by David M. Reutter
"Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Without them we have no other fortification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hounds,” President John Adams once declared.
That warning ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals (“COA”) that had affirmed Dorain Jerod Myers’ conviction for carrying a concealed weapon, second offense, in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-308(A), which makes it illegal for anyone to carry “about his person” ...
by Dale Chappell
After working hard to set out the claims in your federal habeas corpus petition, along comes the person having custody over you and files a response in court that recharacterizes your claims and makes you look like someone who needs to spend the rest of his life ...
by Dale Chappell
In yet another case, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) whittles away at the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), this time narrowing what qualifies as a “violent felony” to impose the harsh 15-year minimum penalty for possessing a firearm as a felon.
On June 10, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Montana dismissed with prejudice charges of sexual intercourse without consent and bail jumping, ruling the defendant’s second trial following a mistrial that was declared without a showing of manifest necessity was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the U.S. and Montana Constitutions. ...
Far too frequently, a criminal record is an obstacle to securing education, employment, housing, and other similar necessities. Approximately 1.6 million Virginia residents have a criminal record; a disproportionate number of them are Black. The House and Senate Chambers of the Virginia General Assembly have passed legislation that will facilitate ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Arizona affirmed a decision of the Court of Appeals (“COA”) holding that the issue of a trial court’s failure to adequately protect a defendant’s right to conflict-free counsel—as opposed to issues broadly raised as ineffective assistance of counsel—may be raised on direct appeal. ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts found a trial court abused its discretion when it excluded an expert who sought to testify as to the cultural significance of a tattooed symbol on an alleged victim’s arm.
The Court’s order was issued in an appeal brought by ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a coworker cannot conduct limitless searches of a defendant’s work area at the direction of a government agent, simply because he could physically access the office.
Ethel Shelton worked as the administrative assistant to Mary ...
The Supreme Court of Nebraska reversed a lower court’s denial of a criminal defendant’s motion for absolute discharge based on statutory speedy trial grounds.
A complaint was filed against Douglas P. Jennings in the county court for Douglas County, Nebraska, charging him with Class I misdemeanor stalking of his former ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jules A. Bartow’s conviction for using “abusive language” after determining the Government failed to prove his racial slur tended to cause immediate acts of violence.
Bartow, who is white, was inside the ...
by Anthony Accurso
New York’s public defender community is gaining popularity on Twitter by telling stories from their perspective on the criminal justice system, especially when highlighting flaws and injustices. However, there is vocal criticism whether they are crossing a line in telling stories that belong to their clients.
Public ...
by David M. Reutter
The Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Three, reversed a guilty plea where a trial court approved a plea bargain for human trafficking of a minor for a sex act because it was undisputed that the victim was an adult. The Court held ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five, held that when a federal district court finds that a habeas petitioner has satisfied the standard enunciated in Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298 (1995), and the petitioner is permanently released from custody, the California Victim Compensation ...
by Matt Clarke
Child abuse is the leading cause of trauma-related deaths in children. In 2017, around 3.5 million children were referred to social services due to reports of abuse and neglect; 1,720 of them died. Over 70% of those who died were not yet 3 years old. Yet physicians ...
by Casey J. Bastian
Defunding the police is not a new concept. The idea has just been largely ignored by lawmakers until recently. Advocacy groups have flooded city council meetings for years while making similar demands. Activist have been pushing officials to cease expansion of police and jail budgets and ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that police exceeded their authority to search for weapons under Terry when they directly searched the inside pocket of an otherwise compliant detainee.
Officers Robert Wining and Robert Nasland responded to a call on Nov. 15, ...
by Douglas Ankney
Brad Sigmon, 63, was scheduled to be killed on June 18, 2021, at the hands of the people of South Carolina in their perverse and bizarre notion of justice. But on June 16, 2021, the South Carolina Supreme Court stayed his killing. The Court announced it would ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Delaware vacated a defendant’s convictions for substance possession after the trial court allowed the State to substitute a different officer for testimony instead of the one who conducted the search.
In June 2018, Wilmington Police pulled over a vehicle belonging to Stephen ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that, in making an individualized determination about whether extraordinary and compelling reasons merit compassionate release, a district court may include, along with other factors, the disparity between a defendant’s actual sentence and the sentence he would have ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit remanded for resentencing on a defendant’s guilty plea because the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa improperly assessed a destructive-device enhancement.
The Court’s opinion was issued in an appeal by Adrian Zarate. He pleaded ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado’s denial of Hunter Trey Venezia’s motion to suppress because the Government’s reliance upon the community-caretaking exception to the warrant requirement was based upon an unreasonable community-caretaking rationale.
Officers ...
by Douglas Ankney
The law of the land is that the “search incident to arrest” exception to the warrant requirement does not apply to the contents of a cellphone. But what about seizures of cellphones? Has the rule become, “I can take your phone because I’m a cop?”
Police officers ...
by Doug Ankney
A unanimous Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) held that the “community caretaking” function of police announced in Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433 (1973), which permits police to search an impounded vehicle without a warrant, does not create a standalone exception to the warrant ...
by Casey J. Bastian
In recent years, law enforcement has realized the enormous potential to solve crimes by using genetic genealogy databases. New laws in Maryland and Montana seek to reconcile the usefulness of genetic genealogy data and consumer privacy. Consumer companies like FamilyTree DNA, 23andMe, Ancestry, ...
by Casey J. Bastian
During the past 20 years, the stun gun has become a popular weapon in the American law enforcement arsenal. First marketed as a “non-lethal” device, the deployment of stun guns has not decreased brutal police violence.
In the U.S., most law enforcement agencies rely on stun ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
In an opinion filed June 9, 2021, the Supreme Court of South Carolina upheld a lower court ruling allowing a lower-risk sex offender to be removed from the registry because lifetime registration for low-risk offenders does not “bear[] a reasonable relationship” to the Legislature’s legitimate interest ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed a defendant’s conviction after finding the State failed to prove he conspired with anyone to distribute methamphetamine.
The Court’s en banc ruling was issued in an appeal brought by Duane Robert Henderson. After April Newman was contacted on the internet ...
by Matt Clarke
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, held that a felony-murder conviction was invalid when guilt was determined prior to the enactment of Senate Bill 1437 (“SB 1437”), which was passed in the 2017-2018 regular session of the Legislature, but sentencing occurred after ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of New Mexico held that a magistrate court committed constitutional error by accepting a defendant’s plea of no contest without the assistance of counsel. The Court said the “case serves as a reminder that fundamentals constitutional rights cannot be jettisoned for the sake ...
by Jayson Hawkins
The first state in the nation to institute a police bill of rights now also holds the distinction of being the first to repeal it. Passed into law in 1974, the legislation afforded Maryland cops the right to appeal disciplinary measures to a local board despite a ...
by Kevin Bliss
Politics professor at New York University Anna Harvey, Rutgers University economist Amanda Agan, and Texas A&M economist Jennifer Doleac conducted a study January of 2019 intended to show that the decision not to pursue prosecution for low-level nonviolent misdemeanors actually worked as a deterrent to recidivism and ...
by Dale Chappell
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) recently subpoenaed USA Today seeking information on readers of a story about a botched FBI raid in Florida that killed two agents and wounded three other agents. It asked the news outlet to keep the subpoena quiet, but instead, the newspaper ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit extended the holding in Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009) (vehicle may be searched incident to arrest without a warrant if police reasonably believe that the arrestee “could have accessed his car at the time of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Texas held that under Article 55.01(a)(2)(A) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure multiple misdemeanor offenses charged in a single arrest are eligible for expunction on an individual basis.
R.P.G.P. was arrested for a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated (“DWI”) offense. An inventory search ...
by Jayson Hawkins
As the calls for greater police accountability have grown louder across the country, one of the most consistent and effective barriers to change is the power of police unions. The power of these unions is usually linked to their potential to sway the local elections that typically ...
by Jayson Hawkins
More people are becoming aware that personal data is the currency of the Information Age in which we are living. Many have grown accustomed to taking steps to protect privacy on their phones and other digital devices, yet few may know about emerging technologies that allow law ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Recent media coverage of police brutality and other flagrant violations of civilians’ rights has offered numerous candidates for the dubious distinction of worst law enforcement agency in the U.S. The competition is stiff, but an investigation by CBS2 in Chicago suggests their police department should be a ...
by Casey J. Bastian
The death of Elijah McClain after a violent encounter with law enforcement in August, 2019, sparked local protests in Aurora, Colorado. In response to the inadequate departmental oversight, the Aurora City Council appointed an independent panel to investigate what went wrong. The panel issued a 157-page ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
It was in 2016 that a shooting in San Bernardino, California, sparked legal action in which the FBI attempted to use the courts to force Apple to enable a vulnerability that would allow the agency to access all iPhones, including the shooter’s. The FBI eventually dropped ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Daunte Wright. Philando Castile. Walter Scott. Sam DuBose. All too often another name is added to the list of Black men killed by cops at traffic stops. While police training continues to push the narrative that it is law enforcement officers who face extreme danger during these ...
by Matt Clarke
Two recent reports by the Proteus Fund and Greenpeace show that organizations associated with law enforcement—mostly police unions—are the main drivers of the unprecedented number of new anti-protest bills introduced in state legislatures in 2021.
When Connor Gibson undertook research for the Proteus Fund to see which ...
by Kevin Bliss
Sixty-four current and former prosecutors, attorneys, law enforcement officers, and other judicial leaders from 26 states and the District of Columbia signed a group statement titled “Joint Statement on Sentencing Second Chances and Addressing Past Extreme Sentences” in April of this year. The statement calls for leaders ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A jury in Saint Louis acquitted five police officers on several counts relating to their violent assault on a man during protests in September 2017, a man who later turned out to be an undercover cop sent out to gather details on property destruction.
On the ...
by Ed Lyon
Guy Frank first became involved with Louisiana’s criminal justice system in 1975 at age 22. Over the next quarter century, Frank would be arrested 36 times and would be convicted several times for theft and possession of cocaine. He served a three-year prison term at one point ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
If you thought criminal investigations have gone to the dogs, you might be right—digital dogs. Forensic science has now perfected an advanced “crime-sniffing” technology that can detect, at the molecular level, deadly viruses, illegal drugs, and even bomb-making chemical compounds. These digital dogs however have such a ...
by Douglas Ankney
While former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin stood trial for the murder of George Floyd, police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Protesters assembled outside Brooklyn Center’s police headquarters.
The crowd control tactics inflicted upon the protesters were of ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Recent reports reveal that police use of facial recognition software may be far more pervasive than we’ve been led to believe.
Clearview AI markets its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies around the country, boasting the ability to take a photo from a crime scene ...
by Casey J. Bastian
In yet another outrageous example of what constitutes “justice” in America, we have the story of 74-year-old Bobby Sneed. He has been imprisoned at one of this nation’s most perilous institutions for 47 years. Earlier this year, a 17-minute hearing before the Louisiana Board of Parole ...
by Michael Fortino, Ph.D.
Executive Clemency, the process of granting a modified or revised prison sentence at the behest of the Office of the President of the United States, continues to be a largely overlooked and underutilized path toward reversing punitive mass incarceration despite the fact that there remains bi-partisan ...
by Ed Lyon
For those who have suffered through seemingly endless, slow-moving lines at your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”), only to come up against rude, condescending, petty bureaucrats, there is a brand-new reason to dislike and fear that particular agency. Many DMVs are augmenting their legislative budget allotments ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Five more states joined the growing list of jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized or decriminalized. But the new laws are a hodgepodge of regulation. Some states explicitly changed the laws to prevent police harassment by eliminating the odor of cannabis as sufficient probable cause to ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 2021
published in Criminal Legal News
September, 2021, page 50
California: Five Southern California cops were placed on leave in June 2021 after a video surfaced showing them attacking suspects, according to reports by the Washington Post. On June 10, 2021, four Glendale police officers went on paid leave while an investigation was opened into their response to a ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The widespread popularization of bodycams for police was supposed to bring accountability to the “bad apples” amongst police that drive deadly interactions with citizens. However, years into widespread bodycam use, it is apparent that bodycams, by themselves, do not automatically create accountability.
After the killings of ...
