Los Angeles
Saturday, 7/18, 01:50 PM
Hiring a hit man isn't always a 'crime of violence,' the 9th Circuit rules
- A federal appeals court has issued a ruling that sounds absurd on its face: arranging a contract killing is not automatically a 'crime of violence' under federal law.
- The decision, which threw out several convictions of a notorious murder-for-hire defendant, is a case study in how a technical legal test can collide with common sense.