While at times an effective tool, deception is ethically dubious and can result in severe negative consequences for suspects.
September 12, 2024 • Policy Analysis No. 979
by Andrew Eichen
This article was originally published by the CATO Institute on its website at cato.org on September, 12, 2024. It has ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
Metadata is the data that describes data. If you make a phone call, metadata describes that call’s external characteristics: source number, destination number(s), how long the call lasted, etc. Although the metadata does not describe content, it still delivers enough information about a connection that a ...
Loaded on
Nov. 1, 2024
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2024, page 18
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore has launched the nation’s first Forensic Defense Clinic designed to equip law students with specialized knowledge in forensic evidence and its role in criminal law.
This clinic, led by forensic expert Maneka Sinha, JD, and former public defender ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the routine inspection and search of a traveler’s electronics, or for that matter any other type of property, at the border by Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) agents may be conducted without a warrant, probable cause, ...
by Douglas Ankney
The illicit drug market is ever evolving, with new drugs (called “novel psychoactive substances” or “NPS”) steadily appearing to avoid detection and legal consequences. Between January 2018 and December 2023, NPS Discovery from the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education identified over 250 NPS in forensic ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Delaware granted postconviction relief to a prisoner because his defense attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to challenge the search of his cellphone. The Court held that the defendant did not provide valid consent to search the cellphone and that the ...
by Douglas Ankney
Rudy Carey became addicted to drugs after his father died. A string of poor decisions led him to serving three years in prison for striking a police officer during a traffic stop. Upon release, Carey remained committed to keeping his life on the right track. He attended ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause prohibits an expert witness from testifying about another non-testifying expert’s statements and conclusions made in connection with scientific analysis where the defendant had no prior opportunity to cross-examine the non-testifying expert and ...
by Michael Dean Thompson
The Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) protests ignited changes among law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Text messages from police in 2020 showed they were only enforcing curfews against protestors. Z. Williams, the director of client support and operations at the Denver-based nonprofit Bread and Roses Legal ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California’s decision denying habeas relief to a prisoner who, after invoking his right to remain silent and to counsel, was interrogated in his jail cell by an undercover ...
by John & Nisha Whitehead
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”—Abraham Lincoln
It is both apt and ironic that the anniversary of 9/11, which paved the way for the ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Court of Appeal of California, Second District, overturned the denial of a defendant’s suppression motion by ruling that the officers’ show of force meant the encounter was non-consensual and that the defendant’s attire was insufficient to justify the detention.
Just before midnight on July 12, ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a carjacking conviction under California Penal Code § 215(a) is not categorically a crime of violence under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101-1537, because that state crime does not require proof that the defendant ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of the United States clarified the governing test for determining whether errors defense counsel made during a capital sentencing hearing resulted in sufficient prejudice to require a new sentencing proceeding. Specifically, the Court held that lower courts must weigh the evidence supporting aggravating circumstances ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Oregon clarified the “Guilty Except for Insanity” (“GEI”) defense, holding that the defendant’s mental disease or defect may combine with another condition to cause the lack of capacity to form the requisite criminal intent and the mental disease or defect need not be ...
by Matt Clarke
Wisconsin Watch disclosed that its investigation into Wisconsin District Attorneys’ police Brady lists found that many had no Brady list while others had lists that appeared to be incomplete or refused to disclose the names on their lists.
Brady lists derive their name from the seminal case ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Georgia held that the trial court erred in refusing to give the jury a lesser included offense instruction of voluntary manslaughter in a prosecution for malice murder where the evidence showed that the killing was in response to the defendant discovering his common-law ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Arizona held that a defendant’s third postconviction relief (“PCR”) motion was not untimely, nor had he waived the issue by failing to file it in earlier petitions, because there was “pervasive confusion” about parole eligibility for decades.
Larry Dean Anderson was convicted ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
The Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) has sidestepped both legal and constitutional mandates of the last 10 years by shifting its focus from pedestrian to traffic stops, a practice which allows the agency to continue racial profiling and commit civil rights violations. This maneuvering came on the ...
by Sam Rutherford
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that a police officer exceeded the proper bounds of the community caretaking function exception to the Fourth Amendment during the course of a traffic stop. The officer stopped the driver to perform a welfare check after the driver had fallen asleep ...
by Sam Rutherford
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that Application Notes to provisions of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual are still entitled to deference, even after a Supreme Court case questioned the continued applicability of such deference.
Christopher Johnson was indicted for and pleaded guilty ...
by Jo Ellen Nott
To no one’s surprise, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) documents about use of force incidents over the six years from 2015 to 2021 were not readily available to the public. ICE leans heavily on the nine exemptions provided by the Freedom of Information Act to keep ...
Loaded on
Nov. 1, 2024
published in Criminal Legal News
November, 2024, page 50
Alabama: WSFA out of Mobile reported that on August 22 and 23, 2024, a sex trafficking sting operation occurring in several jurisdictions resulted in the arrests of 11 men. Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham and other law enforcement officials discussed the results at a press conference. The 11 individuals interacted ...
by Jo Ellen Knott
Forensic laboratories screen for drugs using a combination of presumptive and confirmatory tests. The presumptive test indicates the presence or absence of a drug and is usually done in the field by law enforcement using colorimetric tests. The confirmatory testing is usually done in a lab ...
