by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that geofence warrants violate the Fourth Amendment because they constitute a “general warrant.” However, the evidence acquired in the case as a result of the unlawful geofence warrant was nonetheless admissible under the good-faith exception to the ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, that state’s highest court of review in criminal cases, held that a trial court violated a defendant’s right to be present at a probation revocation hearing conducted via Zoom by muting the defendant during the hearing. This case challenges yet ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit overturned a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, enjoining enforcement of Tennessee’s 2004 Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act (“Act”) in its entirety. Instead, the Court held ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed a sentence imposed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania because the district judge erroneously concluded he could not consider evidence offered by the defendant in support of a downward variance under 18 ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Virginia held that a trial court erred by enforcing a plea agreement after the parties had negotiated a new agreement because the first plea was neither accepted nor rejected by the trial court. This case presented yet another legal issue stemming from delays ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, clarified when the Government breaches its promise in a plea agreement not to recommend a sentence in excess of the low-end of the Sentencing Guidelines range when responding to the defendant’s request for a downward ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a federal prisoner’s second-in-time habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 was not a successive petition because the prisoner was resentenced as a result of his first § 2255 petition. The Court also held that the decision ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Indiana recently issued a decision clarifying the procedural framework, relevant pleading standards, and the State’s evidentiary burden before it may lawfully seize a citizen’s money or property in a civil forfeiture action. Because the State failed to comply with these requirements in this ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri erred by concluding that a defendant forfeited his right to represent himself in a criminal case based solely on the defendant’s repeated assertion of frivolous “sovereign ...
by Sam Rutherford
The California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, reversed a trial court’s refusal to grant compassionate release to a defendant diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS”) who had less than a year to live at the time of the release hearing. The Court held that the fact the ...
