by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the decision of a district court that granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs in a § 1983 suit alleging that the practices of the judges (“Judges”) of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (“OPCDC”) violated the Due ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that a court must find, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that a probationer violated a specific condition of probation or committed a new crime to be found in violation of probation.
In July 2015, Darnell Foster was sentenced to ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Kentucky held that the Parole Board’s (“Board”) current conditional-freedom final revocation hearing procedures for post-incarceration supervisees violate an offender’s due process rights.
David Wayne Bailey was released from prison and placed on a five-year period of post-incarceration supervision. A condition of that supervision ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated a special condition of supervised release that gave discretion to probation officers to completely ban the defendant’s use of a computer and of the Internet.
Michael Lyle Blair was convicted of possession of child pornography after police ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit announced that a district court cannot sua sponte raise a defendant’s waiver of the right to seek relief under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) and deny the defendant’s motion for resentencing on that ...
by Douglas Ankney
Republican Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota recently signed House Bill 1286, “which seriously curtails law enforcement agencies’ ability to arrest somebody, take his or her property, and attempt to keep what they seized for themselves even when they cannot prove an underlying crime,” according to reason.com. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that where a circuit court imposed on remand a sentence of equal maximum length as the former sentence, but required a longer period of incarceration before parole eligibility than the former sentence, the new sentence was “more severe” for purposes ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the text of the Sexual Offense Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) does not permit a court, when applying the categorical approach to determine sex offender tier levels, to conduct a ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit announced that something more than psychological coercion is required before a sentencing court can apply the two-level enhancement of U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(4)(B).
Jacob Kirk invited Joshua Herman to Kirk’s house in Hammond, Indiana. Samantha Daniels, Kirk’s mother, was ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire held that the state’s armed career criminal statute (codified at RSA 159:3-a) applies only to persons whose qualifying convictions arise from three or more separate criminal episodes.
Jonathan Folds allegedly sold 50 grams of heroin to a “cooperating individual” (“CI”). Based ...
