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Criminal Legal News: June, 2021

Issue PDF
Volume 4, Number 6

In this issue:

  1. Felony Murder: The Crotchet of American Murder Jurisprudence (p 1)
  2. Comply or Die: The Only Truly Compliant Person in a Police State Is a Dead One (p 12)
  3. Reverse Location Warrants Neglect Particularity Requirement (p 15)
  4. Cops Increasingly Use Amazon Ring to Target Protestors (p 16)
  5. Debunked Bite-Mark Comparison Evidence: Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed After Spending Over 25 Years on Death Row (p 16)
  6. $1.4 Million for Nevada Man Wrongly Imprisoned Over 20 Years (p 17)
  7. Data: NYPD Still Using Chokeholds Despite Ban (p 18)
  8. New Book Scrutinizes Data-Driven Policing (p 18)
  9. Sixth Circuit Orders New Trial and Reassigns Case to Different Judge Where District Court’s Mishandling Deprived Defendants of Meaningful Opportunity to Prove Juror Bias (p 20)
  10. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Invalidates Parole Regulation Prohibiting Aggregation of Life Sentences With Consecutive Sentences (p 21)
  11. It’s Time to Reconsider Consent Searches (p 22)
  12. Austin, Texas, Diverting Funds From Police to Transform Community (p 22)
  13. Philadelphia’s Progressive Reform-Minded DA Has Made Tremendous Strides – But Are They Enough to Win Reelection? (p 23)
  14. Extreme Prosecutorial Misconduct Results in Wrist Slap (p 24)
  15. Study: Reduced Pretrial Incarceration Doesn’t Diminish Public Safety (p 24)
  16. When Police Body Cam Is a ‘Propaganda Tool’ (p 25)
  17. Internet-Connected Devices and the Fourth Amendment (p 26)
  18. Are Police Playing Copyrighted Music to Prevent Live Streaming? (p 27)
  19. Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies Meaning of ‘Mentally Incapacitated’ Regarding Consent to Sexual Contact (p 28)
  20. Leaving Digital Trails (p 29)
  21. Fourth Circuit: Police Description of ‘More Deliberate’ Second Handshake Than First Handshake Doesn’t Give Rise to Reasonable Suspicion of Drug Transaction Justifying Terry Stop (p 30)
  22. Tenth Circuit: Firearm Seizure Not Justified After Inventory Search Is Abandoned (p 31)
  23. Study Shows Innocent People Choose False Guilty Pleas and False Testimony to Gain Benefits (p 32)
  24. Washington Supreme Court Reaffirms Workman’s Lesser Included Offense Test and Clarifies Confusion in its Application (p 34)
  25. Report: Police More Aggressive at Leftwing Rallies (p 35)
  26. Eleventh Circuit: Lawyer’s Purposeful Late Filing of Habeas Petition Grounds for Equitable Tolling (p 36)
  27. Washington Supreme Court Announces State’s Strict-Liability Drug Possession Law Is Unconstitutional (p 37)
  28. California Supreme Court Announces Conditioning Pretrial Release on Ability to Afford Bail Unconstitutional (p 38)
  29. Ohio Supreme Court: Touching ‘Fog Line’ Doesn’t Justify Traffic Stop (p 39)
  30. Sixth Circuit Follows Trend of Reigning in Commentary’s Impermissible Expansion of Sentencing Guidelines (p 40)
  31. Nevada Supreme Court Announces Felon’s Possession of Multiple Firearms at One Time and Place Is Only Single Violation of State Statute (p 41)
  32. New Hampshire Supreme Court: Defendant Had Subjective and Objective Expectation of Privacy in Apartment Building’s Utility Closet in Common Areas, Evidence Suppressed (p 42)
  33. Online Records Impose Digital Punishment for Millions (p 42)
  34. Study: Militarizing Police Doesn’t Shrink Crime Rates (p 43)
  35. Georgia Supreme Court: Cumulative Effect of Trial Errors Requires Reversal of Murder Conviction (p 44)
  36. Fourth Circuit Finally Holds Davis Retroactive (p 45)
  37. The Costs of the War on Drugs (p 46)
  38. Tennessee Supreme Court Clarifies Inevitable Discovery Doctrine in Raid of Home to Execute Arrest Warrant (p 46)
  39. $27 Million Settlement for George Floyd’s Family (p 47)
  40. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Speculation Insufficient to Trigger ‘Forfeiture by Wrongdoing’ Exception to Confrontation Clause (p 48)
  41. Second Circuit: No Qualified Immunity for Police Detaining and Frisking Man Based Solely on Unconfirmed Hunch (p 48)
  42. Colorado Supreme Court Suppresses Evidence on Cellphone Obtained Via Invalid Warrant, Not Cured by Obtaining Second Valid Warrant (p 49)
  43. News in Brief (p 50)

Felony Murder: The Crotchet of American Murder Jurisprudence

Comply or Die: The Only Truly Compliant Person in a Police State Is a Dead One

by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute – Commentary

“If you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t ...

Reverse Location Warrants Neglect Particularity Requirement

Cops Increasingly Use Amazon Ring to Target Protestors

Debunked Bite-Mark Comparison Evidence: Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed After Spending Over 25 Years on Death Row

$1.4 Million for Nevada Man Wrongly Imprisoned Over 20 Years

Data: NYPD Still Using Chokeholds Despite Ban

ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom, and THE CITY teamed up to investigate ...

New Book Scrutinizes Data-Driven Policing

Sixth Circuit Orders New Trial and Reassigns Case to Different Judge Where District Court’s Mishandling Deprived Defendants of Meaningful Opportunity to Prove Juror Bias

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Invalidates Parole Regulation Prohibiting Aggregation of Life Sentences With Consecutive Sentences

It’s Time to Reconsider Consent Searches

Austin, Texas, Diverting Funds From Police to Transform Community

Philadelphia’s Progressive Reform-Minded DA Has Made Tremendous Strides – But Are They Enough to Win Reelection?

Extreme Prosecutorial Misconduct Results in Wrist Slap

Study: Reduced Pretrial Incarceration Doesn’t Diminish Public Safety

All too often, critics of bail reform assert a stale mantra that more pretrial ...

When Police Body Cam Is a ‘Propaganda Tool’

However, “[w]hen the police are given the discretion to publicly release favorable body camera footage but withhold negative footage, police ...

Internet-Connected Devices and the Fourth Amendment

This report is part of an ongoing project by Diaz, counsel with the Liberty & National Security Program, and the Brennan Center ...

Are Police Playing Copyrighted Music to Prevent Live Streaming?

Sennett Devermont is a well-known, LA-area activist with over 300,000 followers in Instagram.

He went to the Beverly Hills PD office to file a request ...

Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies Meaning of ‘Mentally Incapacitated’ Regarding Consent to Sexual Contact

A jury convicted Francios Momolu Khalil of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a mentally incapacitated or physically helpless complainant in violation of § 609.344, subdivision 1(d) ...

Leaving Digital Trails

Fourth Circuit: Police Description of ‘More Deliberate’ Second Handshake Than First Handshake Doesn’t Give Rise to Reasonable Suspicion of Drug Transaction Justifying Terry Stop

Tenth Circuit: Firearm Seizure Not Justified After Inventory Search Is Abandoned

On January ...

Study Shows Innocent People Choose False Guilty Pleas and False Testimony to Gain Benefits

The study included college students from the United States, South Korea, ...

Washington Supreme Court Reaffirms Workman’s Lesser Included Offense Test and Clarifies Confusion in its Application

Report: Police More Aggressive at Leftwing Rallies

Eleventh Circuit: Lawyer’s Purposeful Late Filing of Habeas Petition Grounds for Equitable Tolling

Washington Supreme Court Announces State’s Strict-Liability Drug Possession Law Is Unconstitutional

Shannon Blake was arrested in connection with an investigation into stolen vehicles. A jail employee discovered a small baggy containing methamphetamine in ...

California Supreme Court Announces Conditioning Pretrial Release on Ability to Afford Bail Unconstitutional

Kenneth Humphrey, 66, was accused of robbing his 79-year-old neighbor of seven dollars and a bottle of cologne. The trial court initially set bail at $600,000. Humphrey petitioned for ...

Ohio Supreme Court: Touching ‘Fog Line’ Doesn’t Justify Traffic Stop

Sixth Circuit Follows Trend of Reigning in Commentary’s Impermissible Expansion of Sentencing Guidelines

Former postal employee Jennifer Riccardi ...

Nevada Supreme Court Announces Felon’s Possession of Multiple Firearms at One Time and Place Is Only Single Violation of State Statute

New Hampshire Supreme Court: Defendant Had Subjective and Objective Expectation of Privacy in Apartment Building’s Utility Closet in Common Areas, Evidence Suppressed

On January 17, 2018, Kingston ...

Online Records Impose Digital Punishment for Millions

Researchers Sarah Esther Lageson (Rutgers ...

Study: Militarizing Police Doesn’t Shrink Crime Rates

Georgia Supreme Court: Cumulative Effect of Trial Errors Requires Reversal of Murder Conviction

Benjamin Finney, a drug dealer in Macon, Georgia, was the victim of a home invasion during which he and his girlfriend were bound and held ...

Fourth Circuit Finally Holds Davis Retroactive

In a case that numerous federal habeas petitioners have been awaiting, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held on February 23, 2021, that the decision in United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), is a qualifying retroactive U.S. Supreme Court decision ...

The Costs of the War on Drugs

Tennessee Supreme Court Clarifies Inevitable Discovery Doctrine in Raid of Home to Execute Arrest Warrant

The White County Sheriff’s Office asked neighboring ...

$27 Million Settlement for George Floyd’s Family

There are, of course, exceptions to the ...

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Speculation Insufficient to Trigger ‘Forfeiture by Wrongdoing’ Exception to Confrontation Clause

Second Circuit: No Qualified Immunity for Police Detaining and Frisking Man Based Solely on Unconfirmed Hunch

Colorado Supreme Court Suppresses Evidence on Cellphone Obtained Via Invalid Warrant, Not Cured by Obtaining Second Valid Warrant

News in Brief

California: On March 12, 2021, federal prosecutors in California unsealed indictments against a pair of policemen accused of pocketing cash and drugs confiscated from suspects they pulled over in traffic stops. According to a report by Law & Crime, former Rohnert Park Police Department officers Brendon Jacy Tatum, 38, and ...

 

 

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