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‘Cataclysmic’ decision striking down strict liability drug law puts past convictions at risk in this state

ABA Journal

Years of convictions could be at risk following a Washington Supreme Court decision that struck down the state’s felony drug possession law. The state supreme…

Felony 101
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SCOTUS Rules Double Jeopardy Bans Retrial of Defendant Found Non-Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Constitutional Law Reporter

Facts of the Case After petitioner Damian McElrath killed his mother, the State of Georgia charged him with three crimes related to her death: malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. The court vacated both the malice-murder and felony-murder verdicts pursuant to Georgia’s so-called repugnancy doctrine, and authorized retrial.

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Supreme Court hears arguments in firearms possession cases

JURIST

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in two cases involving one of its own precedents regarding felony firearms possession. The issues in both cases involves the federal law that prohibits felons from possessing firearms, 18 USC §922(g). Decisions in both cases should come this summer.

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Double jeopardy claim after inconsistent acquittal comes before the court

SCOTUSBlog

Georgia will take the justices back to law-school basics – the case could be a question on a law-school examination in criminal law. The state courts responded by characterizing the inconsistent verdicts as “repugnant,” vacating both verdicts, and authorizing a second trial on all counts. The facts are simple.

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Supreme Court grants review in two sentencing cases, including one where the Court of Appeal declared “the law is not ‘a ass’ ”

At the Lectern

Here are some of the notable actions at yesterday’s day-early conference , a double one: Three-justice separate statement about defendant who “has spent over 27 years in prison for stealing a pair of jeans” “[T]he law is not ‘a ass.’ ’ ” The court agreed to hear People v. Scott (2015) 61 Cal.4th

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This time doing a harmless-error analysis itself, Supreme Court vacates murder conviction because of prejudicial instruction

At the Lectern

In In re Ferrell , the Supreme Court today grants habeas corpus relief to a petitioner convicted of second degree murder because an error in permitting the conviction to be based on an invalid felony-murder theory was not harmless. Today, the court does the evaluation itself. Offley (2020) 48 Cal.App.5th

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Court Rulings Prod Expansion of Gun Rights Across U.S. 

The Crime Report

Since the Supreme Court struck down New York’s longstanding gun law, lower courts have ruled heavily against restricting guns, reports Jacob Gershman in the Wall Street Journal. . Bruen, held that New York’s law requirement of a license to carry concealed weapons in public places was unconstitutional. .”