Trial Skills

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in law enforcement investigations continues to put innocent people, especially innocent people of color, at risk of wrongful arrest. Artificial intelligence technologies are being developed and implemented by law enforcement agencies across the country. Police increasingly use AI tools to surveille communities, investigate crimes, and collect large amounts of data related their targets. However, with this increased use of AI in policing, comes a growing number of innocent people being wrongfully arrested.

Colorado’s star DNA scientist intentionally manipulated evidence for years, calling into question all of the criminal cases she worked on in her nearly three-decade career, according to a preliminary investigation released by officials Friday (view full article).

On Tuesday, the Defender Services Committee took action in response to a critical issue. Recognizing the absence of representation for individuals accused of crimes in certain federal district courts during Initial Appearance hearings, the Committee issued a memorandum.

This directive was circulated to all federal court and Criminal Justice Act personnel, reaffirming that federal law requires representation by counsel during every Initial Appearance hearing.

Attorney Generals from across the country are urging the Supreme Court to give the “utmost” deference to Oklahoma’s admission and confession of prosecutorial misconduct in the case of Glossip v. Oklahoma, Case No. 22-7477, which resulted in Richard Eugene Glossip’s death sentence. In their amicus brief, the attorney generals are asking the Court to overturn Mr. Glossip’s conviction and death sentence noting “‘confessing error is a momentous step, one that attorneys general never take lightly. . .

Avery County, N.C. man registers as a sex offender and communicates regularly with the sheriff to make sure he's complying with registration requirements. Yet, a deputy swears out a warrant and has him arrested—including for the totally made-up crime of leaving the state for 30 days—even though he was following the sheriff's instructions. Yikes! Charges are dropped, and man sues for Fourth Amendment violations. Officers: We got a warrant though. Fourth Circuit: Whatever.

Alleged gang member is convicted of witness retaliation and sentenced to three years in prison after attacking a former member of his gang on the street in the Bronx. At trial, man asks court to explore potential gang bias during jury selection. Trial court: no, it would be “improper,” and will only ask general questions, never mentioning gangs. Second Circuit: no. New trial. The defense was not allowed to sufficiently screen for anti-gang bias among the jurors. "[D]istrict judges are afforded broad discretion in conducting voir dire.

In the consolidated cases Brown v. United States, No. 22-6389 (May 23, 2024), and Jackson v. United States, No. 22-6640 (May 23, 2024), opinion here, the Supreme Court held that a state drug conviction counts as an ACCA predicate if it involved a drug on the federal schedules at the time of the state conviction.  The 6 to 3 opinion, written by Justice Alito, joined by the Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Sotomayor, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, begins like this:

A first of its kind, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin has charged a man for allegedly producing and possessing images of child pornography. The images at issue were generated entirely through artificial intelligence using the generative artificial intelligence model Stable Diffusion and created using text prompts describing the images to be generated. Images of children are not alleged to have been used in generating the images.

Prosecutor in plea negotiations: We agree to recommend a sentence at the bottom of the guideline range. Prosecutor to district court: We recommend a sentence at the bottom of the guideline range for this top-of-the-food-chain drug dealer who is worse than a murderer. District court: Top of the guideline range it is.

AH Datalytics has launched a “Real-Time” crime index, (RTCI), online. (access index). AH Datalytics launched the real-time crime index in an effort to “aid in the need for a faster understanding and visualization of national, state, and local crime trends.” AH Datalytics acknowledges certain crime data is under-reported to police and agencies can fail to provide complete or accurate information.