U.S. Sentencing Commission Publishes Data Report on Compassionate Release in FY 2023 by Matthew Clarke by Matthew Thomas Clarke In June 2024, the U.S. Sentencing Commission released a data report on release for “extraordinary and compelling reasons” under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), also known as compassionate release (“CR”). The courts have …

Inspector General Report: FBI Routinely Abused Access to Private Communications by Eike Blohm, MD by Eike Blohm, MD A recent Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Inspector General report found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) routinely sidesteps regulations of electronic surveillance and essentially deliberately misinterprets DOJ guidelines. Edgar Hoover was …

Study Explores Factors Underlying High Rate of American Police Killings by Eike Blohm, MD by Eike Blohm, MD Fatal encounters with police occur in the U.S. with disturbing frequency, setting us apart from other Western industrial nations. A recent study published in the Annual Review of Criminology explores the drivers …

Maryland’s AG to Review 100 In-Custody Deaths After Chief Medical Examiner’s Testimony at George Floyd Trial Prompts 400 Colleagues to Question His Work by Jo Ellen Nott by Jo Ellen Nott On October 20, 2022, a little over a year after it was convened, the seven-member Audit Design Team released …

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Warrant to Search Cellphone Must Establish Nexus Between Device and Offense Beyond ‘Boilerplate’ Language About Cellphones Being Ubiquitous and Used in Crimes by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that a warrant affidavit failed to link a …

Maine’s Law Enforcement Agencies, Like Those of Most States, Don’t Track Complaints Against Police Officers by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The WMTW 8 Investigates Team partnered with the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition to review hundreds of documents and other data obtained from 135 Maine law enforcement agencies (“Agencies”). …

Michigan Supreme Court: Police Must Limit Search of Cellphone Data to Uncovering Evidence of the Criminal Activity Alleged in Warrant by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney The Supreme Court of Michigan held that police must limit a search of digital data from a cellphone in a manner reasonably directed to …