Faculty
Christo Lassiter

Contact Information

Education

  • BA, University of Chicago
  • MA, University of Michigan
  • JD, University of Michigan

Links

Areas of Interest

  • Antitrust
  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Psychiatry and Law
  • White Collar Crime

Christo Lassiter
Professor of Law and Criminal Justice

In 1996, Professor Lassiter commented on the draft Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine as part of a project undertaken by the Supreme Court of Ohio. Since 1994, he has lectured and written annual updates on Supreme Court litigation for the Federal Public and Community Defenders Program, and has also led discussions at bench-bar conferences on improving the judicial process for the State Bar of Ohio since 1992.

Locally, Professor Lassiter served as a member of the Hamilton County Criminal Justice Task Force which studied and suggested legal reforms Professor Lassiter served as the Task Force's Trial Committee chair in 1992. Beginning in 1994, Professor Lassiter served on the Cincinnati Bar Association's Law Day Committee as the script writer for a two-hour televised discussion on constitutional issues of interest to high school students. The program received second place in the ABA 1996 Outstanding Law Day Activities Award competition when Professor Lassiter became chair of the Committee. In 1997, Professor Lassiter led a discussion on professional ethics in the CBA's Cincinnati Academy of Leadership for Lawyers, and also lectured on "The Death Penalty in the United States: Historically and Today" at a symposium sponsored by the College of Law. Professor Lassiter was a consultant for "The Affair," a joint HBO-BBC production concerning the U.S. military's use of the death penalty for interracial rape during World War II.

Professor Lassiter received the UC College of Law Goldman Prize for Teaching Excellence in 2008, 2006, and 1993. He was also named to UC's inaugural class of the Academy of Fellows for Teaching & Learning in 2007.

Finally, in his most exciting and professionally rewarding endeavor, Professor Lassiter happily coached Christo's Angels, the law women's softball team to the All University Intramural Championship in 2000.

Publications

Presentations

  • Does Flight From Police Constitute Reasonable Suspicion, University of Cincinnati College of Law (Feb. 22, 2000)
  • Criminal Law and Literature: Lecture, Problem, and Socratic Methods and the Virtual Classroom, University of Cincinnati College of Law (Mar. 13, 2000)
  • Searches and Seizures—Update on the U.S. Supreme Court and Supreme Court of Ohio, Hamilton County Criminal Justice Center (May 17, 2000)
  • Criminal Law and Literature: Lecture, Problem, and Socratic Methods and the Virtual Classroom, Institute for Law Teaching. Sixth Annual Summer Conference: Fresh Looks at Teaching and Learning Law, Gonzaga University School of Law (June 11-12, 1999)

Courses

  • Antitrust
  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure I
  • Criminal Procedure II
  • White Collar Crime

Summer 2009

Christo’s article, Consent to Search by Ignorant People, 39 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1171 (2007), was republished as a chapter in Prosecutorial Misconduct – Problems and Perspectives (G. Radha Kalyani, ed.) (Amicus Books, India, 2009). He spoke on a Federalist Society panel at the University Club on U.S. Supreme Court Appointments: Perspectives on the Sotomayor Nomination with Ross Wright (GE Aviation) and Jennifer Morales (Keating, Muething & Klekamp).

Several of Christo’s articles were cited:

June 2009

Christo’s article, TV or Not TV - That is the Question?, 86 J. Crim. L. and Criminology 928 (1996), was cited in Kristen D. Clardy, Judicial Confusion and Inconsistency in Handling Juror Misconduct: a New Proposal, 17 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 895 (2009). He was quoted in Long Road Ahead in Widmer Case, Cincinnati Enquirer, May 22, 2009.

May 2009

Christo was quoted in:

April 2009

Christo was quoted in:

March 2009

Two of Christo's articles were cited:

Christo was quoted in:

February 2009

Christo’s articles, Cameras and the Infusion of Political Bias Into the Courtroom, 5 Int’l J. L. & Tech. 28 (1997), and Put the Lens Cap Back on Cameras in the Courtroom: A Fair Trial is at Stake, 67 N.Y. St. B.J. 6 (1995), were cited in Robert H. Klonoff, Mark Herrmann & Bradley W. Harrison, Making Class Actions Work: The Untapped Potential of the Internet, 69 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 727 (2008). He was quoted in Bailiff Snared in Bribery Probe, Cincinnati Enquirer, Jan. 4, 2009, at 1A.

October 2008

Christo's article, The O.J. Simpson Verdict: A Lesson in Black and White, 1 Mich. J. Race & L. 69 (1996), was cited in Rebecca J. Kelly, Defensive Shootings and Error Risk: A Collateral Cost of Changing Gun Laws?, 26 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev. 567 (2008).

Summer 2008

Christo was listed as one of the 100 African-Americans of Influence in Our Area, Cincinnati Enquirer, July 13, 2008, at 4E.

Christo's article, Consent to Search by Ignorant People, 39 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1171 (2007), was cited in Matthew Phillips, Effective Warnings before Consent Searches: Practical, Necessary, and Desirable, 45 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 1185 (2008).

May 2008

Christo won the Goldman Prize for Teaching Excellence. He spoke on a panel at the College on The Role of the Prosecutor and Public Defender with Assistant Federal Public Defender Ransom Hudson.

Christo's scholarship was featured in the University Libraries' 17th Annual Authors, Editors and Composers Reception.

April 2008

Christo posted Consent to Search by Ignorant People, 39 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1171 (2007), on SSRN.

March 2008

Christo's article, Eliminating Consent from the Lexicon of Traffic Stop Interrogations, 27 Cap. U. L. Rev. 79 (1998), was cited in Ronald D. Rotunda & John E. Nowak, Treatise on Constitutional Law-Substance & Procedure (Thomson West, 3rd ed., 2008 Supp.).

February 2008

Christo's article, Eliminating Consent from the Lexicon of Traffic Stop Interrogations, 27 Cap. U. L. Rev. 79 (1998), was cited in Ronald D. Rotunda & John E. Nowak, Treatise on Constitutional Law-Substance & Procedure (Thomson West, 3rd ed., 2008 Supp.).

December 2007

Christo hosted a two-day visit to the College by Order of the Coif Distinguished Visitor Jesse H. Choper, Earl Warren Professor of Public Law and former Dean, Boalt Hall, University of California at Berkley.

November 2007

Christo participated in the Alumni Teach-In Day, as Kevin Schad (Class of 1993), Schad & Schad (Lebanon, OH), taught his Criminal Procedure I Class, and Kathy Brinkman (Class of 1975), Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur (Cincinnati, OH) taught his White Collar Crime Class.

Christo was quoted in

October 2007

Christo published Lex Sportiva: Thoughts Towards a Criminal Law of Competitive Contact Sport, 22 St. John's J.L. Comm. 35 (2007).

Christo published an op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Bring Federal Charges against Mom in Heat Death, Sept. 11, 2007, at 7B, which generated an opppsoing op-ed by Don White, Law Professor's Column on Heat Death Wrong on Many Counts, Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 12, 2007, at 7B.

Summer 2007

Christo published Consent to Search by Ignorant People, 39 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 1171 (2007). His article, Sports Lexivita – Thoughts Toward a Criminal Law of Competitive Contact Sports, was accepted for publication by the St. John's Journal of Legal Commentary.

Christo was selected for the inaugural class of UC's Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning. His article, The New Race Cases and The Politics of Public Policy, 12 J.L. & Pol. 411 (1996), was cited in Takiyah Rayshawn McClain, An Ounce of Prevention: Improving the Preventative Measures of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, 40 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 579 (2007).

Christo was quoted in:

April 2007

Christo's article, Eliminating Consent from the Lexicon of Traffic Stop Interrogations, 27 Cap. U. L. Rev. 79 (1998), was cited in Ronald D. Rotunda & John E. Nowak, Treatise on Constitutional Law (Thomson-West, 3rd ed., 2007 Supp.).

February 2007

Two of Christo's articles were cited:

Please see Faculty News Archives for earlier issues.

Awards