• Search Content
• Brief Bank
• Publications
• CLN Back Issues
• CLN Media Gallery
• Other Media

Archive: 2023

February

• They Called 911 for Help. Police and Prosecutors Used a New Junk Science to Decide They Were Liars. by Brett Murphy (p 1)
• Indiana Supreme Court: Defendant Who Was Both Victim of Crime and Suspect in Unrelated Crime Entitled to Pirtle Warning Prior to Police Asking for Consent to Search Home by Anthony Accurso (p 12)
• Federal Habeas Corpus: How to Raise a Fourth Amendment Claim by Dale Chappell (p 14)
• Seventh Circuit: State Court Decision Not Entitled to AEDPA Deference Due to Incorrect Legal Standard, Pro Se Habeas Petition Granted Based on Trial Counsel’s Failure to Present Expert Witness on Determinative Issue of Guilt Resulting in IAC by Jacob Barrett (p 16)
• Colorado Supreme Court: Police Lacked Reasonable Suspicion for Traffic Stop Based on Alleged Unsafe Lane Change by Anthony Accurso (p 18)
• California Court of Appeal: Right to Withdraw Plea 23 Years After Entered Because Counsel Failed to Properly Advise of Immigration Consequences and Defendant Mistakenly Believed Permanent Resident Status Barred Adverse Immigration Consequences by David Reutter (p 20)
• California Court of Appeal Affirms Grant of Suppression Motion Where Officer’s Pat Search of Defendant Based on High Crime Area, Baggy Clothes, Criminal Record, and Suspect in Separate Case by Douglas Ankney (p 22)
• New Jersey Supreme Court: Edwards Violation When Police Fail to Cease Interrogation After Suspect Makes Ambiguous Invocation of Right to Counsel and ‘Initiates’ Request for Further Communication with Police by Jacob Barrett (p 24)
• Missouri Supreme Court: Use of Out-of-Court Statement Admitted at Trial Exceeded Limited Purpose of Exception to Rule Against Hearsay Upon Which It Was Admitted by Matthew Clarke (p 26)
• Your Car Knows a Lot About You, and the Police Are Listening by Michael Thompson (p 27)
• Ohio Supreme Court: Defendant Has Reasonable and Legitimate Basis to Withdraw Guilty Plea Before Sentencing When He Discovers Evidence That Would Have Affected Decision by Douglas Ankney (p 28)
• California Court of Appeal: ‘Actual Killer’ Under Felony-Murder Rule Means Person ‘Who Personally Killed the Victim” by Harold Hempstead (p 30)
• Attorney General Garland Orders Federal Prosecutors to End Sentencing Disparities Between Crack and Powder Cocaine by Matthew Clarke (p 31)
• Nevada Supreme Court: Trial Court Erred in Denying Motion to Substitute Counsel Where Ample Evidence Showed Counsel Was Unprepared and Motion Timely by Harold Hempstead (p 32)
• Governor of Oregon Leaves Legacy of Reformation While Leaving Office by Kevin Bliss (p 32)
• Seventh Circuit: Defendant Entitled to Present Entrapment Defense Where ‘Some Evidence’ Exists of Government Inducement and Lack of Predisposition to Commit Crime by Douglas Ankney (p 34)
• Minneapolis Police Department Surveillance Operation Kneels on the Neck of the First Amendment by Casey Bastian (p 36)
• California Court of Appeal: Trial Court’s Denial of Faretta Request Without Finding of ‘Severe Mental Illness’ Denied Defendant Sixth Amendment Right to Self-Representation by Matthew Clarke (p 36)
• Ninth Circuit: No Qualified Immunity for Detective Who Arrested Anti-Police-Slogan Sidewalk Chalkers, but Not Other Chalkers Whose Content Wasn’t Anti-Police, Even Though There Was Probable Cause to Arrest by Matthew Clarke (p 38)
• Massachusetts Supreme Court: Commonwealth Failed to Show GPS Monitoring as Condition of Probation Is Constitutional by Anthony Accurso (p 39)
• Sixth Circuit Announces Nonretroactive Change in Sentencing Law Is Not an ‘Extraordinary and Compelling Reason’ Warranting a Sentence Reduction under Compassionate Release Statute by Douglas Ankney (p 40)
• Oregon Supreme Court: Federal Law Prohibits Elected DA’s Delegation of Wiretap Authority and Overbroad Initial Search Warrant Requires Suppression of Evidence Obtained as Result of Over 20 Subsequent Warrants by Mark Wilson (p 42)
• Invasions of Privacy for People on Electronic Monitoring Is a Warning of Worse Things to Come by Benjamin Tschirhart (p 43)
• The District of Colombia: Inside the Most Expansive Surveillance Network in America by Casey Bastian (p 44)
• Florida Supreme Court Settles Circuit Split, Holding Dual DUI Convictions Regarding Single Victim in Single Incident Violates Double Jeopardy by David Reutter (p 45)
• Houston Cop from Fatal Raid Lied in Other Cases by Jayson Hawkins (p 46)
• Was the DNA at the Crime Scene Left by the Perpetrator – or by a Pet? by Douglas Ankney (p 47)
• Electronic Freedom Foundation’s Atlas of Surveillance Helps You Watch Those Who Watch Us by Michael Thompson (p 47)
• New York Police Department Joins Crowdsourced Surveillance Ring Neighbors App by Michael Thompson (p 48)
• Registry of Approved Standards Adds Two New 3D Firearm Analysis Standards by Casey Bastian (p 48)
• FBI Heist Made Public by Jayson Hawkins (p 49)
• New San Francisco Ordinance Allows Police to Access Private Security Cameras by Kevin Bliss (p 49)
• Cruel and Unusual: Residency Restrictions Force Registrant to Die Among Strangers by Eike Blohm, MD (p 50)
• News in Brief (p 50)

January

• The Debunking of Forensic Science: A Decade of Increased Scrutiny Reveals Forensic Processes Prone to Bias and Error by Casey Bastian (p 1)
• California Court of Appeal: At Felony-Murder Resentencing Hearing, Court May Not Deny Relief Based on Findings That Are Inconsistent With Previous Acquittal by Douglas Ankney (p 14)
• You’d Better Watch Out: The Surveillance State Is Making a List, and You’re On It by Nisha Whitehead, John W. Whitehead (p 16)
• Fifth Circuit: ‘Nonsubstantial Overcrowding’ of Vehicle Used in Transporting Illegal Aliens Insufficient for Imposition of Sentencing Enhancement Under Guidelines § 2L1.1(b)(6) by Douglas Ankney (p 18)
• Montana Supreme Court: Odor of Marijuana by Itself Insufficient to Prolong Traffic Stop by Anthony Accurso (p 18)
• California Court of Appeal: Kill-Zone Theory Principles Articulated in Canizales Are Retroactive to Judgments That Were Final at Time of Decision by Jacob Barrett (p 22)
• Florida Supreme Court Announces Completed ‘Purchase’ of Drugs Under Trafficking Statute Requires Exchange of Money and Possession by David Reutter (p 22)
• Police Digitally Frame Activists in India, but It Can Happen Anywhere by Jayson Hawkins (p 24)
• Eleventh Circuit: Prosecutor Denied Absolute Prosecutorial Immunity for Failure to Ensure Cancellation of Material Witness Warrant by David Reutter (p 24)
• Fifth Circuit: District Court Erred in Finding That a Fourth Amendment Stop Did Not Occur by Harold Hempstead (p 26)
• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Where Trial Counsel Believed, Erroneously, He Had Ethical Duty to Tell Prosecution Location of Key Incriminating Evidence Not in Counsel’s Possession by Douglas Ankney (p 27)
• Los Angeles: Police Union Resists Changes to Pretextual Stops by Jayson Hawkins (p 28)
• Tenth Circuit: Unreasonable Determination of Downward Variance of Guidelines Resulted in Plain Error by David Reutter (p 30)
• Police Find It Easier to Influence Public Opinion Than to Protect and Serve by Benjamin Tschirhart (p 30)
• Ninth Circuit Suppresses Evidence as Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Where Officer Lacked Probable Cause to Arrest Man Who Displayed Handgun in Open Carry State by Douglas Ankney (p 32)
• California Court of Appeal Announces the People Are Not Entitled to Have Privately Retained Psychological Expert Testify at Trial of SVPA Petition by Douglas Ankney (p 33)
• Connecticut Supreme Court Announces ‘John Doe’ Warrant Based on Suspect’s General Description and Partial DNA Profiles, Which May or May Not Include Suspect’s DNA, Fails to Satisfy ‘Particularity Requirement’ of Fourth Amendment by Douglas Ankney (p 34)
• Tenth Circuit: Prisoner Convicted of Covered Drug Offense but Sentenced to Mandatory Life Sentence Via Cross Reference for Murder Under Pre-Booker Guidelines Has Standing to Request First Step Act Sentence Reduction by Douglas Ankney (p 36)
• NYC: The First DNA Gun Crimes Unit in America by Harold Hempstead (p 37)
• Traditional Forensic Ballistics Comparisons Giving Way to Virtual 3D Methods by Casey Bastian (p 38)
• Sixth Circuit: Unarmed Bank Robber Who Ordered Tellers to Get on the Floor Not Subject to Enhancement for Physical Restraint by Matthew Clarke (p 38)
• The National Registry of Exonerations 2021 Annual Report: 161 Exonerations Comprising 1,849 Years of Wrongful Imprisonment by Casey Bastian (p 40)
• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Ends Practice of Juvenile Courts Granting Continuances for Sole Purpose of Extending Delinquent’s Period of Detention by Douglas Ankney (p 42)
• Mislabeling of Marijuana Products Is a National Problem by Kevin Bliss (p 42)
• Review of Prior Research Identifies Three Main Sources of Bias in Jury Decision-Making Processes by Casey Bastian (p 43)
• Police Foundations: The Impossible Task of Separating the World of Policing From the World of Corporate Money by Casey Bastian (p 46)
• Charlotte Is Ground Zero for New FBI Asset Forfeiture Tip Line Program by Casey Bastian (p 49)
• People Convicted of Sex Crimes Remain Incarcerated 25 Years After Completing Their Prison Sentences by Douglas Ankney (p 49)
• News in Brief (p 50)
• Theft of Public Funds or Accounting Incompetence? Kansas Police Agencies Can’t Accurately Track Property Forfeitures by Jacob Barrett (p 50)