by Richard Resch
Six years after Congress passed the First Step Act with rare bipartisan enthusiasm, the federal government’s own data offer a mixed picture of progress. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (“BJS”) March 2026 report, covering calendar year 2024, provides the most comprehensive look yet at who …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for all individuals convicted of second-degree murder (felony murder) violates Article I, Section 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution’s prohibition against cruel punishments. The Court determined that Pennsylvania’s …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that a plaintiff previously convicted of violating a city ordinance may proceed with a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit seeking only forward-looking relief – specifically, a declaration that the ordinance violates the First Amendment and an …
by Richard Resch
Resolving a Circuit split, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that police officers may enter a home without a warrant to render emergency aid when they possess “an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that the sequential prosecution rule articulated in Commonwealth v. Resende, 52 N.E.3d 1016 (Mass. 2016), constitutes binding precedent rather than obiter dictum. The Court reasoned that the Resende Court’s interpretation of “arising from separate incidences” as requiring separate, …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of the United States held that 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(E), which prohibits certiorari review of authorization decisions regarding second or successive filings, does not bar the Court’s review of a federal prisoner’s request to file a second or successive motion under § …
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 …
