Police don’t need warrant to search trailer 
Published: March 11, 2010
Tags: Fourth Amendment, search and seizure, warrantless search
Police could search a detached trailer for drugs without first obtaining a warrant, the 2nd Circuit has ruled in reversing a suppression order.
Murder victim’s text message admissible
Published: March 9, 2010
Tags: Confrontation Clause, Crawford v. Washington
A murder defendant’s constitutional right to confront witnesses was not violated by the admission at trial of the victim’s last text message to a friend, the Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled in affirming a conviction.
Justices rule in Speedy Trial case
Published: March 8, 2010
Tags: Speedy Trial Act
The time granted to prepare pretrial motions is not automatically excluded from the 70-day limit to bring a defendant to trial under the Speedy Trial Act of 1974 unless the court grants a continuance, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
Texas judge says death penalty unconstitutional
Published: March 8, 2010
Tags: death penalty
A Texas judge in the county that sends more inmates to death row than any other in the nation is apparently taking a stand. Saying he could assume that innocent people have been executed, state District Judge Kevin Fine ruled in a pre-trial motion in a capital murder case on Thursday that the death penalty was unconstitutional and found himself on Friday facing a torrent of criticism from a string of high-profile Texans including Gov. Rick Perry.
Sex offender registration rule invalid
Published: March 4, 2010
Tags: Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, sex offenders, SORNA
The U.S. Attorney General improperly adopted a rule that retroactively applies the new federal sex offender registration statute, the 6th Circuit has ruled in vacating a conviction.
Court takes up another gun law challenge
By Kimberly Atkins -
Published: March 2, 2010
Tags: D.C. v. Heller, handgun ban, Second Amendment
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to hold that the Second Amendment protections established two years ago in D.C. v. Heller apply to cities and states through the Fourteenth Amendment. But whether the extent of those protections requires the Court to strike down Chicago’s handgun ban remains unclear.
Justices rule in ‘violent felony’ case
Published: March 2, 2010
Tags: Armed Career Criminal Act, sentencing
A defendant’s prior conviction for simple battery under state law didn’t justify an enhanced sentence under the federal career offender statute, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in vacating a sentence.
Court considers ‘honest services’ fraud
By Kimberly Atkins -
Published: March 1, 2010
Tags: constitutional law, Enron, honest services fraud, juror bias, Supreme Court
WASHINGTON - After hearing two other cases involving the application of the federal law criminalizing “honest services” fraud this term, the U.S. Supreme Court took another look at the law Monday in an effort to determine if it is unconstitutionally vague.
Court considers if silence waives ‘Miranda’ right
By Kimberly Atkins -
Published: March 1, 2010
Tags: Criminal Law, Miranda
WASHINGTON - Anyone who has watched a police drama knows that an arrested suspect has the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. But when that suspect is so silent that he neither invokes nor waives his rights, does he give up the right to object to the questioning later?
Are dying victim’s statements to police testimonial?
Published: March 1, 2010
Tags: Confrontation Clause, testimonial
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a shooting victim’s statements to police shortly before his death constituted inadmissible testimonial statements under the Sixth Amendment.
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