by Steve Horn
Unbeknownst to college students across the country, their school may be surveilling their social media activity. What may be even more surprising to learn is that even individuals who have no affiliation with a school that’s engaged in this type of surveillance may nevertheless have their social ...
by Ed Lyon
Reid Zeh is Glynn County, Georgia’s public defender. As a lawyer, his personal conduct is far from the sterling standard expected from members of the Bar. In March 2018, he was jailed on a battery charge. He promptly made bail and hired a lawyer to represent him. ...
by Steve Horn
Conviction integrity units, known as CIUs and sometimes referred to as conviction review units or CRUs, have in recent years become increasingly widespread in county prosecutors’ offices throughout the U.S. They sit alongside actual innocence commissions, which exist in several states and review claims of innocence among ...
by Kevin Bliss
Catherine Roper, deputy legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, wrote in her blog of the recent arrests and charges of hate crimes against citizens because they used inappropriate speech to the police while being arrested or simply submitting a police report.
Roper reviewed the affidavits of probable ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Texas held that the state’s expungement statute is “neither entirely arrest-based nor offense-based.” Based upon the facts of this case, it held that the petitioner was entitled to expungement of records and files with respect to the charge for which she was acquitted. ...
by Dale Chappell
Tolling of the statute of limitations under the DNA statute applies only to the “actor” directly linked to the crime by the DNA, and not to others involved in the crime, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held. The Court interpreted the word ‘actor’ to mean only ...
by Kevin Bliss
The Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy (summer 2018) published a review of the state’s arbitrary application of capital punishment. The review focused on all of the first-degree murder cases prosecuted in the last 40 years and stated that the system is a “cruel lottery” and does ...
by Betty Nelander
Gov. Jerry Brown hailed a sweeping cash bail elimination law in California as landmark, years-in-the-making legislation to fairly treat “rich and poor alike.” Whether it will keep more people out of jail remains to be seen.
The California Money Bail Reform Act makes California the first state ...
by Dale Chappell
“While substantive due process permits limited confinement after a probable cause determination, it does not permit the Commonwealth to hold an individual indefinitely while repeatedly seeking a finding of sexual dangerousness,” the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts said in holding that a seven-year delay in finding a ...
by Kevin Bliss
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the detention of a prospective material witness for 18 hours in a holding cell instead of adhering to the terms of the material witness warrant violated plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights, and therefore the defendants were not ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a man civilly committed under 18 U.S.C.S. § 4247 (a)(7), part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (“Act”), was no longer a “sexually dangerous person.”
As a ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case where in banc review was improperly granted to review a circuit court’s ruling, the Court of Appeals of Maryland took the opportunity to clarify when in banc review can be granted.
After the circuit court granted Bashunn Phillips’ pretrial motion to exclude evidence from ...
by Matt Clarke
Attorneys for the Office of the Clark County (Nevada) Public Defender say prosecutors routinely violate state and federal laws governing the sharing of information known as “discovery.” They claim the situation is so grave that they have started tracking instances of prosecutorial discovery abuse. Sometimes the information ...
by Derek Gilna
Martin Marsich, a 25-year-old foreign national, was arrested on August 8, 2018, for hacking into Electronic Arts Company’s internal computer network and gaining access to approximately 25,000 customer accounts that are used to buy items for use in video games.
At his bond hearing, U.S. District Court ...
by Dale Chappell
A prosecutor’s lies amounted to prosecutorial misconduct requiring a new murder trial, the Supreme Court of Kansas held in a lengthy opinion exposing at least seven major errors by the prosecution.
The Court began its opinion with the following admonishment: “In a criminal prosecution, the State’s obligation ...
by Christopher Zoukis
On February 14, 2017, seven U.S. Border Patrol Agents were involved in an altercation with six subjects and three projectiles (rocks, bottles, and tree branches). How many assaults occurred?
According to traditional law enforcement accounting methods, seven, even assuming that none of the agents were hit with ...
by Kevin Bliss
The “resist tyranny” website Rons Spot (ronsspot.org) published a detailed report, complete with possible scenarios and advice, on how to file a complaint against a police officer.
The article states that a complaint is not a lawsuit; it is a report of a less serious nature against ...
by Kevin Bliss
With current technology, filming incidents of police brutality has become more common, yet many of those responsible for capturing events on film claim retaliation by the same police they film.
Kevin Moore was filming the day Freddie Gray was beaten by Baltimore police. That film was immediately ...
by Christopher Zoukis
State legislatures across the nation seem unable to stop themselves from tinkering with and upgrading their sex offender registry laws. The Rhode Island Legislature is no exception, and continual changes forced the state’s Supreme Court to wade into the treacherous waters on April 23, 2018.
In November ...
by Derek Gilna
A federal civil rights suit alleging massive abuse of Philadelphia’s civil asset forfeiture program was settled in September 2018 for $3 million, which will be distributed to individuals it victimized.
The settlement resolved a 2014 federal class-action court action filed by the Institute for Justice on behalf ...
by Derek Gilna
The West Virginia legislature on August 13, 2018, approved 11 articles of impeachment against all West Virginia Supreme Court justices for alleged “wasteful spending, maladministration, incompetency, neglect of duty, and potential criminal behavior,” according to CNN.
The impeachment vote generally broke along party lines, with most Republicans ...
Loaded on
Oct. 31, 2018
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2018, page 27
While age of consent to have sex is 16 in Ohio, it is not the age of consent to take sexy photos of minors in the nude. In fact, it is illegal to create, share, or possess sexually-explicit images of someone younger than 18.
This fine distinction could send one ...
Former Chicago police officer Jon Burge tortured black men and got away with it for almost two decades. But his atrocities also spurred a movement — one that scored a major victory against the racist criminal justice system.
by Joan Parkin, Jacobin
Former Chicago police commander and torturer Jon Burge ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Indiana held that Indiana Code § 35-44.1-3-1 authorizes only one conviction for felony resisting law enforcement where the defendant engages in a single act of resisting while operating a vehicle that causes multiple deaths.
After a motorist informed Indiana Police State Trooper James ...
by Derek Gilna
U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala issued a preliminary injunction on September 13, 2018, which effectively ends the money bond system of Cullman County, Alabama, finding that it violates the Eighth Amendment, which states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that when a district court plainly miscalculates a defendant’s Guidelines range and the mistake affects the defendant’s substantial rights, appellate courts should exercise discretion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b) to vacate the sentence.
The Court’s June 18, ...
by Derek Gilna
Yet another example of how the judicial and legislative branches are falling behind the curve in protecting American citizens from undisclosed forms of surveillance and classification was revealed in a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (“EFF”) published in April 2018. In EFF’s recent Freedom of Information ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a verdict, after remand by the U.S. Supreme Court, awarding $4 million to a couple who were shot by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies during a warrantless and unlawful entry of their home.
While Angel and Jennifer ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that a “generic appeal waiver does not affect a defendant’s ability to appeal his sentence on yet-to-arise ineffective-assistance-of-counsel grounds.”
An unnamed defendant in a sealed case signed a plea agreement, on counsel’s advice, that included a generic ...
by Derek Gilna
On August 6, 2018, Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ordered the New Orleans Municipal Court system to reform its money bond system, stating in his opinion in a case filed by defendants that, “[p]laintiffs have been deprived ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6-3 ruling, cleared up significant confusion in the circuit courts of appeals by ruling that a criminal defendant who was sentenced pursuant to a Rule 11(c)(1)(C) guilty plea is “generally eligible” for a sentence reduction when the defendant’s ...
by Dale Chappell
A Pierce County judge hit the City of Tacoma, Washington, with nearly $300,000 in fines and fees for violating the state’s Public Records Act (“PRA”), when it failed to turn over records on its use of stingray devices.
The court said the city deliberately withheld documents that ...
Loaded on
Nov. 6, 2018
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2018, page 37
For the fourth time in his employment with the West Virginia State Police, Ralph Justus was named as a defendant in a case alleging police brutality. The state agreed to settle out of court for $150,000, making it a total of $415,000 that the state has paid on account of ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana because the government provided no evidence of drugs or a conspiracy. The May 7, 2018, opinion also emphasized that expert witness testimony of “drug courier profiles” alone ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a superseding indictment based on the same conduct as the original indictment does not reset the Sixth Amendment speedy trial clock and affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the charge in the indictment.
In March 2011, ...
Loaded on
Nov. 6, 2018
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2018, page 39
Ohio Governor John Kasich commuted another death sentence, his seventh, amid concerns from one of the jurors in the case that prosecutors hid crucial details about the defendant’s horrific upbringing and drug problems that would have swayed that juror to vote against the death penalty.
The juror wrote a letter ...
by Derek Gilna
Crystal Mason, who had previously been convicted of tax fraud in 2011, will now serve a five-year sentence after being convicted in March 2018 of illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election. The 43-year-old Tarrant County, Texas, woman was on supervised release for that tax charge when ...
by Christopher Zoukis
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dealt the New York Police Department a blow in its attempt to avoid liability for using an acoustic weapon developed by the military to disperse a peaceful gathering of protesters. The Court’s June 13, 2018, ruling upheld a ...
by Dale Chappell
Announcing a new rule to protect the constitutional rights of criminal defendants who face both probation revocation and new criminal charges, the Nevada Supreme Court held that testimony and evidence from a probation revocation hearing cannot be used against a criminal defendant at a later criminal proceeding, ...
by Derek Gilna
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has announced that he will accept applications from thousands of individuals to erase their low-level marijuana convictions in a program unveiled in September 2018. He said his office has already ceased prosecuting people accused of possessing small amounts of pot. Prosecutors indicated ...
by Matt Clarke
On June 20, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a condition of supervised release prohibiting contact with minors without pre-approval from a probation officer in a plea-bargained possession of child pornography case was clear error and a miscarriage of justice as ...
Loaded on
Nov. 6, 2018
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2018, page 42
Alabama: Huntsville police officer William Benjamin Darby faces a murder charge in the April 2018 fatal shooting of a mentally ill man. While the officer was cleared by his department, he was indicted by a Madison County grand jury, accused of killing Jeffery Louis Parker at Parker’s home, whnt.com reports. ...
