by Douglas Ankney
Most DNA testing companies will not provide customer data to law enforcement unless there is a lawful court order. But FamilyTreeDNA distinguishes itself by not just permitting police to access its consumer data but also relishes in doing so. In a company ad, the father of kidnapping-victim ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit announced that limitation of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(1) doesn’t apply to successive § 2255 petitions and ruled that if it is appears more likely than not that the district court relied on the residual clause of 18 USC ...
by Douglas Ankney
When schoolchildren were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, a frequent answer used to be “a policeman.” But apparently that’s no longer true. Sixty-six percent of police departments across the U.S. reported a decline in applications, according to a survey of 400 law ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court’s judgment and remanded with instructions to grant a federal prisoner’s 28 U.S.C. § 2241 habeas petition seeking resentencing based on the savings clause of 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e).
In 2009, Deandre Beason pleaded guilty ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts explained the procedures for filing and adjudicating a motion brought under G. L. c. 278A, which allows those convicted access to forensic and scientific testing of evidence that could potentially prove their innocence, and ruled that a defendant convicted of manslaughter ...
by Douglas Ankney
In September 2013, William Roy Boatwright was arrested while exiting a house later discovered to contain 107 pounds of marijuana, 60 pounds of marijuana shake, a vacuum-sealing device, drug paraphernalia, and four grams of methamphetamine. Boatwright told officers he was helping a friend package marijuana inside the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Board of Supervisors of San Francisco approved a settlement of $13.1 million in a claim brought by a man who had spent more than six years in prison after police framed him for murder. The decision was unanimous.
In 2010, aspiring actor and hip-hop artist Jamal ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Colorado announced that the People cannot withdraw from a plea agreement after the trial court accepts the defendant’s guilty plea but rejects the stipulated sentence contained in the agreement.
Christopher Anthon Mazzarelli entered into an agreement with the People whereby he pleaded guilty ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) held that the statute of limitations for Edward McDonough’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim alleging that he was prosecuted using fabricated evidence began to run when the criminal proceedings against him terminated in his favor.
McDonough processed absentee ballots ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the State cannot appeal a “special probation Drug Court sentence” unless the sentence is illegal.
Susan Hyland was driving drunk when she struck and killed a 16-year-old boy. Hyland fled the scene. After she was indicted on three charges, ...
