by Douglas Ankney
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut plainly erred by increasing the defendant’s sentence, partly for not helping recover trafficked firearms and by invoking three circumstances used to calculate the Guidelines …
by Douglas Ankney
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the defendant’s Hobbs Act robbery and firearm-brandishing convictions and remanded for a new trial. The Court held that conditioning jury inspection of the tattoos on Valencia’s hands on his testimony infringed the Fifth Amendment …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that R.C. 2953.73(D) is satisfied when a postconviction DNA-testing order identifies the statutory ground supporting acceptance or rejection. The statute does not additionally demand factual findings or an explanation of the trial court’s analysis. Because the order invoked the …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of New Jersey unanimously held that a trial court confronted with a substantive challenge to expert fingerprint testimony must assess the evidence’s reliability before admitting it and may not discharge its gatekeeping obligation by relying on a century of judicial acceptance. Because …
by Douglas Ankney
Sitting en banc, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that all parents, including a parent convicted of possessing child pornography, enjoy a fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment to live with their children so that legislation burdening that right is …
by Douglas Ankney
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a court may examine an individual officer’s subjective purpose in assessing whether a warrantless administrative inspection was a pretext for a criminal investigation, rejecting the Government’s contention that such inquiries are confined to …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of the United States held that the Government’s prosecution of Ali Danial Hemani under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), based solely on his regular marijuana use and without individualized proof that his use rendered him dangerous, is inconsistent with the Second Amendment. Under …
by Douglas Ankney
In a matter of first impression, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that a trial court must permit a defendant who exercises the right to a jury trial on aggravating circumstances under Penal Code § 1170(b)(2) the opportunity to argue to the …
by Douglas Ankney
In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States vacated the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirming the denial of federal habeas relief to Florida death row prisoner Gary Richard Whitton, holding that the Court of …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia vacated a circuit court order that accepted a defendant’s 20-year-old guilty plea and imposed sentence under a binding plea agreement, holding that the circuit court erred by concluding the agreement’s binding nature eliminated its discretion to allow …
