by Michael Dean Thompson
Networked Privacy and DNA
Dana Boyd who was one of the first to describe the idea of Networked Privacy has pointed out that choice is not really individual in the network. That is, the choices we make affect our entire network. That likewise means that harm ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that a federal prisoner’s second-in-time habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 was not a successive petition because the prisoner was resentenced as a result of his first § 2255 petition. The Court also held that the decision ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that issues not raised in a prior appeal are not waived in a subsequent appeal following de novo resentencing. The Court also held that a defendant’s position as an “essential member” ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
Axon announced the launch of Draft One, a technology that the company calls its newest public safety product, on April 23, 2024. This AI system generates police reports from the audio of body-worn cameras and has raised concerns that the technology could worsen existing issues in ...
by Matt Clarke
An article published in the American University Law Review examines victims of coercive plea bargaining using extensive data from psychological studies and surveys. In doing so, it goes beyond the obvious victims—innocent defendants who are coerced into pleading guilty to a crime they did not commit—to include ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a published precedential ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit adopted the doctrine of abatement ab initio for when a criminal defendant dies during the pendency of a direct appeal from his conviction.
In 2019, Francis M. Reynolds was convicted by jury of ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
On June 17, 2024, Democratic Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order in Annapolis to issue more than 175,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions, seeking to rectify “historical wrongs” tied to marijuana enforcement. The pardons cover all simple marijuana possession charges and possession of drug paraphernalia ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
A ProPublica investigation published in May 2024 has uncovered significant reliability issues with the New York Police Department’s (“NYPD”) public database for tracking officer discipline. The investigation looked at over 1,000 daily snapshots of the database since 2021 and found 88 percent of the cases disappeared ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
According to what Cooper Quentin who is a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the Washington Post, the government has promised they will only use this latest tool for the most grievous crimes. We have heard that before. We previously heard that with regard to ...
by John & Nisha Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute—Commentary
“As I look at America today, I am not afraid to say that I am afraid.”
—Former presidential advisor Bertram Gross
The American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a pervasive authoritarianism.
The American people, the permanent underclass in America, have ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
20th Judicial District Court Judge Patrick Butler unsealed a troubling internal affairs report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (“CBI”) in June 2024 that revealed a decade of missed opportunities to address misconduct by Yvonne “Missy” Woods, a veteran DNA scientist.
For almost three decades Woods, ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Indiana recently issued a decision clarifying the procedural framework, relevant pleading standards, and the State’s evidentiary burden before it may lawfully seize a citizen’s money or property in a civil forfeiture action. Because the State failed to comply with these requirements in this ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri erred by concluding that a defendant forfeited his right to represent himself in a criminal case based solely on the defendant’s repeated assertion of frivolous “sovereign ...
by Douglas Ankney
With the passage of House Bill 531 (“HB 531”), Maryland eliminated the $50 parole fee charged to people returning home from prison. HB 531 also ended the $100 fee charged for drug and alcohol testing.
Championed by the nonprofit BUILD and its sister organization Turnaround Tuesday, HB ...
by Sam Rutherford
The California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, reversed a trial court’s refusal to grant compassionate release to a defendant diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“ALS”) who had less than a year to live at the time of the release hearing. The Court held that the fact the ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to microbiologists, every individual has a “unique community of microorganisms on and within their body.” These communities, known as “microbiomes,” consist of microbes “specific to different parts of the body, can persist over long periods of time and can be transferred to other people and to ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) successfully sued for access to FBI information regarding cell-site simulators (“CSS”). For years, the FBI has used nondisclosure agreements (“NDA”) to hide their use of CSSs from the public and the courts. Now, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
A congressional probe revealed that the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) has shared a decade’s worth of data with law enforcement. This information, known as metadata, is gathered from the outside of envelops and packages and does not require a warrant.
The USPS collects this data under ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the convictions of the unwitting passenger of a drug mule on the ground that the Government failed to present evidence of her knowledge of the drugs and instead relied solely on unreasonable inferences.
Tony Garcia agreed ...
by Matt Clarke
The Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, held that a court resentencing a defendant pursuant to Senate Bill 1393 (“SB 1393”) (Stats. 2018, ch. 1013 (§§ 1, 2)) cannot base its decision solely on its assessment of the defendant’s dangerousness at the time of sentencing. Instead, ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of New Mexico reversed two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and one count of child abuse under NMSA 1978, §§ 30-9-13(B)(1) (2003) and 30-6-1(D) (2009), after holding that the second trial on those charges violated the prohibition against double jeopardy because of ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, that state’s highest court of review in criminal cases, held that a trial court erred in admitting rap videos and other social media posts against a defendant on trial for murder. The Court determined that any probative value of the ...
by Douglas Ankney
Judge Don Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Carlton Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi have authored opinions excoriating the doctrine of qualified immunity (“QI”). QI is a judicially created doctrine manufactured by the ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Court of Appeals of Washington, Division One, held that under the Washington Constitution, warrantless searches of parolees or probationers must have a nexus between the suspected violation of a probation condition and the place searched. Additionally, this nexus may not be expanded based on consideration of ...
by Douglas Ankney
On June 5, 2024, Plaintiff Yareni Rios-Gonzalez agreed to accept payment of $8.5 million from Defendants Town of Platteville, Colorado, and the City of Fort Lupton to settle her suit related to the injuries she suffered after police officers handcuffed her and left her unattended in a ...
by Douglas Ankney
In May of 2024, Shelly Bradbury reported in the Denver Post that “[a] handful of local law enforcement agencies are considering using drones as first responders, that is, send them in response to 911 calls as police departments across Colorado continue to widely embrace the use of ...
by David M. Reutter
The Court of Appeal of California, First District, Division Three, held a trial court erred by failing to hold a resentencing hearing in the defendant’s presence after granting a motion to strike enhancements for prior prison sentences (“prison priors”). The Court further concluded that a prosecutor ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
Drug testing is a commonly accepted form of compliance control used widely in the U.S. It is used in criminal investigations, child welfare checks, and probation or parole monitoring. Drug tests are often required while applying for employment or to retain employment. The results need to ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to the authors of a study from the University of New Mexico, “[n]onverbal behaviors (i.e., head dynamics) represent an important, yet understudied, form of communication that may enhance our ability to detect certain forms of psychopathology, including psychopathy.” A research team used an automated detection algorithm ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, ruled that Jeremiah Paul’s conversation with Los Angeles Police Department Officer Charles Kumlander and Officer Helmkamp was not consensual based on the manner in which the officers approached Paul’s vehicle.
The following facts were taken from a hearing ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the Government violated the terms of its plea agreement with a defendant where it failed to explain at sentencing why it agreed to recommend a downward variant sentence of probation and instead passively stated it was ...
Loaded on
Sept. 1, 2024
published in Criminal Legal News
September, 2024, page 49
Arizona: On June 29, 2024, the Tempe police department posted a Facebook message regarding an award that two of its officers had just received. “Congratulations to Officer Zachary Hyde and Officer Gavin Young. Last night both received the Hero Award at the 35th annual Mothers Against Drunk Driving Law Enforcement ...
