News

North Carolina man is involuntarily committed after threatening to kill a U.S. congressman. Years later, he's conditionally discharged, and though he breaks lots of rules at his halfway house, it's not obvious the violations mean he's especially likely to be dangerous to the public. Recommit him…

Darryl Barwick was executed by lethal injection Wednesday nearly 40 years after his 1986 murder conviction. Mr. Barwick apologized "to the victim's family, [and] to my family" in his final statement. He added, "And another thing I would like to say, the state of Florida needs to show…

Bye Bye midnight filing deadlines in the Third Circuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has adopted amendments ot its Local Appellate Rules to create a "uniform 5:00 p.m. E.T. deadline for filings (electronic and otherwise) and will become effective on July 1,"  See…

A former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd has been convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter (view full…

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

2023 Mental Health Awareness Month resources can be found at Mental Health Awareness Month.

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The Alabama Constitution of 1901 was enacted with the specific purpose of establishing white supremacy. To accomplish this goal, the 1901 constitution, among other things, contained a provision disenfranchising anyone convicted of a crime of moral turpitude. After the Supreme Court held that…

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…