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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 ...
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 ...
