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Articles by Douglas Ankney

California Court of Appeal: When Federal Court Finds Petitioner Satisfies Schlup Standard, Victim Compensation Board Must Recommend Payment of Claim Without Hearing

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 …

Atavistic South Carolinians Offer Option of Firing Squad to Condemned Prisoners

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 …

Sixth Circuit: District Court May Consider Disparity of Defendant’s Actual Sentence Compared With Sentence Under First Step Act When Additional Factors Present

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 …

Tenth Circuit Reverses Denial of Suppression Motion Because Rationale for Community-Caretaker Exception Unreasonable

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 …

Report: NYPD Sold Almost 22,000 of the 55,000 Phones Seized Last Year

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?”

SCOTUS: Cady’s ‘Community Caretaking’ Function of Police Doesn’t Create Standalone Doctrine Permitting Warrantless Entry into a Home

A unanimous Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) held that the “community caretaking” function of police announced in Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433 (1973), which permits police to search an impounded vehicle without a warrant, does not create a standalone exception to …

Fourth Circuit Extends Gant’s Automobile Search-Incident-to-Arrest Framework to Searches of Non-Vehicular Containers

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit extended the holding in Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009) (vehicle may be searched incident to arrest without a warrant if police reasonably believe that the arrestee “could have accessed his car at the …

Texas Supreme Court: Multiple Misdemeanor Charges Resulting From Single Arrest Divisible for Expunction Purposes

The Supreme Court of Texas held that under Article 55.01(a)(2)(A) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure multiple misdemeanor offenses charged in a single arrest are eligible for expunction on an individual basis.

R.P.G.P. was arrested for a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated (“DWI”) offense. …

When Police Ignore Ordered Changes, Is It Really Reform?

While former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin stood trial for the murder of George Floyd, police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Protesters assembled outside Brooklyn Center’s police headquarters.

The crowd control tactics inflicted upon the …

Florida's Worst Cop was Just Fired, for the Seventh Time

by Doug Ankney

The city of Opa-Locka, Florida, recently terminated Police Sergeant German Bosque's employment for the seventh time. Once dubbed "Florida's Worst Cop," Bosque had worked with the Opa-Locka Police Department for 28 years and was fired seven times for violations ranging from excessive force, stealing from …

 

 

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