by Douglas Ankney
On December 11, 2014, the circuit court sentenced Travis Jones to 10 years in prison following his guilty plea to one count of felonious restraint. The circuit court suspended execution of that sentence and placed Jones on probation for five years. Beginning from January 2015 until his ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that convictions under Georgia’s aggravated assault statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21(a)(2), that are based upon simple assault, O.C.G.A. § 16-5-20(a)(2), are not crimes of violence for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”). 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). ...
by Douglas Ankney
Maurice Stephen Sanders and Deshaun Evans decided to rob drug dealer Josh Palmer. Both Sanders and Evans had guns. In the course of the robbery, a neighbor of Palmer—Christopher Greene—was pistol-whipped and robbed. Greene’s wife, Michelle, sustained a single gunshot wound. Fortunately, no one died. Sanders and ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Washington held that the federal attenuation doctrine is not incompatible with the exclusionary rule of article I, section 7 of the Washington State Constitution if the attenuation is narrowly applied only to instances “where unforeseeable circumstances genuinely sever the causal connection between official ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the district court erred in denying a writ of error coram nobis that claimed ineffective assistance of counsel due to counsel’s erroneous advice regarding deportation as a result of a guilty plea.
Defendant, identified as John ...
by Douglas Ankney
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that when police take action to cause a cellphone to reveal its real-time location, it is a search under Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.
Two eyewitnesses identified Jerome Almonor as the ...
by Douglas Ankney
Prosecutors in Los Angeles are using computer algorithms to wipe out or reduce up to 50,000 old marijuana convictions, years after the drug was legalized by voters in California. The county is teaming up with Code for America, a nonprofit tech organization that uses algorithms ...
by Douglas Ankney
A law in Illinois that requires data to be reported from state and local police to the Illinois Department of Transportation is set to expire this July. Because “[t]ransparency is the first step toward police accountability and reform,” there are calls to make the law permanent.
A ...
by Douglas Ankney
A new report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission reveals that the length of a defendant’s prison sentence increasingly depends on the whims of the judge. For example, in Philadelphia, some of the judges ordered sentences 63 percent longer than their colleagues for identical crimes. Doug Berman, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that a defendant’s misprision of felony conviction for failing to report a felony in which the defendant was herself involved violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
Elsa Solis was convicted of conspiring to possess with intent ...
