by Douglas Ankney
In April 2021, Jonathan Smith, Sr. was freed after serving nearly 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Last year, the Maryland Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the 2001 murder convictions against Smith and his codefendant, David Faulkner, and granted both men Writs ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals (“COA”) that had affirmed Dorain Jerod Myers’ conviction for carrying a concealed weapon, second offense, in violation of Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-308(A), which makes it illegal for anyone to carry “about his person” ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Montana dismissed with prejudice charges of sexual intercourse without consent and bail jumping, ruling the defendant’s second trial following a mistrial that was declared without a showing of manifest necessity was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the U.S. and Montana Constitutions. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Arizona affirmed a decision of the Court of Appeals (“COA”) holding that the issue of a trial court’s failure to adequately protect a defendant’s right to conflict-free counsel—as opposed to issues broadly raised as ineffective assistance of counsel—may be raised on direct appeal. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jules A. Bartow’s conviction for using “abusive language” after determining the Government failed to prove his racial slur tended to cause immediate acts of violence.
Bartow, who is white, was inside the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five, held that when a federal district court finds that a habeas petitioner has satisfied the standard enunciated in Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298 (1995), and the petitioner is permanently released from custody, the California Victim Compensation ...
by Douglas Ankney
Brad Sigmon, 63, was scheduled to be killed on June 18, 2021, at the hands of the people of South Carolina in their perverse and bizarre notion of justice. But on June 16, 2021, the South Carolina Supreme Court stayed his killing. The Court announced it would ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that, in making an individualized determination about whether extraordinary and compelling reasons merit compassionate release, a district court may include, along with other factors, the disparity between a defendant’s actual sentence and the sentence he would have ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado’s denial of Hunter Trey Venezia’s motion to suppress because the Government’s reliance upon the community-caretaking exception to the warrant requirement was based upon an unreasonable community-caretaking rationale.
Officers ...
by Douglas Ankney
The law of the land is that the “search incident to arrest” exception to the warrant requirement does not apply to the contents of a cellphone. But what about seizures of cellphones? Has the rule become, “I can take your phone because I’m a cop?”
Police officers ...
