by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held on April 8, 2020, that a prior conviction under Georgia’s terroristic threats statute was overbroad and therefore failed to meet the elements clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”).
Najee Oliver was sentenced as an armed ...
by Dale Chappell
A new law enacted in Oklahoma will crack down on unreliable jailhouse informants who testify against others in exchange for lenience in their own cases and sometimes for other benefits.
The law was sponsored by Senator Julie Daniels and Representative Chris Kannady, making Oklahoma the third state ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed habeas relief to two codefendants on April 29, 2020, after an Arkansas state prosecutor (now a state supreme court justice) intentionally destroyed evidence about favorable treatment for a jailhouse informant that influenced the jury’s verdict.
Over 30 ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on April 23, 2020, that a retroactive change in law that rendered a career offender sentence erroneous required a district court to fix that error when resentencing under the First Step Act’s application of the Fair Sentencing ...
by Dale Chappell
A study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”), a non-biased government agency that does independent testing on various technologies and industries, has found that facial recognition software used to identify criminal suspects is lacking across the board in accuracy.
The study was thorough; it ...
by Dale Chappell
In the show Making a Murderer on Netflix, a forensics lab was tasked with figuring out if microscopic particles on a bullet were bone, as the prosecutor claimed. Turns out it was wood, not bone, lending a hand to the defense’s theory that it was not the ...
by Dale Chappell
Medical marijuana is legal in the state of Minnesota, but recreational use is not. This causes problems for the state’s Hemp Pilot program, which licenses growers of hemp as long as the THC concentration stays below 0.3 percent. If the THC is greater than that, it’s considered ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on March 4, 2020, that the savings clause of 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e) is available even if based on a court decision that existed earlier but was not made retroactive until after the direct appeal and first ...
by Dale Chappell
Courts often look to Congress when interpreting the meaning of a law. They look at Congress’ intent behind the law and any statements made by legislators in drafting the law. This is the “legislative history” of the law and one of the main tools courts use to ...
