News

The Justice Department is updating its use of force policy for the first time in 18 years, saying explicitly that federal officers and agents must step in if they see other officers using excessive force. The new policy is …

Today, in Shinn v. Martinez, No. 20-1009 (May 23, 2022), a divided Supreme Court held, under §2254(e)(2), a federal habeas court may not conduct an evidentiary hearing or otherwise consider evidence beyond the state-court…

Man in Puerto Rico charged with machine-gun-possession pleads guilty with an advisory prison range of 24 to 30 months. At sentencing, man request 24 months. Prosecutor requests 30 months. District court: Convinced that neither party's suggested sentence "reflects the seriousness of the offense,…

New York man covicted of armed robbery is sentenced to 100 months' imprisonment plus five years of supervised release, during which he cannot commit a new crime. Man commits more crimes, including allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend. But when she refuses to testify at his supervised release…

California man charged in gun case was facing trial in September 2020. The trial court adopted COVID restrictions and precluded the public from entering the courtroom and giving access to the proceedings only by streaming audio. Man: objection! This violates my Sixth Amendment right to a public…

The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Sunshine Suzanne Sykes to a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, making her the state’s first-ever Native American federal judge and just the fifth Indigenous woman in U.S. history to serve on a federal court (…

For the last five years, driverless car companies have been testing their vehicles on public roads. These vehicles constantly roam neighborhoods while laden with a variety of sensors including video cameras capturing everything going on around them to operate safely and analyze instances where…

Midland, Texas, prosecutor's office investigator told jury a reliable source told him that someone named Cali was selling drugs from a hotel and other law enforcement agents told him Cali was the defendant. Defendant: hearsay! Prosecutor: testimony is admissible to give jury context. Fifth…

The White House is nominating seven lawyers for posts on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a bipartisan panel that helps set policies for punishing people convicted of federal crimes. The panel has lacked enough members to do important work since 2019 (…

In 2016, the Supreme Court tossed out the murder conviction of Michael Wearry, who was found guilty of a 1998 murder and sentenced to death in 2002. After that conviction was vacated, Wearry sued Scott Perriloux, a prosecutor, and Marlon Foster, a police officer, alleging that the prosecutor and…