by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Indiana announced the analytical framework for courts to use when determining whether a punitive in rem forfeiture violates the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. [Note: An action in rem is brought against “a thing or property” as ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a district court violated the Ex Post Facto Clause when it applied the 2016 Guidelines Sentencing Manual to an ungrouped offense committed in 2001. This case of first impression in the First Circuit “concerns the interaction ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Tennessee reversed Brandon Cole-Pugh’s conviction because the trial court refused to instruct the jury on the defense of necessity.
According to witness Michael Douglas, while Cole-Pugh was inside The Gold Line Market, he saw that a Ms. Thomas was arguing with two men. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the judgment of a district court that denied safety-valve relief under U.S.S.G. §§ 5C1.2 and 2D1.1(b)(17) to Nestor Barron.
In July of 2017, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the residence of Lara Salas in ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Georgia completely overhauled the state’s jurisprudence governing appeals of cases that resulted in guilty pleas and governing out-of-time appeals, overturning more than 75 prior decisions.
In September 2009, Cordalero Collier pleaded guilty to felony murder, and the court sentenced ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Two, held that equal protection requires that pretrial detainees held in home confinement on electronic monitoring be eligible for good conduct credits against their sentences later imposed by the trial court.
William Antonio Yanez pleaded no contest ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Georgia held that a warrantless search of a vehicle’s airbag control module (“ACM”) is unconstitutional.
In December 2015, Victor Mobley was driving his 2014 Dodge Charger when he collided with a 1999 Corvette. Mobley survived the crash, but the two people in the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated the sentence of James Atwood because Judge Colin S. Bruce should have recused himself before imposing a sentence on Atwood because of Bruce’s ex parte communications with the prosecuting U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Atwood appeared before Bruce for ...
by Douglas Ankney
The New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) has members who made the “naughty list” of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. The heavily redacted list — obtained October 7, 2019 by the New York Post through a Freedom of Information Request — names 75 current and former officers, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Nevada held that a district court must instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter when requested by the defense so long as it is supported by some evidence, even if that evidence is circumstantial.
Late one night in Las Vegas, witnesses heard rapid gunfire ...
