The Superior Court held that an officer’s display of a gun, combined with credibility findings against the officer, supported treating the encounter as a seizure before the defendant abandoned a handgun.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed a Superior Court ruling that upheld a residential search warrant based on generalized assumptions about where firearm and drug evidence would be kept.
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld five challenged child-molesting convictions, ruling that sexual intent could be inferred from the touching, pornography, and consistent testimony about related abuse.
The Massachusetts SJC held that experts may describe injuries as consistent with abusive head trauma when careful limits preserve the jury’s role.
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a consent search but held that five of seven convictions impermissibly punished the same criminal transaction, requiring resentencing on the two surviving counts.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed negligent homicide, holding that speculative fear of a pursuing driver did not require acceptance of a compulsion defense.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed molesting, incest, and attempted-obstruction convictions while construing the post-2022 obstruction statute and applying Wadle.
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a Level 1 felony burglary conviction, finding no implied juror bias and sufficient evidence of armed entry, felonious intent, and injury.
The Court of Appeals found no error. The trial evidence supported an inference that Spencer knew the store and employee schedules, positioned himself for a private attack, and waited for the victims to leave. Evidence that he changed clothes, misled his girlfriend, and disposed of the weapon supported flight even though he later appeared near officers. The evidence also did not require a second-degree murder instruction.
The Indiana Court of Appeals held that any error from officers’ recorded comments on McLain’s truthfulness was harmless and affirmed her dealing conviction and advisory sentence.
The Wyoming Supreme Court held that Brown waived a new dog-sniff suppression theory and upheld the admission of coded drug-related messages under Rule 404(b).
The Court of Appeals held an Illinois burglary conviction was broader than Indiana dwelling burglary and could not support Kelly’s serious-violent-felon firearm conviction.
The Utah Court of Appeals rejected four ineffective-assistance claims and held that body-camera footage of a victim’s post-disclosure demeanor was properly admitted.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed an order barring an alleged victim from testifying, holding that a missing interview recording caused no demonstrated substantial prejudice and no due-process violation without police bad faith.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed an aggravated-murder conviction, rejecting challenges to voir dire, graphic evidence, intent testimony, jury instructions, and trial counsel’s performance.
The Massachusetts SJC held that SORB abused its discretion by denying an indigent registrant funds for an expert to address whether multiple pre-arrest offenses predict future dangerousness.
The Supreme Court reversed on both points. Even assuming portions of the expert testimony crossed the line, Wingate could not show plain error—that the jury probably would have reached a different result without it. The indictment’s factual allegations and the circumstances gave adequate notice despite the incorrect statutory citation.
The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeals failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State. Occupancy, proximity, control of the premises, and Norris’s suspicious movement together supplied incriminating circumstances from which a jury could find constructive possession. The Court reversed and remanded for consideration of remaining appellate issues.
The Massachusetts SJC affirmed a first-degree murder conviction, holding that counsel reasonably avoided first-aggressor evidence and that a planned fight did not warrant a sudden-combat instruction.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court preserved trial-judge discretion to allow a detective’s account of a Spanish interview for rebuttal without an English transcript.
The Massachusetts SJC ordered a new murder trial because excluding postarrest psychiatric records stripped the defendant’s criminal-responsibility defense of its medical foundation.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a murder conviction, finding overwhelming evidence that thirteen shots were retaliatory rather than justified defense.
The Utah Court of Appeals vacated an aggravated-assault conviction for insufficient evidence but affirmed sexual-abuse and object-rape convictions.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed rape and forcible-sodomy convictions, holding that an ambiguous reference to counsel did not end police questioning.