by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeals of Maryland (“COA”) reversed a judgment of the Court of Special Appeals (“COSA”) that held the trial court’s error in giving an anti-CSI jury instruction was harmless.
A female college student looked out the door of her apartment and saw a man on ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that district courts must, upon motion seeking relief under § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”), impose new sentences within the statutory maximum terms as amended by the FSA upon eligible defendants. The Court ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that district courts must, upon motion seeking relief under § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”), impose new sentences within the statutory maximum terms as amended by the FSA upon eligible defendants. The Court ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania clarified the standard for admission of evidence of a third person’s crimes, wrongs, or other acts (“third person guilt”) offered by a criminal defendant seeking to raise reasonable doubt that he was not the perpetrator of the crime charged.
Officer Jeffrey Ference ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the First Step Act’s (“FSA”) amendments to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) are inapplicable to defendants who were sentenced on or before the enactment date of the FSA even when a defendant’s sentence is later vacated and ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Oregon’s Unauthorized Use of a Weapon, Or. Rev. Stat. § 166.220(1)(a) (“UUW”) was improperly assimilated under the Assimilative Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 13(a) (“ACA”) in the prosecution of Dat Quoc Do.
Do was a passenger ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Arizona held that when a defendant’s due process right to present a complete defense conflicts with a victim’s state constitutional or statutory rights governing privileged mental health records, the victim may be compelled to produce such documents for in-camera review if the defendant ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia concluded defense counsel was ineffective when he failed to object to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s reliance upon the wrong provision of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines when imposing the sentence.
Rashaun Parks pleaded ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that a trial court’s failure to sentence an eligible offender pursuant to the Recidivism Risk Reduction Act, 61 Pa.C.S. §§ 4501-4512 (“RRRI Act”) implicated sentencing illegality and further held that a single prior conviction for ...
by Douglas Ankney
In 1987, in Williamson County, Texas, 32-year-old Michael Morton was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his 31-year-old wife, Christine. The young mother of a three-year-old son had been bludgeoned to death in their bed.
Decades later, Morton’s attorneys would discover that district attorney Ken Anderson ...
