by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of Colorado unanimously held that sentencing courts may not impose imprisonment for certain offenses and probation for others when sentencing for multiple offenses in the same case.
Frederick Leroy Allman was convicted of numerous charges, including seven counts of identity theft …
by Richard Resch
As our regular readers know, there has been a relative flurry of activity recently involving the Compassionate Release Statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), the First Step Act of 2018, S. 3747, 115th Cong., and the so-called Holloway doctrine, United States v. Holloway, 68 F.Supp.3d …
by Richard Resch
In announcing the end of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)’s residual clause in defining certain “crimes of violence” while using or possessing a firearm for purposes of sentence enhancement, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) begins its opinion by explaining: “In our constitutional …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled that police detention of motel room occupants for warrant checks after a noise complaint had been resolved constituted an unlawful seizure, and all evidence obtained as a result of the unconstitutional search and seizure must be suppressed.
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by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of the United States held that state burglary statutes that criminalize the burglary of “vehicles designed or adapted for overnight use” are within the scope of the generic burglary definition under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”).
Victor Stitt and …
by Richard Resch
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated Lashay Lopez’s three convictions on federal charges, ruling that the trial court committed prejudicial error in excluding expert testimony on Battered Woman Syndrome (“BWS”) in support of her duress defense.
Lopez and Hector …
by Richard Resch
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that police unlawfully prolonged a traffic stop in violation of the Fourth Amendment by repeatedly demanding that a passenger identify himself, absent reasonable suspicion that he committed a criminal offense, and he refused to do …
by Richard Resch
Welcome to Criminal Legal News (“CLN”). We’ve been publishing CLN now for a little over a year, and the response has been tremendous. The number of people who’ve subscribed and provided positive feedback have exceeded our most optimistic projections when we first launched …
by Richard Resch
Unreliable bitemark identification evidence used in criminal cases has led to 31 exonerations, forensicmag.com reports.
“The unsupported comparison of such bite marks left in human skin during rapes, murders and other violent attacks should be totally thrown out of forensic science,” says the magazine, …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of Kansas held the warrantless search of defendant’s purse and wallet following a traffic accident violated her Fourth Amendment rights because the search wasn’t performed in accordance with an established departmental policy governing inventory searches and thus that exception to the warrant …
