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MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — WVU Law professor Anne Marie Lofaso has written an amicus brief on behalf of NFL quarterback Tom Brady in the “deflategate” scandal.

Lofaso drafted the brief on behalf of labor law professors and industrial relations experts who question NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's role in the case’s arbitration. They assert that the commissioner is “an angry arbitrator who does his own brand” of justice.

In 2015, Goodell handed Brady a four-game suspension for his role in using underinflated balls during the AFC Championship game. The suspension was later overturned by a lower court judge. This April, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Goodell and the NFL, reinstating Brady's suspension.

After that loss, Brady's legal team sought the assistance of Lofaso and other labor law experts as part of their request for a rehearing before the full Second Circuit.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA—The West Virginia University College of Law awarded degrees to 110 graduates on May 13 in a ceremony at the WVU Creative Arts Center.

The Class of 2016 includes the nation’s first LL.M (Master of Laws) graduates in Forensic Science.

Joshua Weishart, who was selected Professor of the Year by the Class of 2016, delivered the commencement address.

“You have proven that you have what it takes not only to be attorneys at law, but, more importantly, persons with empathy, passion, and different conceptions of what justice entails,” he told the graduates.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Hampshire County (West Virginia) native Jeremiah Mongold is a free man today after serving 11 years of a 40-year sentence for the death of his stepdaughter. 

Mongold, who has continually maintained his innocence, is a client of the West Virginia Innocence Project (WVIP) at the College of Law.

In 2005, the case against Mongold was built on death by Shaken Baby Syndrome. However, medical experts contacted by the WVIP determined that Mongold’s stepdaughter may have died from vasculitis, a rare illness that causes the body to attack its own blood cells.

Circuit Court Judge Charles Parsons noted “the issue is whether trial counsel was ineffective in failing to discover an alternative cause of death.” 

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Anne Marie Lofaso, professor of law at the West Virginia University College of Law, has been named an associate of the Oxford Human Rights Hub (OxHRH) blog.

The OxHRH bring together academics, practitioners, and policy-makers from across the globe to advance the understanding and protection of human rights and equality. It is based at the Faculty of Law (law school) at the University of Oxford in England.

As an associate, Lofaso creates blog series, recruits scholars to write about human rights issues, and edits blogs. Her first major project for the OxHR blog was a review of the human rights legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She is currently working a project to establish awareness of human rights abuses in Appalachia. 

Lofaso is the Arthur B. Hodges Professor of Law at WVU. Since January, she has been serving as the Keeley Visiting Fellow at Wadham College and as a Senior Academic Visitor at the University of Oxford Faculty of Law. She returns to the WVU College of Law in the fall.

Professor Valena Beety is the recipient of the 2015-2016 Significant Scholarship Award at the West Virginia University College of Law.

Beety, an associate professor of law, won the award for her article “Judicial Dismissal in the Interest of Justice,” published last year in the Missouri Law Review (Volume 80, Issue 3). In the article, Beety examined the capacity of judges to grant clemency, or dismiss cases, in the interest of justice.

According to Beety, most of the country’s 1.6 million inmates are serving sentences for non-violent offenses. She argues that by making judges more accountable, they can dismiss some cases based on overzealous prosecutions, race-based patrolling, and the overuse of “three strikes” laws.

Beety looked at factors such as community impact, prosecutorial misconduct, safety and welfare of the community, and a conviction’s effect on public confidence in the criminal justice system. She proposed reform of the criminal justice system and practical assistance for individual cases and lives.