The bureau’s image unit has linked defendants to crime photographs for decades using unproven techniques and baseless statistics. Studies have begun to raise doubts about the unit’s methods.
by Ryan Gabrielson, ProPublica
At the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, a team of about a half-dozen technicians analyzes pictures down to their pixels, trying to determine if the faces, hands, clothes or cars of suspects match images collected by investigators from cameras at crime scenes.
The unit specializes in visual evidence and facial identification, and its examiners can aid investigations by making images sharper, revealing key details in a crime or ruling out potential suspects.
But the work of image examiners has never had a strong scientific foundation, and the FBI’s endorsement of the unit’s findings as trial evidence troubles many experts and raises anew questions about the role of the FBI Laboratory as a standard-setter in forensic science.
FBI examiners have tied defendants to crime pictures in thousands of cases over the past half-century using unproven techniques, at times giving jurors baseless statistics to say the risk of error was vanishingly small. Much of the legal foundation for the unit’s work is rooted in a 22-year-old comparison of bluejeans. Studies ...
by Larry N., NARSOL
We are excited to report that registrants in Pennsylvania now will have a new vehicle to challenge sex offender registration. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court handed down a precedential decision on February 27th that has the potential to be significant ...
by Chad Marks
December 21, 2018, changed the lives of many federal prisoners in facilities throughout the United States. That’s when President Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act into law, making many federal prisoners eligible for release sooner than expected.
Trump invited two unlikely guests to his State of ...
by Matt Clarke
The NYPD’s practice of using a crime victim or witness’ description of a perpetrator to generate a search of the department’s mugshot database, often generating hundreds of hits, has caused controversy and resulted in wrongful arrests.
New York City resident St. Clair Steward, 43, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled that hiring an undercover officer posing as a hit man to kill another person does not satisfy the element of committing “an overt act” toward completion of the offense of attempted murder.
On February 3, 2015, Darrell Lee ...
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.
Neptune police officers ...
by Mark Wilson
An arresting officer’s fabrication or planting of evidence or other misconduct lies at the very heart of the definition of exculpatory evidence that must be disclosed to criminal defendants under the Sixth Amendment since the 1963 landmark decision in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Arkansas ruled that the search of a defendant’s wallet during a frisk for weapons pursuant to an investigatory detention constituted an unconstitutional search.
Corporal Kenneth Kennedy of the Clarksville Police Department discovered a parked car in a medium to high crime area of ...
by Chad Marks
The Supreme Court of Alaska held that a trial court was required under Alaska state law to appoint at least two qualified psychiatrists or forensic psychologists to examine defendants who rely on a defense of insanity or diminished capacity at trial. The Supreme Court in its decision ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the denial of habeas corpus relief to a death row prisoner. The Court held that where the jury’s only choices were life in prison without parole or death, the exclusion of expert testimony that the defendant “represents ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case where a juror did not unequivocally state that she could be unbiased because she had previously been a victim in a similar crime, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the juror should have been excused for actual bias and ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) held that the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment is applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, inclusive of civil in rem forfeiture cases.
After Tyson Timbs pleaded guilty in an Indiana ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that a criminal defense attorney was ineffective for waiting to convey to his client a plea-bargain offer until after it had been withdrawn two and a half days later.
Jennifer Helmedach was charged with felony murder and related crimes. She faced ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has held that the accrual date for claims for arrest and detention without probable cause is the date the detention ends.
Maurice Lewis was confined in the Cook County Jail for over two years awaiting trial on charges ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the denial of summary judgment filed by Detroit police in a lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution and false arrest, after police lied in order to obtain a conviction. The Court’s decision allows the lawsuit to move forward in ...
by David Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the suppression of evidence obtained while executing a search warrant based on the discovery of three marijuana stems in a trash pull. Prince George Police found the phone number of Tyrone Lyles in the cellphone of a homicide ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a defendant did not receive effective assistance of counsel when his attorneys failed to object and move for a mistrial while two judges coerced a jury to return a unanimous verdict.
Sumnar Robert Brewster was tried ...
by Douglas Ankney
In December 2018, the Supreme Court of North Dakota held that the implied consent advisory pursuant to N.D.C.C. § 39-20-01(2) and (3) must be read after placing an individual under arrest and before administering a chemical test to determine blood-alcohol content or the presence of other ...
by Dale Chappell
An out-of-court statement is not hearsay only if the person making the statement is subject to cross-examination concerning the statement, the Nevada Supreme Court instructed, clarifying and narrowing the application of when nonhearsay statements are admissible at trial.
After Kirsten Kinard identified Dvontae Richard as the man ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case where a defendant was sentenced when the career offender guideline still contained the so-called residual clause, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a sentencing court has the discretion to ignore the career offender penalty in light of the ...
by Dale Chappell
The FBI is reviewing four incidents of excessive force by Mesa, Arizona, police officers in the span of just four months, some after an “independent” investigation cleared the involved officers of any wrongdoing.
In one incident that occurred May 23, 2018, Mesa police were investigating a domestic ...
by Kevin Bliss
Texas used civil and criminal asset forfeiture to obtain more than $50 million in cash and property in 2017, according to the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Everything from cash and cars to clothing, art, and other property were seized and sold.
Prosecutors and police claim that asset ...
by Derek Gilna
Video simulators are now used by some police departments to train their officers in the use of non-lethal force. A 2005 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that dogs are property, whose killing constitutes an unreasonable seizure and a violation of the ...
by Kevin Bliss
Erie County, New York, wrongfully convicted 11 people under a law that was ruled unconstitutional over 20 years ago — yet is still listed in the state’s penal code and being enforced.
District Attorney John J. Flynn stated that the county never received notification sent out ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Georgia held that the state statute authorizing the lifetime global positioning system (“GPS”) monitoring of persons determined to be a “sexually dangerous person” (“SDP”) but who are no longer serving their sentences is unconstitutional on its face.
In 2003, Joseph Park was convicted ...
by Douglas Ankney
On January 7, 2019, the Supreme Court of Tennessee ruled that evidence of placing a camera in a teen’s bedroom with the intent of recording her in the nude while changing clothes is insufficient to support a conviction for attempted especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, ...
by Betty Nelander
A look back at 2018 reveals death-penalty usage in the United States trending downward for the fourth consecutive year, according to a year-end report by the Death Penalty Information Center (“DPIC”). Executions numbered fewer than 30, and death sentences dropped below 50.
Even Texas, the “capital ...
by Mark Wilson
The Supreme Court of Oregon clarified, and dramatically restricted, the so-called “Church motion” practice in post-conviction relief (“PCR”) cases.
PCR is the exclusive collateral remedy for Oregon prisoners to challenge their convictions and sentences. Indigent PCR petitioners are entitled to the appointment of counsel. ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Kentucky held that a court erred when it denied a death-sentenced prisoner’s post-conviction motion alleging intellectual disability without a hearing based solely on the prisoner’s IQ exceeding 70. It held that prevailing medical standards should always take precedence in a court’s ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Georgia held that a defendant may invoke O.C.G.A. § 24-4-412 (“Rape Shield Statute”) to prohibit the State from offering evidence of a complaining witness’ past sexual behavior. In so doing, the Court overruled prior decisions of the Court of Appeals that held the ...
by Matt Clarke
The fatal shooting of a 7-year-old black girl who was riding in a car on a Houston highway, along with her mother and three sisters, is a tragedy that starkly illustrates the problems with eyewitness identification — unreliability.
Jazmine Barnes was struck by one of many ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that neither the definition of “positional isomer” set forth in 21 C.F.R. § 1300.0l(b) nor the specific inclusion of ethylone as a positional isomer of the temporary-scheduled substance butylone on the website of the Drug Enforcement ...
by Douglas Ankney
Four former Navy sailors (the “Norfolk Four”), who were wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of Michelle Bosko, agreed to a $4.9 million settlement with the City of Norfolk, Virginia.
Governor Ralph Northam then signed legislation directing that the men receive an additional $3.5 million ...
by Derek Gilna
The Supreme Court of Indiana ruled that following the reversal of a gang enhancement sentence under Ind. Code § 35-50-2-15 the trial court on remand is required to resentence the defendant on all remaining underlying convictions.
Marquell M. Jackson had been convicted of several criminal offenses ...
by Ed Lyon
For scores of years, excessive bail amounts for fiscally impoverished individuals accused of crimes have been a major factor in jail overcrowding. This, in turn, leads to violence and excessive additional costs to cities, counties, and parishes across the United States.
Far exceeding its intended ...
by Kevin Bliss
Wisconsin’s constitution establishes that cash bail only be set as a means of ensuring defendants’ appearance at court hearings, but opponents say the system only ensures that the poor remain incarcerated while the rich enjoy freedom.
Defendants who cannot afford bail can remain behind bars for days, ...
Loaded on
March 15, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
April, 2019, page 39
Several pot-related crimes went up in smoke when California voters approved Proposition 64 marijuana reforms in 2016—and all retroactively.
However, a lack of resources in many district attorney offices to review decades’ worth of criminal cases eligible under the new law proved to be a roadblock until recently.
Thanks ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Nebraska has dismissed on technical grounds a lawsuit filed by eight death-row prisoners represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”). The suit alleged the death sentences of Nebraska’s death-row prisoners must be converted to life sentences because the Nebraska Legislature repealed ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the registration and reporting requirements of Pennsylvania’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) are sufficiently restrictive to constitute custody for the purposes of habeas corpus jurisdiction.
Jason Piasecki was convicted in the Court of Common ...
by Matt Clarke
Expunction of criminal records is a traditional method of protecting those falsely arrested, falsely convicted, or deemed deserving of a second chance after completing probation. But with the prevalence of mugshot sites and other Internet-based methods of disseminating public information, which are not subject to expunction ...
by Ed Lyon
In November 2013, Hickory, North Carolina, police Sergeant Robert George allegedly removed a woman driver from her auto and slammed her face-first onto the ground. She required corrective surgery.
Charged by local prosecutors in 2014, the case then languished in an unadjudicated limbo. Four years ...
Loaded on
March 15, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
April, 2019, page 42
Arizona: Debate about press freedom was reignited after a 12-year-old girl on a bicycle was caught in a confrontation with an Arizona cop for doing her job. The young journalist was “chasing down” a story in Patagonia, Arizona, when town Marshal Joseph Patterson “threatened to throw her in juvenile jail ...
