Appellate Practice

Federal Jury Awards $5M to Texas Man Convicted on Bad Crime Lab Evidence

After wrestling with the concept of deliberate indifference, a federal jury in Texas today awarded $5 million to a man wrongfully convicted in a kidnapping and rape case more than two decades ago. George Rodriguez, 59, was incarcerated for 17 years, based on false testimony by an employee of the…

Jun 26, 2009 12:39 AM CDT

School’s Strip Search of Girl Illegal, High Court Rules

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that an Arizona school’s strip search of a teenager accused of dispensing prescription-strength pills was illegal. On that, eight justices agreed (PDF). Safford Middle School officials crossed a line when they searched Savana Redding’s underwear. Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissent. What was…

Jun 25, 2009 3:19 PM CDT

9th Circuit Allows Suit Against Prosecutor Who OK’d DNA Sample Without Warrant

In a decision that resurrects a convicted sex offender’s lawsuit against a Las Vegas detective and local prosecutor, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said the man can personally sue the individuals for forcibly extracting his DNA without a warrant. Kenneth Friedman had reportedly told the…

Jun 25, 2009 1:09 PM CDT

9th Circuit Pops Seattle’s Efforts to Regulate Balloon Artist

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Seattle’s efforts to regulate balloon artist “Magic Mike” Berger and other street performers violates the First Amendment. In a 7-4 split, the appeals court found that the city’s rules requiring performers to obtain permits to operate at the…

Jun 25, 2009 11:58 AM CDT

Ex-Wife Can’t Talk About Divorce to Media—Ever, Conn. Court Rules

The ex-wife of a wealthy skin doctor can’t talk about her divorce with the media—ever, Connecticut’s Supreme Court has ruled. The ruling establishes that private waivers of First Amendment free speech rights are “presumptively enforceable,” the Connecticut Law Tribune reports. Still, the state’s high court said such decisions should be…

Jun 24, 2009 10:54 AM CDT

SCOTUS to Decide Case Expanding Miranda Warning

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to take a case that explores whether police should have to tell suspects that they have a right to have a lawyer present during interrogations. The high court challenge comes from Kevin Dwayne Powell, who was convicted in Florida of being a felon in…

Jun 22, 2009 3:28 PM CDT

High Court Narrowly Interprets Voting Rights Act: Keeps Section 5

With only one justice partially dissenting, the U.S. Supreme Court today narrowly interpreted the Voting Rights Act in a way that saves it. The high court held that a utility district in Austin, Texas, can opt out of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, a key provision of the…

Jun 22, 2009 3:00 PM CDT

Va. Bar Wants AG to Stop Sending Cautionary Letter to Death Penalty Jurors

For years, the state attorney general’s office in Virginia has distributed letters to former jurors in capital cases, cautioning them against talking to defense lawyers working on appeals. And the Virginia State Bar wants to put a stop to the letters. The form letter, which is supplied to local prosecutors,…

Jun 22, 2009 11:58 AM CDT

Justices Side With Ex-Enron Exec on Retrial Issue

In a 6-3 ruling this morning, the U.S. Supreme Court closed the door, but didn’t slam it shut in the case involving a former Enron executive who is fighting government efforts to retry him. The high court’s ruling throws out a portion of a New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Court of…

Jun 18, 2009 3:42 PM CDT

Divided Court Rejects Convict’s DNA Access Claim

In a sharp 5-4 split, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning that an individual whose conviction is already final doesn’t have the right to access evidence to do DNA testing that could prove innocence. Writing for the majority in District Attorney’s Office v. Osborne, Chief Justice John G. Roberts,…

Jun 18, 2009 3:04 PM CDT

Judge’s ‘Co-Prosecutor’ Role Requires New Trial, Md. Court of Appeals Says

Two men convicted on drug charges in Baltimore City Circuit Court must get new trials because the judge overseeing their cases did not behave impartially, the top court in Maryland has determined. The “egregious” conduct by Judge Charles Bernstein, the Maryland Court of Appeals found, included effectively acting as a…

Jun 15, 2009 5:14 PM CDT

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who was discharged because of his sexual orientation, had asked the court to hear the case, Bloomberg reports. “The rebuff spares President Barack Obama’s administration from the…

Jun 8, 2009 4:11 PM CDT

New DOJ Evidence Debacle: AG Says Gov’t Disclosure Dubious in 2 More Alaska Cases

In the latest prosecutorial embarrassment for the U.S. Department of Justice, the DOJ has admitted it may have fouled up concerning the required pre-trial provision of exculpatory evidence in the cases of two Alaska lawmakers. In a filing yesterday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco,…

Jun 6, 2009 12:07 AM CDT

Prominent Mo. Lawyer is Criticized in Another Wrongful Conviction Case

A prominent attorney criticized earlier, along with others responsible for a wrongful conviction case in Missouri, is in the spotlight again. A Missouri Supreme Court petition filed on behalf of a man convicted of murdering his mother accuses attorney Kenny Hulshof, a former six-term Congressman and state Republican gubernatorial candidate,…

Jun 3, 2009 11:25 PM CDT

Goldstein of SCOTUSblog Is ‘Attorney, Blogger, Walking Sound-Bite Machine’

The lawyer who founded SCOTUSblog was in big demand after the announcement that Sonia Sotomayor had been tapped as the next nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Tom Goldstein—“attorney, blogger, walking sound-bite machine”—spoke to three television networks and numerous print and wire reporters, the Washington Post reports. “What makes the…

Jun 2, 2009 5:03 PM CDT