by Richard Resch

"Close your eyes. Picture it. Now tell me exactly what you saw.” Across America, police treat this as a credibility test. Every day, truthful people fail it.

That is the detective in the interview room. In the courtroom, the prosecutor turns it into an …

by Richard Resch

In a case of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that when a juvenile offender’s mandatory life-­without-­parole sentence is modified to life with the possibility of parole following a state court determination that the original sentence was unconstitutional, …

by Richard Resch

In the companion to this Column, “When AI Invents the Pixels,” published in the January 2026 issue of CLN, we explored the dangers of prosecutors introducing AI-­enhanced video as substantive evidence at trial. We discussed how some generative upscaling tools can create “hallucinations,” plausible but …

by Richard Resch

In a case presenting an issue of first impression in the Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a presidential commutation of a defendant’s sentence does not render moot the defendant’s pending challenge to the original judicial sentence, addressing …

by Richard Resch

When prosecutors offer “enhanced” surveillance footage or body-camera video, defense counsel must understand what enhancement actually means. Traditional forensic methods such as adjusting brightness, applying contrast filters, or using established interpolation algorithms like nearest-neighbor or bi-cubic scaling operate directly on the captured data. Even when …

by Richard Resch

In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a divided Mississippi Supreme Court decision, holding that under the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause, a trial court may not deny a defendant his right to face-to-face confrontation with a child witness simply …

by Richard Resch

Police departments nationwide are racing to adopt artificial intelligence that transcribes body-camera footage, translates witness statements, and drafts investigative narratives. But these tools introduce profound risks to factual accuracy and due process that defense attorneys must challenge at every stage of a case.

A …

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” – Henry Ford

What is money? Everyone needs and wants it, but few can actually define it. At its core, money is a social construct, an abstract concept with tangible forms. Money is an agreement within a society about what constitutes a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value. Essentially, money represents a shared agreement on value and thereby facilitates economic interactions by providing a standardized way to measure worth, store wealth over time, and settle debts. 

By engaging with the material in this article, you will be able to meaningfully answer that deceptively simple question about money as well as gain a clear understanding of Bitcoin – its revolutionary nature, its eventful history, its role as the future of global finance, and its ability to thwart mass surveillance and pervasive control by governments.

A Brief History of Money

Money facilitates trade by overcoming the limitations of barter, where goods and services are directly exchanged. Without …

Welcome to this month’s issue of Criminal Legal News (“CLN”). As you can see, it’s devoted to the revolutionary and controversial topic of digital currencies, spotlighting the two most important participants in the enduring clash between individual liberties and state control. In this issue, we take a deep dive into Bitcoin – the groundbreaking decentralized digital monetary network that is appropriately characterized as “freedom money” – and Central Bank Digital Currencies (“CBDCs”) – the government-controlled digital form of fiat money that effortlessly enables mass surveillance, programmable restrictions, and unparalleled control. Whether you’re skeptical of these evidence-based assessments or already convinced, this issue of CLN is your vital resource for understanding these two starkly different digital currencies and the stakes involved. Our meticulously researched articles will challenge your assumptions, provide fresh insights, and entertain you along the way. 

“Crypto Week” Showdown in Congress Over CBDCs

The timeliness of this issue is underscored by the dramatic events that unfolded in Washington, D.C., during “Crypto Week” from July 14 to 18 in the United States House of Representatives. What was intended as a bipartisan celebration for passing a trio of digital asset bills nearly imploded entirely due to …

The Supreme Court of the United States held that when an offender convicted under § 924(c) had been sentenced prior to the enactment of the First Step Act but the sentence was subsequently vacated, a sentence “has not been imposed” for purposes of the retroactivity provision of § 403(b), …