by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that inadvertently placing a pocket knife on the counter during a robbery did not constitute “use” of a dangerous weapon during a robbery and overturned the defendant’s plea for lacking the proper factual basis to support his ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the lower court erred in denying defendant’s search of his apartment where the police failed to obtain a warrant and defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his home, despite being a mere five days past due on ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit joined the Fourth and Tenth Circuits in holding that tier classification under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) compels a hybrid approach to classifying a defendant’s crime, which underlies a charge of failing to register.
In ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that when a prosecutor performs a purely administrative function in relation to a criminal prosecution, she does not enjoy absolute prosecutorial immunity from suits brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Rolando Penate was charged with drug-related offenses ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of the State of Delaware held that when a defendant has been declared competent to plead guilty he retains the right to revoke his plea of “guilty but mentally ill” before the court accepts it.
Martin Taylor was found with knife wounds on his ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that retroactive ACCA claims are not barred by a defendant’s appeal waiver, and defendant’s 1976 Georgia burglary conviction is no longer a valid ACCA predicate.
Randall Cornette was convicted of being a felon in possession of a ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded the defendant’s death sentence for first-degree murder because defense counsel failed to investigate mitigating evidence of cognitive defects that would have resulted in a “reasonable probability that the outcome of sentencing would have been different” ...
by Anthony Accurso
An Ohio man who spent 27 years on death row for the 1991 murder of his daughter Domika—based largely on now-debunked shaken baby syndrome—had his conviction overturned and has accepted a plea deal for a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Genesis Hill ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that, where a defendant is detained prior to the expiration of his supervised release, he must be released when his supervision expires unless the court orders a warrant or summons, not merely a detention order.
William Block ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of California clarified that the use of force that merely endangers everyone in an area is insufficient to support a kill zone theory instruction for attempted murder.
Defendants KeAndre Windfield and Michael Canizales were charged with murder and two counts of attempted ...
