More from this issue:

1. News in Brief
2. National Fingerprint Database Frees Man After 36 Years, by Jayson Hawkins
3. Seventh Circuit Holds Indiana Pointing a Firearm and Intimidation Convictions No Longer Qualify Under ACCA After Johnson, by Pat O'Connell
4. Asset Forfeiture Not So Helpful to Crime-Fighting, by Edward Lyon
5. New York Court of Appeals Overturns Murder Conviction, Finds Prosecutor Withheld Critical Video Evidence in Violation of Brady Obligations, by Dale Chappell
6. Tennessee Supreme Court Reverses Conviction Because Trial Court Refused to Give ‘Necessity’ Jury Instruction Because Defendant Never Testified About Mental State, by Douglas Ankney
7. Sixth Circuit Reverses District Court’s Denial of Safety-Valve Relief, by Douglas Ankney
8. Georgia Supreme Court Announces Fundamental Overhaul of Jurisprudence Governing Appeals of Guilty Pleas and Out-of-Time Appeals, by Douglas Ankney
9. California Court of Appeal: Equal Protection Requires Pretrial Detainees on Home Confinement Be Eligible for Good Conduct Credits, by Douglas Ankney
10. U.S. Supreme Court ‘Death Caucus’ Setting Death Penalty Litigation Tone, by Kevin Bliss
11. Georgia Supreme Court: Warrantless Search of Vehicle’s Airbag Control Module is Unconstitutional, by Douglas Ankney
12. Seventh Circuit Vacates Sentence Because Sentencing Judge Should Have Recused Himself Due to Ex Parte Communications with U.S. Attorney’s Office, by Douglas Ankney
13. Santa Didn’t Create Naughty Cops List, But It’s Worth Checking Twice, by Douglas Ankney
14. Nevada Supreme Court: Trial Court Must Give Manslaughter Instruction Even When Evidence Is Circumstantial, by Douglas Ankney
15. Seventh Circuit Reaffirms Sex Trafficking and Kidnapping Are not Violent Felonies for 924(c) After Davis, by Dale Chappell
16. Supreme Court of Hawai’i Rules Presenting Falsified Polygraph Results Is Coercive Per Se, by Douglas Ankney
17. Sixth Circuit Holds Career Offender Status Does not Bar Retroactive FSA Relief Under First Step Act, by Dale Chappell
18. Using Algorithms to Erase Pot Convictions in California, by Douglas Ankney
19. Colorado Supreme Court Announces Clarifications and Modifications to Proportionality Review Standard as Applied to Habitual-Offender Sentences, by Douglas Ankney
20. Costly Electronic Monitoring Programs Replacing Ineffective Jail Bond Systems, by Kevin Bliss
21. NJ Supreme Court: Confession not Voluntary Where Police Tell Suspect Truth Would Set Him Free, Promise Him Counseling Instead of Jail, and Minimize Seriousness of Offenses, by Douglas Ankney
22. Eleventh Circuit: Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery not a Crime of Violence Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), by Douglas Ankney
23. Third Circuit Grants Habeas Relief in Loss of GBMI Plea in Pennsylvania Court Due to IAC, Announces New Rule, by Dale Chappell
24. Washington Supreme Court: Failure to Pay Fines Don’t Increase Sentencing Score, by Anthony Accurso
25. Harmless Error: Explained, by Gabe Newland
26. On Remand from Supreme Court, Eleventh Circuit Holds in Specific Circumstances an Ake Violation Constitutes Structural Error, by Douglas Ankney
27. Refusing to Permit Attorney to Make Offer of Proof Is Abuse of Discretion, Says Indiana Supreme Court, by Douglas Ankney
28. Police Use of Rapid DNA Machines Unregulated, by Jayson Hawkins
29. Tenth Circuit Holds Davis Retroactive, Retaliation Against a Witness Not Crime of Violence Under § 924(c), by Dale Chappell
30. Perils of Risk Assessment Tools in Criminal Justice, by Jayson Hawkins
31. If It Saves More Than One Child, by Sandy Rozek
32. U.S. District Court Holds Hobbs Act Robbery not Crime of Violence for § 924(c), Grants § 2255 Motion, by Dale Chappell
33. From the Editors
34. Fourth Circuit: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel in Death Penalty Case for Failure to Investigate Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as Mitigating Factor During Sentencing Phase, by Chad Marks
35. Hawai’i Supreme Court Announces New Rule Requiring Both Judges and Juries to Consider Numerous Factors in Witness ID Cases, by Dale Chappell
36. Insurance Companies Are Paying Cops To Investigate Their Own Customers, by Kendall Taggart

More from Anthony Accurso:

• D.C. Circuit Holds Compelling Suspect to Unlock Cellphone With Thumbprint Is ‘Testimonial’ Act and Violates Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination, Feb. 15, 2025
• $220,000 Settlement After Woman Dies in Ohio Jail From Drug Withdrawal, Feb. 15, 2025
• Colorado Supreme Court Holds Defendant Was in ‘Custody’ for Miranda Purposes Because She Had Hands Bagged and Zip Tied, Commanded Not to Remove Them, and Questioned Alone in Interrogation Room With Door Closed, Feb. 15, 2025
• First Circuit Holds No Emergency-Aid Exception to Warrant Requirement Where Police Have Information That Subject Is Already Deceased, Feb. 15, 2025
• Police Departments Are Now Using AI to Write Reports, Feb. 15, 2025
• Illinois Supreme Court Announces Odor of Burnt Cannabis Alone Is Insufficient to Establish Probable Cause for a Warrantless Vehicle Search, Feb. 1, 2025
• Mass Spectrometry Being Studied as Way to Analyze Overlapping or Weak Fingerprints, Feb. 1, 2025
• Georgia Supreme Court Grants Habeas Relief Where Both Trial and Appellate Counsel Provided Ineffective Assistance by Failing to Challenge Indictment for Residential Burglary That Failed to Allege Defendant Illegally Entered a ‘Dwelling’, Jan. 15, 2025
• Childhood Trauma Incidence Higher Among Those Incarcerated, Jan. 15, 2025
• Nevada Supreme Court Announces Incorporated Probable Cause Affidavit Cannot Broaden Scope of Warrant’s Description of Places and Persons to be Searched or Items to Be Seized, Dec. 1, 2024

More from these topics:

• Wisconsin Supreme Court: Jail Time Must Be Credited When Charge Causing Jailing Read in At Sentencing, Jan. 1, 2024. Sentencing, Good Time, Sentences - Corrections or Modifications of, Credits.
• Changing Perception, Changing The Law, April 15, 2020. Sentencing, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
• Seventh Circuit: Trial Judge Violated 5th Amendment by Modifying Instructions to Allow Jury to Convict on Offenses Not Charged in Indictment, April 15, 2020. Sentencing.
• SCOTUS: ‘Serious Drug Offense’ Under ACCA Is Self-Defining, Match with Equivalent Federal Offense Not Required, April 15, 2020. Sentencing.
• Illinois Prisoner Locked Up Decades Without a Conviction or Sentence, April 1, 2020. Criminal Prosecution, Sentencing.
• Racial Disparity at Sentencing on the Rise, March 18, 2020. Racial Discrimination, Sentencing.
• Kansas Supreme Court: Claim of Illegal Sentence Raised for First Time on Appeal Entitled to Merits Review, March 18, 2020. Appeals, Sentencing.
• Utah District Court Finds First Step Act Gives Court Authority to Reduce Stacked 55-Year § 924(c) Sentence, March 18, 2020. Sentencing.
• Unsurprisingly Lenient Sentence for Rapist Cop, Feb. 19, 2020. Police Misconduct, Sentencing, Police.
• Study Confirms Immigrants Sentenced More Harshly in Non-Immigrant Areas, Feb. 19, 2020. Racial Discrimination, Sentencing, Immigration.