by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Oregon held that the provision of ORS 136.290 limiting a criminal defendant’s pretrial custody to no more than 60 days also applies to retrials.
Anthony Lee Benjamin IV was tried for second-degree murder. A jury acquitted him of that charge but found him ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a federal criminal defendant’s escape conviction for leaving a residential reentry facility without authorization after holding that, contrary to the positions of both the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and the prosecutor, the ...
by Matt Clarke with research assistance by Ann Foster
Millions of people have submitted oral cheek (buccal) swab samples to companies like 23andMe and Ancestry hoping to use their DNA to trace their ancestors and locate relatives in a process known as genetic genealogy. By comparing their DNA to that ...
by Matt Clarke
Between 2018 and 2024, the parole rate in South Carolina dropped from around 40% to just 5%, an 80% decline. South Carolina is not alone in experiencing dramatic reductions in the rate at which prisoners are released from state prisons on parole. A Prison Policy Initiative survey ...
by Matt Clarke
Wisconsin Watch disclosed that its investigation into Wisconsin District Attorneys’ police Brady lists found that many had no Brady list while others had lists that appeared to be incomplete or refused to disclose the names on their lists.
Brady lists derive their name from the seminal case ...
by Matthew Thomas Clarke
In June 2024, the U.S. Sentencing Commission released a data report on release for “extraordinary and compelling reasons” under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), also known as compassionate release (“CR”). The courts have the authority to grant CR motions and are required to consider the factors set forth ...
by Matthew Thomas Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia’s order denying a federal prisoner’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion on whether his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to duplicative conspiracy counts in ...
by Matthew Thomas Clarke
The Supreme Court of Rhode Island held that an alleged victim’s handwritten letter to her mother and a scribbled note made at the police department were inadmissible hearsay and that their admission was not harmless. It reversed five child molestation related convictions and remanded for a ...
by Matt Clarke
An article published in the American University Law Review examines victims of coercive plea bargaining using extensive data from psychological studies and surveys. In doing so, it goes beyond the obvious victims—innocent defendants who are coerced into pleading guilty to a crime they did not commit—to include ...
by Matt Clarke
The Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, held that a court resentencing a defendant pursuant to Senate Bill 1393 (“SB 1393”) (Stats. 2018, ch. 1013 (§§ 1, 2)) cannot base its decision solely on its assessment of the defendant’s dangerousness at the time of sentencing. Instead, ...
