The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of Robert Conrady’s habeas corpus petition, holding that his trial counsel’s performance during court-martial proceedings did not fall below constitutional standards despite counsel’s decision not to call defense witnesses.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, affirmed Matthew Negrete’s convictions and 25-years-to-life sentence, holding that the trial court properly instructed the jury on the alleged offense timeframe and did not abuse its discretion in declining to disclose school records after in
California’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed Marvion Templeton’s firearm conviction, holding that an officer’s observations during a lawful registration stop supported further investigation and that Templeton forfeited his separate challenge to the search of a pill bottle.
A federal district court denied a Ukrainian lawful permanent resident’s amended habeas corpus petition, finding his fentanyl possession conviction triggered mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c) and that he was served with an administrative warrant upon transfer to ICE custody.
A magistrate judge recommended dismissing a federal prisoner’s § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction because his challenge to a 307-day SHU placement would not necessarily lead to immediate or earlier release, so his claims belong, if at all, in a § 1983 action.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed suppression because the objective circumstances did not restrict Hoffman’s movement to the degree associated with formal arrest.
Case State of Iowa v. Ayiden Mikael Dean Moore Court Iowa Court of Appeals Judge Schumacher, P.J. (Kim Reynolds, 2019);
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the defendant’s conviction for knowingly importing methamphetamine, holding that any Rule 16 disclosure error regarding an automobile expert was harmless and that the government’s closing argument did not violate the defendant’s Fifth Amendment right agai
A magistrate judge in the Eastern District of California recommended dismissing a federal prisoner’s pro se § 2241 habeas petition because his claims about a denied medical device and inadequate care challenge the conditions of his confinement, not the fact or duration of it, and declined to c
A federal magistrate judge ordered a state prisoner to show cause within thirty days why his habeas corpus petition should not be dismissed for failure to exhaust state remedies: the petition showed no indication that the due process claim was presented to the California Supreme Court, and stated th
The First District Court of Appeal, Division Five, treated Skidmore’s appeal from the denial of his postconviction motion as a habeas corpus petition and denied it, holding that using his 1985 offense to enhance sentences for crimes committed in 2008 did not impose retroactive punishment for the ear
A federal district court adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation and dismissed a state prisoner’s habeas petition, finding that his challenge to the denial of re-sentencing under California Penal Code § 1172.6 did not present a cognizable federal claim and that any challenge to his u
A federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing a California habeas petition seeking First Step Act earned time credits because the petitioner had been released from Bureau of Prisons custody and the court could no longer provide the requested relief.
A magistrate judge recommended dismissal without prejudice under Younger v. Harris because the relief sought by state detainee Derek Howard Burr would interfere with his pending prosecution. The judge separately discussed the apparent lack of exhaustion.
A magistrate judge recommended dismissing a pro se state prisoner’s § 2254 petition because it attacks the outcome of a prior § 1983 data-breach lawsuit rather than the constitutionality of his custody.
The Sixth District held in a partially published opinion that Racial Justice Act statistics comparing Latinx overrepresentation among life-without-parole prisoners with the general population, rather than with similarly situated murder defendants, did not make a prima facie showing of disparate spec
A magistrate judge recommends dismissing a federal prisoner’s § 2241 petition for lack of jurisdiction, concluding that the savings clause of § 2255(e) does not allow a prisoner to use an intervening change in career-offender guideline interpretation to bypass AEDPA’s restrictions on sec
The district court left its adoption of the magistrate judge’s recommendation and dismissal of Mitchell Pyles’s § 2254 petition without prejudice in effect, overruled objections drawn from three later motions, and denied those motions.
The court dismissed a pro se prisoner’s § 1983 action with prejudice after multiple opportunities to amend failed to cure deficiencies in his First Amendment retaliation and due process claims against a correctional officer.
The court grants the pro se petitioner’s IFP application but orders her to show cause by November 30, 2026 why her § 2241 petition challenging an ongoing state criminal prosecution should not be dismissed for failure to establish the custody requirement and because Younger abstention and exhau
The Fifth District affirmed McKinzy’s convictions and sentence, holding that his violent attack on counsel, continuing threats, and refusal to attend supported his exclusion from the bifurcated prior-conviction trial and that the record did not show counsel conceded guilt over his objection.
The Sixth District affirmed Manuel Vasquez’s eight sexual-offense convictions but vacated his gang-participation strike finding and entire sentence because the prosecution’s records established only the fact of his 2009 conviction, not the underlying facts showing it satisfied section 18
The Fifth District Court of Appeal vacated Branden Ferguson’s sentences in two Kern County cases because the trial court imposed an upper term using aggravating factors on which Ferguson had not personally waived his jury-trial right, and the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
The First District Court of Appeal held that a trial court may reimpose upper terms at a section 1172.75 resentencing without new findings beyond a reasonable doubt when upper terms were originally imposed, but remanded for recalculation of custody credits.