A great early Christmas gift from the Ninth is the subject of the COTW memo (and a case arising out of the San Jose division of NorCal). In United States v. Sineneng-Smith, Judge Tashima writes for a unanimous panel and finds a criminal immigration statute unconstitutionally overbroad. This is a very important First Amendment decision of first impression. How important? …

A sentencing reform bill was introduced last night to provide for programs to help reduce the risk that prisoners will recidivate upon release from prison, and for other purposes. It’s limited, but will affect some clients. Trump has agreed to sign it, and there appear to be more than enough votes to pass it, but it depends on whether McConnell …

A five-member majority on the State Supreme Court did not say that executing people who commit heinous crimes is inherently wrong, but said evidence showed that death sentences had been “imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.” Four other justices concurred with the conclusion in a separate, equally sweeping decision. “We are confident that the association between race and …

US v. Gonzalez, No. 15-50483 (10-10-18)(Watford w/Rogers & Bybee). The 9th affirmed “across the board” convictions of three LA Deputy Sheriffs who brutally beat a visitor to the central jail. The visitor was suspected of smuggling in a cell phone. While handcuffed, the sheriffs punched and kicked the victim and subsequently covered it up. There was sufficient evidence to find …

The panel granted a petition for a writ of mandamus ordering the judges within the District of Arizona to comply with this court’s decision in United States v. Sanchez-Gomez, 859 F.3d 649 (9th Cir. 2017) (en banc), which held that before placing a defendant in shackles, the district court must “make an individualized decision that a compelling government purpose would …

Released on April 11th, 2017, here is the memo from the Attorney General Sessions regarding prosecution of immigration offenses: Renewed Commitment to Criminal Immigration Enforcement Charging Practices It is a high priority of the Department of Justice to establish lawfulness in our immigration system. While dramatic progress has been made at the border in recent months, much remains to be …

DHS Implementation Memoranda and Factsheets March 7, 2017 WRITTEN BY: Paromita Shah and Julie Mao Background On February 20, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued two memoranda with the purpose of implementing the President’s Executive Orders from January 25, 2016, titled Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Initiatives (“Immigration and Border Enforcement Memo”) and Enforcement …

Below is an article by Melissa Hamilton, which is directed at the problems with some of the science cited in briefs to the Supreme Court in Packingham v. North Carolina in support of bans on the use of social networking sites for registered sex offenders. It gives a good critical analysis of some of these studies and has a helpful …

From: Steven Kalar, Federal Public Defender ND Cal Players: Decision by visiting D.C. District Judge Friedman, joined by Judges Paez and Tashima. Facts: District judges granted wiretap applications targeting Rodriguez and a Mexican Mafia drug conspiracy. Drug charges were filed in the court of a third DJ. The third DJ reviewed the entire wiretap motion using only the (deferential) abuse …

On Tuesday, March 21, 2017, while eyes were turned to the Gorsuch hearing, the Supreme Court issued a 6-2 decision in a section 1983 action, Manuel v. City of Joliet, No. 14-9496. The majority held that petitioners may challenge pretrial detention (in addition to arrest) on the ground that it violated the Fourth Amendment. In this case, Mr. Manuel was …

The Collateral Consequences Resource Center is pleased to announce that its 50-state chart on state record-closing laws has been updated, and a new report summarizing it posted on the CCRC website. See http://ccresourcecenter.org/2017/03/09/restrictions-on-access-to-criminal-records-a-national-survey/. The chart summaries are illustrated by color-coded maps, and explained in greater detail in the state “profiles” of relief mechanisms that have been part of the Restoration …

The U.S. Sentencing Commission has recently published a new report, The Past The Future: Criminal History and Recidivism of Federal Offenders. This new report is the third part of a series that presents findings taken over the course of an eight-year period of over 25,000 federal offenders after being released from prison or placed on probation. It’s interesting to see …

Members of the federal judiciary, federal court practitioners, law professors, and law librarians: Below is a link for this quarter’s edition of the Postconviction Remedies Note, a legal publication summarizing important federal habeas corpus decisions and discussing new developments in the area of federal postconviction remedies. If there is someone whom you would like to receive this publication, please have …

Betterman v. Montana, No. 14-1457. The Court, in an opinion written by Justice Ginsburg, concluded: “the Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial guarantee… does not apply once a defendant has been found guilty at trial or has pleaded guilty to criminal charges.” “[B]etween conviction and sentencing, the Constitution’s presumption-of-innocence-protective speedy trial right is not engaged.” The Court left open the possibility that …

Article by: Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post about the Walter Scott Shooting You thought, perhaps, that we were making this stuff up? That the whole “Black Lives Matter” thing was probably overblown? That the idea of African American men having to fear routine encounters with the police was being exaggerated by self-serving activists? In North Charleston, S.C., last Saturday, …

What if every police encounter were recorded?from ‘The Post’s View’ The video showing former North Charleston, S.C., police officer Michael T. Slager shooting Walter Scott dead is sickening. There is a full-color record of Mr. Slager firing eight shots at the back of a fleeing Walter Scott, then deserting the felled body, possibly to tamper with the crime scene. By …

The Walter Scott MurderBy THE EDITORIAL BOARD of the New York Times The horrifying video of a white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., shooting and killing an unarmed black man — while the man is running away — may still come as a shock to many Americans. But this heinous act, which the officer tried to explain away by …

Imagine twenty-three hours a day in solitary confinement in a 12-by-7-foot cell with thick concrete walls, a single window, and a small slot for food. For the first time, the public is able to get a glimpse of what life is like inside ADX, the highest-security prison and the only supermax facility in the country, thanks to a landmark lawsuit …

Washington, DC (January 29, 2015) – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) supports San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Jami Tillotson, the entire San Francisco Public Defender Office headed by Jeff Adachi, and public defenders everywhere who under the most challenging of circumstances each day work to zealously represent their clients. On Tuesday, it appears in this video that …

Defense Lawyers Say Giving Up Right to Appeal PresentsConflicts of Interest By: Joe Palazzolo In a significant policy shift, federal prosecutors no longer will ask criminal defendants with guilty pleas to waive their right to appeal over bad legal advice. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the development as soon as next week, a Justice Department official said. …