The Ninth Circuit ruled a lower court improperly denied an immigrant’s habeas petition, which argued that his arrest and re-detention was “retaliation for his protected speech.” The immigrant was re-arrested less than 36 hours after he read a poem that criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices. The government has the burden to show that it “would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct.”
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Chiding the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a death sentence for a man who killed his gambling buddy over some casino losses.
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California’s highest court will soon decide whether Proposition 57 — an initiative passed by voters in 2016 that expanded parole to all inmates convicted of nonviolent felonies — should apply to a convicted rapist and child molester serving 35 years to life after repeatedly slashing his girlfriend with a knife.
Read moreThe Seventh Circuit affirmed the grant of a habeas petition to a man who was convicted of murder for hire after telling a hitman — really an undercover police officer — that he wanted his ex-wife and her boyfriend killed. The man claims his excluded testimony about his interactions with a police informant would have demonstrated that his meeting with a hitman was a charade, and he never intended to have anyone murdered.
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The U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with a man on death row in Texas whose jury never heard mitigating evidence of his troubled childhood because of his lawyer’s deficient performance.
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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called out the 11th Circuit on Monday for breaking step with other appeals courts in the way it handles prisoner petitions.
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Ruling on the interplay of two procedural rules in criminal law, the Supreme Court on Monday revived a Texas man’s effort to challenge his 30-year sentence for aggravated assault.
Read moreRonald Prible, who was convicted of capital murder in 2002 for the killings of two adults and three children, is entitled to habeas corpus relief, a federal court in Texas ruled, finding the state suppressed material evidence that two jailhouse informants were “part of an organized attempt to secure favors in return for fabricating a false confession,” and committed other violations.
Read moreAn elephant and an organization acting on its behalf do not have standing to pursue a habeas corpus action against the elephant’s owner, a Connecticut appeals court ruled. The petition did not challenge the conditions of the elephant’s confinement or the owner’s treatment of the animal, only the fact that it was detained.
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The New Mexico Supreme Court denied a petition Monday seeking to release a significant percentage of prisoners from New Mexico’s prisons and jails due to the danger of a coronavirus outbreak inside the state’s prisons and jails.
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The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up the case of a cop killer who, 15 years after his conviction, found evidence that the judge on his case is a bigot.
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The Supreme Court decided Monday not to hear a challenge to limits on postconviction relief for prisoners, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the court should settle a circuit split the next time a similar case comes before it.
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Ruling reluctantly Wednesday against activists fighting to free an elephant held in solitary captivity at the Bronx Zoo, a New York judge said her hands are tied by her inability to recognize Happy the elephant’s rights to personhood.
Read moreThe California Supreme Court granted a habeas petition for a potential retrial of a man convicted of murdering a police officer, finding that his counsel committed serious errors during his trial. The man’s death sentence has already been vacated because of counsel’s deficient assistance during the penalty phase.
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Epic Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge Wednesday to grant him a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live.
Read moreA federal class action claims the District of Columbia Court Clerk Michael Hughes illegally refuses to release people who have been ordered released by a superior court judge if he suspects them of violating civil immigration laws.
Read moreIn a habeas complaint against the sheriff of Palm Beach County, a man claims the first-degree murder charge against him is “excessive and unwarranted” because when he shot his wife and killed a man in his car, which he had reported missing, he was merely defending his property.
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