News

In state court news, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has elected to use its "extraordinary superintendence powers" and hold that about 27,000 defendants who pleaded guilty to DUI from 2011 to 2019 are entitled to a conclusive presumption of "egregious government misconduct" and to the…

It's generally a crime to possess a machinegun. If you affix a "bump stock" to a semiautomatic rifle, it functions essentially like a machinegun. So, do you now have a "machinegun"? ATF: yes. District court: yes. Sixth Circuit (en banc) (2021): We are evenly split and cannot decide. What do you…

If you're a criminal defense lawyer and your drug-smuggling client "sent around $90,000 to an attorney in Jamaica, who then wired it to a realtor in New York City, who then sent it to a Ugandan diplomat . . . , who wired the money" to you to send to the mother of his child, you just might be…

Indiana’s Sex Offender Registration Act’s provision requires those who are registered out of the state to also register in-state. People affected: this law violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on ex post facto laws, our right to travel under its privileges and immunities clause, and…

Earlier this week, the United States Sentencing Commission released its 2022 Federal Sentencing Statistics. The data covers sentencings from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. These…

Twenty-year-old Ohio man runs an online chat roomwhere he urges others to help him create a militia group and revolt against tyranny. The group is infiltrated by FBI informants, and the man is eventually arrested and convicted of attempted kidnapping based on a scheme to lure a police officer to…

Harahan, La. police captain is written up for numerous infractions including false statements and conduct unbecoming, and the district attorney places the captain on the "Giglio list" of liars and bad cops, an averred death knell for his career. Cop: I need to appeal so I can get off the Giglio…

Hammond, La. cop who also works on a DEA task force is convicted of stealing money and property from arrestees and sentenced to over two years in prison. But wait! One of the jurors failed to disclose that he knew the officer's wife: They went to a high school dance together and kept in touch on…

Two intellectually disabled black teenage brothers are wrongly convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl and spend nearly 31 years in prison. They sued to get pardons and compensation (in…

Washington state has officially abolished the death penalty (view full article).

The state’s high court struck down the death penalty in 2018, but the law remained on the books.…