by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that Michigan’s contemporaneous-objection rule, requiring an objection to an error in the trial court even if the error is unknown at the time to defendant and counsel, is not an adequate state rule to procedurally bar a ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reiterated that it is the statute of conviction that determines First Step Act relief under the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (“FSA”), not the defendant’s actual conduct or drug amount involved.
The case came ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that enhancements under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG”) that were applied to all three counts of conviction that were ungrouped were impermissible triple counting, and contradicted the intent of the Guidelines’ grouping instructions.
Jermaine Clark committed three ...
by Dale Chappell
Acknowledging a circuit split on the issue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that district courts have the authority to waive interest on restitution post-sentencing.
Edmund Phillips was nearing release and filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the grant of habeas corpus relief to a death-sentenced defendant based on the fact the state courts’ application of the governing federal law was objectively unreasonable regarding the defendant’s Sixth Amendment choice-of-counsel right.
It wasn’t that Samuel ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that because the defendant was convicted of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Georgia under a statute that could be violated with a mens rea of mere reckless conduct, it could not qualify as a ...
by Dale Chappell
Any proactive measure to cut down on cops shooting motorists is a good step in the right direction. At first glance, what the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (“MDPS”) is doing sounds like a great idea. They’re handing out pouches that motorists can use to store their ...
by Dale Chappell
It’s a disturbing trend, but one that’s very effective. Cops have been playing copyrighted music during encounters with people, in an attempt to prevent them from recording and posting video of the encounter to popular video-sharing social media sites.
Here’s how it works. “I am playing my ...
by Dale Chappell
When we talk about things that fuel mass incarceration, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) is rarely considered as one of the causes for the over-incarceration of U.S. residents. But take a closer look, and you’ll see that the AEDPA has played an integral role ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Sentencing Commission (“USSC”) recently created a new tool for federal judges that will let them compare sentences for similar defendants under specific guidelines to help “guide” them on what sentence may be appropriate for an offense. It’s also a valuable tool for the public in ...
