by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, affirmed the Solano County Superior Court’s order granting Juan Pantoja’s motion to suppress evidence because Vacaville Police Officer Chris Hill did not have articulable facts to support a reasonable suspicion to pat search Pantoja. The Court also affirmed ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that Terry Barnes Sr. had a reasonable and legitimate basis to withdraw his guilty plea before sentencing when he discovered evidence that had been withheld from him by his attorney and that evidence would have negated his decision to plead guilty ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that Robert Shawn Anderson was entitled to present his entrapment defense to the jury because there was some evidence that the Government induced him to commit the crime and some evidence that he lacked any predisposition to ...
by Douglas Ankney
A divided en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a 9 to 7 split, held that a nonretroactive change in sentencing law is not an “extraordinary and compelling reason” warranting a sentence reduction under the compassionate-release statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1).
In 2015, ...
by Douglas Ankney
Collaborating with the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department, forensic science researcher and Ph.D. candidate Heidi Monkman, along with Dr. Mariya Goray – both from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders – collected human DNA from 20 pet cats from multiple households. A whopping 80% of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, held that “a trial court cannot deny relief in a § 1170.95 proceeding based on findings that are inconsistent with a previous acquittal when no evidence other than that introduced at trial is presented.”
In 2004, a jury ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that nine people in a vehicle with a rated capacity for seven people is insufficient for imposition of sentencing enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guideline (“Guidelines”) § 2 L1.1(b)(6).
Felipe Castelo-Palma was pulled over by a Presidio ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that an actual conflict of interest existed that rendered counsel’s representation constitutionally ineffective where defense counsel erroneously believed he had an ethical duty to disclose to the prosecution the location of key incriminating evidence. Defendant Will Tate’s consent to the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington’s order granting a motion to suppress all evidence because the arresting officer lacked probable cause to arrest a possibly mentally ill Washington man who had displayed a ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, held that the Sexually Violent Predator Act, Welf. & Inst. Code § 6600 et seq. (“SVPA”), does not authorize the People to retain a private expert witness to testify at trial in connection with an SVPA petition. (Note: ...
