by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that an attorney’s failure to investigate the properties of methylone after the pre-sentence report (“PSR”) stated the drug was analogous to methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (“MDMA” or “ecstasy”) constituted ineffective assistance of counsel.

While Peter Sepling was …

by Douglas Ankney

The Court of Appeals of New York ruled that police officers may be questioned about prior acts of dishonesty, subject to the trial court’s discretion, just like any other witness.

In August 2013, a person fired a single gunshot at a group of teenagers …

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Georgia clarified that a criminal defendant need not “admit” anything — in the sense of acknowledging that any facts alleged in the charges against him are true — in order to raise an affirmative defense.

Carlos Richard McClure was found …

by Douglas Ankney

he Supreme Court of Colorado reversed the conviction of Julian Anastacio Deleon because the trial court failed to give a no-adverse-inference instruction to the jury to explain to them that they could not hold his decision not to testify against him.

Deleon was charged …

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Idaho ruled that when police were unaware of a probationer’s Fourth Amendment waiver until after an unreasonable search was conducted, the police cannot rely on the waiver to sanction the otherwise unreasonable search. The Court also explained why the inevitable discovery …

by Douglas Ankney

At issue in this case is the constitutionality of 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3(a)(8.9), which imposes as a condition of probation on all sex offenders a complete, blanket ban from accessing or using any social networking website. The Supreme Court of Illinois held that the statute is …

by Douglas Ankney

In a case of apparent first impression within the circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a district court’s decision that set aside a guilty verdict in a case where the jury rendered irreconcilably inconsistent verdicts.

A jury found Janine …

by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court’s conditional grant of a petition for writ of habeas corpus on grounds that the state court violated the petitioner’s right to present a complete defense when it excluded two exculpatory statements.

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by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Washington affirmed the warrantless search of Bisir Bilal Muhammad’s real-time cell-site location information (“CSLI”) based on exigent circumstances. However, the Court also held that Muhammad’s convictions for first-degree felony murder predicated on rape and for first-degree rape violated double jeopardy.

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by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the general threat of harm required in every bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) does not justify the two-level “threat-of-death” enhancement of U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(F).

In March 2017, an unarmed Roberto Arturo …