Sixth Amendment
51 ABA Journal Sixth Amendment articles.
A defense lawyer who failed to investigate his capital client’s tumultuous childhood provided ineffective assistance of counsel, the U.S. Supreme Court held Monday.
Jun 15, 2020 3:55 PM CDT
Resuming criminal jury trials would be “reckless and irresponsible” given the risk of transmission of the new coronavirus and the burdens on defendants’ constitutional rights, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said in a report released Thursday.
Jun 5, 2020 12:31 PM CDT
A unanimous verdict is needed to convict a defendant of a serious criminal offense, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Apr 20, 2020 11:58 AM CDT
The ABA has filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm that courts must look to “prevailing professional norms” when assessing lawyers’ performance in ineffective assistance cases.
Feb 28, 2020 10:28 AM CST
A New Jersey appeals court has overturned a murder conviction after the prosecutor conducted a criminal background check on the only black person among the potential jurors, resulting in an arrest.
Feb 26, 2020 3:51 PM CST
A federal judge in Missouri has refused to approve a consent decree that would have limited state public defenders to no more than 173.3 hours worth of cases each month, a standard that is based on a 40-hour workweek.
Jan 30, 2020 2:30 PM CST
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a 2016 decision and ruled that judges may impose the death penalty even when jurors do not unanimously recommend it.
Jan 24, 2020 2:47 PM CST
The ABA is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case that “presents one of the increasing number of instances in which a prosecutor’s office has conditioned the release of an unlawfully convicted defendant on his agreement to a new plea—rather than vacating the prior conviction before bringing any new charges.”
Jan 14, 2020 10:46 AM CST
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has a weekly mailing list that sends out the court’s published and unpublished cases. They arrive in quick succession every Thursday morning. It’s a…
Nov 25, 2019 10:45 AM CST
A New Jersey appeals court has tossed prosecutors from a drug case because detectives wired a witness and sent him to record the criminal defense lawyer who had requested a pretrial interview.
Nov 1, 2019 11:33 AM CDT
A federal judge in Charleston, South Carolina, has approved a $250,000 settlement that also ensures the right to a lawyer for some municipal court defendants.
Oct 11, 2019 10:48 AM CDT
The U.S. Supreme Court has several blockbuster cases in its new term—on gay and transgender rights, federal immigration enforcement and gun regulation. But before it gets to any of those, the court on the first day of the term will take up two criminal law cases raising significant questions, even though only a handful of states are affected by each.
Oct 3, 2019 5:03 PM CDT
The U.S. Supreme Court justices return from their summer recess Monday to a calendar filled with potential blockbuster cases. Typically, about half the docket is set before the justices’ recess at the end of June, with the remaining cases taken between the beginning of October and the middle of January. But just based on what already is on the docket, this term could be filled with cases of great significance.
Oct 3, 2019 6:00 AM CDT
The Nevada attorney general and victims’ rights advocates are raising concerns about the impact of a recent Nevada Supreme Court decision giving misdemeanor domestic violence defendants the right to a jury trial.
Sep 19, 2019 10:47 AM CDT
A former jailhouse lawyer in Louisiana who had a 10th grade education identified an issue that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court: whether it is constitutional to allow nonunanimous verdicts in state criminal trials.
Aug 6, 2019 9:26 AM CDT
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