by Ed Lyon
A state-sponsored formal religion in the U.S. is forbidden by the nation’s Constitution. Regardless, one part of the country’s ethos closely approaches a level of worship. That part is freedom. Enshrined in the Pledge of Allegiance as “the land of the free,” the U.S. nonetheless incarcerates ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts suppressed illegally obtained CSLI, ruling that the Commonwealth failed to meet its burden under the Fourth Amendment of proving police did not exploit the illegally obtained evidence to obtain the defendant’s consent to search.
After Josener Dorisca was indicted for ...
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 order, a ...
by Michael Berk
The premise that a DNA “match” conclusively overrides nearly all other evidence in a criminal case has become a deep-seated one over the 35 years since the inception of DNA profiling. Often, though, such views are not founded upon even a basic understanding of how this powerful ...
by Matt Clarke
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that chalking the tires of parked vehicles to gather information about whether they have committed a parking violation constitutes a search for Fourth Amendment purposes and that, at the pleading stage of the current case, neither the ...
by Chad Marks
In 1991, Steve Vic Parker was convicted in a state court in Texas for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (“UUMV”) and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. Parker was eventually released from prison on mandatory supervision and returned to prison for violating that supervision.
In 2010, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Minnesota held that Minn. Stat. § 609.749(2)(6) (“stalking by mail”) and Minn. Stat. § 609.695(1)(3) (“mail harassment”) are facially overbroad. Juvenile defendant “A.J.B.” was convicted of stalking by mail and mail harassment stemming from a series of vicious “tweets” he simultaneously sent to ...
by Kevin Bliss
Prison reform advocates contend that parole does more to perpetuate recidivism than it does to monitor positive rehabilitation into society. Columbia University’s Justice Lab prepared a report in 2017 that stated that New York City’s jail population had more people being held for parole violations than the ...
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 310 (E.D.N.Y. ...
by Anthony Accurso
A recent Vice.com article draws attention to a pioneering study that concludes court reporters exhibit low proficiency with African American English (“AAE”), and that the problem results in a systemic deprivation of the most basic rights in the criminal justice system.
Rachel Jeantel was a ...
by Michael Avery
If you want to know what it will be like having five Justices on the Supreme Court who are Federalist Society members, read the Court’s April 1 decision in Bucklew v. Precythe, 139 S.Ct. 1112. The five conservative Justices, in an opinion by the Trump ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that a search in connection with a traffic stop that was performed 40 minutes after consent was given, because there was no K-9 unit on scene so police made the motorist wait until its ...
by Michael Berk
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit remanded Jose Santos Figueroa-Coello’s case for resentencing, holding that the district court’s violation of Rule 32 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure amounted to reversible plain error.
At this defendant’s sentencing hearing, counsel briefly mentioned several ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California held in a collateral proceeding on January 2, 2019, that McQuiggin’s actual innocence exception applies to a legal claim that was procedurally defaulted, vacating a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) that carries a mandatory 30-year ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a district court’s denial of a defendant’s § 2255 motion, holding the lower court committed clear error when it rejected defendant’s claim that his attorney’s failure to challenge a prior drug conviction for use as a career ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Appeals of Maryland reaffirmed that, upon request, trial courts must ask non-compound “strong feelings question” of potential jurors during voir dire in the following form: “Do any of you have strong feelings about [crime with which defendant is charged]?”
During voir dire in Gordon ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Hawai’i remanded for resentencing in a case where the circuit court based the sentence, in part, on the defendant’s refusal to admit guilt.
In 2015, Ronald Melvin Barnes was convicted by a jury of four counts of first-degree sexual assault against a minor ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of California ruled that when the felony underlying a conviction for “street terrorism” is later reduced to a misdemeanor, then the street terrorism conviction must be vacated and the charge dismissed.
In 2013, Luis Donicio Valenzuela and his associate Timothy Medina confronted Mannie Ramirez. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of West Virginia announced that the provision of the Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act of 2014 that applies to parole eligibility for persons who committed crimes when they were less than 18 years of age is to be applied retroactively.
Sixteen-year-old Christopher J. sexually abused ...
by Chad Marks
In 1987, Todd D’Antoni was charged with selling cocaine to a juvenile resulting in her death.
While being held in jail on those charges, he solicited another prisoner to kill a government witness for cash and drugs. That prisoner contacted law enforcement, agreeing to cooperate in regards ...
by Douglas Ankney
Following convictions for two counts of rape of a child in 1977, Wayne Chapman was sentenced to prison for a term of 15 to 30 years. But later that same year, Chapman was found to be a sexually dangerous person and committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center ...
Loaded on
July 17, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
August, 2019, page 30
First Step Act paves the way for a massive pro bono effort to represent sick, dying, and elderly prisoners in court.
The following is a press release from FAMM:
WASHINGTON – Thousands of sick, dying, and elderly federal prisoners who are eligible for early release will now have access ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to a study by the Crime Prevention and Research Center (“CPRC”), citizens with a permit to carry a concealed weapon “are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth of the rate for police officers.” John R. Lott, Jr., president of CPRC, said.
“With ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that running from police, by itself, does not provide reasonable suspicion to justify stopping and frisking the person.
Sandra Katowitz — an employee of the YWCA in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington — called 911 and ...
by Douglas Ankney
On May 6, 2019, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that the categorical exclusionary rule first announced in Mallory v. State, 409 S.E.2d 839 (Ga. 1991), is no longer the law in Georgia because the rule was abrogated by the “new” evidence code that took ...
by Ed Lyon
Citizens encounter cops in many ways. Cops respond to emergencies, provide security at some public gatherings and private forums, direct traffic, and address children in schools. Aside from uniform colors and headgear styles, cops look pretty similar with their utility belts, shoulder patches, collar tabs, badges and ...
by Bill Barton
A new study that analyzed more than 5 million criminal cases in New York City — beginning in 1987 — intimates that the city has “already done a better job of slashing its use of bail and jail than nearly any other urban area in the United ...
by Michael Berk
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the denial of William Anthony Lofton’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition, remanding to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa with instructions to vacate his ACCA sentence and immediately release him from custody.
Lofton ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that when a testifying officer relates the statement of a non-testifying confidential informant that facially incriminates a defendant, it violates the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him.
Coy Marshall Jones was arrested on May ...
by Ed Lyon
In the early 1970s, an armed team entered a Stockholm, Sweden, bank to rescue hostages being held by bank robbers, as well as to, hopefully, arrest the robbers.
To the rescuers’ shock and surprise, the hostages took up weapons with their captors to fight against ...
by Sandy, NARSOL
The mandatory chemical castration law that has just passed in Alabama is being debated every way possible. Health professionals are weighing in on why, medically, it is not an effective prevention strategy. From a moral and human rights perspective, the general consensus is that it is barbaric ...
by Anthony Accurso
A new study shows that neurobiological evidence (brain scans) used at sentencing may reduce the amount of prison time prescribed at sentencing but may conversely also increase the amount of prescribed involuntary hospitalization.
This study performed by researchers at Georgia State University used controlled surveys of ...
Loaded on
July 17, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
August, 2019, page 37
A vast majority of prisoners dream of getting out of prison and staying out. They talk about it, and most plan for it. A program in New York City called “Getting Out and Staying Out,” or “GOSO” for short, helps former prisoners do exactly that.
GOSO assists them with obtaining ...
by Steve Horn
The Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Justice has unfurled a new study on state and federal law enforcement agencies’ reporting of deaths of individuals who were under the custodial watch of federal law enforcement agents. The results are disturbing.
“Review ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that neither Wisconsin Statute (“Wis. Stat”) § (Rule) 809.51 nor principles of equity impose a “prompt and speedy” pleading requirement in a habeas petition. In so doing, the Court overruled State ex rel. Smalley v. Morgan, 565 N.W.2d 805 (Ct. ...
by Ed Lyon
Television crime dramas like Bones and CSI that depict sterile, efficient crime labs seem to be little more than good art imitating bad life as instance after instance of shoddy work and poor conditions from Wisconsin [CLN, March 2019, p.30] to Texas [CLN ...
by David Reutter
As a matter of first impression, the Court of Appeals of New York ruled that a noncitizen defendant charged with state crimes that carry a maximum penalty of less than six months in jail but subject him or her to deportation is entitled to a jury trial ...
by Ed Lyon
Peacefully sleeping the night away, grandmother Charlene Klein was rudely awakened by Allentown, Pennsylvania, cops beating on her door on May 2, 2016. A law-abiding citizen, she opened her front door in response to the Knights in Blue’s persistent pounding, only to find herself entering one ...
by Anthony Accurso
An article recently published on TheAntiMedia.com highlights various ways the U.S. government and corporations track one’s everyday movements through his or her cellphone and singles out Google’s Sensorvault project for scrutiny.
Between the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden, the efforts of organizations like the Electronic ...
by Douglas Ankney
According to an analysis of the National Registry of Exonerations performed by the Death Penalty Information Center, a record 151 exonerations were reported in 2018. Victims of wrongful homicide convictions accounted for 68 exonerations. The overwhelming majority of wrongful convictions were obtained by police/prosecutorial misconduct (107) or ...
by Douglas Ankney
Simi Valley, California, and a wrongfully convicted man who spent nearly four decades in prison have reached a $21 million settlement.
Craig Coley was convicted of the 1978 murders of Rhonda Wicht and her 4-year-old son Donald. Wicht had been raped. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but ...
Loaded on
July 17, 2019
published in Criminal Legal News
August, 2019, page 42
Arizona: Rapper Jay-Z has hired attorney Alex Spiro for a family preparing to sue the city of Phoenix for $10 million, alleging excessive force by police, unlawful imprisonment, false arrest, physical injuries, emotional stress and civil rights violations after their 4-year-old daughter walked out of a dollar store May 29, ...
by Douglas Ankney
Few nightmares can equate with being an innocent person wrongly convicted and incarcerated.
Since innocence projects began appearing in the 1990s, dozens of prisoners in Michigan have been exonerated. In 2017 a record number—14—were exonerated, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. This prompted Michigan Attorney ...
