by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a search wherein FBI agents lied about an emergency in order to gain consent to search a suspect’s computers violates the Fourth Amendment.
On October 23, 2013, ten FBI agents arrived at the home shared by ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a district court must provide its rationale when denying a motion seeking a sentence reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).
In this case, the Court consolidated the appeals of Paulette Martin and Luis Felipe Mangual, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the state constitution requires police to clarify an ambiguous request for counsel before continuing to interrogate a suspect.
In 2013, Robert John Purcell was arrested on multiple counts of sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. After Purcell ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed that raising one’s middle finger without the four other fingers showing is an expression protected by the First Amendment.
In doing so, the Court also affirmed the district court’s denial of Officer Matthew Wayne Minard’s plea of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Delaware ruled that an attorney’s limited pretrial contact deprived a defendant of effective assistance of counsel.
Everett Urquhart was charged with numerous felonies, including first-degree robbery. A witness saw the vehicle that had been loaned to Urquhart fleeing the area at the time ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, held that the definition of a “crime of violence” in 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(B)—commonly referred to as the “residual clause”—is unconstitutional for vagueness.
Joseph Decore Simms pointed a gun at the manager of a ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a district court must provide its rationale when denying a motion seeking a sentence reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).
In this case, the Court consolidated the appeals of Paulette Martin and Luis Felipe ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a 31-day delay in obtaining a search warrant after seizing a defendant’s cellphone, without reasonable justification, violates the Fourth Amendment and requires suppression of the evidence obtained from the phone.
Samuel Pratt was suspected by the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Georgia held the state statute authorizing the lifetime global positioning system (“GPS”) monitoring of persons determined to be a “Sexually Dangerous Person” (“SDP”) but who are no longer serving their sentences is unconstitutional.
In 2003, Joseph Park was convicted of numerous sexual offenses. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a conviction for assaulting, beating, or wounding a law enforcement officer while resisting arrest (“ABWO”) in violation of South Carolina Code § 16-9-320(B) (“ABWO statute”) is not a predicate offense because it does not satisfy the ...
