Criminal Procedure

ABA urges Congress to limit use of cash bail

The American Bar Association urges governments to “prohibit a judicial officer from imposing a financial condition of release that results in the pretrial detention of a defendant solely due to the defendant’s inability to pay.”

Nov 1, 2017 12:25 AM CDT

New ‘Great Gatsby’-inspired dating app screens users’ criminal histories

Updated: Kimberly Busch is “burned out” by dating apps. “There were too many creeps,” says the attorney and CEO of AskTheLawyers in Austin, Texas. “There were a few situations where I was talking to people and my gut instinct was ‘this isn’t a good person.’” While never a victim of…

Aug 9, 2017 11:51 AM CDT

A Tradition of Jailhouse Lawyers: Amateur attorneys fill vital need for inmate access to the courts

Jailhouse lawyers still serve a vital need in prisons. However, prison officials generally do not view jailhouse lawyers as valuable purveyors of knowledge.

Aug 1, 2017 1:10 AM CDT

Proposed ‘18 budget would cut LSC by 24%, increase funds for law enforcement and immigration court

The U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee responsible for appropriating money for the Department of Justice has released its proposed budget for fiscal year 2018.

Jun 30, 2017 2:49 PM CDT

Changes in criminal procedure rule could expand the government’s investigative net

Leslie Caldwell, then the head of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, argued last November that anonymizing technologies such as Tor make it nearly impossible to know where a computer is located for the sake of a warrant application, which “makes it unclear which court—if any—an investigator is supposed to go to with a search warrant application when investigating anonymized crime.”

Jun 1, 2017 3:30 AM CDT

Inaccurate leads from IP addresses prompt police to serve warrants on innocent people

The advent of proxy servers and mobile access to the internet has made IP addresses less reliable for law enforcement investigating online crimes.

May 1, 2017 2:10 AM CDT

Racially discriminating statements in jury rooms are subject to scrutiny

A case about racial bias in the jury room would seem to have all the makings of a provocative and headline-grabbing decision. However, Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado, a case containing just such bias, hovered a bit below the radar, even during this relatively low-key U.S. Supreme Court term.

May 1, 2017 2:00 AM CDT

Aaron Hernandez’s death in cell highlights suicide problem in Massachusetts prisons

The prison suicide of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for murder, does not bring closure on the matter for the Massachusetts justice or corrections systems, the Associated Press reports. First, Hernandez’s murder conviction probably will be vacated because it is permitted under state law…

Apr 19, 2017 4:16 PM CDT

Judge testifies that San Antonio DA threatened defense lawyers in her chambers

A Texas district judge testified Wednesday that Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood threatened to destroy defense lawyers’ practices for raising issues of prosecutorial misconduct. According to the San Antonio Express-News, Judge Lori Valenzuela said on the witness stand that LaHood, an elected DA, threatened to “shut down” the practices…

Apr 14, 2017 2:45 PM CDT

Alabama federal judge rules inmate’s defense team cannot have phone access during execution

An Alabama federal judge ruled that attorneys for a death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month cannot have telephone access during the execution to call a judge in case something goes wrong. AL.com reported Wednesday that U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins of the Middle District of Alabama…

Apr 14, 2017 11:24 AM CDT

Facebook’s bid to protect customer information in criminal probe fails in top New York court

Facebook can’t appeal a judge’s refusal to quash 381 warrants for customer information in a criminal investigation of Social Security disability fraud, New York’s highest court has ruled. New York law does not authorize an appeal, leaving the court without jurisdiction to address the “novel and important” privacy issues, the…

Apr 6, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Jailhouse informant program used for decades, and sheriff’s dept. tried to cover it up, brief says

Judge Thomas Goethals of the Orange County, California Superior Court has threatened several times to send people at the county sheriff’s department to jail for shredding or playing discovery games with evidence about the department’s jailhouse informant program, the Orange County Register has reported in the past. But the 5,653…

Apr 4, 2017 1:36 PM CDT

Exposing the Bail Trap: New film campaign urges change for bail system

Brave New Films recently released the first short film in the campaign, Breaking Down Bail, which combines information about the bail system—such as the fact that about 500,000 people are in jail on any day, awaiting trial—with man-on-the-street interviews, highlighting the many misconceptions people have about the bail system.

Apr 1, 2017 4:00 AM CDT

When is someone too stoned to drive? The question is trickier than you’d think for courts to answer

There is no clear scientific consensus when it comes to smoking pot and driving. And few of the tools police officers have long relied on to determine whether a driver is too drunk to drive, such as the Breathalyzer, exist for marijuana.

Apr 1, 2017 3:10 AM CDT

ABE Opportunity Grants established to provide funding for urgent legal needs

The American Bar Endowment has launched a new grant program to help local, state and national organizations meet urgent legal needs. The ABE Opportunity Grants program is intended to “support new, boots-on-the-ground, innovative projects that address issues of critical importance to the public and the legal profession,” ABE president J.…

Mar 28, 2017 1:16 PM CDT