Appeals

Fifth Circuit: A quarter of all Louisiana inmates are held past their release dates—"for a collective total of 3,000-plus years." Yikes! And it's "[c]lear as day" that the gov't can't keep someone in prison without legal authority, so no qualified immunity for the prison supervisors who were deliberately indifferent to this plaintiff's wrongful 60-day overdetention.

The case is Ellis Ray Hicks v. James LeBlanc, No. 22-30184 (5th Cir. Sept. 5, 2023).

Missouri man is stopped by police officer for walking on the wrong side of the road, gets into an argument with cop after he refuses to give his name, and is arrested. Cop knowing this is totally wrong then scrambles to find a reason to justify the arrest, telling colleagues that the man "ran his mouth off," fabricating new allegations, and asking, "What can I charge him with?" Man sues, alleging arrest was retaliation for First Amendment-protected speech.

Woman is a spectator in back row of Tiffin, Ohio municipal courtroom to watch a proceeding involving her boyfriend. Out of the blue, the judge orders her to take a drug test; when she politely refuses, the judge throws her in jail for 10 days or until she takes the drug test. The judge is later disbarred and removed from the bench for a year because of this misconduct. (Rest assured, Mark Repp runs for the same seat!

Pro-tip to the defense bar, courtesy of the Third Circuit: If a witness to a gun fight suggests that your client shot in self-defense, and then the judge pressures the witness to testify that your client shot first, you really, really need to object and cross-examine the witness about the changed testimony. Especially when the remaining evidence against him was “negligible.” This is ineffective assistance of counsel. Reversed.

In en banc news, the Fifth Circuit will reconsider its opinion holding that Mississippi's felon-disenfranchisement law violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting for felons convicted of some crimes serves no legitimate penological purpose and violates their rights under the Eighth Amendment, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday (article available here).

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in four criminal cases:

Jones County, Iowa man—who is suspected of fencing stolen property—is using a trailer on the north side of the road. Defendant is another man living in a house on the south side of the road. Police have no evidence the two even know each other, let alone that stolen property is being stored in defendant's home. Somehow they get a warrant anyway and defendant is charged with unlawful firearm possession. Police: Yeah, the warrant was pretty bogus, but we acted in good faith. I mean, defendant is shady, dude. District court: good faith.

Pennsylvania police officer stops a black man for minor traffic violations. The cop first does a routine warrant check, which turns up nothing, but then spends an additional couple of minutes on a criminal-history check on the driver and passenger, discovering both have criminal histories. He goes back to the car, orders the driver out, and frisks him, discovering a firearm. He arrests the driver, who argues that the stop should have ended after the warrant check. Third Circuit: This was fine.

Today, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is granting clemency to 11 individuals who are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses (DOJ press release available here.