Appeals

In July, the Fourth Circuit (over a dissent) held that "geofence" warrants ordering Google to provide law enforcement with information about every account holder who enters a particular area in a particular time period are totally cool under the Fourth Amendment. But wait! A mere month later, here comes the Fifth Circuit to tell us that these same warrants are, in fact, totally bogus under the Fourth Amendment!

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.

New York man is prosecuted for sending death threats to congresspersons and Fox News hosts. A jury of 11 convicts. Split Second Circuit: That's OK. A 12-person jury isn't a constitutional right. And no prejudice suffered: The threats were clearly real (e.g., "Laura Ingraham, I am going to personally kill you"), so the error was harmless. Dissent: Not OK. Twelve jurors are "fundamental" to criminal trials, so this is a structural error.

Twenty years after being convicted of (vehemently denied) cocaine possession, Erma Wilson learned that the Midland County, Tex. prosecutor (Weldon "Ralph" Petty) on her case was also moonlighting as a law clerk for the presiding judge, a flagrant violation of the constitutional right to a fair trial. Yikes! Though she never served any jail time on the eight-year suspended sentence, the conviction meant she's been unable to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. Can she sue for money damages?

Man: The enhancement that led to my 13-year prison sentence finding pointing a gun meant I "physically restrained" the convenience store cashier is wrong. Eleventh Circuit: Not wrong. Concurrence 1: Not wrong, but only because of our dumb prior caselaw which we have to follow "even if we disagree with it or think that prior panels have overlooked important arguments." Concurrence 2: I welcome our new AI overlords' help in this case.

Ecuadoran national challenges his conviction for illegal reentry into the United States on the grounds that his initial removal was unlawful and the prohibition on reentry was enacted for super racist reasons. Second Circuit: His initial removal was lawful. And though the law's legislative history contains some shocking comments—heck, one legislator observed in 1952, "though I am not a follower of Hitler . . . there is something to it"—those views can't be attributed to all of Congress.

Marcellus Williams, 55, who spent more than two decades on Missouri’s death row convicted of a 1998 murder that he said he did not commit, was killed by lethal injection Tuesday evening after a lengthy and complex effort to exonerate him based on DNA testing issues (access full article).

Statement Regarding The Execution of Khalifah ibn Rayford Daniels Also Known As Marcellus Williams

Khaliifah was extraordinary. Never have we met someone like him, and never will we again.

Pennsylvania death-row prisoner with a history of mental illness is held in solitary confinement for 26 years. He sues a prison official, who does not dispute whether that violates the Eighth Amendment, arguing only that he is entitled to qualified immunity. Third Circuit: There's "no room for doubt that individuals with a known history of serious mental illness have a clearly established right not to be subjected to prolonged solitary confinement without penological justification." No QI.

So get this. Two men on a boat believes it has stumbled on an illegal long-line fishing buoy. It pulls up the lines, cuts free several sharks, and even tells Florida Fish & Wildlife what they'd done. Whoops. Turns out the line was lawfully placed by marine researchers with proper permits. So did the feds thank them or ask them to pay for the lines the cut? Nope. The feds bring felony theft charges that carried up to five years in prison against the crew.