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Articles by Dale Chappell

California Supreme Court Vacates LWOP Sentence After Its Recent Cases Clarifying ‘Special Circumstance’ Murder

A decade ago, a jury ...

Seventh Circuit: Sentences for ‘Non-Covered’ Offenses Can Also Be Reduced Under First Step Act

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on July 22, 2020, that when a “covered offense” under the First Step Act is reduced, a non-covered offense may also be reduced to achieve the purposes of sentencing, reiterating that any covered offense allows a court ...

Fourth Circuit Grants ‘SOS’ § 2254 Petition Attacking Three-Decade-Old Murder Conviction Based on New Evidence

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted permission for a state prisoner to file a second or successive (“SOS”) habeas corpus petition in the federal court to attack a three-decade-old murder conviction based on newly discovered evidence.

On August 23, 1985, a mother of ...

New Jersey Supreme Court: Juror Excused After Partial Verdict Requires Mistrial on Remaining Counts

How COVID-19 Forces New Releasees Into ‘Survival Mode’

New Colorado Law Kills Qualified Immunity for Cops

Feds Use Private Companies to Gather Cell Site Location Data to Bypass Search Warrant Requirement

by Dale Chappell

Federal agencies have been spying on citizens by buying cell site location data (“CSLI”) from private companies in order to avoid the requirement of a search warrant that they would normally need to gather such data directly themselves from cellphone service providers.

The loophole seems to be ...

Slew of Civil Rights Advocates File Amicus Briefs Urging First Circuit to Require Warrants for Searches of Devices at Border

by Dale Chappell

Several amicus briefs on behalf of dozens of civil rights groups and First Amendment scholars were filed in an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. They’re calling for the court to require a warrant for searches of electronic devices at the nation’s ...

Why We Need to Keep the Communications Decency Act Intact

by Dale Chappell

While the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects our right to free speech, a federal law that protects platforms and users who repost that free speech is under attack and at risk from being pulled. Critics say that could let the government arrest people who criticize ...

Detroit Cops Who Fabricated Evidence to Wrongfully Convict 14-Year-Old Not on Prosecutor’s Brady List

by Dale Chappell

An officer from the Detroit, Michigan, Police Department who fabricated evidence in order to convict a 14-year-old boy of murders he didn’t commit were not on the list of problem officers that prosecutors shouldn’t call as witnesses. Now the family wants to know why.

Davontae Sanford was ...

 

 

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