by Richard Resch
Jake Laperruque of the Center for Democracy and Technology offered a blunt analogy in a March 2026 NPR interview. Imagine the police want to search your home but lack a warrant. Instead of going to a judge, they hand your landlord a hundred dollars for …
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Louisiana affirmed a district court’s ruling that La. R.S. 15:168(E)(3), which declares that no court “shall have jurisdiction to order the payment of any funds administered by the office or district public defender for expert witnesses, or for any other …
by Douglas Ankney
In a matter of first impression, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held that a trial court must permit a defendant who exercises the right to a jury trial on aggravating circumstances under Penal Code § 1170(b)(2) the opportunity to argue to the …
by Richard Resch
When the United States Sentencing Commission lowers a Guideline range, the revision ordinarily applies only to defendants sentenced after the effective date. For the thousands of people already serving sentences calculated under the old, harsher Guideline range, the change might seem irrelevant. But a motion …
by Douglas Ankney
In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States vacated the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirming the denial of federal habeas relief to Florida death row prisoner Gary Richard Whitton, holding that the Court of …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia vacated a circuit court order that accepted a defendant’s 20-year-old guilty plea and imposed sentence under a binding plea agreement, holding that the circuit court erred by concluding the agreement’s binding nature eliminated its discretion to allow …
by Richard Resch
The Supreme Court of the United States held that police officers conducted a Fourth Amendment search when they acquired a criminal suspect’s Google Location History data through a geofence warrant, concluding that individuals maintain a reasonable expectation of privacy in records documenting their cellphone’s whereabouts. …
by David Kim
The Supreme Court of the United States held that a criminal defendant’s agreement not to appeal a sentence is unenforceable when enforcement would produce a miscarriage of justice. Defining the threshold, the Court stated that a waiver may be set aside only where the sentence …
by David Kim
The Supreme Court of Illinois unanimously held that issue preclusion under both Illinois common law and § 3-4(b)(2) of the Criminal Code of 2012 affords criminal defendants protections surpassing those guaranteed by the federal Double Jeopardy Clause. The Court rejected the State’s contention that Currier …
by Douglas Ankney
In resolving a split among the Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court of California unanimously held that defendants who agreed to upper term sentences as part of plea bargains may seek the retroactive benefit of amended Penal Code § 1170, subdivision (b), which requires that …
by David Kim
The Supreme Court of the United States held that the Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably applied Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), and unreasonably determined that a capital defendant waived his opportunity to rebut the prosecutor’s asserted race-neutral reasons for peremptory strikes against four Black …
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Maryland unanimously reversed the judgment of the Appellate Court, holding that a police officer lacked reasonable suspicion under the totality of the circumstances to stop Xavier S. Kopp’s vehicle. The Court concluded that a tip from the officer’s personal acquaintance …
by David Kim
The Supreme Court of Hawai’i unanimously held that a circuit court erred by failing to consider the factors listed in Hawai’i Pattern Jury Instructions – Criminal (“HAWJIC”) 3.19A and the effect of suggestiveness on reliability when it denied a defendant’s motion to suppress a field …
by Jo Ellen Nott
Whether it’s doorbell cameras or smartphones, even smart speakers and connected appliances, the devices we live with every day are constantly collecting data without any active input and can provide vital intel in modern investigations. Passive data collection is the term used to refer …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Michigan unanimously held that its prior decision in People v. Betts, 968 N.W.2d 497 (Mich. 2021), applies retroactively to defendants seeking relief on collateral review under both federal and state constitutional law. Betts declared the 2011 version of Michigan’s Sex Offenders …
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of South Carolina unanimously reversed the denial of Richard Alexander Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial and remanded for a new trial after his convictions for murdering his wife and son and for two weapons offenses, holding that improper communications by Colleton …
by Jo Ellen Nott
Safe Restraints, Inc., the manufacturer of “The Wrap,” a full-body restraint system used nationwide by police and correctional facilities to immobilize combative individuals, continues to fiercely defend the device’s efficacy while medical experts warn that The Wrap’s manual instructs police to apply the device …
by David M. Reutter
The Supreme Court of Oregon held that the competency requirement of OEC 601 asks only whether a person possesses sufficient general capacity to perceive, recollect, and communicate so as to serve as a witness at all, and it does not authorize a trial court …
Loaded on
July 1, 2026
published in Criminal Legal News
August, 2026, page 49
Alabama: A seven-count indictment was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama against former Prichard Police Department Off. Emanuel Naman Dotch II, 50, on June 24, 2026. WALA in Mobile said that his employment at the agency ended around the time of his …
