The First DCA affirms a first-degree murder conviction, holding that a trial court’s failure to hold a competency hearing is not fundamental error where the record lacks reasonable grounds to doubt the defendant’s competency.
The Third DCA affirmed a habitual violent felony offender sentence, holding that the trial court’s failure to submit prior-conviction findings to a jury under Erlinger v. United States was subject to harmless error review and was harmless where the record unambiguously established qualifying priors.
The Fourth DCA affirmed convictions for sexual battery of a child, holding that a six-person jury was proper where the death penalty was not legally available for the offense at the time it was committed, and rejecting the defendant’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment arguments for a twelve-person jury.
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress, holding that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless seizure of a computer suspected of containing child sexual exploitation material where the defendant repeatedly entered and exited his room under the guise of searching for a hard drive.
Ninth Circuit affirms firearms convictions, holding that silencers are optional accessories outside the Second Amendment’s plain text and that the NFA’s registration requirements are a constitutional shall-issue licensing regime.
Case Rayshawn Scott v. Commonwealth of Virginia Court Court of Appeals of Virginia Judge Daniel E. Ortiz (Virginia General Assembly,
Case Nathan Jones v. The State Court Supreme Court of Georgia Judge BETHEL (Nathan Deal, 2018) Date Decided June 2,
Case Timothy LaRue Sheffield v. The State Court Supreme Court of Georgia Judge Warren (Nathan Deal, 2018) Date Decided June
Case Antonio Williams v. The State Court Supreme Court of Georgia Judge MCMILLIAN (Brian Kemp, 2020) Date Decided June 2,
The Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed a murder conviction obtained at retrial after a Brady violation, holding that dismissal of an indictment is available only where the violation causes irreparable prejudice or reflects a pattern of egregious prosecutorial misconduct—neither of which was present here where retrial gave the defense full opportunity to cross-examine the affected witness on the undisclosed agreement. The court also held that a Brady violation alone does not disqualify the prosecutor’s entire office.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed and dismissed a disorderly conduct conviction against a citizen who filmed a police officer at a fast-food drive-through and called him “a piece of s***” twice, holding the evidence was insufficient and that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on an uncharged mode of the offense.
Connecticut Appellate Court affirms denial of a second habeas petition, holding that trial counsel’s failure to raise a Crawford Confrontation Clause objection at a 2008 murder trial was not deficient when the law was unsettled, and habeas counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise a sentence review claim the petitioner never communicated.
The Tenth District affirmed the constitutionality of R.C. 2923.13(A)(2) as applied to a defendant whose prior juvenile adjudication for felonious assault served as the predicate disability, finding historical support under the Bruen framework.
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed armed robbery convictions, holding that a witness’s text messages to law enforcement were admissible as identification statements, booking photos showing tattoos were properly admitted to prove identity, and trial counsel was not ineffective.
The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, reverses a district court that ended a $1.1 million civil forfeiture case as a discovery sanction, holding that the claimant established standing and gave the government enough information to investigate his ownership claim.
The Ninth Circuit reverses the denial of qualified immunity for a Gardena jail officer whose detainee committed suicide, finding that inconsistent information about the detainee’s suicide risk did not put the officer on clear constitutional notice—over a vigorous dissent.
The Twelfth District affirmed a community control condition that effectively barred the defendant from his residence, finding the restriction was reasonably related to preventing future criminal conduct given the defendant’s history of altercations with neighbors.
The Twelfth District affirmed a murder conviction arising from a shooting during a domestic dispute, holding that the trial court properly admitted the defendant’s prior violent acts as character evidence under Evid.R. 404(A) and that the State’s grant of immunity to a key witness did not render her testimony unreliable.
The California Supreme Court affirms a double gang-murder defendant’s convictions but reverses his 1994 death sentence under the retroactive California Racial Justice Act of 2020, requiring a new penalty-phase trial in a case that has been on automatic appeal for over three decades.
The California Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the death sentence of a Los Angeles father convicted of the torture-murders of two young children, holding that months of deliberate beatings, starvation, and medical neglect provided sufficient evidence of premeditated torturous intent, and that con
The California Supreme Court reverses a death-row defendant’s convictions entirely because his attorney conceded guilt over the client’s explicit objection — a structural constitutional error requiring automatic reversal — while affirming the co-defendant’s death sentence and vacat
The California Supreme Court affirms a death sentence for the 1999 rape-murder of an Oakland 11-year-old, holding that a suspect who voluntarily accompanies police to the station and is briefly placed in a lockable interview room has not been seized under the Fourth Amendment — and clarifying when v
Case State of West Virginia ex rel. State of West Virginia v. The Honorable Debra McLaughlin, Judge of the Circuit
Case State of Nebraska v. Keiandre T. Kellogg Court Nebraska Supreme Court Judge Freudenberg (Pete Ricketts, 2018) Date Decided May