by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Colorado announced the framework for distinguishing a true threat from constitutionally protected speech.
A few days after a shooting at Arapahoe High School, students from Littleton High School (“LHS”) got into an argument on Twitter with students from Thomas Jefferson High School (“TJHS”). ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that Shane Thomas Young’s confession was involuntary because, under the totality of the circumstances, his capacity for self-determination was critically impaired.
As a sheriff’s deputy attempted to pull Young over, he drove his vehicle onto a nearby ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Kentucky heldthat a trial court’s ex parte discussion with a juror who was offered a bribe was a structural error because it denied Steven Dale Eversole his right to an impartial jury.
Eversole was tried by jury on charges of first-degree fleeing or ...
by Douglas Ankney
Tear gas is a chemical weapon banned by numerous international treaties from use in warfare. But as the images on the nightly news show us, police have used it indiscriminately on crowds of peaceful protesters.
A main chemical in tear gas is 2-chlorobenzylidene malonitrile, or “CS.” CS ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that a deputy trying to help a woman retrieve her belongings by opening the lid to a camper did not make a subsequent warrantless search lawful under the community-caretaking exception to the warrant requirement.
Deputy Buddy Clinton ...
by Douglas Ankney
A recent report found that officers in the New York Police Department (“NYPD”) fired their Tasers 995 times in 2018. Of those incidents, 224 times the use of the Tasers was unintentional.
Retired NYPD Captain John Eterno, now director of graduate studies in criminal justice at Malloy ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of California held that California Penal Code § 459.5(b) prohibits charging both shoplifting and theft for the same property, even in the alternative.
Anthony Lopez exited a Walmart pushing a cart containing merchandise valued at $496.37. An asset protection officer confronted him, and Lopez ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that imposition of GPS monitoring as a condition of bail was an unreasonable search because the monitoring did not further any legitimate governmental interest.
In July 2015, Eric Norman was charged in Boston Municipal Court with possession of a Class ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that denied Anthony Howell’s motion to suppress, holding that police lacked reasonable suspicion to frisk him.
Chicago Police Officers Sean Kelly and Christopher Miller ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Colorado held that a warrant authorizing a general search of Pamela Kay Coke’s cellphone was overbroad and violated the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement.
Fifteen-year-old T.F. told police Coke had sexually assaulted him. T.F. gave officers his cellphone, which contained messages from “Pam” apologizing ...
