by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Wyoming reversed a defendant’s sexual abuse conviction, holding that the prosecutor’s opening statement that the defendant “declined” to speak with police was an improper comment on his constitutional right to silence. In doing so, the Court clarified that such a comment …

by Douglas Ankney

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the Government breached its plea agreement with Dehaven Darnell Craig when it successfully argued for sentencing enhancements based on “total relevant conduct” to which the parties had not stipulated in the plea agreement.

by Douglas Ankney

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that where a state prosecutor flooded the jury trial with evidence of defendant Kelvin Rosa’s prior bad acts, his defense attorney was ineffective for failing to seek contemporaneous limiting instructions and for failing to …

by Douglas Ankney

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its longstanding precedent that a District Court cannot sua sponte dismiss an untimely petition for a writ of habeas corpus without giving the petitioner prior notice and an opportunity to respond.

Background

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by Douglas Ankney

The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, reversed a superior court’s denial of Misael Padron’s motion to vacate his conviction for carjacking because he failed to “meaningfully understand, defend against, or knowingly accept” the immigration consequences of his plea.

Background

In …

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine vacated Rochelle Gleason’s conviction for aggravated trafficking of a scheduled drug that caused the death of a person after applying the holding of Smith v. Arizona, 602 U.S. 779 (2024), in which the United States Supreme Court rejected the …

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that “art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights prohibits the police from executing an anticipatory search warrant absent compliance or equivalent compliance with the future triggering event, regardless of whether the factual allegations in the warrant affidavit …

by Douglas Ankney

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the untruthful responses of Namrata Patnaik and Kartiki Parekh on visa applications could still be found by a jury to be fraud if the government relied on those responses when deciding to issue …

In a case of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that, where a defendant’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition was not decided on the merits and the Court afterward recalled the mandate dismissing the direct appeal and affirmed the conviction, a subsequent …

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted Scott Lewis Rendelman’s motion for authorization to file a successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion based on the holding of the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) in Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66 (2023), that …