Oklahoma cops seize a 24-year-old's iPhone when he surfaces with a missing 14-year-old and get a state warrant to search for anything on the phone that might be evidence of any crime. Yikes! They uncover child porn and hand the trove to federal officers, who apply for a federal warrant using that evidence.
Over the course of 10 years, Louisville, Ky. man is indicted and re-indicted six times on 34 charges including murder, rape, kidnapping—all over the same nexus of events that took place in 2004. He spends over seven years in prison. But wait! The state drops the murder charge in 2015 and then all the rest of the charges in 2016. He missed out on the chance to share births, funerals, and time with his five children, along with the opportunity to “fall in love, to marry and enjoy the fundamental freedom … of a human being.” Malicious prosecution?
One of the most-read novellas of all time, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, clocks in at, depending on what edition you pick up, around 120 pages. Not to be outdone, the 15-judge en banc Fourth Circuit provides 126 pages of eight non-precedential concurrences, plus one dissent, in addressing whether geofence warrants are unconstitutional.
Black teen, turkey in hand four days before Christmas, gets stopped and frisked by Milwaukee cops Justin Schwarzhuber and Jasen Rydzewski—waiting to see if any “new fresh robberies [had] come over” the radio. Teen is unarmed, cooperative, and still held for 20 minutes with no charges, no paperwork, and zero explanation. Teen: Fourth Amendment violation! District court: qualified immunity, case dismissed. 7th Circuit: Totally uncool.
The U.S. Supreme Court struggled during oral arguments Wednesday over whether its landmark Miranda ruling allows criminal suspects to file civil suits against police officers who don't warn them of their rights against self-incrimination.
Detroit man spends more than 20 years in prison for a 12-year-old girl's murder—a crime he did not commit. Indeed, another man's fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and the defendant's confession (which got the cause of death wrong) followed a detective's telling him he could go home after signing it. Once he's released, he sues the city and involved officials who, as you might expect, assert qualified immunity.
Eight years after the Supreme Court blocked his execution so that it could consider a challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol, the justices agreed on Monday to take up the case of Richard Glossip, who is seeking to set aside his conviction and death sentence (view full article).
Man is convicted of sex crimes in Indian country against an Indian victim under statute that applies if either the perpetrator or victim is an Indian—but does not apply if both are. Man: The feds didn't show I am not an Indian. Feds: That's your fault for not objecting to the jury instructions. Tenth Circuit: That's your fault for not proving an essential element of the crime. Convictions reversed.
The case is United States v. Simpkins, No. 22-7048 (10th Cir. Jan. 24, 2024).
The Second Circuit referred a New York attorney for punishment Tuesday for submitting a brief citing a fake case generated by ChatGPT and not checking over the brief to catch the mistake (view full article)
The lawyer was referred to the Second Circuit's grievance panel.
“Black drivers have a problem in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Police Department (‘RPD’) officers stop Black drivers five times more frequently than white drivers.”
These are the opening lines in United States v. Kieth Moore, No. 3:21-cr-00042 (E.D.V.A. Feb. 12, 2024), dismissing an indictment for felon-in-possession of a firearm after finding that Mr. Moore had proven selective prosecution involving RPD traffic stops.