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Aphantasia: Why Truthful Witnesses Can Sound Like Liars by Richard Resch by Richard Resch "Close your eyes. Picture it. Now tell me exactly what you saw.” Across America, police treat this as a credibility test. Every day, truthful people fail it. That is the detective in the interview room. In …
Police AI and “Sycophancy”: New Evidence Tools May Tell Cops Exactly What They Want to Hear by Michael Thompson by Michael Dean Thompson Every day new digital tools generate massive new piles of data for law enforcement to winnow for grains of truth. With each new tool comes a new …
Zombie Forensics: Discredited Science Stalking the Courtroom by Chuck Sharman by Chuck Sharman In the American courtroom, the word “forensic” carries a veneer of infallibility. Jurors hear it and envision the sleek laboratories of television crime dramas with sterile rooms humming with sophisticated technology, where evidence is processed by advanced …
Article • December 15, 2025 • from CLN January, 2026
Ninth Circuit Grants Equitable Tolling Under AEDPA Where Attorney Abandoned Prisoner by Failing to Communicate for Nine Months and Prison Officials Delayed Processing Filing Documents by David Kim by David Kim The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the U.S. District Court for the District of …
California Supreme Court Announces Pre-2009 Provocative Act Murder Convictions Are Not Categorically Ineligible for Resentencing Under § 1172.6 by Sagi Schwartzberg by Sagi Schwartzberg In resolving a conflict among Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court of California held that defendants convicted of provocative act murder before its 2009 decision in …
Article • November 15, 2025 • from CLN December, 2025
First Circuit: District Court Abused Discretion by Sua Sponte Raising Statute of Limitations Defense to Habeas Petition After Respondents Had Intelligently “Waived” It by Being Aware of Availability but Failing to Assert It by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed …
Article • November 15, 2025 • from CLN December, 2025
Eighth Circuit Announces § 2255 One-­Year Limitations Period Begins to Run in Deferred-­Restitution Criminal Case When Subsequent Amended Judgment Finalizes Amount by Sagi Schwartzberg by Sagi Schwartzberg The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion was timely, concluding that the one-­year …
Third Circuit: Where Prosecutor “Flooded” Jury Trial With Evidence of Defendant’s Prior Bad Acts, Counsel Was Constitutionally Ineffective in Not Seeking Contemporaneous Limiting Instructions and Not Objecting When Evidence Went Beyond Limited Purpose – by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit …
Ninth Circuit Reaffirms Longstanding Precedent That District Court Cannot Sua Sponte Dismiss Untimely Habeas Corpus Petition Without Giving Petitioner Prior Notice and Opportunity to Respond by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its longstanding precedent that a District Court cannot …
California Supreme Court Announces Judgment Not Considered Final Under Estrada for Retroactive Application of Amended Gang Enhancement Statute When Conviction Affirmed on Appeal but Sentencing Issues Remain Pending Following Remand by Sagi Schwartzberg by Sagi Schwartzberg The Supreme Court of California held that a defendant was entitled to retroactive application …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from CLN August, 2025
Eleventh Circuit Announces Sixth Amendment Right to Proceed Pro Se at Sentencing if Defendant ‘Clearly and Unequivocally’ Expresses Desire to Do So After Faretta Inquiry by Jeffrey Cohen The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the defendant had clearly and unequivocally asserted his Sixth Amendment …
Article • August 1, 2025 • from CLN August, 2025
Illinois Supreme Court Announces Conviction for Attempted First Degree Murder Requires ‘Intent to Kill Without Lawful Justification by Jeffrey Cohen The Supreme Court of Illinois held that a conviction for attempted first degree murder requires proof that the defendant acted with the intent to kill without lawful justification, rejecting the …
SCOTUS Announces Sentence ‘Has Not Been Imposed’ for Purposes of First Step Act Retroactivity Upon Resentencing When § 924(c) Offender Sentenced Prior to Act’s Enactment but Sentence Subsequently Vacated by Richard Resch The Supreme Court of the United States held that when an offender convicted under § 924(c) had been sentenced …
Article • May 15, 2025 • from CLN June, 2025
Filed under: Defenses, Jury Instructions
South Carolina Supreme Court Announces Traditional Four-Element Standard for When Person Has Right to Use Deadly Force in Self-Defense Not Applicable to Non-Deadly Force Self-Defense Analysis by Richard Resch The Supreme Court of South Carolina held that the defendant was entitled to a self-defense jury instruction where he presented some …
Article • May 15, 2025 • from CLN June, 2025
Minnesota Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for Determining Whether a Defendant Is Entitled to Jury Instructions on Self-defense and Defense of Others by Douglas Ankney The Supreme Court of Minnesota clarified the standard for determining whether a defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on self-defense and defense of others. Applying …
‘Sexome’ Bacteria Offers New Path to Justice in Sexual Assault Cases Where DNA Is Not Present by Jo Ellen Nott Forensic science has traditionally relied on DNA evidence from sperm to identify suspects in sexual assault cases. However, when no sperm is present—such as when a perpetrator uses a condom—these …
Article • May 15, 2025 • from CLN June, 2025
Filed under: Costs, Death Penalty
The Crushing Toll of Ohio’s Death Penalty: A Billion-Dollar Failure by David Kim by David Kim Ohio’s death penalty system, which has consumed over a billion dollars, delivers neither justice nor closure, according to a damning report by Ohioans to Stop Executions. The system—marked by exorbitant costs, prolonged delays, and …
Article • April 15, 2025 • from CLN May, 2025
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt? Fingerprint Evidence’s Troubling Flaws by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney In March 2004, four commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, were bombed. Spain’s National Police recovered a blue plastic bag filled with detonators and traces of explosives. Forensic experts used the standard practice of fumigating the bag …
Cops’ Lie-Detecting Delusion: They Can’t Spot Lies Based on Nonverbal Cues or ‘Abnormal’ Behavior—Yet Keep Lying to Themselves (and Ruining Lives) That They Can by David Kim by David Kim From the earliest forms of human communication, deception has been an inescapable part of social interaction. People lie—frequently and for …
Connecticut Supreme Court Announces Teague’s ‘Watershed’ Rule Exception to Nonretroactivity of New Constitutional Rule of Criminal Procedure on Collateral Review Has ‘Continued Vitality’ in Connecticut, Adoption of Third Exception to Teague’s Nonretroacti by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the principles set forth in …
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