by Casey J. Bastian

“The mistakes of lie detection are costly to society and people victimized by misjudgments. The stakes are really high.” — Maria Hartwig, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

For as long as human beings have communicated, many have practiced the art of deception. That people ...

Open records requests reveal that the New York State Police (“NYSP”) have been spending money on electronic communication surveillance tools, specifically to gather information from social media and related sites.

According to records requests for expenditures relating to surveillance products purchased by the NYSP, the department has spent at least ...

by Douglas Ankney

According to Tracey Leigh Dowdeswell, forensic genetic genealogy (“FGG”) has solved 545 cases as of December 31, 2022. Dowdeswell is a professor of criminology and legal studies at Douglas College in Canada and is the first to put a number on cases solved using FGG. Dowdeswell is ...

by John and Nisha Whitehead

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”— Friedrich Nietzsche

We’re not dealing with a government that exists to serve its people, protect their liberties and ensure their happiness.

Rather, we are the unfortunate victims of ...

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Colorado ruled that when a party has had an opportunity at trial to present race-neutral justifications for a challenged peremptory strike under the second step of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), that party is later barred from introducing new race-neutral justifications ...

by Anthony Accurso

Field test kits are touted as an easy way for law enforcement to determine if an unknown substance is in fact a narcotic. Millions are used each year by police during traffic stops, so they are commonly referred to as “roadside drug tests.” But revelations about the ...

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Arizona held that the word “person” in the state’s self-defense justification statute, A.R.S. § 13-404(A), applies only to a defendant’s conduct, not the victim’s as well.

Jordan Christopher Ewer and two others confronted two people identified as “Gilbert” and “Emily.” Ewer drew his ...

Asking Witness to Tell Grand Jury Defendant Exercised Right to Remain Silent

The Supreme Court of Hawaii held that a prosecutor flagrantly violated a defendant’s Hawaii due process right to a fair and impartial grand jury hearing by adducing evidence during a grand jury proceeding to show the defendant invoked ...

by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that kidnapping in the second degree under New York Penal Law (“NYPL”) § 135.20 is not categorically a crime of violence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A).

In June 2021, the Second Circuit affirmed the judgment against ...

by Anthony W Accurso

In resolving a split among the state Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court of California held that, unlike an outstanding arrest warrant, a condition of a suspect’s parole allowing for warrantless and suspicionless searches does not dissipate the taint of an unlawful detention and that any ...

by Richard Resch

The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that a conviction that is reversed based on a judicial determination that the Venue Clause and the Vicinage Clause of the Sixth Amendment were violated due to a trial held in an improper venue does not adjudicate the ...

by Richard Resch

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of the United States held that § 924(c)(1)(D)(ii)’s prohibition on concurrent sentences does not extend to sentences imposed under a different subsection of the statute, viz., § 924(j), and thus, when multiple convictions – including a § 924(j) conviction – ...

by Richard Resch

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a postconviction relief (“PCR”) application in Arizona is “pending as long as a state avenue of relief remains open, whether or not a petitioner takes advantage of it” and thus tolls the Antiterrorism and Effective Death ...

by Richard Resch

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that because petitioner’s Illinois postconviction relief petition had been pending in state court for over 20 years, state postconviction remedies proved “ineffective,” entitling him to seek federal habeas relief under the terms of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1) ...

by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, sitting en banc, held that the definition of “controlled substance offense” for purposes of the career offender sentencing enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guideline (“USSG”) § 4B1.2(b) unambiguously excludes inchoate offenses like conspiracy and attempt, and therefore, the commentary ...

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Kansas held that the Legislature intended to tie a single unit of prosecution to multiple items of drug paraphernalia in K.S.A. 2016 Supp. 21-5709(b)(1) (“§ 21-5709(b)(1)”) and K.S.A. 2016 Supp. § 21-5709(b)(2) (“§ 21-5709(b)(2)”).

After Amber Dial reported to the Miami County Sheriff’s ...

by Douglas Ankney

The Supreme Court of Mississippi, sitting en banc, held that the Court of Appeals (“COA”) improperly permitted the State to add to the record on appeal and the evidence presented to the trial court was insufficient to sustain a finding that Lorenzo Manuel was a habitual offender. ...

by David M. Reutter

The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, vacated a defendant’s conviction after finding the immigration consequences were not understood when he entered a plea of no contest to a domestic violence charge, which was an aggravated felony under federal immigration law that required deportation. ...

by Douglas Ankney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the federal statute which prohibits the possession of firearms by a person subject to a domestic violence restraining order, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), is unconstitutional in light of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. ...

by Jordan Arizmendi

The most exonerations in one year occurred in 2022. According to the Nation Registry of Exonerations’ 2022 Annual Report, the 233 people exonerated in 2022 lost an average of 9.6 years of their life as a result of their wrongful incarceration.

Alarmingly but not shocking, the ...

by Jo Ellen Nott

Your attachment to interacting with social media and browsing the internet on your cellphone allows the government and law enforcement wide-open access to a disturbing amount of information about you. Even if you are not a user of social media and just carry a device around ...

by Douglas Ankney

In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of California clarified that proof of first-degree murder by means of poison requires the prosecution to show that the defendant deliberately gave the victim poison with the intent to kill the victim or to inflict injury likely to ...

by Jo Ellen Nott

Twenty-seven states in the U.S. have the death penalty. Those states and the federal government carry out the sentence by injecting a lethal mix of one, two, or three drugs as their execution of choice. Death by lethal injection, however, is not always humane, and its ...

by Jo Ellen Nott

In an open access article first publishedonline on April 20, 2023, in The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, researchers from England and New Zealand discuss the challenges defense attorneys face when accessing and reviewing evidence from phones and computers.

The largest challenges identified after surveying ...

Data brokers, such as ShotSpotter, Fog Data Science, and Flock Safety bill themselves as surveillance companies assisting law enforcement in its quest to keep communities safer. But in actuality, they seemingly bilk taxpayers by selling bulk information to police agencies who may then use the information in violation of the ...

by Benjamin Tschirhart

Flock Safety” sounds innocuous, like a company that might provide security for chicken farmers. However, this company has nothing to do with fowl. But make no mistake; what they do is foul. Speaking to the people of Lakeway, Texas, Mayor Thomas Kilgore felt compelled to make the ...

by Douglas Ankney

The continuous refrain of “police reform” touting “better training” and laws banning actions such as chokeholds seems to echo endlessly. In 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (“Act”), but it died in the Senate. However, even if the Act’s ...

by Douglas Ankney

The group “Voters for Oversight and Police Accountability” (VOPA) apparently amassed the 25,000 signatures needed in Austin, Texas, to have a referendum entitled “Austin Police Oversight Act” added to the ballot. But there was already an “Austin Police Oversight Act” on the ballot seeking to open police ...

by Richard Resch

The Supreme Court of the United States held that criminal liability for true threats, which are not protected by the First Amendment, requires proof that the defendant had a subjective understanding of the threatening nature of the statements and further held that a mental state of recklessness ...

Jordan Arizmendi

The next time you arrive at a door that is equipped with a camera, as you glance into that lens, be cognizant that someone, somewhere could be analyzing your identity with facial recognition technology. Consumer Reports tested a number of security camera brands and video doorbells that offer ...

by Jo Ellen Nott

The National Institute of Justice (“NIJ”) is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Its motto, “strengthen science, advance justice,” informs all its activities. One crucial area of forensic science it has helped strengthen through grants is DNA research and development. ...

California: The District Attorney for Los Angeles County, George Gascón, announced that a police officer in San Fernando was charged with theft. CBS News reported that the officer, Jeffrey King, 37, was handed charges on June 6, 2023, of misdemeanor petty theft, felony extortion, and felony second-degree robbery. The charges ...