by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Minnesota announced that the two-year time limit set forth in Minn. Stat. § 590.01, subd. 4(c) to file a timely postconviction petition under the retroactive new interpretation of law exception in Minn. Stat. § 591.01, subd. 4(b)(3) runs from the date the U.S. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire erred by refusing to allow Louis Gardner to withdraw his guilty plea after allowing the Government to withdraw from the plea agreement due to a breach ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals (“COA”) that had held the incapacitated driver provision of Wisconsin’s implied consent statute, Wis. Stat, § 343.305(3)(b), is unconstitutional because the provision’s “deemed” consent authorizes warrantless searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Dawn ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Washington reversed the convictions of Jessica L. Vazquez after holding that her attorney, Sarah McFadden, was ineffective under the Sixth Amendment for failing to object to the introduction of inadmissible evidence at trial.
Detective Colby Martin and Officer Daniel Vargas assisted in executing ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Michigan held that time served in prison due to revocation of parole that resulted solely from a wrongful conviction of other offenses is not excluded from compensation under the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act (“WICA”), MCL 691.1751 et seq.
In 1987, Desmond Ricks began ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine reversed the denial of Bruce Akers’ motion to suppress and vacated his murder conviction.
On June 9, 2016, Akers called the local sheriff’s office and spoke with the sergeant. He told the sergeant he suspected his neighbor of stealing some property ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of New Jersey announced the framework that governs when a party requests a criminal history check on a prospective juror to determine whether the juror is eligible and to ensure a fair trial. The Court also instructed the ...
by Doug Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit clarified when trial courts must instruct juries on the defense of entrapment.
As part of a “sting” in 2015, Special Agent Ryan Seig of the Homeland Security Investigations Child Exploitation Unit created a fictitious Grindr profile under the ...
by Douglas Ankney
Citing lack of clear guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Maryland Court of Appeals (“MCA” or “Court”) announced that issues of confrontation of witnesses will be determined under Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights (“Article 21”) and further announced the standard for determining whether ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of California held that Welfare and Institution Code § 6602, subd. (a) does not create an exception permitting hearsay regarding nonpredicate offenses to be introduced via psychological evaluation reports. (All statutory references are to the Welfare and Institution Code.)
In June 2015, the District ...
