The Supreme Court of Illinois held that a conviction for attempted first degree murder requires proof that the defendant acted with the intent to kill without lawful justification, rejecting the notion that intent to kill alone is sufficient. Because the jury instruction omitted this element and the jury’s finding of ...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the defendant had clearly and unequivocally asserted his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation at sentencing, which imposed a constitutional duty on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to conduct a Faretta inquiry and that ...

The Supreme Court of Illinois reversed the Appellate Court’s denial of the defendant’s suppression motion, holding that contraband discovered by police inside a kitchen cabinet that was slightly ajar but secured with a chain and padlock should have been suppressed because police used a flashlight to peer into the slight ...

Sitting en banc, the Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed both the trial court and Court of Appeals’ decisions that the State’s multiple violations of the defendant’s rights under the United States Constitution as well as the Mississippi Rules of Evidence and multiple instances of prosecutorial misconduct did not deprive the ...

by Jeffrey Cohen

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the definition of “controlled substance” in effect at the time of sentencing for the current offense applies, not the definition in effect at the time of prior convictions, in determining whether the prior convictions qualify ...