Loaded on April 15, 2024 published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 49 Filed under: Police Misconduct, Recordings, Police/Govt Misconduct, Writings, Recordings & Photographs, Tape Recordings. Location: Massachusetts. The Massachusetts State Police (“MSP”) is the defendant in a potential class action lawsuit alleging that troopers secretly recorded nearly 200 individuals during criminal investigations, many of them drug cases. These recordings made by a phone app called Callyo violate federal and state laws and potentially jeopardize criminal cases across the state. The lawsuit, fil ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Anthony Accurso published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 33 Filed under: Attorneys General, Electronic Surveillance. Location: California. by Anthony W. Accurso Rob Bonta, the Attorney General for the state of California, issued a memo to law enforcement agencies in the state, which interprets SB 34 and forbids them from sharing with out-of-state agencies data collected from automated license plate readers (“ALPRs”). ALPRs are controversial. They record license plate numbers as a vehicle passes a camera, mounted on a traffic light, highway sign, or a patro ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Douglas Ankney published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 30 Filed under: Disclosure of Records, Public Records, Public Records Act, Criminal History. Location: New York. by Douglas Ankney In late 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Clean Slate Act into law, permitting millions of criminal convictions to be sealed. “With the signing of this law, it adds to our momentum to get people back to work, give them those opportunities,” said Hochul. Under the Clean Slate Act’s provisions, criminal convictions in the state of New York will automatically be ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Douglas Ankney published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 28 Filed under: Resources, Searches - Cellphones/Computers/Internet, Searches - Border Stops/Searches, Level of Suspicion. Location: United States of America. by Douglas Ankney “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seiz ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Jo Ellen Nott published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 27 Filed under: Reviews, Fingerprint Evidence, Suppression of Identity Evidence, Latent Fingerprint Evidence. Location: United States of America. by Jo Ellen Knott On January 10, 2024, Forensic Mag delivered astonishing news: Research out of Columbia University and the University at Buffalo radically challenged the long-held belief that fingerprints from different fingers of the same person are always unique and unmatchable. The research team, led by Columbia Engineering undergraduate senior Gabe Guo ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by David Reutter published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 1 Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Statistics/Trends, Electronic Monitoring, Electronic Surveillance, Bail/Pretrial Release, Conditions of. Location: United States of America. by David M. Reutter It is often said that life imitates art. When it comes to electronic monitoring (“EM”), your friendly, neighborhood Spiderman was a major influence for the idea to use an electronic device to track the location of persons entangled within the criminal justice and immigration systems. The use of EM has gained t ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Douglas Ankney published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 24 Filed under: Preservation of Issues, Public Safety Exception, In Custody. Location: New York. by Douglas Ankney The Court of Appeals of New York declined to adopt a per se rule that a handcuffed person is “in custody” for purposes of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). Nevertheless, the Court held that the handcuffed and un-Mirandized defendant was in custody for purposes of Miranda, so incriminating statements that he made must be suppressed. Acting on a tip from South Carolina police that Ra ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Ken Armstrong published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 21 Filed under: Prosecutor/Attorney General Misconduct, Commentary/Reviews, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Outrageous Government Misconduct, Evidence - Destruction/Fabrication/Manipulation of. Location: United States of America. by Ken Armstrong, ProPublica An unusual recent court decision offered harsh criticism of a behavior that has left dozens of men condemned to death since the 1970s, spotlighting cases where prosecutors offered claims that contradicted what they said elsewhere. This story was original ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Douglas Ankney published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 16 Filed under: Sex Offender Registration, U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Military. Location: Iowa. by Douglas Ankney In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit announced that the categorical approach applies to the tier analysis of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). Michael Ryan Coulson was convicted by court martial of “forcible pandering” in violation of Article 120 ..read more

Loaded on April 15, 2024 by Matthew Clarke published in Prison Legal News April, 2024, page 14 Filed under: Parental rights, Counsel - Effective Assistance of, Strickland Standard, Failure to Preserve Challenge, Failure to Consult/Investigate/Raise, Battered Child/Spouse Evidence, Character/Reputation/Propensity, Bad Acts Evidence. Location: Maine. by Matt Clarke The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine reversed a defendant’s domestic violence conviction after finding her attorney was ineffective for opening the door to prejudicial evidence about her parenting and failing to object to the prosecu ..read more