by Casey J. Bastian
Probation officials play a critical role in the criminal justice process. These officials create pre-sentencing reports containing both legal and extralegal information about the offender. This information is used to fashion sentencing recommendations. One factor considered is remorse. If the offender shows remorse, more lenient sentencing ...
by Douglas Ankney
On May 8, 2024, the Supreme Court of New Mexico revised the rules governing pretrial release. According to Artie Pepin, Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, the revisions include:
People released while awaiting trial on any felony or on specified misdemeanors (e.g., driving while intoxicated; ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of the United States held that a Fourth Amendment malicious-prosecution lawsuit may proceed where one or more of several charges brought against the plaintiff was supported by probable cause so long as at least one charge was not.
Background
Jascha Chiaverini, a jewelry store ...
by John & Nisha Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute—Commentary
“Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference … The Thought Police would get him just the same … the arrests invariably happened at night … In the vast majority of cases there ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overturned a sentence imposed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, holding that the District Court’s one-sentence explanation for a sentence nearly 10 years above the recommended sentencing Guidelines range was insufficient to justify ...
by Douglas Ankney
Bruce Praet, cofounder of the company Lexipol, offers California cops some advice in one of his online training webinars: When notifying the family of a person the police have killed, obtain as much information as possible on the deceased before telling the family their loved one is ...
by Sam Rutherford
In a short, per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States clarified the scope of the exception set out in Nieves v. Bartlett, 587 U.S. 391 (2019), to the requirement that First Amendment retaliatory-arrest claims may only proceed if the plaintiff establishes a lack of ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of the United States held that a jury must determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether a defendant’s prior violent felony or serious drug offenses were committed on separate occasions, thus qualifying the defendant for an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”). ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
A top FBI official is urging his agents to continue using a warrantless foreign surveillance program, Section 702, to justify the bureau’s surveillance powers. This program, which has been misused to target U.S. protesters, journalists, and a sitting member of Congress, was extended by lawmakers for ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit took the unusual step of ordering the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to hold an evidentiary hearing on state prisoner Khamal Fooks’ 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus.
Fooks pleaded guilty ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
Martin Lucio Santillan, now 50 years old, was fully exonerated in the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts in Dallas, Texas, on March 22, 2023. His 25 years of wrongful imprisonment ended because Centurion Ministries believed his innocence after a simple interview in 2008.
When 21-year-old Damond Wittman ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Nevada held that district courts have no discretion to deny a motion to set aside the judgment of conviction under NRS 176A.240(6)(a) when filed by a defendant who meets the statutory requirements.
Christopher Kabew pleaded guilty to attempted residential burglary. The district court ...
by Douglas Ankney
Florida Senate Bill 184 (“SB 184”) makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to approach within 25 feet of a first responder after receiving a verbal warning to stay away. Included under the provisions of the law is a requirement of intent to interfere, threaten, or harass the first ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit remanded a defendant’s case for resentencing after ruling that the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico relied on impermissible hearsay evidence, which served as a factor at sentencing for his revocation and new charge. ...
by Sam Rutherford
“The body of America’s Fourth Amendment jurisprudence reflects the effort to strike a balance between the state’s obligation to responsibly and legitimately meet the critical needs of public safety with the nation’s founding and enduring commitment to protect the individual liberty ensured to all its people.”
These ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
Every formerly incarcerated person has to deal with additional employment hurdles that impede their opportunities for successful reintegration. A recent study by the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University attempted to determine if Postsecondary Carceral Education (“PSCE”) improved employment opportunities and how race ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Kansas ruled that the “noisy conduct” provision in a Wichita ordinance is unconstitutionally overbroad under the First Amendment. The Court severed the provision from the constitutional “fighting words” provision in the same subsection.
Before the Court was the appeal of Gabrielle Griffie, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary (“Committee “) released a report on March 6, 2024, entitled “Financial Surveillance in the United States: How Federal Law Enforcement Commandeered Financial Institutions to Spy on Americans” (“Report”) that described in detail federal law enforcement agencies’ surveillance partnership ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to an article appearing on June 10, 2024, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have concluded that wire-cutting evidence should not be admissible in court unless additional information about the number of comparisons made is provided. A study entitled “Hidden Multiple Comparisons ...
Loaded on
Aug. 1, 2024
published in Criminal Legal News
August, 2024, page 33
In early July, dozens of incarcerated individuals in Colorado counties Arapahoe and Douglas, received a promising letter from the District Attorney’s office. DA John Kellner was notifying defendants in cases that could have been affected by allegations of DNA manipulation at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (“CBI”).
Boulder defense attorney ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
Subpoenas based on a phone number served on the messaging app Signal typically receive only two pieces of information: the date the account was created and the last time it was accessed. Sometimes, they receive less. Signal’s website tells its users, “It’s impossible to turn over ...
by Casey J. Bastian
Implementing legal mechanisms to prevent “future crime” is a common theme of science fiction involving dark, dystopian future societies. But it is happening here in America today. Twenty states allow the indefinite detention of certain offenders after completion of their sentences. Minnesota commits a greater percentage ...
The Supreme Court of Louisiana vacated four 23-year-old convictions and death sentences because the prosecution withheld impeachment and exculpatory evidence in violation of the defendant’s due process rights.
In 2001, Darrell J. Robinson was convicted of the murders of Billy Lambert, his sister Carol Hooper, her daughter Maureen Kelly, and ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
Cops have found themselves challenged by the decreasing size of electronic devices and the correlated increase in the ease of hiding them. To assist them, they have begun using dogs to sniff out a key chemical used to create the devices, triphenylphosphine oxide, which remains on ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
The National Institute of Justice (“NIJ”) published a paper titled “The Impact of False or Misleading Forensic Evidence on Wrongful Convictions,” providing grim facts and figures on one of the worst injustices in the criminal justice system – wrongful convictions.
As of 2023, The National Registry ...
by David M. Reutter
he U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held a defendant’s guilty plea was unknowing and involuntary due to trial counsel’s misrepresentation that all minorities would be removed from the jury, resulting in a trial before exclusively white jurors. The case was remanded to ...
by Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith
“Cold Justice” star Kelly Siegler relied on jailhouse informants to win convictions despite reasons to doubt their credibility.
Secrets and Liars
What Happened When a Star Prosecutor Was Accused of Running a Jailhouse
Snitch Scheme
1. Rat’s in the Trap
The day before Michael ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) has an impressive cache of surveillance technology that includes, inter alia, automated license plate readers (“ALPR”) and cell-site simulators (“CSS”). The latest tracking and surveillance revelation is that DHS and other law enforcement agencies have been using TraffiCatch since 2019.
Deployed ...
