by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that an undisclosed connection between an FBI agent and a judge entitled a death row prisoner to the grant of habeas corpus relief. The Court found there was a constitutionally intolerable risk of judicial bias.
Jose Echavarria ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held a defendant was entitled to withdraw his guilty plea to a charge of illegally reentering the United States in light of the decision in Sessions v. Dimaya, 138 S.Ct. 1204 (2018), together with its own recent case ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an Indiana federal district court committed a procedural error in selecting a sentence based on a miscounting of the defendant’s prior felony conviction.
Before the Court was the appeal of Tyrone Miller. He was arrested after ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled a defendant was entitled to be resentenced where trial counsel failed to secure a three-level reduction under the federal sentencing guidelines for acceptance of responsibility.
Following a December 17, 2015, search by federal agents of a home ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment to police officers who arrested a man for a snarky Facebook post without conducting even a minimal investigation.
James Ross, 20, is an active user of Facebook. One of Ross’ Facebook friends ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Indiana held that Indiana Code § 35-44.1-3-1 authorizes only one conviction for felony resisting law enforcement where the defendant engages in a single act of resisting while operating a vehicle that causes multiple deaths.
After a motorist informed Indiana Police State Trooper James ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Texas held that the state’s expungement statute is “neither entirely arrest-based nor offense-based.” Based upon the facts of this case, it held that the petitioner was entitled to expungement of records and files with respect to the charge for which she was acquitted. ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held a search warrant failed to establish a fair probability that drugs would be found at the searched residence on the date of the search.
Before the Court was the appeal of Tyrone Christian, who was convicted by ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Hawaii reversed a DUI conviction because the trial court failed to determine whether the defendant’s “waiver of the right to testify, was voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly made.”
Before the Supreme Court was the certiorari petition of Ritalynn Moss Celestine. She was arrested on ...
by David Reutter
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed the armed bank-robbery conviction of Virgilio Diaz-Jimenez (“Diaz”), holding the warrantless search of Diaz’s home did not fit within the protective sweep or voluntary consent exceptions under the Fourth Amendment and was thus unconstitutional.
Diaz and ...
