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Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Clarifies Interpretation of Aggravating Provisions of Section 22.01(b)(2)(A) and (B), Charging One Provision at Guilt Phase Doesn’t Confer Jurisdiction to Argue Other P...

Article • July 15, 2021 • from CLN August, 2021

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Clarifies Interpretation of Aggravating Provisions of Section 22.01(b)(2)(A) and (B), Charging One Provision at Guilt Phase Doesn’t Confer Jurisdiction to Argue Other Provision at Sentencing Phase by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that Texas Penal Code …

News in Brief

Article • July 15, 2021 • from CLN August, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: Two San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officers repeatedly punched a homeless Black man they were arresting on May 12, 2021, after they allegedly caught him attempting to urinate in public. According to a report by the Washington Post, the incident was captured on a cellphone …

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Warrantless Arrest Designed to Elicit a Confession Constitutes Flagrant Misconduct Requiring Suppression of Confession

Article • June 15, 2021 • from CLN July, 2021

Filed under: Warrantless Searches, Police/Govt Misconduct, Evidence - Admissibility

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Warrantless Arrest Designed to Elicit a Confession Constitutes Flagrant Misconduct Requiring Suppression of Confession by Douglas Ankney 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 …

Fifth Circuit: U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 Policy Statement Not Applicable to Prisoner’s Motion for Compassionate Release

Article • June 15, 2021 • from CLN July, 2021

Filed under: Policy Considerations, Compassionate Release

Fifth Circuit: U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 Policy Statement Not Applicable to Prisoner’s Motion for Compassionate Release by Douglas Ankney 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 …

Outbreak of Delta Variant Infections Among Incarcerated Persons in a Federal Prison, TX, 2021

Publication • 2021

Filed under: COVID-19

Outbreak of Delta Variant Infections Among Incarcerated Persons in a Federal Prison, TX, 2021 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant Infections Among Incarcerated Persons in a Federal Prison — Texas, July–August 2021 Liesl M. Hagan, MPH1*; David W. McCormick, MD1,2*; Christine Lee, PhD1; Sadia Sleweon, …

University of TX, Dead Man Waiting - Profile of Deaths in TX Prisons Among People Approved for Parole Release, 2021

Publication • 2021

Filed under: Parole

University of TX, Dead Man Waiting - Profile of Deaths in TX Prisons Among People Approved for Parole Release, 2021 COVID, Corrections, and Oversight Project ~~, June 2021 DEAD MAN WAITING: A brief profile of deaths in Texas prisons among people approved for parole release Michele Deitch, Destiny Moreno, and …

TX State Auditor, Agribusiness at the Dept of Criminal Justice, 2021

Publication • 2021

Filed under: Food

TX State Auditor, Agribusiness at the Dept of Criminal Justice, 2021 Lisa R. Collier, CPA, CFE, CIDA First Assistant State Auditor An Audit Report on Agribusiness at the Department of Criminal Justice March 2021 Report No. 21-016 State Auditor’s Office reports are available on the Internet at http://www.sao.texas.gov/. An Audit …

News in Brief

Article • May 15, 2021 • from CLN June, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: On March 12, 2021, federal prosecutors in California unsealed indictments against a pair of policemen accused of pocketing cash and drugs confiscated from suspects they pulled over in traffic stops. According to a report by Law & Crime, former Rohnert Park Police Department officers Brendon …

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Speculation Insufficient to Trigger ‘Forfeiture by Wrongdoing’ Exception to Confrontation Clause

Article • May 15, 2021 • from CLN June, 2021

Filed under: Forfeiture By Wrongdoing, Declarant Unavailable Exception

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Speculation Insufficient to Trigger ‘Forfeiture by Wrongdoing’ Exception to Confrontation Clause by Dale Chappell by Dale Chappell In a case where the lower courts assumed a defendant prevented an alleged victim of domestic violence from appearing at trial as a witness to testify against him, …

Austin, Texas, Diverting Funds From Police to Transform Community

Article • May 15, 2021 • from CLN June, 2021

Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems

Austin, Texas, Diverting Funds From Police to Transform Community by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Despite being the capital of the nation’s largest Red state, Austin, Texas, is as liberally Blue as a city can be, proudly sporting the motto “KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD.” Whether weird or empathetic, Austin has made …

All Bark but No Bite

Article • April 15, 2021 • from CLN May, 2021

Filed under: junk science

All Bark but No Bite by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney Adam Freeman, an ex-president of the American Board of Forensic Odontology (“ABFO”), has vehemently criticized bitemark-matching evidence. Freeman was deeply disturbed upon discovering that when ABFO-certified experts examined case files, they rarely agreed that the bitemarks were human – …

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Good Faith Exception Inapplicable to Unsworn Search Warrant

Article • April 15, 2021 • from CLN May, 2021

Filed under: Warrantless Searches, Good Faith Exception

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Good Faith Exception Inapplicable to Unsworn Search Warrant by Anthony Accurso by Anthony Accurso The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that the good faith exception to Texas’ exclusionary rule does not apply where an officer executes a search warrant that he knows is …

News in Brief

Article • March 15, 2021 • from CLN April, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: A federal jury awarded a man who suffered severe head and face injuries in an encounter with a San Diego detective $1.5 million in November 2020. San Diego’s City Council, meanwhile, is expected to “approve a $2.5 million settlement, the money awarded by the jury …

Fifth Circuit: Evidence of Simple Drug Possession Insufficient to Search Cellphone Photos for Evidence of Drug Trafficking

Article • March 15, 2021 • from CLN April, 2021

Filed under: Cell-Phone Location/Tracking Data, Simple Possession/Personal Use versus Distribution

Fifth Circuit: Evidence of Simple Drug Possession Insufficient to Search Cellphone Photos for Evidence of Drug Trafficking by Anthony Accurso by Anthony Accurso The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that evidence of mere possession of drugs together with an officer’s generalized allegations regarding the behavior of …

News in Brief

Article • February 15, 2021 • from CLN March, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by California: Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Deputy Sukhdeep Gill, 27, was arrested in January 2021 for faking his own shooting and alleging he’d been a victim in a drive-by shooting while on patrol, according to thefreethoughtproject.com. He was charged with felony vandalism and falsely reporting a crime, …

Texas Supreme Court Announces Factual-Sufficiency Standard of Review in SVP Determinations

Article • February 15, 2021 • from CLN March, 2021

Filed under: Sexually Dangerous Persons/Sexual Violent Predators, Legal or Factual Challenges - assertion of

Texas Supreme Court Announces Factual-Sufficiency Standard of Review in SVP Determinations by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankeny The Supreme Court of Texas announced the standard governing factual-sufficiency review of a finding that a person is a sexually violent predator (“SVP”). In 2004, Jeffery Lee Stoddard pleaded guilty to two counts …

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Witness Testifying Remotely Via Two-Way Video Without Sufficient Reason Violates Confrontation Clause

Article • February 15, 2021 • from CLN March, 2021

Filed under: Video/Closed Circuit TV Testimony

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Witness Testifying Remotely Via Two-Way Video Without Sufficient Reason Violates Confrontation Clause by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”) held that permitting a witness to testify via two-way video based on reasons that did not further an important public …

Fifth Circuit: District Court Cannot Delegate to Probation Officer Authority to Impose Inpatient Treatment

Article • February 15, 2021 • from CLN March, 2021

Fifth Circuit: District Court Cannot Delegate to Probation Officer Authority to Impose Inpatient Treatment by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a district judge may not delegate to a probation officer the decision to require inpatient, rather than outpatient, treatment …

Fifth Circuit: Conviction Vacated Because No Reasonable Suspicion to Search Person in High-Crime Area

Article • January 15, 2021 • from CLN February, 2021

Filed under: No Suspicion of a Crime, Suspicionless Searches

Fifth Circuit: Conviction Vacated Because No Reasonable Suspicion to Search Person in High-Crime Area by Anthony Accurso by Anthony Accurso The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a defendant’s conviction for possessing a firearm after determining officers lacked reasonable suspicion to stop and search him. Raymond L. …

News in Brief

Article • January 15, 2021 • from CLN February, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Arizona: The family of 40-year-old Ryan Whitaker, who was fatally shot in the back by a police officer investigating a noise complaint, settled in December 2020 with the city of Phoenix for $3 million by unanimous City Council vote. Whitaker was shot in the doorway of …