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Ninth Circuit Announces ‘Clear Error’ Review Applies to District Courts’ Factual Findings for Brady Challenges and Affirms District Court’s Mid-Trial Order Excluding Witness Testimony and Imposing Monetary Sanctions for Government’s Brady Violation by Sam Rutherford by Sam Rutherford The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the U.S. …
Federal Sentencing Guidelines Undergo Substantial Amendments by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The United States Sentencing Commission (“Commission”) adopted nine amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines”) that became effective on November 1, 2023. It’s the first action by the Commission since it lost a quorum in early 2019. …
Article • November 1, 2023 • from CLN November, 2023
DOJ Concludes Louisville Police Engaging in Patterns of Unconstitutional Conduct by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney After conducting a two-year investigation in the wake of the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by police, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) concluded that the Louisville Metro Police Department (“LMPD”) engages in patterns …
Article • September 1, 2023 • from CLN September, 2023
No Discipline for NYPD Officers Who Deface License Plates in Apparent Attempt to Evade Tickets by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney Gersh Kuntzman, editor of Streetsblog, spent the first quarter of 2023 documenting New York Police Department (“NYPD”) officers who defaced their license plates, making the plates unreadable to the city’s …
Holding Bad Cops Accountable Is the Way Forward in Police Reform by Douglas Ankney 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 …
Article • January 29, 2023
Body Cam Footage and Cellphone Videos Will Make the Quick Dismissals of Bad Police More Common by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott When five police officers were fired in Tennessee less than two weeks after brutally beating Tyré Nichols on January 7, 2023, and causing his death, the …
Report Finds LAPD Cops Rarely Face Discipline for Violating Deadly Force Policy by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott When cops in L.A. wrongfully use deadly force, they seldom, if ever, receive serious punishments according to a report by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Inspector General. Between 2015 and …
Article • March 24, 2022
NYC Mayor Eric Adams Asks the Public to Stop Recording Police Encounters. What Will Happen to Police Accountability? by Brooke Kaufman by Brooke Kaufman An opinion piece from The Daily Beast writer Tana Ganeva responds to a recent claim from New York City Mayor Eric Adams that “a very dangerous …
Article • February 17, 2022
Killer Cops in Florida Have Their Identity Shielded by Invoking Law Intended to Protect Victims by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott  The officer who shot a teenager in the back of the neck leaving him paralyzed is having his identity protected by the Miami-Dade Police Department in an …
Tenth Circuit, Joining Sister Circuits, Announces ‘Personal-Use’ Drug Quantity Doesn’t Constitute ‘Relevant Conduct’ Under Guidelines § 1B1.3(a) and Sets Forth Framework for Burden of Proof Analysis by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney  In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit adopted the burden-shifting …
Article • December 15, 2021 • from CLN January, 2022
California Court of Appeal: Superior Courts Must Consider Only Elements of Prior Adjudicated Felony, Not Juvenile’s Conduct for § 1170(d)(2)(B) Purposes by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The California Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District, held that Superior Courts are to consider only the elements of a juvenile’s prior adjudicated …
Article • November 15, 2021 • from CLN December, 2021
First Circuit Orders New Trial Following Detailed Discussion of Entrapment Defense and When Courts Must Give Jury Instruction by Douglas Ankney by Doug Ankney The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit clarified when trial courts must instruct juries on the defense of entrapment. As part of a “sting” …
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 …
Prosecutors Who Demand Accountability From Everyone But Themselves by Casey Bastian by Casey Bastian When a criminal defendant enters a court of law, he or she is aware that the prosecutor intends to hold them accountable for any of their conduct alleged to have violated a law. The public implicitly …