The Record / Articles
Articles on Elizabeth Hernandez's case
Writing by her sister, Evelyn Hernandez, from Justice and the Record: what happened in Elizabeth's case, and the federal practices behind it.
Her case
The First Verdict Was a Press Release
How a Justice Department announcement convicted Elizabeth Hernandez in public before a jury ever heard the evidence.
Harmless to Whom?
The court admitted the trial was tilted. Then it declined to look again. Five children were never part of the math.
When the Referee Admits the Call Was Wrong, and the Result Stands Anyway
The Eleventh Circuit found the trial unfair. Then it affirmed twenty years.
Against the Tide
The monumental and exhausting task of fighting for justice.
A Pledge Is a Promise
What a child's morning ritual says about the justice we are owed.
The issues behind it
When "Harmless Error" Causes Harm
How "harmless error" lets courts affirm convictions without ever knowing what a jury would have done.
The Machine Behind the Headline: How DOJ's Big-Number Press Releases Fuel Weaponization
Every few weeks, a press release announces a new federal fraud case with a headline number. Here is how that number is built.
The Trial Tax: How the Constitution's Right to a Jury Became a Punishment for Using It
Fewer than 3% of federal criminal cases end in a trial. The reason is the penalty for asking for one.
Can I Be Found Guilty of a Crime I Had No Knowledge Of?
The case for holding "willful blindness" unconstitutional, and how a judge-made shortcut is convicting healthcare practitioners who never saw the fraud.
Sign Here: Why Telemedicine Became the Easiest Medicare Fraud Case to Build
Telehealth was supposed to expand access. It also produced the cleanest evidence trail prosecutors have ever had, and the practitioner's signature sits at the end of it.
Guilty By Association: How Healthcare Practitioners Got Lumped In With the Fraudsters
When a clinician's credentials are the product being sold, why does the clinician get charged alongside the people who sold them?
It Isn't Law. It Changes Every Quarter. It Can Still Send a Doctor to Prison.
In court, the government says Medicare's coverage policies don't set a legal standard. In an indictment, they become the standard.