by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”) concluded that the holding in Commonwealth v. Brown, 479 Mass. 600 (2018), which requires the Commonwealth to prove that a defendant knew a firearm was loaded in order to sustain a conviction of violating G.L. c. 269, …
by Douglas Ankney
In 1976, an all-White jury from Concord, North Carolina, convicted Ronnie Long, a Black man, of raping a White woman and sentenced him to 80 years in prison. He was convicted despite a lack of physical evidence tying him to the rape. In 2005, his …
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) does not qualify as a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 924(c). The Court also held that a defendant’s sentence of …
by Douglas Ankney
In its November 5, 2020 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, en banc, announced that panels of the Ninth Circuit may now fashion a remedy after a panel has concluded that a district court has erred in determining the admissibility …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Hawai’i held that a search of a residence was unreasonable where officers knocked and announced their presence four times within 25 seconds and then forced entry.
At 6:15 a.m. on September 4, 2015, officers from the Honolulu Police Department (“HPD”) …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) of Massachusetts announced that continuous, long-term pole camera surveillance targeting a residence is a search under article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.
Shortly after an undercover officer made a controlled drug purchase from Nelson Mora, investigators installed …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Louisiana affirmed a district court’s holding that declared unconstitutional a state statute compelling registered sex offenders to carry identification emblazoned with the words “SEX OFFENDER.”
The State charged Tazin Ardell Hill with altering an official identification card to conceal his …
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the special conditions of supervised release imposed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas that barred Carlos Saul Becerra from using the Internet, computers, and other electronic devices for a …
by Douglas Ankney
Legal Aid Chicago and Chapman and Cutler LLP launched a web application to help expedite the process of clearing criminal records of offenses that are eligible for expungement and sealing.
The Legal Aid Chicago Criminal Records Relief Petitions App (“App”) was built by Chapman’s …
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that a probation officer’s warrantless search of a probationer’s cellphone was unreasonable where the probation officer did not have reasonable suspicion to justify the search.
Jason Fletcher was sentenced to five years’ probation after …
