More from this issue:

1. The Rise of Mass Supervision: From Rehabilitative Alternative to Shadow Carceral State, by Casey Bastian
2. California Court of Appeal Announces Crime Defendant ‘Was Convicted’ of, Not Crime ‘Could Have Been Convicted’ of Today, Governs Eligibility for Removal From Sex Offender Registry, by Douglas Ankney
3. Ohio Supreme Court Announces Self-Defense Jury Instruction Does Not Require Intent to Harm or Kill Assailant, by David Reutter
4. Georgia Supreme Court Grants Habeas Where Defense Counsel Failed to Understand State Self-Defense Statute Provides Complete Defense to Felony Murder Based on Felon-in-Possession Charge, by Anthony Accurso
5. Fifth Circuit Announces Geofence Warrants Are Unconstitutional ‘Modern-Day General Warrants’, by Sam Rutherford
6. Federal Judges Closing Loophole That Permits Government to Conduct Warrantless Searches of Cellphones at Border, by Douglas Ankney
7. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Trial Court Violated Defendant’s ‘Due Process’ Right to Be Present During Zoom Probation Revocation Hearing by Muting Him, by Sam Rutherford
8. Kansas Supreme Court Announces Complete and Wrongful Denial of Defendant’s Constitutional Right to Testify Constitutes ‘Structural Error’ and Reverses Convictions Where Defendant Removed From Stand and Entire Testimony Stricken, by Douglas Ankney
9. Sixth Circuit Strikes Retroactive Application of Parts of Tennessee’s Sweeping Sex Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Law, by Sam Rutherford
10. Cops Want to Use DNA for Facial Recognition, by Michael Thompson
11. Systemic Failures in Background Check Reporting Is Ruining Lives and Costing Billions of Dollars, by Anthony Accurso
12. Study Finds That Black Americans Want Both Police Presence and Reform: Looking Beyond the Headlines, by Jo Ellen Nott
13. New Research Method Leads to Better Touch DNA Recovery and Development of Genetic Profiles, by Douglas Ankney
14. U.S. Sentencing Commission Publishes Data Report on Compassionate Release in FY 2023, by Matthew Clarke
15. Refuting the Government’s Argument Against Nonretroactive Changes in Law as Grounds for Compassionate Release, by Dale Chappell
16. Third Circuit District Court Erred by Failing to Consider Mitigating Evidence Under § 3553(a) Because It Mistakenly Believed Such Grounds Already Taken Into Consideration Based on Safety-Valve, Minor Role, and Acceptance of Responsibility Departures in, by Sam Rutherford
17. Fourth Circuit Vacates Order Denying § 2254 Motion, Remands for Evidentiary Hearing on Whether Counsel’s Failure to Object to Duplicative Drug Conspiracy Counts in Violation of Double Jeopardy Clause Was Strategic, by Matthew Clarke
18. Rhode Island Supreme Court Holds Temporal Requirement of ‘Recent Fabrication’ Exception to Hearsay Rule Not Satisfied and Scribbled Note Made by Child Victim of Sexual Abuse Years After Alleged Events Not ‘Excited Utterance’, by Matthew Clarke
19. Louisiana Becomes First State in Nation to Allow Judges to Order Surgical Castration for Sex Offenders, by Jo Ellen Nott
20. Virginia Supreme Court Announces Parties Are Free to Renegotiate Plea Agreement Not Already Accepted by Trial Court, Which May Not Enforce Original Plea Against Parties’ Wishes, by Sam Rutherford
21. Ninth Circuit Clarifies ‘Implicit Breach’ Case Law Regarding When Government Breaches Plea Agreement by Responding to Defendant’s Request for Downward Variant Sentence, by Sam Rutherford
22. News in Brief

More from Matthew Clarke:

• Multitudes Caged for Failure to Pay Child Support, Driving Mass Incarceration, May 1, 2025
• Los Angeles County Pays $24 Million to Two Former Prisoners Wrongly Convicted as Teens of 1997 Murder, May 1, 2025
• Federal Watchdog Calls Out BOP for Spiking Suicide Risk at Pennsylvania Lockup, April 1, 2025
• Eighth Circuit: Arkansas Prisoner Who Had Consensual Sex With Guard Cannot Sustain Eighth Amendment Claim, April 1, 2025
• TDCJ to Run Out of Beds in 2025, April 1, 2025
• “Happy Mother’s Day”: $1,353,000 Settlement Approved for Migrant Parents Separated from Minor Kids at Border, March 1, 2025
• DOJ Finds “Horrific and Inhumane” Conditions in Georgia Prisons, March 1, 2025
• Sixth Circuit Upholds $6.4 Million Jury Award Against Corizon Nurses For Michigan Jail Prisoner’s Fatal Alcohol Withdrawal, March 1, 2025
• En Banc Fifth Circuit Reverses Panel, Holds Mississippi Felon Disenfranchisement Does Not Violate Eighth Amendment, March 1, 2025
• USDC (D. Oregon), Case No. 6:22-cv-00451, Feb. 15, 2025

More from these topics:

• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Defense Counsel Had Actual Conflict of Interest Where Own Performance During Police Interview of Defendant Could Serve as Basis of Motion to Suppress Based on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, New Trial Required W, March 15, 2025. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Motions To Suppress, Conflict of Interest.
• Third Circuit Grants Habeas Relief to Prisoner on Confrontation Clause and Ineffective Assistance Claims Based on Trial Court Reading Entire Criminal Information Into the Record of Co-Conspirator Who Pleaded Guilty, Feb. 15, 2025. Habeas Corpus, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Exculpatory No Doctrine, Confrontation Clause/Rights, Witnesses - Prior Statements/Testimony, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.
• Ninth Circuit: Defense Counsel Ineffective for Failing to Move to Suppress Evidence Obtained as a Result of Police Officer Trespassing on Curtilage of Defendant’s Home, Feb. 1, 2025. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Motions To Suppress, Searches - Home/Curtilage, Suppression.
• Georgia Supreme Court Grants Habeas Relief Where Both Trial and Appellate Counsel Provided Ineffective Assistance by Failing to Challenge Indictment for Residential Burglary That Failed to Allege Defendant Illegally Entered a ‘Dwelling’, Jan. 15, 2025. Habeas Corpus, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Constitutional Challenges/Law.
• Third Circuit Announces Claim of Innocence Does Not Resolve Whether Defendant Would Have Accepted Plea Offer Absent Counsel’s Error and Holds Counsel Ineffective for Failing to Properly Advise Defendant About Mandatory Sentences If Plea Offer Rejected, Dec. 15, 2024. Actual Innocence/Claim of Innocence, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Mandatory Minimum Sentence, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas, Rejection.
• Delaware Supreme Court: Counsel Ineffective for Failing to Challenge Search of Cellphone Where Consent Was Ambiguous and Warrant Constituted a General Warrant, Nov. 1, 2024. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Warrants - Requirements/Scope/Exceptions.
• Arizona Supreme Court Allows Third PCR Motion Based on IAC for Erroneous Advice About Parole Eligibility Due to ‘Pervasive Confusion’ Regarding Parole Within Legal Community, Nov. 1, 2024. Parole, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Remands/Rehearings/Resentencings.
• Georgia Supreme Court Grants Habeas Where Defense Counsel Failed to Understand State Self-Defense Statute Provides Complete Defense to Felony Murder Based on Felon-in-Possession Charge, Oct. 1, 2024. Habeas Corpus, Felon in Possession Statute, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Murder/Felony Murder.
• Third Circuit Orders Evidentiary Hearing on State Prisoner’s Petition Seeking Federal Habeas Relief Because Both State and Federal Courts Denied Relief Without Holding Hearing on IAC Claim That, if Proven, Would Entitle Him to Relief, Aug. 1, 2024. Evidentiary Ruling, Habeas Corpus, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Counsel - Effective Assistance of.
• Federal Habeas Corpus: Getting Around Procedural Default, July 15, 2024. Habeas Corpus, Actual Innocence/Claim of Innocence, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Summary Disposition, Cause and Prejudice, Proving Cause.