Loaded on
Jan. 15, 2025
published in Criminal Legal News
February, 2025, page 1
by Justyna Madenska
This article explores the wrongful conviction of David Hehn and the unresolved murder of Gay Lynn Dixon, revealing systemic failures in forensic evidence handling and the justice system’s pursuit of true justice.
In 1982, the small town of Fort Collins, Colorado, was shaken by the brutal murder ...
by Sam Rutherford
The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that youthful defendants who receive sentences that are “functionally equivalent” to sentences of life without parole (“LWOP”) are entitled to resentencing under Cal. Pen. Code, § 1170, subd. (d) based on the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.
Background
In ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Maryland clarified the process a trial court must follow when determining whether statements made by a non-testifying co-conspirator defendant during a lengthy police interview are admissible as statements against penal interest at the trial of a co-defendant. The Court clarified that the duty ...
by Dale Chappell
If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking to understand how to challenge your state court conviction in federal court. Federal habeas corpus petitions give you that chance, but since 1996, the path has gotten a lot harder. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) introduced strict ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit clarified the circumstances under which a U.S. District Court may impose a “hate crime” enhancement pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) § 3A1.1(a), holding that the court must find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was motivated ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
The U.S. has a dark carceral history that has led to its maintenance of one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Advocates for electronic monitoring (“EM”) have often made the claim that it could reduce incarceration rates and their associated financial and human costs. ...
by David M. Reutter
In most states, the grant of parole is an act of grace. The systems of parole vary amongst the states, but one thing is certain—prisoners have high hopes when they come under review. Another certainty, at least in New York and Florida, is that parole denials ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
Don’t ask Google this simple question: “Are Bengal cats legal in Australia?” That is the gist of an urgent warning on cybersecurity firm Sophos’ website. People who have clicked on the resulting links have had their personal information stolen. It is a simple enough hacker tactic ...
by Jo Ellen Not
A University of Oregon study, “Decreased accuracy of forensic DNA mixture analysis for groups with lower genetic diversity” published in Volume 27, Issue 11, 111067 of iScience in November 2024 by researchers at the University of Oregon, discusses the significant limitations in forensic DNA analysis when ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that a defendant did not knowingly and voluntarily waive his right to counsel under the Massachusetts Constitution when he decided to represent himself at arraignment and during a change of plea hearing but nonetheless upheld his guilty plea because the ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a federal prisoner’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion for habeas relief based on his claim that defense counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to move to suppress evidence acquired after a police officer trespassed onto the curtilage of ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
A research team at Sweden’s Lund University unveiled an AI-driven system in a paper first released on October 7, 2024, titled “Microbiome Geographic Population Structure (mGPS) Detects Fine-Scale Geography.” mGPS uses microorganisms to trace the geographical origins of people or objects.
Acting as a global positioning ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a defendant’s prior California conviction for assault with a deadly weapon under Cal. Penal Code § 245(a)(1) does not qualify as a “crime of violence” for purposes of a career offender sentence enhancement under the U.S. Sentencing ...
by Sam Rutherford
The California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate, held that a defendant’s prison prior enhancement based on an offense that may no longer serve as a predicate for the sentence enhancement under Senate Bill No. 483 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) may not be affirmed based on the existence of ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Illinois invalidated an officer’s search of a vehicle and held that the odor of burnt cannabis, on its own, is insufficient to justify a warrantless search of a driver’s vehicle.
On September 15, 2020, Ryan Redmond was driving from Des Moines, Iowa, ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
The First Step Act (“FSA”), enacted in 2018, aimed to reduce recidivism and reform federal sentencing practices.
A recent report by the Council on Criminal Justice (“CCJ”) showed modest reductions in time served by individuals released under the FSA compared to those released before its implementation. ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that an asylee’s convictions in Florida state court for possession of marijuana under Fla. Stat. § 893.13(6)(b) and for lewd and lascivious battery under Fla. Stat. § 800.04(4) (2008) does not subject him to removal under the Immigration and ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Minnesota affirmed a Court of Appeals (“COA”) decision holding that a defendant has no duty to retreat when claiming that he used reasonable force in defense of another under Minnesota Statutes § 609.06(1)(3). The Court then announced the ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Desorption electrospray ionization, a type of mass spectrometry (“DESI-MS”), is being studied as a way to analyze overlapping or weak fingerprints, solving an age-old problem of evidence quality.
For over a century since Scotland Yard established its first Fingerprint Bureau, the issues of overlapping or weak ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Vermont abrogated the common-law year-and-a-day rule, under which the victim must die within one year and a day of the defendant’s criminal conduct to support a murder charge, thus reinstating a murder prosecution initiated against the defendant nearly two decades after his criminal ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
Police body cameras were full of promise. After several high-profile police killings, people turned to body cams for a solution. It makes sense. Cameras were already recording an increasing number of incidents as civilians witnessed events that poorly matched police reports. If the cops were wearing ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the District of Eastern Washington’s order excluding a key Government witness’ testimony and imposing monetary sanctions against the Government based on its failure to disclose to the defense evidence material to the ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
The federal government has again discovered that its use of facial recognition technology (“FRT”) harms Americans. The agencies using the technology are often doing so with little oversight or training, which is what the Government Accountability Office told us in 2023. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ...
by James Mills
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (“CBI”) announced that more than 1,000 cases could be affected by the systematic deletion and falsification of data by forensic scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods.
Woods was apparently allowed to work under a cloud of suspicion for quite some time. In 2014, a ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Criminal Court of Appeals of Texas, the state’s highest court in criminal cases, granted a prisoner’s habeas corpus petition based on advances in science that undermined the validity of evidence concerning Shaken Baby Syndrome that played a key role in his prosecution and conviction for abusing ...
Loaded on
Feb. 1, 2025
published in Criminal Legal News
February, 2025, page 49
Arizona: Phoenix resident Penny McCarthy, 66, endured a terrifying ordeal after United States Marshals arrested her at gunpoint in her home, mistaking her for a fugitive, according to KNXV. Body camera footage shows officers refusing to confirm her identity despite McCarthy repeatedly asking them. “I truly felt like I was ...
