by Anthony W. Accurso
Few topics elicit the level of disgust, outrage, and hyperbole as the subject of the sexual abuse of children does in America. No child should be subjected to sexual assault, but our collective efforts to prevent this harm should be mindful of other values we hold ...
by Mark Wilson
The Supreme Court of Illinois held that the Court’s pro se posttrial ineffective assistance of counsel (“IAC”) procedure applies to juvenile delinquency proceedings and extends to IAC claims against both retained and appointed counsel. The court reversed, holding that the trial court erred in failing to conduct ...
by Dale Chappell
It’s long been said that a valid guilty plea goes a long way in barring post-conviction relief in the courts. While that can be true for challenges to the guilty plea itself, it’s often not true for challenges to a sentence resulting from that guilty plea. After ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Washington held that a trial court erred when it refused to permit an attempted child rape defendant to introduce evidence of his lack of a criminal history to support his claim of lack of propensity to commit the crime and denied his requested ...
by Jacob Barrett
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) to remove Jonathan Aguirre-Zuniga for a conviction for dealing methamphetamine under Indiana code § 35-48-4-1.1, holding it did not qualify as an aggravated felony for the purpose of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee’s denial of Dominique Cordell Wallace’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion because his convictions for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery are not qualifying predicates after United ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the various hunches of drug-related activity articulated by a Utah Highway Patrol Trooper were insufficient to prolong a traffic stop in order for a drug-detection dog to arrive on scene to search for drugs, that ...
by Harold Hempstead
The Court of Appeal of California, Third Appellate District, held that Assembly Bill No. 1259’s (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) ameliorative changes to Penal Code § 1473.7 apply retroactively to defendants who were convicted by trial as well as by plea, whose cases are not yet final, and who ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
This June, the Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022), a ruling that fundamentally changed the landscape of law relating to abortion access in America. This change will play out in multiple areas of the law, though several ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) § 2K2.1 does not apply to conspiracy to commit a crime of violence.
Junior Abreu pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that GPS location data of a fugitive’s cell phone putting it at a particular apartment building does not establish reasonable suspicion of criminal activity by all the occupants of the building justifying the warrantless investigative seizure ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed an order of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida that construed a letter from Tydearain Smith asking whether he was eligible for relief under the First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) and requesting ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1) (“ACCA”) cannot be preserved on collateral review by treating as four separate qualifying predicate offenses stemming from a drug arrest that was identified ...
by Harold Hempstead
Chicago’s automated traffic enforcement camera program is one of the largest in America, with almost 300 locations around the city being monitored by cameras. The red-light camera program was introduced in 2003, by then-Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. His successor Rahm Emanuel expanded the program in 2013 to ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Utah explained the community caretaking exception to the warrant requirement and reversed the Court of Appeals’ (“COA”) affirmance of a district court’s denial of Brett Smith’s motion to suppress evidence obtained without a warrant or applicable exception to the warrant requirement in violation ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered a limited remand where the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied Gabriel Perez’s petition under § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) without adequately explaining its reasons.
Perez was convicted ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the Government was barred by a plea agreement from pursuing dismissed charges after the defendant prevailed on appeal in challenging the charge to which he entered a plea of guilty.
Shelby Petties was indicted in ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Few terms conjure a more apprehensive reaction than “sex offender.” Yet, like those convicted of any other crimes, the vast majority of sex offenders eventually serve their sentences and return to society. Various localities have adopted policies limiting where such individuals may live, usually by barring them ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Bonnie Burkhardt was your average tech-oriented government employee who happened to stumble across a network of law enforcement officers who regularly violate federal and Virginia state laws to enrich themselves. If this sounds like the plot of a John Grisham novel, you’ll be surprised to learn ...
by Mark Wilson
The Supreme Court of Oregon unanimously held that upon finding that a life without parole (“LWOP”) sentence is not appropriate under Oregon’s repeat sex offense law, sentence must be imposed under the state sentencing guidelines.
Oregon lawmakers enacted ORS 137.719 in 2001. Section 1 requires a presumptive ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Court of Appeal of California, Third Appellate District, ordered the suppression of evidence obtained from defendant’s vehicle parked on private property belonging to a family friend after police seized it without a warrant for that location, concluding that the automobile exception to the warrant requirement ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) launched its 17th surveillance blimp in June 2022, this time in a stationary location over Nogales, Arizona.
CBP put out a press release about the blimp the day before it was launched, though it did not directly notify the residents of ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), “announced a new rule of substantive law that applies retroactively” to an initial 28. U.S.C. § 2255 motion.
The Court’s opinion was issued in an ...
by Casey J. Bastian
Police departments across the U.S. have been increasingly reliant on drones for a variety of law enforcement duties. The Huntsville Police Department (“HPD”) in Alabama has seen a 300 percent year-over-year increase in drone usage since 2017. The HPD drone program has been hailed as a ...
by David M. Reutter
Several police departments have turned to trained citizens to respond to crisis calls. The results have been positive, as there have been fewer arrests and hospitalizations in these jurisdictions.
The St. Petersburg, Florida, Police Department in 2020 decided not to hire more officers and instead diverted ...
by Douglas Ankney
With the passage of A.B. 481, Californians have a say as to whether their local police agency looks like a military outpost.
For years, the U.S. military has given local law enforcement agencies weapons of war that are designed to engage foreign adversaries on the battlefield, including ...
by Jacob Barrett
There is no universal requirementin forensic science to be an accredited laboratory, and instead of accrediting an entire lab, many accreditation vendors allow labs to choose which sections to accredit, e.g., just DNA or firearms. That is a problem, says Brian Gestring, forensic scientist and consultant.
Gestring ...
He was in police custody at the time of the murders, but a dubious confession led to his wrongful conviction while Chicago police and prosecutors turned a blind eye to inconvenient facts that eventually exonerated him.
by Steve Mills, ProPublica
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up ...
by Casey J. Bastian
As we evolve our systems of criminaljustice, it becomes apparent that we must first agree what constitutes “justice.” And when we focus on what is justice within the criminal procedures for adjudicating guilt, an old maxim is frequently cited by many people — it is “better ...
Loaded on
Oct. 15, 2022
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2022, page 50
Arkansas: A Mulberry police officer and two sheriff’s deputies from Crawford County were suspended after a video surfaced appearing to show them beating a man suspected of making violent threats. Maine Public Radio reported that the three officers were videoed by a bystander as they held down Randall Worcester, ...
by Ashleigh N. Dye
Geraldine Tyler, 93, of Minneapolis owed the government nearly $15,000 in tax debt, so the government sold her home for $40,000 and kept the proceeds. Tyler left her condominium in 2010 after gun violence in her neighborhood and dangerous situations left her feeling unsafe. She was ...
