by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Nevada reversed Thomas Randolph’s conviction for murdering his sixth wife because the trial court erroneously admitted evidence of the similar murder of the man’s second wife for which he had been tried and acquitted 20 years earlier.
Randolph told police he shot and ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed down an opinion on December 21, 2020, holding that the prohibition against a subsequent resentencing in § 404(c) of the First Step Act can be waived by the Government. Therefore, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana’s denial of qualified immunity to two police officers who allegedly fatally beat, kicked, and tasered a man who was on the ground in a fetal position and ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that consent to testing and analysis is required for the results of a blood alcohol test to be admissible in an operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol (“OUI”) prosecution even when there was a court order for ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Kentucky held that a criminal defendant had the right to be informed of an in-chambers hearing on the fitness and ability of his attorney to try the case and to have conflict-free counsel attend the hearing and represent his interests.
Terrence Downs was ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires dismissal of a count in a federal indictment alleging conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 as it ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Michigan held that a showup identification of the alleged shooter in a murder case was impermissibly suggestive and unreliable. Because the prosecution’s case was “significantly less persuasive” without the identification, it was not harmless. Therefore, the Court reversed the murder conviction and remanded ...
by Matt Clarke
On July 20, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a prior state drug conviction under a statute that defined the drug more broadly than the equivalent federal statute could be used to enhance a federal drug crime sentence as a career offender under U.S.S.G. §§ 4Bl.l(a) and 4B1.2(b) but could not be used as a prior drug crime to enhance the sentence under 21 U.S.C. §§ 84l(b)(l)(C) and 851. It vacated the sentence and remanded the case.
An Illinois police task force found Nathaniel Ruth in possession of cocaine and a gun. He was indicted for possession of a firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(l), and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 84l(a)(l), (b)(l)(C). The Government notified Ruth that it would be using a 2006 Illinois conviction for possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to distribute, in violation of 720 ILCS 570/40l(c)(2), to enhance his maximum sentence from 20 to 30 years under 21 U.S.C. § 84l(b)(l)(C). Ruth did not object.
The probation office used the same 2006 state drug conviction, along with another prior conviction, to ...
by Matt Clarke
The en banc Supreme Court of Colorado held that the successful completion of a deferred judgment for a sex offense, which resulted in the dismissal of that charge, does not count as a conviction for purposes of the bar to petitioning a court to discontinue requiring sex offender registration for a person who “is convicted” of more than one sex offense set forth in § 16-22-113(3)(c), C.R.S. (2019), of the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act.
As part of a plea agreement, Brian Keith McCulley pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree sexual assault in violation of 18-3-403(l)(a), C.R.S. (2000), a fourth-degree felony, and third-degree sexual assault in violation of 18-3-404(l)(c), C.R.S. (2000), a class 1 misdemeanor.
He was sentenced to a four-year deferred judgment for the felony and received a 60-day jail sentence plus two years of probation for the misdemeanor. The probation required him to comply with the terms of the deferred judgment, and one of those terms was that he register as a sex offender.
McCulley successfully completed the terms of the felony deferred judgment, and the court ordered his guilty plea withdrawn and dismissed the felony charge.
Thus, the ...
by Matt Clarke
On August 27, 2020, the Supreme Court of Mississippi held that a change in the guidelines of the American Board of Forensic Odontology (“ABFO”) prohibiting testimony that bite mark comparison could be used to identify an individual constituted new evidence that could be used in postconviction proceedings to challenge a conviction based largely on such evidence. The Court vacated the murder conviction and death sentence and remanded the case for a new trial.
On February 2, 1992, smoke from a small, smoldering fire led to the discovery of the body of Georgia Kemp, 84, in her house. An autopsy determined that she had been beaten, raped, strangled, and stabbed; however, no bite marks were found on her body, which was subsequently buried.
Three days later, the doctor who performed the autopsy requested an additional study of Kemp’s body, which was exhumed and examined under ultraviolet light by Dr. Michael West, a forensic odontologist. He discovered otherwise invisible marks on the right breast, right side of the neck, and right arm. He used dental impressions of Eddie Lee Howard, Jr.’s teeth to perform a “wound duplication test with ink” and determined that the mark on the right breast ...
