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Criminal Legal News: July, 2021

Issue PDF
Volume 4, Number 7

In this issue:

  1. Deliberately Convicting the Innocent: Exonerations Expose the Criminal Justice System’s Callous Indifference Toward Official Misconduct (p 1)
  2. Tenth Circuit: District Courts Have Authority to Decide What Constitutes ‘Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons’ for Compassionate Release After First Step Act (p 12)
  3. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Warrantless Arrest Designed to Elicit a Confession Constitutes Flagrant Misconduct Requiring Suppression of Confession (p 14)
  4. Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Failure to Object to Improper Jury Instruction and Curative Instruction by Court Containing ‘Freudian Slip’ Constitutes IAC (p 15)
  5. Federal Habeas Corpus: Discovery and Expanding the Record (p 16)
  6. Illinois Supreme Court Announces Person Seeking Certificate of Innocence Need Only Prove Innocence of Originally Prosecuted Theory of Offense, not Every Conceivable Theory (p 17)
  7. An Ignoble Process How High-Pressure Tactics and Flawed Investigative Techniques Created a Miscarriage of Justice (p 18)
  8. Inflation Increases Likelihood of Felony Theft Charges (p 21)
  9. Report Shows Cellphone Searches Common (p 22)
  10. Iowa Supreme Court: Successful Adjustment to Sex Offender Registry Requirements Not a Reason to Deny Modification (p 24)
  11. California Court of Appeal: Defendant Cannot Be Convicted of Robbery and Kidnapping to Commit Robbery for Same Act (p 25)
  12. Alaska Supreme Court: ‘Set Aside’ Conviction From 1997 Is Not ‘Conviction’ Triggering Lifetime ASORA Registration (p 26)
  13. Discredited New York Police Detective’s False Testimony Causes the Dismissal of Close to 100 Drug Convictions (p 26)
  14. Eleventh Circuit: Timely Filed Amended Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850 Motion Tolls AEDPA Clock, Rejects State’s Proposed 30-Day Limitations Period (p 27)
  15. Ninth Circuit Joins Five Other Circuits in Holding § 1B1.13 Doesn’t Apply to Compassionate Release Motions by Prisoners (p 28)
  16. Cancel Culture Nothing New to Those on Sex Offense Registries (p 28)
  17. North Carolina Governor Announces Formation of Juvenile Sentence Review Board (p 29)
  18. The Era of Punitive Excess The criminal justice system is marred by an overreliance on excessive punishment (p 30)
  19. Tenth Circuit: Warrantless Search of Truck Driver’s Home Not Justified Solely by Connection to Alien Smuggling (p 32)
  20. Sixth Circuit: State Court Committed Constitutional Error in Applying Ohio Rules of Evidence 606(B) to Deny Right to Fair Trial (p 33)
  21. Direct Collateral Review Creates Path Around AEDPA Hurdles for State Prisoners Seeking Postconviction Relief (p 34)
  22. Maine Supreme Court: Counsel’s Introduction of Victim’s Video Interview with Police Was Not ‘Sound Trial Strategy,’ Constituted IAC (p 37)
  23. D.C. Circuit: Conflicted Counsel During Habeas Proceeding Requires Appointment of Conflict-Free Counsel (p 38)
  24. Mississippi Supreme Court Reverses Conviction due to Double Jeopardy Violation Because of Mistrial Without Manifest Necessity in Initial Trial (p 38)
  25. Wyoming Supreme Court Abandons Alter Ego Rule in Relation to Defense-of-Another Claim (p 39)
  26. California Court of Appeal: § 3051’s Exclusion of One Strike Offenders from Youthful Offender Parole Hearings Violates Equal Protection (p 40)
  27. Seventh Circuit: Knowing and Intelligent Waiver of Miranda Rights Distinct and Separate Issue From Whether Statement Was Voluntary (p 41)
  28. Fifth Circuit: U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 Policy Statement Not Applicable to Prisoner’s Motion for Compassionate Release (p 42)
  29. Illinois Supreme Court: Motion to Suppress Statements Granted Where Police Prolonged Traffic Stop to Investigate Offenses Unrelated to the Stop (p 43)
  30. Baltimore and St. Louis ‘Shoot Down’ Spy Planes (p 44)
  31. First Circuit: Government’s Mention of Co-Defendant’s Guilty Plea Before Jury Was Confrontation Clause Violation Warranting New Trial (p 44)
  32. SCOTUS Reaffirms Habeas Court Must Consider Entire Record Before ‘Disturbing’ a State Criminal Judgment (p 45)
  33. West Virginia Supreme Court: Emergency Protective Order Not De Facto Search Warrant (p 46)
  34. Report: U.S. Border Patrol Not Nearly as Nice as It Claims (p 47)
  35. Potentially Deadly War Gas Deployed Against Black Lives Matter Protesters (p 48)
  36. Tenth Circuit Joins Other Circuits, Holds § 1B1.13 Does Not Apply to Compassionate Release Motions Filed by Prisoners (p 48)
  37. Kentucky Supreme Court: Blood Test Refusal Inadmissible as Evidence in DUI Case Even to Explain Why Prosecution Has No Scientific Evidence of Intoxication (p 49)
  38. News in Brief (p 50)

Deliberately Convicting the Innocent: Exonerations Expose the Criminal Justice System’s Callous Indifference Toward Official Misconduct

Decades later, Morton’s attorneys would discover that district attorney Ken Anderson ...

Tenth Circuit: District Courts Have Authority to Decide What Constitutes ‘Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons’ for Compassionate Release After First Step Act

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Warrantless Arrest Designed to Elicit a Confession Constitutes Flagrant Misconduct Requiring Suppression of Confession

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Failure to Object to Improper Jury Instruction and Curative Instruction by Court Containing ‘Freudian Slip’ Constitutes IAC

Noel Matos Montalvo was convicted, along with ...

Federal Habeas Corpus: Discovery and Expanding the Record

Illinois Supreme Court Announces Person Seeking Certificate of Innocence Need Only Prove Innocence of Originally Prosecuted Theory of Offense, not Every Conceivable Theory

The apartment of William Helmbacher ...

An Ignoble Process How High-Pressure Tactics and Flawed Investigative Techniques Created a Miscarriage of Justice

Inflation Increases Likelihood of Felony Theft Charges

The threshold for what constitutes a petty ...

Report Shows Cellphone Searches Common

Iowa Supreme Court: Successful Adjustment to Sex Offender Registry Requirements Not a Reason to Deny Modification

California Court of Appeal: Defendant Cannot Be Convicted of Robbery and Kidnapping to Commit Robbery for Same Act

Jose Marcos Barrios approached a vehicle parked on the street ...

Alaska Supreme Court: ‘Set Aside’ Conviction From 1997 Is Not ‘Conviction’ Triggering Lifetime ASORA Registration

The Supreme Court of the State of Alaska determined that a 1995 Department of Public Safety regulation, defining prior sex offenses to include convictions that were set aside, was improperly issued as it was beyond the agency’s authority to enact.

Kelley Maves was convicted of two sexual ...

Discredited New York Police Detective’s False Testimony Causes the Dismissal of Close to 100 Drug Convictions

Eleventh Circuit: Timely Filed Amended Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850 Motion Tolls AEDPA Clock, Rejects State’s Proposed 30-Day Limitations Period

Ninth Circuit Joins Five Other Circuits in Holding § 1B1.13 Doesn’t Apply to Compassionate Release Motions by Prisoners

Cancel Culture Nothing New to Those on Sex Offense Registries

The basic definition is “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way ...

North Carolina Governor Announces Formation of Juvenile Sentence Review Board

The Era of Punitive Excess The criminal justice system is marred by an overreliance on excessive punishment

Tenth Circuit: Warrantless Search of Truck Driver’s Home Not Justified Solely by Connection to Alien Smuggling

Police were called after witnessing a tractor-trailer disgorge 14 people behind an Albertsons supermarket ...

Sixth Circuit: State Court Committed Constitutional Error in Applying Ohio Rules of Evidence 606(B) to Deny Right to Fair Trial

After Abulay Nian was convicted of rape in an Ohio court, he moved for a ...

Direct Collateral Review Creates Path Around AEDPA Hurdles for State Prisoners Seeking Postconviction Relief

by Dale Chappell

It’s called “direct collateral review,” and it’s quickly becoming a way for state prisoners to get around the obstacles and roadblocks to receiving habeas relief in federal court. Never heard of it? Read on.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) ...

Maine Supreme Court: Counsel’s Introduction of Victim’s Video Interview with Police Was Not ‘Sound Trial Strategy,’ Constituted IAC

Benjamin Hodgdon was a teacher in Hancock County when ...

D.C. Circuit: Conflicted Counsel During Habeas Proceeding Requires Appointment of Conflict-Free Counsel

Mississippi Supreme Court Reverses Conviction due to Double Jeopardy Violation Because of Mistrial Without Manifest Necessity in Initial Trial

Wyoming Supreme Court Abandons Alter Ego Rule in Relation to Defense-of-Another Claim

California Court of Appeal: § 3051’s Exclusion of One Strike Offenders from Youthful Offender Parole Hearings Violates Equal Protection

Woods was convicted by a jury of numerous offenses, including forcible rape. ...

Seventh Circuit: Knowing and Intelligent Waiver of Miranda Rights Distinct and Separate Issue From Whether Statement Was Voluntary

Jeremy Outland was arrested for ...

Fifth Circuit: U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 Policy Statement Not Applicable to Prisoner’s Motion for Compassionate Release

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the Sentencing Commission’s policy statement in U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 1B1.13 is inapplicable to a prisoner’s own motion for compassionate release filed under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i).

Francesk Shkambi filed a motion in the U.S. District ...

Illinois Supreme Court: Motion to Suppress Statements Granted Where Police Prolonged Traffic Stop to Investigate Offenses Unrelated to the Stop

Cordell Bass ...

Baltimore and St. Louis ‘Shoot Down’ Spy Planes

In recent months, Baltimore and St. Louis city officials voted unanimously to spare their residents from further invasions of their privacy by terminating a “panoptic aerial surveillance system” that was designed to protect soldiers on the battlefield.

From April to October 2020, Baltimore residents were subjected to ...

First Circuit: Government’s Mention of Co-Defendant’s Guilty Plea Before Jury Was Confrontation Clause Violation Warranting New Trial

Donna Ackerly was ...

SCOTUS Reaffirms Habeas Court Must Consider Entire Record Before ‘Disturbing’ a State Criminal Judgment

West Virginia Supreme Court: Emergency Protective Order Not De Facto Search Warrant

The Supreme Court of West Virginia held that an Emergency Protective Order (“EPO”) issued pursuant to West Virginia Code § 48-27-403 (2006) (“EPO Statute”) is not a de facto search warrant.

Jeffery Alan Snyder’s ex-wife petitioned ex parte for an EPO against him. The magistrate court issued ...

Report: U.S. Border Patrol Not Nearly as Nice as It Claims

Prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center Towers and damaged ...

Potentially Deadly War Gas Deployed Against Black Lives Matter Protesters

Tenth Circuit Joins Other Circuits, Holds § 1B1.13 Does Not Apply to Compassionate Release Motions Filed by Prisoners

Kentucky Supreme Court: Blood Test Refusal Inadmissible as Evidence in DUI Case Even to Explain Why Prosecution Has No Scientific Evidence of Intoxication

News in Brief

Alabama: An Alabama state trooper arrested on April 27, 2021 for sexually abusing a child had been fired from the FBI for sexual misconduct before he was ever hired in Alabama, fooling the state Law Enforcment Agency (ALEA) with a letter of recommendation that was apparently forged. According to a ...

 

 

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