For the week of May 15, 2015
In this edition:
News to Use | Top of the Ninth | Short Circuits | For the Bookworms
News to use
- Feds Drop Appeal of Fourth Amendment Ruling on Attachment of Webcam to Utility Pole for Surveillance (Ars Technica)
- 50-state survey of relief from sex offender registration (CCRC)
- Untrue Confessions (Marshall Project)
- Bad Cases Be Gone! (Carl Gunn)
Top of the Ninth
- U.S. v. Brown (district court committed structural error by denying defendant’s motion to fire retained counsel, where court had used extent-of-conflict standard that governs substitution of appointed counsel) (evidence was sufficient to sustain convictions for transporting and advertising child pornography) (we’re good enough, we’re smart enough, and doggone it, some judges like us). UPDATE (5.18.15): More at Ninth Circuit Blog.
- Riley v. McDaniel (habeas) (on de novo review, guilt-phase instruction given at trial violated due process by erroneously advising jury that under Nevada law a finding of premeditation entailed a finding of deliberation) (the error was prejudicial because evidence of defendant’s cocaine intoxication and emotional agitation might have created reasonable doubt about deliberation).
- Comstock v. Humphries (§2254) (habeas petitioner was entitled to relief under Brady, where prosecutors suppressed pretrial statements by champion wrestler indicating he might have lost championship ring that petitioner was alleged to have possessed knowing it was stolen).
- In re: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada (biofuel subsidy fraud in Canada was insufficiently related to indicted scheme to authorize restitution under MVRA, even though both schemes were “built upon the same central falsity”).
- U.S. v. Cazares (shackling didn’t violate due process) (district court’s reasons for holding most of five days of voir dire in private would have violated right to public trial, but defendants waived rights relevant to the claim) (district court appropriately admitted hearsay under doctrine of forfeiture by wrongdoing, and any error in failing to articulate that triggering murder was foreseeable and within scope and in furtherance of conspiracy was harmless) (officer testimony that identified certain members as having most “clout” based on what other investigators and gang members told him was improper expert testimony and violation of FRE 703, but didn’t meet third prong on plain error; no plain Confrontation Clause error in more general testimony about gang members’ attitudes about blacks) (no Miranda violation because interrogation wasn’t custodial) (conversation between two gang members isn’t “testimonial,” and testimony about it was in any case invited, so no Confrontation Clause error) (civil rights provision §245(b)(2)(B) protecting activities in “facilit[ies]” was not unconstitutional as applied to activities on public street) (no cumulative error).
- U.S. v. Gonzalez (unanimity instruction for VICAR conspiracy need not require unanimity on overt act, and instruction here, if it was required, was adequate).
Short circuits
- U.S. v. Merlino (3d Cir.) (district court lacked jurisdiction under §3583(i) to impose supervised release because summons issued after termination; deadline may not be equitably tolled or backstopped by broader jurisdictional grant of §3231, and order to issue summons isn’t functional equivalent of summons itself). (H/T)
- Northrup v. City of Toledo Police Dep’t (6th Cir.) (civil rights) (where it is lawful to possess firearm, unlawful possession in not “the default status,” and possession here did not justify handcuffing plaintiff). (H/T)
For the bookworms
- “Is Burglary A Crime Of Violence? An Analysis of National Data 1998–2007,” Richard F. Culp et al., National Institute of Justice Report (pdf).
- “Me and Mr. Jones: A Systems-Based Analysis of a Catastrophic Defense Outcome,” Pamela Metzger, ___ Albany L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming) (SSRN). (H/T)
- “Brain Science and the Theory of Juvenile Mens Rea,” Jenny E. Carroll, ___ N.C. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming) (SSRN). (H/T)
- “Eliminating the Competency Presumption in Juvenile Delinquency Cases,” David R. Katner, 24 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 403 (2015) (SSRN). (H/T)
- “Evidentiary Rulings as Police Reform,” Seth W. Stoughton, 69 U. Miami L. Rev. 429 (2015) (SSRN). (H/T)
- “A Tale of Three Prejudices: Restructuring the ‘Martinez Gateway,’” Michael Ellis, 90 Wash. L. Rev. 405 (2015) (pdf).
- “Comment: A Castle in the Sky: GPS Tracking of a Defendant's Cell Phone Post-Riley v. California,” Bryan S Sandford, ___ Wisc. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming) (SSRN). (H/T)
- “Solitary Confinement: Common Misconceptions and Emerging Safe Alternatives,” Alison Shames et al., Vera Institute of Justice Report (pdf). (H/T)
- “Callous and Cruel: Use of Force against Inmates with Mental Disabilities in US Jails and Prisons,” Human Rights Report (2015) (pdf).
- “Procedural frames in negotiations: how offering my resources versus requesting yours impacts perception, behavior, and outcomes,” R. Trötschel et al., 108-3 J. Pers. Soc. Psych. 417 (2015) (NCBI). (H/T)
