by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to argue that self-defense is a complete defense to felony murder based on a felon-in-possession charge based on Georgia’s self-defense statute, OCGA § 16-11-138.
On the evening of September 9, 2017, Darnell Rene Floyd ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Concerns about the accuracy of criminal background check reports led two researchers to study this issue, and the results undermined commonly held beliefs about the reliability of such reports and their failure to align with American values and public policy goals.
Researchers Sarah Lageson and Robert ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the convictions of the unwitting passenger of a drug mule on the ground that the Government failed to present evidence of her knowledge of the drugs and instead relied solely on unreasonable inferences.
Tony Garcia agreed ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit remanded a defendant’s case for resentencing after ruling that the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico relied on impermissible hearsay evidence, which served as a factor at sentencing for his revocation and new charge. ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Oregon suppressed statements made by a defendant on probation to police who interrupted a meeting between her and her probation officer to interrogate her regarding new crimes, ruling that this environment constituted “compelling circumstances” under state law and thus required a Miranda warning prior to the interrogation.
Deborah Lynn Reed was on probation for a drug offense when, during a meeting with her probation officer at his office, two police officers interrupted the meeting. “One of the police officers stood in the doorway, and the other slid past him and sat down in the room,” and they began to confront Reed with statements such as, “they knew she was selling drugs again” and that “they had information that she had sold drugs earlier that day.” They “also accused her of possessing drugs as they spoke.”
Under the terms of her probation, the meeting with her probation officer was mandatory, and she could leave it only with the probation officer’s permission, which he did not give at any time either prior to or during her interaction with the police. Additionally, the probation officer’s office was located in a secure building, so Reed ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A cell-site simulators (“CSS”)—often referred to as a “Stingray” device, after a popular brand—is one of the newest and most controversial law enforcement tools since the introduction of the wiretap. Its use represents the intersection of four trends in policing: (1) the increasing use of military tools ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Cory Doctorow’s latest book, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, discusses the relationship between the failure to regulate tech monopolies in the United States and the meteoric rise of government spying, tying the lack of effective privacy legislation to a subtle shift ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
It has been 10 years since body-worn cameras (“BWCs”) were posited as a solution to the lack of accountability in police murders of citizens, but police are still largely unaccountable, in part because the footage is often difficult to obtain.
At least 1,201 people were killed ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Biden Administration’s rhetoric on justice and human rights issues may sound good, but a new report reveals that the use of solitary confinement—which is often in conditions the United Nations (“U.N.”) has declared amount to torture—is actually increasing in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, overturned the denial of a defendant’s motion to suppress, holding that the officer impermissibly extended a traffic stop to conduct a drug dog sniff around the exterior of the defendant’s vehicle.
Officer Anthony McGlade of the Anaheim ...
