, NY, then with the Law Offices of the Shelby County Public Defender in Memphis, TN. In his years in the courtroom, he has defended every type of criminal case, from violations and misdemeanors to clients charged with first-degree murder.

Before his roles in public service, Leith was in private practice at law firms in New York City. Leith also clerked for then-Chief Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Since 2023, Leith has been an adjunct professor at the College of Law, teaching trial practice.

Leith earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

“A Clever Ploy” – Professor Gregory Germain on the Upcoming Sentencing of Donald Trump in His Criminal Case

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Salon for an article about the September 18 sentencing of Donald Trump in the New York criminal case and efforts made by Trump’s attorneys to have the sentencing postponed until after the upcoming election.

“I think Trump’s request to delay sentencing is a clever ploy to make a record to argue in federal court that the judge was politically motivated to interfere with the federal election,” says Germain. “I doubt that the court will delay sentencing, but it will give Trump an additional argument to challenge the sentencing on appeal, or collaterally in a habeas corpus case if he’s sentenced to prison.”

Professor Lauryn Gouldin’s Research Uses Artificial Intelligence to Improve Fairness of Criminal Court Scheduling

 College of Law professor who is an expert on criminal court pretrial appearance is partnering with computer science faculty to see if artificial intelligence tools and optimized data analysis can improve fairness and efficiency in scheduling defendants’ court dates.

Headshot of woman in glasses smiling.

Lauryn Gouldin (Photo by Marilyn Hesler)

Lauryn Gouldin, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and a 2022-25 Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, is one of three researchers on the project, “End-to-End Learning of Fair and Explainable Schedules for Court Systems.” She and Fernando (Nando) Fioretto, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Virginia (formerly of Syracuse University) and William Yeoh, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis received a $600,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for the research. They are examining three issues: the uniformity and fairness of criminal court-date scheduling processes, if individual circumstances are considered when setting court dates, and whether a “smarter” computerized system can produce more equity and efficiency in those processes.

Ensuring that defendants who are released before trial return to court as scheduled is one of the primary goals of the pretrial process, Gouldin says. “Fortunately, data across jurisdictions suggest that most defendants show up for court as required. With bail reform efforts in many jurisdictions leading to higher rates of pretrial release, courts are focused on ensuring that pretrial appearance rates remain high,” she says.

Scheduling court appearances on dates and at times that work for defendants will help keep pretrial appearance rates high and avoid court system inefficiencies, she believes. Many factors—often legitimate hardships—can influence whether a defendant appears in court when scheduled. Gouldin says those factors are not consistently considered by courts and there is little uniformity in how appearance dates are scheduled from court to court.

The researchers are working to produce a system that predicts dates and times when defendants are more likely to appear versus being assigned an arbitrary court date or time. They believe having that knowledge, along with more flexibility in scheduling court dates—such as setting evening or weekend appearance dates—could improve pretrial appearance rates and create a more equitable scheduling process overall.

Continue reading here.

Professor Gregory Germain Discusses the Dismissal of the Trump Classified Documents Case

Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Law 360 on U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the classified documents case due to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland not having the authority under the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution to appoint an independent prosecutor.

Germain noted that the recent Presidential immunity and Chevron decisions laid the groundwork for Judge Cannon’s decision.

“We’ve now had not only the immunity case but also the overruling of the Chevron doctrine,” Germain said. “This court is very concerned about separation of powers issues and about the executive branch usurping the power of Congress. That’s why I think they might say that there’s no statutory authority.”

Germain notes that it is possible to simply appoint an already confirmed U.S. attorney as a special prosecutor for the case.

“Dismissal is such an extraordinary remedy when the defendant really hasn’t been harmed by who is prosecuting the case,” Germain said. “I think the remedy is just clearly wrong.”