by Anthony W. Accurso
In an opinion filed June 9, 2021, the Supreme Court of South Carolina upheld a lower court ruling allowing a lower-risk sex offender to be removed from the registry because lifetime registration for low-risk offenders does not “bear[] a reasonable relationship” to the Legislature’s legitimate interest ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
It was in 2016 that a shooting in San Bernardino, California, sparked legal action in which the FBI attempted to use the courts to force Apple to enable a vulnerability that would allow the agency to access all iPhones, including the shooter’s. The FBI eventually dropped ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A jury in Saint Louis acquitted five police officers on several counts relating to their violent assault on a man during protests in September 2017, a man who later turned out to be an undercover cop sent out to gather details on property destruction.
On the ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Recent reports reveal that police use of facial recognition software may be far more pervasive than we’ve been led to believe.
Clearview AI markets its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies around the country, boasting the ability to take a photo from a crime scene ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
Five more states joined the growing list of jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized or decriminalized. But the new laws are a hodgepodge of regulation. Some states explicitly changed the laws to prevent police harassment by eliminating the odor of cannabis as sufficient probable cause to ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The widespread popularization of bodycams for police was supposed to bring accountability to the “bad apples” amongst police that drive deadly interactions with citizens. However, years into widespread bodycam use, it is apparent that bodycams, by themselves, do not automatically create accountability.
After the killings of ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
A recent collaboration of volunteers organized by Amnesty International has tallied the number of surveillance cameras in three of New York's boroughs at just over 15,000. These cameras contribute to the quickening pace of erosion of privacy in American. They pose a constitutional threat to ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Illinois reversed a defendant’s conviction for firearm possession because the State failed to present sufficient evidence to prove that he constructively possessed it.
In June 2015, a police officer pulled over a van being driven by Charles Wise. He admitted to speeding, ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found a defendant’s counsel constitutionally ineffective where they failed to object to improper jury instructions, and there was further prejudice after the trial court admitted to a “Freudian slip,” which indicated the court was biased.
Noel Matos Montalvo was convicted, along with ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, vacated a defendant’s conviction for robbery because he had been convicted for kidnapping to commit robbery, but state law prohibits multiple convictions for the same “act.”
Jose Marcos Barrios approached a vehicle parked on the street ...