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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of New Mexico reversed two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and one count of child abuse under NMSA 1978, §§ 30-9-13(B)(1) (2003) and 30-6-1(D) (2009), after holding that the second trial on those charges violated the prohibition against double …
The Supreme Court of Louisiana vacated four 23-year-old convictions and death sentences because the prosecution withheld impeachment and exculpatory evidence in violation of the defendant’s due process rights.
In 2001, Darrell J. Robinson was convicted of the murders of Billy Lambert, his sister Carol Hooper, her daughter Maureen …
by Matt Clarke
The New York Court of Appeals held that the prosecution’s failure to turn over fundamental discovery items that were in its possession and control prior to filing a Certificate of Compliance (“COC”) with its statutory disclosure obligations pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law (“CPL”) 245.50(1), (3) …
by Matthew T. Clarke
There is nothing new about corporations that produce technology designed to enable law enforcement surveillance (snoop tech) composing press releases for law enforcement that promote both the brand and the equipment. There is also nothing new about media quoting at length from the snoop-tech-provided …
by Matthew Thomas Clarke
The Human Rights Committee (“HRC”) of the United Nations, an independent body that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”), issued a report on its review of U.S. compliance with ICCPR, which is one of only four human rights …
by Matt Clarke
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 of other customers, the companies can determine whether, and to what degree, two customers are related. By comparing the DNA to that of known historic figures and their descendants, the companies can determine whether a customer has a famous ancestor. It is also possible to determine what geographic regions the customers’ ancestors came from and susceptibility to some diseases.
More recently, law enforcement has been using the information in the same genetic genealogy companies’ databases to establish the identity of unidentified human remains (“UHR”) and identify suspects using DNA collected at a crime scene. This “off-label” use of genetic genealogy, known as forensic genetic genealogy (“FGG”) or investigative generic genealogy, has been used to solve decades-old cold cases. FGG has also raised a red flag about the privacy of information stored in massive databases by internet-based companies
What Is DNA?
DNA is a complex molecule made up of chemical …
