Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained in a dissent early Friday that the U.S. Supreme Court should not allow Alabama to treat a death row inmate as a “guinea pig” to test its lethal injection process.
A federal judge’s comments about “people like you” weren’t the kind of inflammatory remarks that would require resentencing of a man who pleaded guilty to unlawful gun possession by a felon, a federal appeals court has ruled.
A suspended Chicago-area lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to 37 months in prison for using her attorney trust account to help her brother conceal more than $357,000 from creditors in bankruptcy.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 on Tuesday that the First Amendment does not protect statements made by a defendant if they “consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.”
A U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday leaves some defendants without recourse to assert that they are actually innocent of a crime because of a change in statutory interpretation.
A ballistics expert can testify that bullets at a crime scene are consistent with patterns on bullets fired from a suspect’s gun but can’t offer an “unqualified opinion” of a match, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The top court in Massachusetts has granted a new trial to a Black, Muslim defendant whose appointed lawyer expressed “vitriolic hatred” and racism in social media posts.
Judge Patrick Connolly of Los Angeles County won’t be able to disqualify a colleague from considering the resentencing of a defendant Connolly once prosecuted.
For those incarcerated, the ABA supports appropriate treatment consistent with the Eighth Amendment that offers resources and opportunities shown to reduce recidivism and increase public safety.
Parents, like all those returning from prison, face more than 40,000 statutes and regulations nationwide that make reentry into their communities a challenge. Many consequences are imposed indefinitely, impacting the family for the rest of the parent’s life, no matter how long they have been home or how well they reintegrate into society.
Scholars and courts have overlooked what could be a scrivener’s error that changes the text of the law that permits lawsuits against state and local government officials for constitutional violations, according to a February law review article.
Oregon’s former top administrative law judge has been sentenced to 38 months in prison after his guilty plea to 10 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Boston on Wednesday overturned mail and wire fraud convictions of two fathers accused of paying bribes to gain admission to top colleges for their children.
The ABA Journal wants to host and facilitate conversations among lawyers about their profession. We are now accepting thoughtful, non-promotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors.
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