by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Nebraska announced that the appropriate remedy after vacatur of an enhanced sentence for vehicular homicide that was imposed in the absence of evidence of any qualifying prior convictions is to remand to the district court for another enhancement and sentencing hearing.
After leaving ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of South Carolina held that a trial court’s failure to charge the jury with the circumstantial evidence instruction from State v. Logan, 747 S.E.2d 444 (S.C. 2013), was not harmless error where the State’s evidence was almost entirely circumstantial.
Robin Herndon was a law ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin abused its discretion when it denied Vincent Corner’s motion seeking relief under § 404 of the First Step Act (“the Act”) without first determining whether the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Colorado held that a trial court erred when it permitted the prosecutor to argue that the defendant’s failure to retreat showed she was not afraid, and this lack of fear of the imminent use of unlawful force against her undermined her claim of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Arizona announced a cumulative error framework for when an appellant claims he was denied a fair trial due to the cumulative effect of multiple instances of prosecutorial misconduct.
A jury found Luis Armando Vargas guilty of several offenses, including first-degree murder. On appeal, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Indiana reaffirmed the standard set forth in Mayes v. State, 744 N.E.2d 390 (Ind. 2001), that held a statute barring a claim of self-defense if the defendant had committed a crime requires a showing that “there must be an immediate and causal ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that law enforcement officers violated the Fourth Amendment in executing an administrative warrant at a private residence where their “primary purpose” was to gather evidence in support of a criminal investigation.
In October 2017, the City of ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of North Carolina held that Melvin Lamar Fields could not be convicted of both habitual misdemeanor assault and felony assault for the same act.
In November 2015, Fields and A.R. — a transgender woman — engaged in consensual sex. Afterward, while they were bathing, ...
by Douglas Ankney
Sudden unexplained death in childhood (“SUDC”) ranks fifth in the categories of death in children ages one to four, and every year, it affects approximately 400 children ages one to 18.
Unlike Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (“SIDS”), SUDC is the listed cause of death when a child ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed Fernando Miguel Samora’s conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm because the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah gave the jury an erroneous instruction on constructive possession.
In May 2017, Samora borrowed ...
