by Jay Schweikert, Cato Institute, September 14, 2020
Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine that protects public officials from liability, even when they break the law. The doctrine has no valid legal basis, it regularly denies justice to victims whose rights have been violated, and it severely undermines official accountability, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging Idaho’s Sexual Offender Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act, Idaho Code § 18-8301 et seq. (“SORA”).
In July 1993, Idaho initially passed a ...
by Dale Chappell
Criminal cases are often riddled with errors. Judges err, prosecutors err, and of course defense lawyers are far from perfect. But when it comes to federal habeas corpus, not all errors are worth raising. Perhaps the most challenging part to federal habeas corpus may be identifying claims ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated a defendant’s sentence after ruling the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado improperly applied an enhancement under § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A) of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for having a prior crime of violence that is not, in ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, held that a trial court abused its discretion by denying Rene Avila’s motion to strike prior convictions pursuant to People v. Superior Court (Romero), 917 P.2d 628 (Cal. 1996), (“Romero Motion”). The Court further held ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed down an opinion on December 21, 2020, holding that the prohibition against a subsequent resentencing in § 404(c) of the First Step Act can be waived by the Government. Therefore, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern ...
by Douglas Ankney
The California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, vacated the denial of Patrick Sean O’Hearn’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea after concluding that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate O’Hearn’s mental health history.
In October 2018, police responded to two elderly women, Rachel D. ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case broadening the scope of relief for crack cocaine offenders under the First Step Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held on December 7, 2020, that all three provisions under 21 U.S.C. § 841 dealing with crack cocaine were “modified” by ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Michigan held that police must limit a search of digital data from a cellphone in a manner reasonably directed to uncover evidence of the specified criminal activity alleged in the warrant.
On August 6, 2016, Lisa Weber agreed to stay all night at ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana’s denial of qualified immunity to two police officers who allegedly fatally beat, kicked, and tasered a man who was on the ground in a fetal position and ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of North Carolina held that a superior court abused its discretion when it flatly prohibited the defense’s questions during voir dire regarding racial bias and bias related to the shooting of Black men by police.
Police arrived at a parking garage in response to ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”) held that permitting a witness to testify via two-way video based on reasons that did not further an important public policy violated the rights of James Ray Haggard under the Confrontation Clause.
Haggard was tried on charges related to alleged ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a district judge may not delegate to a probation officer the decision to require inpatient, rather than outpatient, treatment because of the liberty interests at stake.
Abran Martinez tested positive for cocaine use while on supervised ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Kansas held that when an appellate court determines a district court abuses its discretion by applying the wrong legal standard to its consideration of a plea withdrawal prior to sentencing, the correct disposition is to remand to the district court to ensure ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Indiana held that a defendant’s right to a speedy trial was violated where he was made to wait six-and-a-half years before he was retried on a pending 30-year habitual-offender enhancement.
Stanley V. Watson was convicted by a jury in 2001 of dealing cocaine ...
by Anthony Accurso
A police raid on the home of aFlorida data scientist involving officers who aimed loaded firearms at young children draws attention to issues of police misuse of force, outdated technology laws, and the possible misuse of law enforcement to retaliate against a whistleblower.
According to reporting by ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Nevada held that a district court abused its discretion when denying Jack Paul Banka’s motion to withdraw his Alford plea (North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970)) where Banka wasn’t informed that his conviction carried a mandatory minimum fine of ...
by Dale Chappell
Voters across the nation let their votes speak loud and clear on what they wanted this past Election Day: More reform-minded prosecutors and more oversight and accountability of the police.
In Los Angeles County, George Gascon beat Jackie Lacey for district attorney, after Lacey was criticized by ...
by Douglas Ankeny
The Supreme Court of Texas announced the standard governing factual-sufficiency review of a finding that a person is a sexually violent predator (“SVP”).
In 2004, Jeffery Lee Stoddard pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was scheduled to be released on ...
by Dale Chappell
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that a condition requiring a man to “avoid impregnating a woman” while on probation for failing to pay child support was not sufficiently related to the offense and required overturning the condition.
It was undisputed that London Chapman fathered 11 children ...
by Douglas Ankney
Division Five of the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal held that Senate Bill No. 136 (“SB 136”) made unenforceable a plea agreement that contained a one-year prior prison enhancement.
Jeffrey Allan Joaquin was charged with: (I) premeditated attempted murder with an allegation that ...
by Derek Gilna
The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) has peeled back the curtain of secrecy on the FBI’s undisclosed in-house capability of unlocking encrypted cellphones and other electronic devices. The ACLU had unsuccessfully sought information on the agency’s shadowy Electronic Device Analysis Unit (“EDAU”) through multiple Freedom of Information ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of North Carolina upheld a decision of the Court of Appeals (“COA”) that found plain error where an investigator from the Department of Social Services Child Protective Services (“DSS Investigator”) “improperly bolstered or vouched for the victim’s credibility.”
Fifteen-year-old Virginia (a pseudonym) testified that ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that merely gesturing with a hand that a defendant possessed a gun during a robbery and ordering bystanders into a room was not enough to warrant two enhancements under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG”).
The two issues ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that a determination as to whether a defendant used force in the commission of the offense – a finding which raises the mandatory minimum sentence in Ohio – must be found by a jury, not merely decided by a trial court ...
by Derek Gilna
Hundreds of innocent people may have gone to jail based on potentially flawed or falsified test results by San Francisco Office of Chief Medical Examiner (“OCME”) forensic analyst Justin Volk.
This alleged misconduct was uncovered after the August 31, 2020, arrest of Volk for possession of methamphetamine ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Montana held that a five-year delay in bringing John Wilson Chambers to trial violated his right to a speedy trial, and the lengthy delay was presumptively prejudicial.
In May 2012, Chambers was arrested and confined in Stillwater County for his role in a ...
by Douglas Ankney
A unanimous Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) held that the express remedies provision of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq. (“RFRA”), permits litigants, when appropriate, to obtain money damages from federal officials sued in their individual capacities.
The case ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery is not a valid offense to allow a conviction for use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The Court joined the ...
by Jayson Hawkins
The calls for social justice coming from nearly every city and town in America in 2020 were fueled primarily by two issues. The first was that people of color, often unarmed and without cause, were being killed by law enforcement in the streets and even in their ...
by Jayson Hawkins
A cloud of sensationalism, misinformation, and outfight propaganda has always hovered around government pronouncements and media coverage concerning crime and criminal justice. President Richard Nixon launched the War on Drugs in America in a speech before the nation’s governors that proclaimed drug use had moved out of ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that consent to testing and analysis is required for the results of a blood alcohol test to be admissible in an operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol (“OUI”) prosecution even when there was a court order for ...
by Jayson Hawkins
In October 1993, 19-year-old Sean Ellis was arrested by Boston police for the murder of Detective John Mulligan. For more than 22 years after that day, Ellis fought his subsequent conviction, continually professed his innocence, and brought much-needed attention to the dysfunctional culture inside Boston law enforcement. ...
by Anthony Accurso
Reporting from TheNew Republic highlights how police departments are turning to electric car manufacturers to replace aging fleet vehicles.
Climate change and pandemic budget-cuts have police departments considering ways to both save money and prepare for a green energy future. Replacing aging gasoline-fueled patrol cars with ...
by Casey Bastian
The American justice system was premised on certain legal principles. One of its most vital foundational principles was mens rea. Mens rea is Latin and literally means “guilty mind.”
The principle that, to hold someone liable for committing a criminal act, requires that the person intended ...
by Dale Chappell
Ever since SCOTUS decided in Rehaif v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), that the government must prove as an element that a person had to know that he was a previously convicted felon to convict under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), the felon-in-possession of a ...
by Kevin Bliss
Walter Forbes was exonerated, then freed in November 2020 after 37 years in prison for an arson and murder he did not commit. The state’s key witness admitted to fabricating the story that convicted Forbes after she and her family were threatened by a couple of men ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a December 2020 report in the libertarian magazine Reason, Bonnie Kristian presents a compelling case for legislation governing use of robots by police. She begins by comparing robots to the implementation and expanded use of SWAT units. A little over 50 years ago, SWAT teams ...
Loaded on
Feb. 15, 2021
published in Criminal Legal News
March, 2021, page 50
California: Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Deputy Sukhdeep Gill, 27, was arrested in January 2021 for faking his own shooting and alleging he’d been a victim in a drive-by shooting while on patrol, according to thefreethoughtproject.com. He was charged with felony vandalism and falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor. Gill ...
