More from this issue:

1. News in Brief
2. Record Number of Exonerations Prompts Michigan AG to Create Conviction Integrity Unit, by Douglas Ankney
3. $21 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted Man Released After 39 Years in Prison, by Douglas Ankney
4. Police, Prosecutor Misconduct Continues Unabated as Evidenced by Record Number of Exonerations in 2018, by Douglas Ankney
5. Report: Google Can Track You Even When Your Phone’s Off, by Anthony Accurso
6. New York Court of Appeals: Jury Trial Right Attaches to Deportable Crimes Punishable by Less Than Six Months in Jail, by David Reutter
7. $270,000 Awarded to Grandmother Brutalized by Pennsylvania Cops, by Edward Lyon
8. $1 Million Settlement for NYC Crime Lab Tech Who Blew Whistle on Use of Untested DNA Tests for Decades, by Edward Lyon
9. Wisconsin Supreme Court Holds That Statute Doesn’t Require Habeas Petitioner to Plead Timeliness, Overruling Smalley v. Morgan, by Douglas Ankney
10. Report Finds Lack of Reporting on Deaths in Law Enforcement Custody, Even After Landmark Legislation, by Steve Horn
11. Study Details the Effect of Brain Scan Evidence on Sentencing, by Anthony Accurso
12. NYC Program Helps Former Prisoners Realize Their Dream
13. ‘They need to be marked for life’, by Sandy Rozek
14. The FBI Polices Itself Like Kids Guarding a Candy Store, by Edward Lyon
15. Fifth Circuit: Confrontation Clause Violated When Officer’s Testimony Relates Incriminating Information Received From Non-Testifying Informant, by Douglas Ankney
16. Eighth Circuit Overlooks Procedural Default, Orders Immediate Release From Excessive ACCA Sentence Based on Prior Sex Offense, by Michael Berk
17. New York City’s Bail Success Story, by Bill Barton
18. Ninth Circuit: Running From Police Alone Doesn’t Give Rise to Reasonable Suspicion Justifying Stop and Frisk, by Douglas Ankney
19. Georgia Supreme Court Announces New Evidence Code Abrogates Categorical Exclusionary Rule of Mallory, by Douglas Ankney
20. Under Marsy’s Law, Police Using Violence Can Claim ‘Victim’ Status, by Edward Lyon
21. Private Citizens Carrying Guns Commit Fewer Crimes Than Cops, by Douglas Ankney
22. Massachusetts Supreme Court: Discharge From Civil Commitment 
Required When Examiners Conclude Defendant Is Not Sexually Dangerous, by Douglas Ankney
23. FAMM, Washington Lawyers’ Committee, NACDL Launch Compassionate Release Clearinghouse
24. Seventh Circuit Orders Grant of Successive § 2255 Motion and 
Resentencing in Pre-Booker Mandatory Guidelines Case Involving Elements Clause’s Definition of ‘Crime of Violence’, by Chad Marks
25. West Virginia Supreme Court Announces Parole Eligibility Statute for Prisoners Who Committed Crimes as Minors is Retroactive, by Douglas Ankney
26. California Supreme Court: Prop 47 Requires Dismissal of Conviction Based on a Predicate Felony That Is Later Reduced to a Misdemeanor, by Douglas Ankney
27. Hawai’i Supreme Court Remands for Resentencing Where Circuit Court Considered Defendant’s Refusal to Admit Guilt in Imposing Consecutive Sentences, by Douglas Ankney
28. Maryland Court of Appeals Rules That Courts Must Ask Non Compound ‘Strong Feelings’ Question Upon Request During Voir Dire, by Douglas Ankney
29. Fourth Circuit: Cannot Substitute Career Offender Predicate on Collateral Review, by Anthony Accurso
30. Court Extends McQuiggin Actual Innocence Exception to Defaulted Legal Claim, Vacates § 924(c) Conviction, by Dale Chappell
31. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Holds Consent to Search Does Not Include K-9 Sniff When No K-9 Present When Consent Given and Wait 40 Minutes for Its Arrival, by Dale Chappell
32. Fifth Circuit: Plain Error Requiring Resentencing Where Court Didn’t Give Defendant Chance to Speak at Sentencing Hearing and Prospective Allocution Provided Added Details to Lead Reasonable Judge to Reconsider Harsh Sentence, by Michael Berk
33. Court Reporters Likely Fail to Accurately Transcribe Testimony for Speakers of ‘African American English’, by Anthony Accurso
34. Bucklew v. Precythe, by Michael Avery
35. From the Editor: Compassionate Release for Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons, by Richard Resch
36. Parole a Detriment to Rehabilitation; ‘Less Is More’ Reform Sensible, by Kevin Bliss
37. Minnesota Supreme Court Holds ‘Stalking-by-Mail’ and ‘Mail-Harassment’ Statutes are Facially Overbroad, by Douglas Ankney
38. Fifth Circuit: Denial of Habeas Petition as Successive Reversed Where Second Petition Challenges a Separate Judgment, by Same Court, Not Covered in First Petition, by Chad Marks
39. ‘DNA Mixtures,’ ‘Touch DNA,’ and Software-Enhanced Forensic DNA Analysis, by Michael Berk
40. Sixth Circuit Holds Chalking Car Tires for Parking Enforcement Constitutes a Search Under Fourth Amendment, by Matthew Clarke
41. SCOTUS Announces Death of ‘Categorical Approach’ by Invalidating 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(B) as Unconstitutionally Vague, by Richard Resch
42. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Consent to Search Does Not Attenuate Seized Evidence From Taint of Illegal Search of CSLI, by Douglas Ankney
43. Exonerations: From Wrongful Conviction to Release and Beyond, by Edward Lyon

More from Douglas Ankney:

• The Dramatic Increase in the Elderly Prison Population Is Fiscally and Morally Irresponsible, Oct. 1, 2026
• Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity but Clarifies that 14th Amendment ‘Objective Reasonableness’ Is Standard of Review for Pretrial Detainee’s Claim of Sexual Abuse, Oct. 1, 2026
• California Supreme Court Announces Totality-of-Circumstances Framework Focused on Defendant’s Subjective Understanding Under § 1473.7(a)(1), Holding Immigration Consequences Advisement Is Relevant but Not Dispositive, Oct. 1, 2026
• Idaho Supreme Court Holds Conflicting Affidavits About Plea Acceptance Require Evidentiary Hearing on Ineffective-Assistance Claim, Oct. 1, 2026
• Tenth Circuit Vacates Award of Costs to Prison Officials, Revives Prisoner’s Claim Alleging Denial of Access to Functioning Toilets and Exposure to Other Prisoners’ Feces, Oct. 1, 2026
• Second Circuit Vacates Above-Guidelines Firearm-Trafficking Sentence Based on Failure to Assist Law Enforcement and Unexplained Reliance on Factors Already Included in Guidelines Range, Sept. 1, 2026
• Ninth Circuit Reverses Convictions, Holding Requirement That Defendant Testify Before Displaying Hand Tattoos Violates Fifth Amendment, Sept. 1, 2026
• Ohio Supreme Court Announces Postconviction DNA-Testing Orders Need Only Identify Statutory Reason to Satisfy R.C. 2953.73(D) “Reasons” Requirement, Sept. 1, 2026
• Federal Court Upholds Consultants’ Finding that Oklahoma Is Not Honoring Its Consent Decree to Provide Mental Health Treatment, Sept. 1, 2026
• Idaho Legislature Moves to Hide Execution Protocol from Judicial Scrutiny, Sept. 1, 2026

More from these topics:

• Louisiana’s Atavistic Approach to Criminal Sentencing and Parole Demonstrates Politicians’ Failure to Learn from Past Mistakes, July 1, 2026. Medical, Conditions of Confinement, Sentencing, Parole, Prisoners' Rights.
• California Appeals Court Sustains Amendments to CDCR that Narrow Youth Parole Eligibility Rules, July 1, 2026. Parole, Equal Protection Clause/Claims, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders, Credits, Prison Regulations.
• Sixth Circuit Rules Prisoner Held After Parole Board Ordered Release on Parole Could Not State a Rights Violation Claim, June 1, 2026. Parole, Overdetention, Qualified Immunity, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights.
• California Spends $300 Million Each Year Incarcerating Senior Citizens in Women’s Prisons, April 1, 2026. Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Totality of Conditions, Parole, Life without Parole (LWOP), Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Colorado Law Intended to Reduce Prison Population Hasn’t Improved Conditions, March 1, 2026. Overcrowding, Parole, halfway houses, Reduction of Prison Population.
• Maine Was the First State to Abolish Parole. Incarcerated Mainers, Advocates Hope to Bring it Back., March 1, 2026. Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Parole, Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release, De Facto Life Sentence.
• Colorado Lawmakers Approve Prison Bed Funding, Despite DOC Understaffing, March 1, 2026. Overcrowding, Staffing, Parole, Overdetention, Reduction of Prison Population.
• North Carolina Parole Commission Agrees to Stop “Moving Goalposts” for Prisoners Who Committed Crime as Juveniles, Feb. 1, 2026. Parole Board Misconduct, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Parole, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
• Study Finds Parole Hearings and Grants Continue to Fall, Jan. 1, 2026. Parole Board Misconduct, Statistics/Trends, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Parole, Probation, Parole & Supervised Release.
• First Circuit Announces Modification of Juvenile’s Life-­Without-­Parole Sentence to Parole-­Eligible Life Term Constitutes “New Judgment” Under AEDPA, Exempting Second-­in-­Time Habeas Petition From Gatekeeping Requirements, Jan. 1, 2026. Parole, Habeas Corpus, Life without Parole (LWOP), AEDPA, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders.