Over at Crime and Consequences, Kent Scheidegger has a couple of interesting posts on former death row inmate Timothy Hennis. He was found guilty yesterday of premeditated murder by a military jury, even though he has long been listed on the “innocence list” maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. Of course, it is possible […]
Archive | Criminal Procedure
Does the Constitution Have a 14-Day Clause? A Comment on Maryland v. Shatzer
Have you heard of the “14-Day Clause” of the Constitution? If not, you should take a look at the Supreme Court’s opinion today in Maryland v. Shatzer. Shatzer is an intriguing example of how the Supreme Court makes rules in the area of criminal procedure. It’s particularly notable in that it introduces a very rare […]
Relist Watch #2: Harrington v. Richter, the Ninth Circuit, and Ineffective Assistance
By John Elwood on February 16, 2010 4:04 pm in Criminal Procedure, Ninth Circuit Smackdown (Again), Supreme Court
It’s still too early to have much of an idea what the Supreme Court might be doing in Harrington v. Richter, 09-587—but that won’t stop me from blathering about it anyway. The Court has relisted only twice, at the January 15 and 22 conferences, and it has not yet called for the record. But Richter […]
Supreme Court Relist Watch: Thaler v. Haynes and review of Batson claims
As the Supreme Court comes to the end of its nearly month-long recess, I thought it’d be good to review some of the cases the Court has relisted repeatedly in anticipation of what might be coming when the orders list is released Monday Feb. 22. Time permitting–and that is a big “if”—this will be the […]
More Criticism of Mirandizing the Christmas Day Bomber
Yesterday I expressed my concern about the decision to Mirandize the Christmas day bomber. Today’s Wall Street Journal has this excellent editorial forcefully criticizing the Administration’s decision to do so. Here’s an excerpt: On “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Wallace asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs whether the President was told that Abdulmutallab was Mirandized after only […]
Court Reverses in Smith v. Spisak
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 12, 2010 10:58 am in Criminal Procedure, Habeas, Sixth Circuit, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court released one opinion today — and it was not the eagerly anticipated Citizens United. The Court released another habeas decision instead. In Smith v. Spisak, a unanimous Court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s grant of death-row inmate Frank Spisak’s habeas petition. Justice Breyer wrote the opinion, and […]
Ineffective Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Decisions
This week, for the third time this term, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s handling of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim in a capital case with a per curiam opinion. In the first two cases, Bobby v. Van Hook (6th Circuit) and Wong v. Belmontes (9th Circuit), the Court vacated lower court decisions […]
“It Is a Bad Idea . . . to Leave the Judge with a Smoldering Suspicion . . .”
On Friday, in Johnson v. Sherry, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated the district court’s denial of William Johnson’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and remanded the case for additional proceedings to determine whether Johnson received inadequate assistance of counsel. In his habeas petition, Johnson […]
Does a Military Court-Martial of Fewer than Six Persons Violate Due Process?
The U.S. Supreme Court held, in Ballew v. Georgia, that the constitutional right to a jury trial requires a jury consisting of no fewer than six persons for non-petty offenses. Does this standard apply in military courts-martial? Not according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. This morning, the the D.C. Circuit […]
Ninth Circuit Considers Super-En-Banc for Comprehensive Drug Testing
By Orin Kerr on November 5, 2009 5:39 pm in Criminal Procedure, Cyberspace Law, Fourth Amendment, Uncategorized
I haven’t blogged recently about the Ninth Circuit’s blockbuster computer search and seizure decision in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, although not because it hasn’t been on my mind: Among computer crime law folks, it’s topic #1 these days. Indeed, since the en banc decision was handed down, it seems that every conference and […]
Union Rules Binding in Criminal Cases?
This Chicago Sun-Times article reports: A Cook County judge today threw out an indictment against a Chicago Police officer accused of falsifying drunken driving arrests. Judge James M. Obbish said prosecutors were wrong to rely on statements Officer John Haleas gave to police investigators during an internal investigation of his conduct. Under union rules, such […]