Luigi Mangione's attorneys filed a motion on September 20, 2025, to dismiss the SDNY federal charges against him and block the government from seeking the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. See Magione's Motion to Dismiss. They argue that the death penalty is unconstitutional because it is applied arbitrarily and that the government's decision to seek capital punishment was politically motivated.
More American Indian legal drama out of Oklahoma! In a vehicular-manslaughter prosecution, gov't had to prove defendant was an Indian to have federal jurisdiction. Defendant testified he was a tribal citizen, and he had also asserted that in state court to get out of related civil lawsuit. Tenth Circuit: Be that as it may, the gov't had to prove he was an Indian at the time of the crime, and the only evidence specifically bearing on timing was inadmissible hearsay. Conviction vacated.
Police obtain a warrant to search the residence of a man in Lake Worth, Fla. who was suspected of committing drug and firearms offenses. They believe it's a single-family home, but when they get there turns out the man lives in one of a few efficiency apartments in the back. They enter and find the evidence. Man: The warrant only identified the property address, not my individual unit, and thus did not "particularly describe[] the place to be searched." Eleventh Circuit: Good enough for government work.
A group of law enforcement officers executed a search warrant in Charlotte, NC at a suspected meth trafficker's home. Chaos ensues. One cop shoots another at least ten times, severely injuring him. Shot cop sues shooting cop for excessive force and several tort claims. As they litigate, the district court seals bodycam footage, refuses local TV station access. Fourth Circuit: Unseal it.
A woman convicted of murder in Maryland won a new trial after showing her lawyer was ineffective. But it proved a Pyrrhic victory: during her motion for a new trial, the court made her hand over privileged files and let the same prosecutors "scour" them. At the retrial, the state leaned heavily on information and new evidence revealed in those attorney-client privileged files, and she declined to testify because the court left open whether her prior testimony could be used to impeach her.
Lawyers and law enforcement experts have been warning about the potential for overreach since the federal government muscled its way into policing decisions in the nation's capital nearly three weeks ago. See full NPR article.
Inside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Monday, those tensions broke into open court.
In Indiana, a "buffer" law makes it illegal to approach within 25 feet of a police officer who has ordered you to stop approaching. District court: preliminarily enjoined as vague. Seventh Circuit: Totally agree. The law gives officers unfettered discretion to arbitrarily issue do-not-approach orders and then start making arrests.
Prosecutorial immunity is notoriously hard to overcome—so we're ecstatic to report that a Michigan appeals court ruled that Wayne County prosecutor Dennis M. Doherty is not entitled to immunity and must face a lawsuit for filing baseless felony charges against Robert Reeves—all because Reeves had the nerve to challenge the county’s civil forfeiture practices.
Oklahoma City police detain driver whose passenger is wanted for failing to appear in court. The passenger is arrested—but then officers hang around for another ten minutes, until a drug-sniffing dog finally shows up, takes a lap around the car, and alerts. Driver: Sniff happens but this delay was unjustified. Suppress the evidence? District court: No (and sentences him to 84 months in prison). Tenth Circuit: Yes (and vacates the sentence and conviction).