by Mark Wilson
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated several sex offender supervised release conditions, finding that the lower court abused its discretion in imposing the conditions.
In 1998, Chanda Huor, 16, pleaded guilty to raping a four-year-old girl. He was sentenced to several years ...
by Mark Wilson
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a man’s convictions for interfering with two forestry workers, ruling that the prosecution and court constructively amended his charges.
Thomas McDill owned property adjacent to the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota. On May 20, ...
by Mark Wilson
The Georgia Supreme Court held that a criminal defendant was not denied effective assistance of trial counsel when his attorney failed to object to hearsay and a detective’s improper comment on his pre-trial silence. Rather, the hearsay was admissible under a co-conspirator exception to the hearsay rule, ...
by Mark Wilson
Under ORS 137.225(l)(b), “at any time after ... a dismissal of the charges,” an “arrested person may apply” to the trial court “for an order setting aside the record of arrest.” The court is required to seal the records if it finds after a hearing that “the ...
by Mark Wilson
The Vermont Supreme Court reversed a defendant’s conviction because she never personally admitted to a factual basis for her plea in violation of Vermont Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(f).
In 2013, Alexis Gabree was charged with two counts of grossly negligent operation of a vehicle, death resulting, ...
by Mark Wilson
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a lower court’s refusal to suppress evidence obtained during a warrantless cellphone search. The Court of Appeals found that an Iowa prisoner did not have an expectation of privacy in his cellphone while serving a supervised ...
by Mark Wilson
The en banc Supreme Court of Washington held that a civilly committed sexually violent predator (“SVP”) was entitled to an evidentiary hearing. The State failed to carry its burden of making a prima facie showing that he continues to meet the SVP definition and that conditional release ...
by Mark Wilson
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that warrantless entry into a home to obtain nonconsensual blood-alcohol concentration (“BAC”) evidence did not amount to an exigent circumstance that could justify the warrantless home entry.
At 10:15 p.m., on October 11, 2011, police were dispatched to a single-vehicle crash near ...
by Mark Wilson
The Ohio Supreme Court held that once a warrant has been issued, the exclusion of evidence is not an appropriate remedy when police violate the knock-and-announce rule.
In October 2012, Boardman Police officers supervised two “controlled buys” by an informant, who purchased heroin from Harsimran Singh. Based ...
by Mark Wilson
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower court’s denial of qualified immunity to police for arresting a man for stopping on the sidewalk to speak with Occupy Wall Street protestors.
On September 17, 2013, protestors gathered in New York City’s Zuccotti ...
