Criminal Procedure

Washington admits bar applicant with sex-offender status, based on young age at time of conduct

A law school graduate with a 2010 conviction for voyeurism involving shared images of youths can be admitted to practice law in Washington, the Washington Supreme Court found in a 5-4 opinion.

Nov 7, 2022 8:57 AM CST

Police create disproportionate amount of social media posts about Black suspects, study finds

In a study of about 14,000 Facebook pages maintained by law enforcement agencies, three law school professors found that posts about serious crimes overrepresented Black suspects by 25 percentage points compared to arrest rates.

Nov 3, 2022 10:10 AM CDT

Estimated 4.6M Americans can’t vote in midterms because of felony convictions, new report says

The estimated number of people who can’t vote in the United States because of a felony conviction has declined by 24% since 2016, but the total is still large, according to a report released Tuesday by the Sentencing Project.

Oct 28, 2022 9:13 AM CDT

Does Trump have to testify to Jan. 6 committee? It’s a ‘constitutional gray area’

Former President Donald Trump could cite one U.S. Supreme Court decision to bolster his argument that he can’t be compelled to testify before the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

Oct 25, 2022 12:35 PM CDT

This federal judge called cops to report squeegee guys who gave him the finger, spat on his car

A federal judge overseeing a consent decree requiring police reform in Baltimore called police in that city Oct. 16 to report two hostile squeegee men working at an intersection in the Bolton Hill neighborhood in Baltimore.

Oct 24, 2022 1:52 PM CDT

Lawyer with link to 9/11 conspiracy theorists is charged with assaulting police in US Capitol riot

A 66-year-old New York lawyer has been charged with assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, after a tipster used photo ID software to identify him as a likely suspect.

Oct 24, 2022 11:45 AM CDT

A Credit to the Genre: ‘Serial’ and the case of Adnan Syed

Back in 2019, I wrote an installment for this column discussing whether true-crime documentaries can do more harm than good for the criminal justice system. In that piece, I focused squarely on the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer. I spoke with a reporter who had covered the trial and received his feedback regarding what was actually included in the series and what was left out. I referred to that editorial practice as the “CliffsNotes version.”

Oct 20, 2022 2:07 PM CDT

Ex-lawyer who argued football head injuries made him unable to form fraud intent loses in 6th Circuit

A federal appeals court has affirmed the conviction of a disbarred lawyer who argued that football head injuries made him unable to form an intent to defraud his bank.

Oct 20, 2022 1:14 PM CDT

Weekly Briefs: Another BigLaw merger; SCOTUS is ‘more of an advocacy group,’ Biden says

News Roundup

Oct 14, 2022 2:43 PM CDT

California adopts criminal justice reforms in bills signed by governor

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several criminal justice reform bills into law ahead of a midnight deadline Friday.

Oct 3, 2022 1:16 PM CDT

Weekly Briefs: SCOTUS justice’s wife stands by stolen-election views; district attorney’s daughter arrested in his stabbing

Ginni Thomas tells Jan. 6 committee about her stolen-election views Conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas told the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack that she still thinks that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, according to the committee’s chair, Democratic U.S.…

Sep 30, 2022 3:13 PM CDT

Trump doesn’t have to detail claims about planted documents to special master, judge says

There is no need for former President Donald Trump to raise objections to the government’s inventory of documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida—at least at this stage of his lawsuit, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Sep 30, 2022 11:34 AM CDT

Flight of the Fugitive: Why do we love watching suspects on the run?

There is something enthralling about an outlaw. Think about it: There’s a good reason why historic desperadoes such as Billy the Kid, Belle Starr, Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, and various others have captured our collective imaginations for centuries.

Sep 28, 2022 8:46 AM CDT

Black defendants make up more than 50% of exonerations since 1989, new report says

People who are Black comprise 13.6% of the population in the United States but 53% of exonerations from the past 33 years, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Registry of Exonerations. The report shows Black people are overrepresented among exonerations for all serious crimes except white-collar crimes.

Sep 26, 2022 11:01 PM CDT

Rape victim was jailed to ensure court appearance in rapist’s trial

An Oregon woman was held in jail for nine days this month to ensure that she would appear to testify against the man she accused of raping her over a seven-month period when she was 18 years old.

Sep 26, 2022 11:09 AM CDT