The American Civil Liberties Union last fall released a comprehensive report about life sentences that must be served without the benefit of parole. The report, titled “A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses (Report),” offers a disturbing view…
Author: John Floyd
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
The American Civil Liberties Union last fall released a comprehensive report about life sentences that must be served without the benefit of parole. The report, titled “A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses (Report),” offers a disturbing view…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
On February 26, 2014, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in State v. Granville addressed the issue of whether a person retains a legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of his cell phone when the phone is being temporarily…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
Judges are ruled by the law. But judges are also human (some more than others), and they sometimes view the law through the human lens. This occurred in Fernandez v. California, a “consent to search” case decided by the Supreme…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Jones held that attaching a magnetic GPA tracking device to the exterior of a vehicle constituted a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.
So what to do…
2014
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
18 U.S.C. § 924(c) is a federal criminal statute which prohibits either the use or carrying of a firearm “during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime.”
Firearms are often seen as a necessary…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Sex Crimes
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TexCrimApp) this past October upset district attorneys and “tough on crime” legislators throughout the state when it declared a key provision of the state’s “Online Solicitation of a Minor” statute unconstitutional. Texas Penal Code…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Sex Crimes
On January 6, 2014, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Breton narrowed the scope of the marital communications privilege.
The Federal case against Royce Breton, a Sanford , Maine resident, began in April 2010. Several…
2014
Category: Federal Criminal Law
On December 29, 2013, the final episode of the critically acclaimed drama series, Treme, aired on HBO. Created by David Simon and Eric Overmeyer, the series premiered on April 11, 2010 and focused on life after Hurricane Katrina in a…
2014
Border patrol agents, either through experience or training, develop expert, almost magical, observation skills about vehicle behavior that can create a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
Andres Lopez-Cruz exhibited such behavior as he drove down Highway 80 near the…