by Douglas Ankney
In 1987, in Williamson County, Texas, 32-year-old Michael Morton was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his 31-year-old wife, Christine. The young mother of a three-year-old son had been bludgeoned to death in their bed.
Decades later, Morton’s attorneys would discover that district attorney Ken Anderson ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case that received much attention in the compassionate release arena, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held on April 1, 2021, that it is ultimately the district court that holds the authority to determine what would amount to “extraordinary and compelling reasons” ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”) reversed Jesse Adrian Martinez’s conviction after determining that the Court of Appeals (“COA”) misapplied the factors of Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590 (1975) (announcing four-factor test to determine whether a confession is sufficiently attenuated from illegal arrest as ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found a defendant’s counsel constitutionally ineffective where they failed to object to improper jury instructions, and there was further prejudice after the trial court admitted to a “Freudian slip,” which indicated the court was biased.
Noel Matos Montalvo was convicted, along with ...
by Dale Chappell
Winning in federal habeas corpus comes down to whether the record either supports or forecloses your claims. Your goal is to develop the record with arguments and evidence that are not in the current criminal record and that show you are entitled to relief. The government’s goal ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Illinois held that a petitioner for a certificate of innocence under § 2-702(g)(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure need only prove innocence of the offense as it was originally charged, not every possible theory of criminal liability.
The apartment of William Helmbacher ...
by Casey J. Bastian
Christopher Tapp’s wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration is a case-study of overwhelming failures during the criminal justice process. It is an example of how abusive tactics and investigative failures can cost an innocent man decades of his life. These failures can also cost the victims a ...
by David M. Reutter
About 45,000 Americans were imprisoned for thefts of less than $10,000, a 2016 report by the Brennen Center for Justice at New York University found. As inflation rises, the chance of a petty theft becoming a felony theft increases.
The threshold for what constitutes a petty ...
by Jayson Hawkins
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have recently engaged in a series of very public quarrels with tech companies over the inability to unlock and search the smartphones of suspects in high-profile murder and terrorism cases. Companies like Apple have refused to give police unfettered ...
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Iowa ruled that a district court erred in its analysis of a petition to modify sex offender registry requirements. According to the Court, the errors occurred in the consideration of a risk factor evaluation, consideration of a lack of stipulation from the ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, vacated a defendant’s conviction for robbery because he had been convicted for kidnapping to commit robbery, but state law prohibits multiple convictions for the same “act.”
Jose Marcos Barrios approached a vehicle parked on the street ...
by Anthony Accurso
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 ...
by Derek Gilna
In April of 2021, Brooklyn district attorney announced that he will seek the dismissal of over 90 drug convictions obtained as a result of false testimony by New York police officer and narcotics detective, Joseph E. Franco. Franco, who generally worked undercover, made thousands of drug-related arrests, ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected the state of Florida’s push for a 30-day time limit for amended state postconviction motions, holding on March 25, 2021, that an amended postconviction motion that is accepted by the state court as timely filed tolls the ...
by Dale Chappell
Joining five other circuits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held on April 8, 2021, that U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.13 does not apply to compassionate release motions filed by prisoners under recently amended 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) and that district courts are ...
by Sandy Rozek
For those not tuned in to current trends or social media, cancel culture is most likely new, even unheard of, although according to Merriam-Webster, its first known usage was in 2016.
The basic definition is “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way ...
by Douglas Ankney
On April 8, 2021, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced the formation of the North Carolina Juvenile Sentence Review Board (“Review Board”). Governor Cooper referenced well-known facts, saying “[d]evelopments in science continue to show fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds. For those who have taken significant ...
by Jeremy Travis and Bruce Western, Brennan Center
Despite a small decline in incarceration rates over the last decade, American criminal justice policy remains at its most punishing point in history. The extent of correctional supervision—including community supervision on probation and parole as well as institutional supervision in prison and ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the smuggling of persons across the U.S.-Mexico border alone did not justify the nonconsensual, warrantless search of the suspected smuggler’s home.
Police were called after witnessing a tractor-trailer disgorge 14 people behind an Albertsons supermarket ...
by Dale Chappell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the state courts’ application of Ohio Rules of Evidence 606(B) constituted constitutional error, providing an avenue for federal habeas corpus relief.
After Abulay Nian was convicted of rape in an Ohio court, he moved for a ...
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”) ...
by Dale Chappell
Concluding that counsel’s trial strategy of introducing a child victim’s interview with police “extremely damaging” to the defense, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine ruled that counsel was ineffective and vacated the trial court’s denial of postconviction relief.
Benjamin Hodgdon was a teacher in Hancock County when ...
by David M. Reutter
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit “discovered an undeniable and unwaived conflict of interest between court-appointed counsel” in a § 2255 petition and the appellant. It held the appointment of attorney Mary Davis to represent the appellant was not in the ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Mississippi held that a conviction for attempted burglary of a dwelling with the intent to commit larceny was invalid and retrial prohibited based upon the constitutional protection against double jeopardy since a mistrial was declared in the initial trial of the case without ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Wyoming clarified how the changes from common-law crimes to statutory only crimes in 2008, including modifications in 2018, affect the common-law rules for self-defense as an immunity claim. This announcement affects defendants who claim immunity from prosecution in connection to a death where ...
by Doug Ankney
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, held that Penal Code § 3051, subd. (h) violates the equal protection rights of Andre Lamont Woods. (All statutory references are to the California Penal Code.)
Woods was convicted by a jury of numerous offenses, including forcible rape. ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the issue of whether an accused person’s waiver of his Miranda rights was knowing and intelligent is a separate and distinct inquiry from the issue of whether the statement was voluntary.
Jeremy Outland was arrested for ...
by Douglas Ankney
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 ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed a decision of the appellate court that ruled a motion to suppress inculpatory statements should have been granted where statements were given after police prolonged a traffic stop to investigate offenses unrelated to the purpose of the traffic stop.
Cordell Bass ...
by Douglas Ankney
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 ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’ order granting a new trial after the prosecutor mentioned a co-conspirator’s decision to plead guilty despite the fact the co-conspirator was not present for questioning.
Donna Ackerly was ...
by Dale Chappell
In a case without oral argument, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) summarily reversed the grant of a new trial to a state prisoner on March 29, 2021, and held that a federal court must consider the entire record of the state case when determining ...
by Douglas Ankney
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 ...
by Ed Lyon
Most Americans are probably aware that the U.S. deploys a police force of sorts called the Border Patrol along the country’s Southern border and might be surprised by its growth.
Prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center Towers and damaged ...
by Matt Clarke
Chemical warfare is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, yet federal law enforcement routinely deployed against Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland, Oregon, a gas used by the militaries in both world wars. Exposure to the gas can cause vomiting, nausea, loss of appetite, and respiratory distress that ...
by Dale Chappell
Joining several other circuits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a district court has the discretion to determine whether “extraordinary and compelling reasons” exist under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) when a prisoner files for compassionate release and that the outdated policy statement ...
by Matt Clarke
The Supreme Court of Kentucky held that a refusal to submit to a warrantless blood test could not be used as evidence of guilt, for enhancement of a criminal penalty, or to show why the prosecution did not produce any scientific evidence of intoxication in a criminal ...
Loaded on
June 15, 2021
published in Criminal Legal News
July, 2021, page 50
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 ...
