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Sixth Circuit: Prosecutor’s Numerous Improper Comments Constitute Flagrant Misconduct Depriving Defendants of a Fair Trial

Loaded on Aug. 19, 2019 by Anthony Accurso published in Criminal Legal News September, 2019, page 20
Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Prosecutors. Location: United States of America.

by Anthony Accurso

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated the conviction of two defendants on possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine charges because the prosecutor’s numerous improper comments amounted to flagrant misconduct.

Luis Morales-Montanez and Jessica Acosta pleaded guilty to charges involving marijuana, cocaine, and guns ...

 

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More from this issue:

  1. News in Brief
  2. St. Louis Ordered to Stop Holding Detainees Simply Because They Can’t Afford Bail, by Kevin Bliss
  3. Debunked Shaken-Baby Syndrome Leads to Reduced Sentence, by Anthony Accurso
  4. Video Bail Hearings Violate Rights in Many Ways, by Edward Lyon
  5. Chicago Fingerprint Unit Flawed, Under Scrutiny, by Bill Barton
  6. Seventh Circuit Rules Failure to Issue Summons or Warrant Means Supervised Release Not Tolled While Merely in Custody, by Anthony Accurso
  7. Private Companies Use DNA Profiles to Snitch on Customers and Their Families, by Douglas Ankney
  8. California Losing Millions in Civil Asset Forfeiture Funds as Law Aims to Curb Police Abuse
  9. Second Circuit Holds NY Sodomy Not ‘Prior Sex Conviction’ for Purposes of Federal Statute Mandating Life Sentence for Repeat Sex Offenders, by Dale Chappell
  10. Groundbreaking Empirical Study of Expungement Released, by Bill Barton
  11. Sixth Circuit Announces § 2244(B)(1) Doesn’t Apply to Successive § 2255 Petitions and Rules That If the District Court Relied on Residual Clause of ACCA When Determining Prior Conviction Qualified as Predicate Felony, Then Sentence Cannot Stand, by Douglas Ankney
  12. Florida Supreme Court Holds Sentencing Statute That Allows Judge to Determine Dangerousness Triggering Upward Depar-ture of Maximum Sentence Unconstitutional, by Dale Chappell
  13. Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies That State Has Burden to Prove Competency to Stand Trial, by Dale Chappell
  14. Will Police Recruitment Crisis Prompt Change in Behavior?, by Douglas Ankney
  15. Houston Police Cover up Crime Scene With Poor Investigation Techniques, by Kevin Bliss
  16. Colorado Supreme Court Announces Sniff by Drug Dog Trained to Detect Marijuana Now Constitutes a ‘Search’ Requiring Probable Cause, by Dale Chappell
  17. Tennessee Supreme Court Holds Judge Lacks Authority to Sign Search Warrant for Property Outside Court’s Jurisdiction, by Dale Chappell
  18. Another Study Shows There’s No ‘War on Police’, by Bill Barton
  19. 7th Circuit Instructs District Court to Grant Federal Prisoner’s Habeas Based on § 2255(e) Savings Clause, by Douglas Ankney
  20. Qualified Immunity: Explained, by Emily Clark, Amir H. Ali
  21. Massive Outing of Nationwide Instances of Police Misconduct Revealed, by Edward Lyon
  22. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Explains Procedures of G. L. c. 278A and Rules That a Claim of Self-Defense Is a Claim of Factual Innocence, by Douglas Ankney
  23. Vermont Supreme Court Rules DUI Breath Test Subject to Voluntariness Challenge Despite Implied Consent Law, by Mark Wilson
  24. California Court of Appeal Announces Defendant Convicted of Felony Accessory Is Eligible for Resentencing Under Proposition 64, by Douglas Ankney
  25. California Supreme Court Reverses Attempted Murder and Explains Elements Required For Kill Zone Theory Instruction, by Anthony Accurso
  26. Oregon Supreme Court Holds ‘Attempt’ Requires Intent to Personally Participate in the Crime, by Dale Chappell
  27. $13.1 Million Settlement Reached by Actor Framed for Murder, by Douglas Ankney
  28. BOP Finally Implements First Step Act, Officially Releases 3,100 Prisoners Under ‘Good Conduct Time’, by Dale Chappell
  29. Colorado Supreme Court Announces That the People Cannot Withdraw From a Plea Agreement After the Trial Court Rejects Stipulated Sentence, by Douglas Ankney
  30. NYU Study Shows ‘Predictive Policing Systems’ Promote Bad Data, Bad Policing, by Dale Chappell
  31. SCOTUS: SOL Governing § 1983 Claim Asserting Fabrication of Evidence Begins to Run on Date Criminal Proceedings Are Terminated in Complainant’s Favor, by Douglas Ankney
  32. Indiana Supreme Court Reduces 30-Year Prison Sentence to 23-Year Community Corrections Placement in Rare Case, by Chad Marks
  33. New Jersey Supreme Court: Prosecution May Appeal Drug Court Sentence Only When Sentence Is Illegal, by Douglas Ankney
  34. Sixth Circuit: Prosecutor’s Numerous Improper Comments Constitute Flagrant Misconduct Depriving Defendants of a Fair Trial, by Anthony Accurso
  35. Fourth Circuit Reverses Lower Court for Giving Dispositive Weight to Plea Agreement Language Rather Than Fact-Based Evaluation of Weight of Evidence in IAC Claim, by David M. Reutter
  36. Taking Notes Influences Jurors’ Verdicts, by Douglas Ankney
  37. Colorado Supreme Court Announces That Claims of Insufficient Evidence Not Preserved at Trial Are Subject to De Novo Review on Appeal, by Douglas Ankney
  38. Refusing to Permit Attorney to Make Offer of Proof Is Abuse of Discretion, Says Indiana Supreme Court, by Douglas Ankney
  39. Change to New York Misdemeanor Definition May Benefit Non-Citizens, by Michael Berk
  40. Montana Supreme Court Rules Leaving a Brewery Doesn’t Provide Particularized Suspicion of DUI, by Anthony Accurso
  41. Massachusetts Supreme Court Holds Statute Requiring GPS Monitoring of Probationers Convicted of Sex Offenses Unconstitutional ‘as Applied’, by Douglas Ankney
  42. Oregon Supreme Court: Claim Based on New Rule of Constitutional Law Cognizable in Untimely Oregon PCR Action, by Mark Wilson
  43. Virtual Imprisonment as Big Brother Interactively Listens From Cradle to School to Prison to Parole to Grave, by Edward Lyon
  44. Column: Obtaining Relief Under 'Davis' in the Wake of 'Johnson', by Dale Chappell
  45. Seventh Circuit: Woman Answering Door of Suspect’s Residence Wearing Bathrobe Does Not Constitute Apparent Authority to Consent to Search, by Chad Marks
  46. The Role of Police Misconduct in Wrongful Convictions, by Matthew Clarke

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