For many sex offenders, the prospect of registration for life is actually worse than imprisonment. Many offenders complain they can never pay their debt to society or be free of their past crimes, no matter how successful their rehabilitation. May…
Category: Appeals
2016
Category: Appeals | Criminal Law | Guns
A stun gun is more commonly known as a Taser. It is a device or weapon from which an electrical current may be fired through wires with the ability to incapacitate, injured or even kill someone.
In 2014, the…
2016
Category: Appeals | Federal Criminal Law | Internet Sex Crimes
There is no doubt that Melvin Hubert Holmes took videos of his teenage stepdaughter in various stages of undress without her knowledge. The images were captured in the victim’s bathroom and bedroom. The images depicted the victim in normal, though…
2016
Category: Appeals | Drug Crime
Known as the “Gateway to North Louisiana,” the town of Haynesville is located in the northern part of Claiborne Parish just south of the Arkansas state line. It is best known for its high school football team, the Golden Tornadoes,…
2016
Category: Appeals | Capital Crimes | Prosecutorial Misconduct
It was a good decision, that is, for Michael Wearry. The U.S. Supreme Court on March 7, 2016 reversed the Louisiana death row inmate’s conviction.
The high court found that prosecutors had engaged in misconduct in their handling of…
2016
Category: Appeals
Texas appellate courts have been historically consistent in the view that a pretrial writ of habeas corpus, followed by an interlocutory appeal, is an extraordinary remedy that should be extended only in the rarest of circumstances. The rule has been…
2016
Category: Appeals | Criminal Law | Sex Crimes
In September 1994, four San Antonio women—Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Anna Vasquez, and Kristie Mayhugh—were arrested and charged with sexually assaulting two nieces, ages 9 and 7, of Ramirez. All admitted lesbians, the four women soon found themselves the focus…
2016
Category: Appeals | Criminal Law
Justice Antonin Scalia is dead. He died on February 13 at a West Texas ranch resort. By all accounts it was a peaceful passing. He was devoted to his family and a dedicated friend to those whom he loved. While…
2016
Category: Appeals | Criminal Law
New criminal laws are enacted by the legislative branch of government. Some create new offenses with proscribed penalties. Others are remedial in nature, creating new rules or changing existing rules of procedure. Many of these laws will be challenged in…
2016
Category: Appeals | Federal Criminal Law | Guns
There’s no question that Des Moines, Iowa resident David Anthony Tumea had serious mental health problems in 2012.
There is also no question that Tumea had a bizarre proclivity for collecting, making, and possessing anything that could be used…