by Noreen Marcus
Carole Hinders built a better taco that drew diners to Mrs. Lady’s Food in Spirit Lake, Iowa, for 37 years. Then, one day in 2013, right after breakfast with the grandkids, two men showed up at her home, flashed badges, and told Hinders the IRS had emptied ...
by Dale Chappell
It took a jury just nine minutes to come back with a verdict of “not guilty” in the trial of a man charged with blaring the 1988 N.W.A. rap song in the direction of police performing a traffic stop at a gas station in Pontiac, Michigan. ...
by Alyssa Stryker, Truthout
President Trump declared a national emergency to fund a wall on the southern U.S. border. In his declaration speech, he doubled down on the ridiculous idea that a wall would significantly impact the drug trade. He also took the opportunity to reiterate the claim ...
by Mark Wilson
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Washington state’s accomplice liability statute renders the state’s drug trafficking law too broad to serve as an Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”) predicate offense.
The ACCA requires a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence for individuals convicted ...
by Punch & Jurists
In Chua, District Judge Jack Weinstein of the E.D.N.Y. addressed what he called “an important constitutional Issue” — namely, “whether a defendant may, in effect, be forced by the government to waive, as part of a plea agreement, his or her constitutional right to ...
by Clifford Powers
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker made history on April 1, 2019, when he signed a bill creating Illinois’ first new parole system since it was effectively abolished in 1978. Before this, only those incarcerated for over 40 years, i.e. sentenced prior to 1978, were allowed in front of ...
by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Fourth Amendment Center
The Supreme Court recognized in Riley v. California that cell phones are unlike other types of physical objects. 134 S.Ct. 2473 (2014). Instead, the Court held, they are minicomputers that contain the most intimate details of life. Due to ...
by Chad Marks
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Government breached its plea agreement with the defendant by failing to honor its drug conduct stipulation at sentencing and failing to advocate for acceptance of its agreement after the Government learned its assumption about the ...
by Dale Chappell
In a rare move, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found that a sentence imposed for a violation of probation in a child pornography case was “substantively unreasonable” and that the sentencing court failed to explain why it imposed such a heavy sentence. ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that when police take action to cause a cellphone to reveal its real-time location, it is a search under Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.
Two eyewitnesses identified Jerome Almonor as the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the district court erred in denying a writ of error coram nobis that claimed ineffective assistance of counsel due to counsel’s erroneous advice regarding deportation as a result of a guilty plea.
Defendant, identified as John ...
by Dale Chappell
The Maryland Court of Appeals held that evidence of a valid prescription constitutes non-hearsay and is admissible as a “verbal act” when being admitted into evidence as the basis of a statutory defense.
In a case where most of the drugs involved those that would be legal ...
by Mark Wilson
The Supreme Court of Oregon ruled that the Oregon Constitution requires that a warrant to seize and search a computer (and other digital devices) identify the information to be searched for, including the time that the information was created, accessed, or otherwise used. Failure to provide such ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of North Dakota held that a district court erred when it dismissed a prisoner’s application for postconviction relief after the State filed its answer “but was not put on notice that the State had effectively motioned for summary disposition” of the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Washington held that the federal attenuation doctrine is not incompatible with the exclusionary rule of article I, section 7 of the Washington State Constitution if the attenuation is narrowly applied only to instances “where unforeseeable circumstances genuinely sever the causal connection between official ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case where the same lawyer represented two codefendants and advised both to plead guilty, with one fingering the other, evidence showing a possible conflict of interest in counsel’s representation required an evidentiary hearing, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held. ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Arkansas held that the defense of justification is available to a defendant charged with manslaughter if the defendant was not reckless or negligent in forming the belief that force was necessary.
The Court had before it the appeal of Christopher Schnarr. It ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that convictions under Georgia’s aggravated assault statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21(a)(2), that are based upon simple assault, O.C.G.A. § 16-5-20(a)(2), are not crimes of violence for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”). 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). ...
by Douglas Ankney
Maurice Stephen Sanders and Deshaun Evans decided to rob drug dealer Josh Palmer. Both Sanders and Evans had guns. In the course of the robbery, a neighbor of Palmer—Christopher Greene—was pistol-whipped and robbed. Greene’s wife, Michelle, sustained a single gunshot wound. Fortunately, no one died. Sanders and ...
by Chad Marks
Alexander Hamilton once described the reasons for the existence of clemency as those of humanity and good policy. Both clemency and parole reflect a commitment to the ancient value of mercy, but many prosecutors use their power to block mercy from becoming a reality.
Prosecutors ...
by Larry N., NARSOL
Maybe authorities will finally accept that the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution really protects individuals from compelled self-incrimination. At least it does in the state of Indiana, according to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The court made it ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the Government’s inaccurate pre-trial disclosure under Rule 16(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to defense counsel, which prompted him not to move to suppress an inculpatory statement made prior to being given his ...
by Douglas Ankney
On December 11, 2014, the circuit court sentenced Travis Jones to 10 years in prison following his guilty plea to one count of felonious restraint. The circuit court suspended execution of that sentence and placed Jones on probation for five years. Beginning from January 2015 until his ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Hawai’i announced a new rule beginning April 10, 2019, that all trial courts are required to conduct an on-the-record colloquy regarding the right to testify or to not testify when either right is waived to determine if the defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Indiana held an attorney rendered ineffective assistance by affirmatively marking ‘not applicable’ to an immigration consequences warning on the court’s standard advisement form when he neither knew his client’s status nor asked him.
Angelo Bobadilla, 19, entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor ...
by Kevin Bliss
Law enforcement agencies are being criticized because they routinely refuse to release footage from body cams and police vehicle dashboard cams. They cite ongoing investigations, sensitive information, or exemption under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) as confidential personnel records.
Public rights advocates contend that ...
by David Reutter
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that a plea court must “advise a criminal defendant on postrelease control for a prior felony, during his plea hearing in a new felony case, of the trial court’s authority under R.C. 2929.141 to terminate the defendant’s existing postrelease control and ...
by Matt Clarke
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Kansas held it was double jeopardy to correct the sentence of a man who was convicted of aggravated sexual battery—to impose the lifetime post-release supervision mandated by statute after his illegally-imposed sentence had been completely served. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that the forfeited claim of a miscalculated criminal-history score is reviewable for plain error.
Barthman pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B), (b)(2). He was ...
by Chad Marks
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that Tomonta Simmons’ conviction for assault with a deadly weapon on a government official (“AWDWOGO”) under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-34.2 is not a crime of violence that can trigger a Grade A supervised release violation, and ...
by Dale Chappell
A law enforcement expert on gangs testifying that a robbery committed by a lone gang member without any evidence tying the robbery to the gang was not enough to support the 19-year aggregate gang enhancement, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held, reversing the ...
by Dale Chappell
The Government’s key expert’s false hair-comparison testimony that likely swayed a jury to convict was held to be “material” because it was the primary piece of evidence to contradict the defense theory of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held, which ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Hawai’i reversed the murder conviction of Iosefa Meafua Pasene due to the cumulative effect of multiple instances of prosecutorial misconduct.
In the early morning hours of March 28, 2009, Pasene, Cedro Muna, and Antonius Toloai were released from the custody of the Honolulu ...
by Ed Lyon
More and more instances of abuse, torture, and murders of civilians by police are coming to light. These acts of domestic terror by the very homefront warriors who are sworn to protect and serve the domestic population are now being outed, condemned, and losing their jobs. Some ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, discharged William E. Palmer II from all forms of custody, including parole supervision, after finding the time he had previously served in prison was grossly disproportionate to his offense.
In 1988, 17-year-old Palmer waited in a parking garage ...
by Dale Chappell
A GPS tracker illegally placed on a car by a Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (“MDENT”) agent was a “flagrant” constitutional violation that requires exclusion of the evidence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held.
Digging through Brian Terry’s trash, Charleston, West Virginia, ...
by Ed Lyon
U.S. jurisprudence generally strives to avoid conflicting interests and even the appearance of impropriety. This practice apparently does not apply to the system of mayor’s courts in Ohio. Reminiscent of ancient Star Chamber of England, Ohio mayor’s court proceedings have no court reporters or even recorders ...
by Jayson Hawkins
In Pericles’ famous funeral oration (circa 430 BC), the classical Greek statesman exhorted his audience never to speak ill of the dead. His advice has been considered part of basic human decency ever since--unless one happens to be a district attorney explaining why local police have murdered ...
by Douglas Ankney
Florida law enforcement uses what is known as the Face Analysis Comparison Examination System (“FACES”), which selects from more than 33 million driver’s license and law enforcement photographs.
FACES is designed to return multiple possible matches for an uploaded image. The current system was implemented in 2001. ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to a new report from MIT Technology Review, judges are increasingly relying on “criminal risk assessment algorithms.” The algorithms assign recidivism scores to prisoners that estimate the likelihood he or she may reoffend. A lower score means a kinder fate while a higher score leads to ...
by Kevin Bliss
District attorney offices across the nation are adopting blacklists of officers whose testimony in court is untrustworthy. Referred to as “do not call lists,” “exclusion lists,” or “Brady lists,” D.A.s have stated that they will not prosecute cases or accept search warrant requests from officers on ...
by Kevin Bliss
Law enforcement agencies across the nation are moving toward adopting more genetic genealogy investigative techniques and training from genealogy experts apparently without first considering the implications such practices have on civil rights or any potential abuses.
Databases at consumer DNA collection companies, such as GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA, ...
by Ed Lyon
An extremely important and informative study concerning forensic comparison matches sponsored by The Royal Statistical Society was recently published. It represented cooperative efforts by attorney Dana M. Belger of the Innocence Project’s Strategic Litigation Unit, statisticians Bill Eddy and Robin Mejia of Carnegie Mellon University, and ...
by Douglas Ankney
Automatic License Plate Readers (“ALPR”), facial recognition technology, and predictive policing are some of the new weapons in the arsenal of the police state. And minority communities are caught in the crosshairs.
The failures of facial-recognition technology are widely known. According to a study by the Massachusetts ...
by Douglas Ankney
After two years of being on the decline, misconduct suits against New York City’s Police Department (“NYPD”) are on the rise. In 2018, there were 1,586 claims filed compared with 1,391 submitted in 2017. There has been a downward trend since 2014 when 3,084 claims were filed. ...
by Ed Lyon
It has not been long since former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo was identified as the Golden State Killer suspect, a shadowy figure accused of raping and killing his way to infamy, holding a fair portion of California terrorized for decades.
As a former cop, authorities ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Doing time has never been easy, yet the greatest challenges many prisoners face often come after their release. Basic concerns like securing a job, housing, and credit can be recurring nightmares for ex-convicts.
The recent push to “Ban the Box” — get rid of questions about ...
by Douglas Ankney
A jury in Aberdeen, Mississippi, awarded Jessica Jauch $250,000 after she spent 96 days in jail without seeing a judge. Jauch was arrested on traffic charges in 2012 but was held in the Choctaw County Jail after being served with a drug indictment. While locked up, Jauch ...
by Dale Chappell
When Cook County, Illinois, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans issued an administrative order in July 2017 telling judges they had to seriously consider whether someone could afford bail, things got better. A lot better. The number of individuals held in jail who couldn’t afford bail dropped by ...
Loaded on
June 17, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
July, 2019, page 41
Locally elected prosecutors wield tremendous, and often unchecked, power. They singlehandedly determine who to prosecute, the charges brought, whether to seek the death penalty when applicable or whether to offer a plea bargain, and they have enormous impact on the recommended sentence.
If a prosecutor has racial or class ...
by Douglas Ankney
Michael Ryan spent 29 years of his life dedicated to instructing the youth of Hammonton Public Schools. Instead of a retirement party and send off, he was suspended and hauled off the premises by school officials.
Easthampton Police Officer Michael Musser accused Ryan of committing a ...
Loaded on
June 17, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
July, 2019, page 42
Alabama: Former Oneonta police Sergeant Nicholas “Shane” Osborn, who met a boy on the online app Grinder in 2017, was sentenced in May 2019 for multiple sex crimes, court records show. Osborn pleaded guilty and “was sentenced to 20 years in prison on convictions for electronic solicitation of a ...
