by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the passage of eight months from the time of the unlawful seizure of Nikolay P. Bocharnikov until he gave his statement to law enforcement did not sufficiently attenuate the statement from the seizure.
In July 2017, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled that a defendant has a right to question a cooperating witness about a plea deal and the witness’ possible sentencing exposure before accepting that deal even if the witness’ exposure was the same as the defendant’s. At the heart of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Missouri held that a circuit court erred when it excluded testimony from Kane Carpenter’s expert witness relating to the accuracy of witness identifications.
In October 2016, a young white man (“Victim”) was approached by two black men, hoodies pulled low to cover their ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of California reversed the murder conviction and death sentence of Paul Nathan Henderson because the police continued to question him after he made an unambiguous request for counsel.
Henderson was arrested on July 5, 1997, in connection with a home invasion of a mobile ...
by Douglas Ankney
Ring is Amazon’s “smart” doorbell camera company that allows video cameras within users’ doorbells to surveil their porches, sidewalks, yards, and even the streets next to their homes. But Ring has also partnered with some law enforcement agencies, enabling police to directly email requests to Ring’s customers ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire held that N.H.R. Crim. P. 14(b)(2)(A) does not allow trial courts to require that defendants identify evidentiary support for a noticed defense.
Michael Munroe was a prisoner at the Rockingham County House of Corrections when he became involved in a fight ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio that granted summary judgment to the City of Euclid (“City”) and to Officers Kyle Flagg and Vashon Williams in an action brought under 42 ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Nebraska announced that the appropriate remedy after vacatur of an enhanced sentence for vehicular homicide that was imposed in the absence of evidence of any qualifying prior convictions is to remand to the district court for another enhancement and sentencing hearing.
After leaving ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of South Carolina held that a trial court’s failure to charge the jury with the circumstantial evidence instruction from State v. Logan, 747 S.E.2d 444 (S.C. 2013), was not harmless error where the State’s evidence was almost entirely circumstantial.
Robin Herndon was a law ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin abused its discretion when it denied Vincent Corner’s motion seeking relief under § 404 of the First Step Act (“the Act”) without first determining whether the ...
