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Criminal Practice
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May 20, 2025
Split 4th Circ. Finds Testimony Sufficed For Bad Advice Claim
A divided Fourth Circuit panel on Tuesday ordered the government to offer a North Carolina man another shot at a plea deal he rejected, finding his defense attorney's bad advice caused him to pass over the bargain and get saddled with a longer sentence.
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May 16, 2025
Oakland Cops Denied Immunity In Deadly High-Speed Chase
The Ninth Circuit ruled Friday that two Oakland police officers violated the rights of innocent bystanders and are not entitled to qualified immunity following a high-speed pursuit that left one person dead and several others injured.
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May 15, 2025
8th Circ. Finds No Error In Fentanyl Dealing Conviction
The Eighth Circuit has refused to grant a new trial to a North Dakota man sentenced to over 15 years in prison for selling fentanyl with his father, finding a lower court was justified in keeping his father from testifying at trial.
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May 15, 2025
Justices Say Context Matters When Evaluating Use Of Force
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for a civil rights lawsuit against a Houston-area traffic officer who shot and killed a fleeing man, ruling that courts must weigh the full sequence of events — not just the instant a threat arises — when deciding if police used excessive force.
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May 14, 2025
Florida Appeals Court Says Pastor's Testimony Is Privileged
A Florida appeals court on Wednesday reversed convictions for a man found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor after finding that his pastor's testimony should not have been allowed at trial because it was protected by the clergy communications privilege.
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May 14, 2025
Texas Panel Says Ex-Cop's Phone Fair Game In Bribe Case
The highest criminal court of appeals in Texas ruled Wednesday that an ex-San Antonio police officer cannot suppress evidence found on a cell phone that prosecutors claim contains evidence of child pornography and that the officer had been accepting bribes.
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May 12, 2025
Fla. Panel Says Evidence In DUI Case Was Legally Obtained
A Florida federal judge wrongly applied the probable cause standard to suppress evidence from a DUI investigation of a woman initially pulled over for a traffic stop for driving in two lanes simultaneously, an appellate court said Friday, ruling the police officer's reasonable suspicion was enough to justify the traffic stop.
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May 12, 2025
Fla. Court Orders Hearing On Ineffective Counsel Claims
A Florida state appeals court has ruled that a lower court must hold a hearing to assess evidence put forward by a man who claims ineffective counsel led him to be found guilty of a second-degree firearm offense and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
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May 12, 2025
Deny 'ComEd Four' A 'Third Bite' At Posttrial Apple, Feds Urge
Prosecutors are asking an Illinois federal judge to disregard a former Commonwealth Edison CEO and three lobbyists' bid to use a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to try again to unwind their bribery convictions, arguing their motion is untimely and ignores the inapplicability of the high court's ruling, the jury instructions and "overwhelming evidence" proving their guilt.
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May 12, 2025
Diddy Abuse Case About 'Private' Sex Life, Atty Tells Jury
Sean "Diddy" Combs is a "complicated man" whose allegedly violent sexual relationships involved "voluntary adult choices," a lawyer for the hip-hop icon told a Manhattan federal jury Monday at the start of a trial on sex-trafficking charges that could put him in prison for life.
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May 08, 2025
Feds Urge High Court Not To Take Jury-Right Case
The government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to take up the case of a social media influencer who was denied a jury trial for a misdemeanor, arguing precedent and tradition show that "crimes" meriting a jury are distinct from petty offenses.
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April 21, 2025
Justices Sympathetic To Inmate Who 'Messed Up' Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday seemed dubious of a Fourth Circuit ruling refusing an inmate's appeal on procedural timing grounds, as the justices weighed a case that will likely disproportionately affect pro se litigants.
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March 20, 2025
NH Justice Can't Use Immunity To Escape Criminal Charges
New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, indicted last year on charges she interfered with the state attorney general's investigation of her husband, has lost her second bid to dismiss the case, with a state judge rejecting her judicial immunity argument.
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March 06, 2025
Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action
Believe it or not, there's still important litigation happening that doesn't involve President Donald Trump, and the proof exists in this month's circuit court calendars. During the remaining weeks of March, arguments will explore numerous high-profile topics, including a law firm's severe punishment for alleged misconduct in 9/11 litigation and a judicial rebuke of Trader Joe's for "an attempt to weaponize the legal system."
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March 04, 2025
AG Asks Mich. High Court To Preserve Anti-Terrorism Law
Michigan's attorney general asked the state Supreme Court to put on hold a ruling striking down the state's anti-terrorist threat law as unconstitutional, saying the ruling threatens to unravel ongoing prosecutions and hamper future responses to threats of violence.
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March 03, 2025
Justices To Weigh Double-Jeopardy Claim In Robbery Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to wade into a seven-circuit split over whether the double jeopardy clause allows for separate sentences on different charges stemming from the same robbery — an issue that can lead to significantly longer prison terms.
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February 24, 2025
3rd Circ. Says $31M Order To Refill Class Funds Isn't Enough
The Third Circuit on Monday vacated and sent back a district court's order for a New Jersey man convicted of stealing $40 million from settlements in stockholder class actions to pay $31 million in restitution, ruling the order didn't fully compensate each victim of the fraud.
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January 17, 2025
High Court To Weigh Repeat Federal Prisoner Appeals
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a Florida man's challenge to his 24-year bank robbery sentence, a case that aims to resolve a circuit split over whether federal prisoners can file multiple motions to vacate their convictions.
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January 07, 2025
Cato Institute Urges Justices To Hear Jury Right Case
The Cato Institute asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to accept a social media influencer's certification petition over the denial of a jury trial for a misdemeanor, saying the erosion of the Constitutional jury right for "all crimes" goes against the founders' intentions.
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December 18, 2024
The Biggest 1st Circ. Rulings Of 2024
The nation's smallest federal circuit court in 2024 issued an opinion tackling the government of Mexico's efforts to hold U.S. firearms makers responsible for the flow of illegal arms across the southern border, determining the claims are not barred by a litigation shield, among other high-profile decisions.
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December 02, 2024
Ex-Soccer Boss Fears He'll Die While Fighting Conviction
The ailing former president of the Brazilian soccer federation urged a New York federal judge to rule on his petition to have his FIFA bribery conviction overturned, telling the court Monday that he could die before a scheduled January hearing on the issue.
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November 21, 2024
4th Circ. Tells Judge To Try Again After 'Vindictive' Sentence
A federal judge has been given a third chance to impose a proper sentence on a man who pled guilty to a drug-trafficking conspiracy charge, with the Fourth Circuit finding the judge erred when, after the defendant successfully appealed his initial sentence, he handed down an even harsher one.
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October 31, 2024
3rd Circ Rejects Charter Co. Exec's Ineffective Counsel Claims
The co-founder and former executive of a now-defunct public air charter operator has lost a bid to escape a fraud conviction on the grounds her lawyers provided ineffective counsel in her criminal trial, with a unanimous Third Circuit panel determining the jury would not have been swayed by a different trial strategy.
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October 28, 2024
Mass. Court's Wiretap Ruling May Be Bad Omen For Plaintiffs
A ruling by the Massachusetts high court rejecting wiretap claims over website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics shows the steep climb plaintiffs may continue to face as they try to apply older laws to modern technologies, experts told Law360.
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October 03, 2024
NJ Panel Opens Door To Remote Testimony In Criminal Cases
Trial courts have the authority to hear requests for experts to testify remotely in criminal trials without the state's permission, a New Jersey state appellate panel found in a precedential ruling on Thursday, saying court rules and precedent that seemed at odds could be interpreted harmoniously.