Browning Law News Blog

  My good friend, federal Judge David Nye, had the unfortunate task recently of deciding whether to issue an injunction of an Idaho law, recently passed, that prohibits biological men from competing against women in athletic competitions. I think this was one of those occasions in which a judge felt compelled to enforce a different law that appears to mandate allowing biological men who identify as women to compete against women. A recent challenge to that decision by a three-judge panel agreed with Judge Nye: Idaho may not pass a law prohibiting biological men, who identify as transgender, from competing against biological females.   The decision will certainly be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where I believe it will be overturned.  There is absolutely no reason to allow biological men to compete against biological women.  The only merit to the lawsuit that I can see is that the law apparently allows anyone to challenge whether a competitor is actually a woman.  That would mean

  Unknown to the general public is the right, in Idaho, to disqualify one judge without stating a reason.  This can be done in a criminal or civil case. During the pandemic, this right was suspended, as were many rights. Trials were shut down.  When trials were once again set on the calendar, somewhat bizarre rules were set in place to minimize the chance that a person sitting on a jury panel might cause or be the victim of a "super-spreader" event in which the entire panel would threaten to spread Covid-19 throughout the population.   With the COVID threat now having passed, the Supreme Court of Idaho has gone back to allowing litigants to disqualify one judge on a case without stating a reason.  However, the judges around the state have decided they like having their respective caseloads unburdened with having to either take additional cases or find them repeatedly disqualified from cases with the litigant having to identify a specific reason. In this issue, both the crimin

  Two of the most brutal things that can happen to a person can be:     1.  To be sexually abused; and     2. To be falsely accused of sexual abuse. For those who suffer the first injustice, they may have lifetime repercussions that affect them in nightmares, self-image and damage to their ability to have a healthy relationship with members of the opposite sex. For those who suffer the second injustice, there is the potential of a lifetime behind bars. As a society, we treat those who commit these injustices quite differently.  The one who commits sexual abuse, particularly rape, will do time behind bars. As circumstances of the rape vary widely, I have seen sentences as light as 4 months in a "prison boot camp," (when the victim asked for the light sentence because it was a family member) to multiple life sentences. Those who falsely accuse others of sexual abuse, however, generally suffer no adverse consequences at all.  Realistically, the only consequence these people face

Lori Vallow, having been convicted of murdering her two children and her new husband's wife, was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without chance of parole on Monday, July 31, 2023. She was also found guilty of conspiracy for working with Chad Daybell to collect  There was really no option for the sentencing judge, Hon. Steven Boyce.  She had been shopping for wedding rings while Tammy Daybell was still alive and married to Vallow's new husband, Chad Daybell.  Tammy was asphyxiated, as was Lori's autistic son JJ.   16-year-old Tylee Vallow was found having been chopped up with a pickaxe and burned; the cause of her death was unknown. Evidence introduced at trial showed a strand of Lori Vallow's hair was stuck in the duct tape that was placed around JJ's mouth to asphyxiate him.   At sentencing, Vallow was given the right to speak on her behalf.  She quite happily stated that Tammy Daybell's spirit visited her and gave her a big hug, her children did