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California Court of Appeal: Evidence Insufficient to Show Robbery Victim Moved ‘Substantial Distance’ to Support Simple Kidnapping Conviction and Amendments to § 186.22 Require Vacatur of Gang Enhancements by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In consolidated appeals, the Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, held that the evidence …
California Court of Appeal Announces Defendants May Obtain Brady Evidence From Police Officers’ Personnel Files in Advance of § 1172.6 Hearing Requesting Vacatur of Conviction and Resentencing for Certain Types of Murder Convictions by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The California Court of Appeal, Sixth District, held that defendants are …
Maryland Supreme Court Clarifies Process for Admitting Co-Conspirator’s Hearsay Statements During Police Interview Under ‘Declaration Against Penal Interest’ Exception, Trial Court Must ‘Parse’ Interview to Determine Admissibility of Each Statement by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The Supreme Court of Maryland clarified the process a trial court must follow when …
Article • February 1, 2025 • from CLN February, 2025
Ninth Circuit Announces ‘Hate Crime’ Sentence Enhancement Under Guidelines § 3A1.1(a) Requires Finding Defendant Motivated by Hate or Animus by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit clarified the circumstances under which a U.S. District Court may impose a “hate crime” enhancement pursuant …
Article • February 1, 2025 • from CLN February, 2025
Mass Spectrometry Being Studied as Way to Analyze Overlapping or Weak Fingerprints by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso Desorption electrospray ionization, a type of mass spectrometry (“DESI-MS”), is being studied as a way to analyze overlapping or weak fingerprints, solving an age-old problem of evidence quality. For over a …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Grants Habeas Relief in ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Case by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The Criminal Court of Appeals of Texas, the state’s highest court in criminal cases, granted a prisoner’s habeas corpus petition based on advances in science that undermined the validity of evidence …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from CLN January, 2025
Maryland Supreme Court Announces New Constitutional Rule Requiring Voir Dire Questions Related to Child-Witness Credibility and Abrogates Prior Inconsistent Case Law by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The Supreme Court of Maryland announced a new rule of constitutional law permitting defendants to ask potential jurors during jury selection whether they …
Article • December 15, 2024 • from CLN January, 2025
Scent of Death Evidence Admitted at Indiana Murder Trial by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford In May 2024, John Hallett, 54, of Michigan City was found guilty of murdering his roommate and then dismembering the body. Prosecutors obtained the conviction by relying on novel “scent of death” evidence to prove …
Article • December 1, 2024 • from CLN December, 2024
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Announces Prosecution’s Duty to Provide Discoverable Evidence Upon Request Applies to Discoverable Items in Law Enforcement Agencies’ Possession Unbeknownst to Prosecution and Exclusion Is Appropriate Remedy for Violation by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, that state’s highest court of …
False Confessions and Wrongful Convictions: Known Causes and Steps to Eliminate Them by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney A s of February 2024, the National Registry of Exonerations (“NRE”) at the University of Michigan has registered 3,475 postconviction DNA and non-DNA exonerations since 1989—an average of 100 per year. Of …
Article • December 1, 2024 • from CLN December, 2024
Arkansas Supreme Court Announces Petition for Testing Forensic Evidence Based on Advances in Technology Under Act 1780 of 2001 May Be Filed by Anyone Convicted of a Crime, Not Just Those Still in State Custody by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The Supreme Court of Arkansas held that courts …
Article • October 1, 2024 • from CLN October, 2024
Ohio Supreme Court Announces Self-Defense Jury Instruction Does Not Require Intent to Harm or Kill Assailant by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Supreme Court of Ohio held that a defendant need not “intend to harm or kill another person to be entitled to a self-defense jury instruction.” The …
Rhode Island Supreme Court Holds Temporal Requirement of ‘Recent Fabrication’ Exception to Hearsay Rule Not Satisfied and Scribbled Note Made by Child Victim of Sexual Abuse Years After Alleged Events Not ‘Excited Utterance’ by Matthew Clarke by Matthew Thomas Clarke The Supreme Court of Rhode Island held that an alleged …
First Circuit Announces Doctrine of Abatement Ab Initio Applies When Defendant Dies During Pendency of Direct Appeal in Published Precedential Ruling by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In a published precedential ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit adopted the doctrine of abatement ab initio for when …
First Circuit: Sentencing May Not Be Based Upon Unreliable Hearsay Testimony by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit remanded a defendant’s case for resentencing after ruling that the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico relied on impermissible hearsay …
Article • August 1, 2024 • from CLN August, 2024
Researchers Discover Wire-Cutting Evidence Is Too Unreliable for Court by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney According to an article appearing on June 10, 2024, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have concluded that wire-cutting evidence should not be admissible in court unless additional information about the …
False or Misleading Forensic Evidence Plays an Oversized Role in Wrongful Convictions by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott The National Institute of Justice (“NIJ”) published a paper titled “The Impact of False or Misleading Forensic Evidence on Wrongful Convictions,” providing grim facts and figures on one of the …
HRDC Files Civil Rights Action on Behalf of Wrongly Convicted Florida Man Who Spent 45 Years in Prison by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford   On April 17, 2024, the Human Rights Defense Center (“HRDC”), CLN’s non-profit publisher, and the civil rights law firm of Loevy and Loevy filed suit …
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Affirms Trial Court’s Exclusion of Expert Testimony on iPhone’s Frequent Location History Data as Not Sufficiently Reliable Under Daubert-Lanigan Standard by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney   In a case of first impression, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a trial court’s exclusion of expert testimony …
Non-Toxic Fluorescent Spray Reveals Fingerprints in Seconds by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney A team of scientists from China’s Shanghai Normal University in collaboration with scientists from the United Kingdom’s University of Bath have developed a fluorescent spray that reveals fingerprints in seconds without compromising any potential DNA evidence. The …
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