Question Presented: Where an error in the application of the United States Sentencing Guidelines results in the application of the wrong Guideline range to a criminal defendant, should an appellate court presume, for purposes of plain-error review under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b), that the error affected the defendant’s substantial rights? Lower court decision… Read more
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State v. Timothy L. Finley, Jr., 2015 WI App 79, petition for review granted, 1/11/16, affirmed, 2016 WI 63; case activity (including briefs) In an important decision addressing how to apply State v. Taylor, 2013 WI 34, 347 Wis. 2d 30, 829 N.W.2d 482, the supreme court’s recent muddling of plea withdrawal standards, the court of… Read more
A.N. v. F.S., 2015AP1405 & 2015AP1406, District 3, 10/2/15 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity A circuit court handling a TPR case is not required to make an explicit finding that a parent is unfit before proceeding to the dispositional phase because a finding of unfitness automatically follows from a finding there are grounds to… Read more
Questions Presented: 1. Are the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments violated where the presiding Chief Justice of a State Supreme Court declines to recuse himself in a capital case where he had personally approved the decision to pursue capital punishment against Petitioner in his prior capacity as elected District Attorney and continued to head the District… Read more
Question Presented: Should evidence seized incident to a lawful arrest on an outstanding warrant be suppressed because the warrant was discovered during an investigatory stop later found to be unlawful? Lower court opinion: State v. Strieff, ___ P.3d ___, 2015 WL 223953 (Utah Jan. 16, 2015) Docket Scotusblog page This case concerns the applicability of the… Read more
Maryland v. Kulbicki, USSC No. 14-848 (per curiam) (October 5, 2015) granting cert and reversing Kulbicki v. State, 99 A.3d 730, 440 Md. 33 (2014); SCOTUSblog page This is a summary reversal of a Maryland Court of Appeal’s decision, which held that Kulbicki’s defense lawyers were constitutionally ineffective back in 1995. A jury convicted Kulbicki… Read more
Question presented Did the Seventh Circuit violate 28 U.S.C. § 2254 and a long line of this Court’s decisions by awarding habeas relief in the absence of clearly established precedent from this Court? Docket 7th Circuit opinion Cert petition Scotusblog page Owens was convicted of murder at a court trial. Owens challenged the decision to convict… Read more
You heard about the Milwaukee County Courthouse selfie, right? So did everyone else in the blogosphere! Click here. “Why Are Lawyers So Good at Sex?” here. If you’re having a bad day, you will laugh at the really bad puns in this article. Which SCOTUS opinions are Americans most familiar with? Click here. And, no, Gideon… Read more
