Crime and Consequences

Supreme Court Ducks Main Issue on Crime Lab Testimony

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 21, 2024 8:00 am

Today the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its opinion in the crime lab testimony case, Smith v. Arizona, No. 22-899. Regrettably, the most important issue remains unanswered. Attorneys and lower courts still do not know if the lab notes taken by the analyst who performed the tests and related as the basis of an expert opinion by a different forensic scientist are “testimonial” so as to make the first analyst a “witness” whom the defendant has a constitutional right to confront. Continue reading . . .

What’s Left for the SCOTUS Term?

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 20, 2024 4:22 pm

Given today’s decisions, described in earlier posts, what is left for the Supreme Court to decide in the next couple of weeks before it adjourns? We have cases on homeless encampments, testimony regarding forensic lab results, firearms and domestic violence restraining orders, a political hot potato, and more. Continue reading . . .

Fourth Amendment Malicious Prosecution Claims

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 20, 2024 10:59 am

In Chiaverini v. City of Napolean, No. 23-50, the opinion of the Court, by Justice Kagan, discusses the requirements for a “Fourth Amendment malicious-prosecution claim.” Justices Thomas and Gorsuch deny there is any such thing. The Fourth Amendment deals with seizures, not prosecutions, and the constitutional tort is the arrest and detention, not the prosecution. Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Reinstates Retaliatory Arrest Case

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 20, 2024 10:34 am

The U.S. Supreme Court today reinstated a retaliatory arrest case, Gonzales v. Trevino, No. 22-1025. The Court held that where the plaintiff concedes there was probable cause for an arrest but claims others are not arrested for the same conduct, the Fifth Circuit applied an excessively severe requirement on what the plaintiff must show. Continue reading . . .

Expert Testimony on What “Most People” Know

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 20, 2024 10:21 am

Under Federal Rule of Evidence 704, can an expert testify as to what “most people” would know in a given situation? Yes, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Diaz v. United States, No. 23-14. The decision was 6-3, but no, not on “party” lines. Continue reading . . .

Released Robber Robs Again the Next Day

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 18, 2024 10:53 am

On May 7, convicted robber Eric Gray was released from San Quentin. The next day he robbed a bank in Orange County, California and held three employees prisoner. He presently faces charges in federal court. The Orange County Register has this article.

The federal complaint states that “Gray has a lengthy criminal history that includes, but is not limited to, grand theft auto, robbery, sexual battery, and narcotics-related offenses. Continue reading . . .

U.S. Supreme Court Takes Wire Fraud Case

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 17, 2024 8:13 am

The U.S. Supreme Court will delve once again into the meaning of “wire fraud” in federal criminal cases. Today the Court granted certiorari in Kousisis v. United States, No. 23-909. The Question Presented as stated in the Government’s Brief in Opposition is:

Whether sufficient evidence supported petitioners’ convictions for conspiring to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1349, and wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343 and 1349, where they falsely certified compliance with a requirement that they subcontract to a disadvantaged business and, as a result, overcharged the government entity with which they contracted. Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Invalidates Bump Stock Regulation

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 14, 2024 8:38 am

In October 2017, a horrific crime was committed in Las Vegas, Nevada. As stated in today’s Supreme Court opinion in Garland v. Cargill, “a gunman fired on a crowd attending an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding over 500 more. The gunman equipped his weapons with bump stocks, which allowed him to fire hundreds of rounds in a matter of minutes.”

Machine guns (fully automatic guns) are illegal. Should bump stocks, which enable a semiautomatic to fire a similarly rapid series of rounds, be illegal for the same reason? Of course. Who has the authority to make that law, Congress by statute or the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) by regulation? Continue reading . . .

Newsom to Cut Funding For Law Enforcement

by Michael Rushford · Jun 6, 2024 3:06 pm

California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing to cut roughly $187 million from law enforcement to reduce the state’s multi-billion dollar deficit. Hannah Grossman at Fox News reports that the cuts would include reduced funding to the state’s overburdened trial courts, eliminating 4,500 state prison beds, and reducing the number of state criminal prosecutors and county probation officers. The proposal follows a recent statement from the Governor’s office that there would be “no cuts to law enforcement.”

Continue reading . . .

No Crim. Law Decisions from SCOTUS Today

by Kent Scheidegger · Jun 6, 2024 7:30 am

The U.S. Supreme Court issued three decisions today. All are in civil cases with no law enforcement connection. The next regularly scheduled opinion day is next Thursday, June 13, but in June the high court sometimes releases opinion on other days as well.

We are still waiting on important decisions on crime labs and expert witness testimony and local governments’ ability to cope with illegal encampments. Stay tuned.