by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Michigan held that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to request a defense-of-others jury instruction for defendants who were on trial for home invasion and felonious assault.
Jeremiah and Micheline Leffew moved to Michigan in September 2017 and moved in with Jeremiah’s ...
by David M. Reutter
Prosecutors are empowered with unparalleled and nearly unchecked discretion in making charging and plea-bargaining decisions. Their decisions have been called a “black box” for their inscrutability. A recent study casts some light onto the how and why of those decisions.
The role of prosecutorial discretion has ...
by David M. Reutter
Systematic “lying at plea bargaining allows defendants the opportunity to negotiate fair resolutions to their cases in the face of a deeply unfair system, even as that lying makes way for—and sustains—the problematic system it seeks to avoid,” wrote Thea Johnson, an associate professor at Rutgers ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held the Government violated a plea agreement by arguing for a sentence that exceed the Guidelines. It remanded for resentencing before a different district court judge.
The Court’s opinion was the second time the issue was before ...
by David M. Reutter
A counseled plea bargain is the fastest and most economical resolution to a criminal case. The American justice system has come to tolerate and encourage plea bargains because of these attributes. Recent studies, however, find that a defendant who enters a plea with the assistance of ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Iowa reversed a conviction where the trial court allowed the prosecutor to amend an information at trial and abandon the original charge to bring a more severe charge.
The Court’s opinion was issued in an appeal by Jameesha Renea Allen after a ...
by David M. Reutter
In a precedential ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that Hobbs Act robbery does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under the career-offender sentence enhancement in U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”), § 4B1.2(a).
The Court’s opinion was issued in an appeal ...
by David M. Reutter
The majority of people held in jails throughout the U.S. have not been convicted of a crime. They are more inclined to accept plea offers to secure immediate release from incarceration. A recent study found that “the added risk of COVID exposure in jail made participants-defendants ...
by David M. Reutter
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that a trial court abused its discretion in denying a defendant’s request to withdraw his jury-trial waiver after he rejected the State’s plea offer.
The Court’s opinion was issued in an appeal filed by Jose Cesar Sanchez. He ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of California issued an order that set the standard of review for motions filed under Penal Code § 1473.7 (Motion to vacate conviction or sentence by person no longer imprisoned or restrained). It then reviewed the motion on appeal and found the movant ...
