Criminal Procedure Commons^™

What The Supreme Court Should Do: Save Sentencing Reform, Gut The Guidelines, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Lost History Of Apprendi And The Blakely Petition For Rehearing, Rory K. Little, Teresa Chen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On Aristotelian Criminal Law: A Reply To Duff, Kyron J. Huigens

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Sexual Assault Crisis In The United States Air Force Academy, Colleen Dalton

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the systemic crisis of sexual assault at the United States Air Force Academy, highlighting how military culture, legal frameworks, and institutional failures perpetuate this issue. It argues that comprehensive legal and cultural reforms are necessary to address the pervasive gender discrimination and retaliation against victims. The analysis emphasizes the need for Congress to modernize the Uniform Code of Military Justice and for the military to adopt a model that promotes gender equality and accountability.

Lawrence And Garner: The Love (Or At Least Sexual Attraction) That Finally Dared Speak Its Name, Paris R. Baldacci

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the legal evolution from *Bowers v. Hardwick* to Lawrence v. Texas, highlighting how the latter marked a pivotal shift in recognizing LGBTQ+ rights by emphasizing personal autonomy and dignity. It underscores the significance of narrative strategies in shaping judicial decisions, particularly in *Lawrence*, where the plaintiffs' personal stories influenced the Court's ruling.

Aedpa's "Adjudication On The Merits" Requirement: Collateral Review, Federalism, And Comity, Robert D. Sloane

Faculty Scholarship

The modern law of federal habeas corpus is a labyrinth of counterfactuals and arcane procedural hurdles that few state petitioners manage to navigate-as Justice Blackmun once wrote less charitably in dissent, "a Byzantine morass of arbitrary, unnecessary, and unjustifiable impediments to the vindication of federal rights." The convoluted inquiries required arise from the need to reconcile three developments of the past four decades that remain in tension with one another: first, the Warren Court's expansion of federal habeas relief, identified with Fay v. Noia and its progeny; second, the Burger and Rehnquist Courts' curtailment of that expansion, identified with Wainwright …

Obstructing Justice: The Rise And Fall Of The Aedpa

San Diego Law Review

From 1994 through as late as August 2001, the United States intelligence community1

received information that terrorists had seriously contemplated using airplanes as instruments for carrying out international terrorist attacks.2

This method of attack was clearly “discussed in terrorist circles,” yet community analysts demonstrated little effort to strategically counter such terrorist groups. Moreover, in 1998, U.S. intelligence received specific information that “a group of unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country into the World Trade Center.” In July 2001, senior government officials were warned of “a significant terrorist attack against U.S. and/or Israeli interests in …

The Forgotten Constitutional Right To Present A Defense And Its Impact On The Acceptance Of Responbilility-Entrapment Debate, Katrice Bridges Copeland

Faculty Scholarship

This Note argues that Section 3E1.1 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines must be interpreted to allow defendants who claim entrapment at trial to remain eligible for the acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment. To interpret Section 3E1.1 in any other way would run afoul of defendants' constitutional right to present a defense. Part I argues that the entrapment defense does not put factual guilt at issue; instead the entrapment defense challenges whether the statute should apply to the defendant's conduct. Part II contends that the legislative intent in creating the sentencing guidelines in general and the acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment in particular are furthered by requiring …

Summary Of Browning V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 39, Nevada Law Journal

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a petition for post-conviction relief dismissed by the Eighth Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, finding that Petitioner “received effective assistance of counsel and that his other claims were procedurally barred.”

Summary Of Ebeling V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 50, Scott Whittemore

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The defendant contended that the district court erred in sentencing him on redundant convictions.

Summary Of Johnson V. State, Christina H. Wang

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a judgment of conviction, pursuant to a guilty plea, of two counts of uttering a forged instrument and one count of principal to commit uttering a forged instrument.

Summary Of Kaczmarek V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 37, James Davis

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a conviction and sentence of death by jury trial in the Eighth Judicial District Court, State of Nevada, finding the Petitioner “guilty of burglary, robbery, first-degree kidnapping, and first degree murder, all committed with the assistance of a child.”

Summary Of Lara V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 20, Hilary Barrett Muckleroy

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order denying a post-conviction petition for a write of habeas corpus.

Summary Of Martinez V. State, Scott Whittemore

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Gina Martinez appealed a district court order denying her motion for return of money deposited as bail.

Summary Of Mcconnell V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 105, Nevada Law Journal

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appellant Robert McConnell murdered Brian Pierce in August 2002. The State of Nevada charged McConnell with first-degree murder and sought capital sentencing. The State alleged two theories: deliberate, premeditated murder and felony murder during the perpetration of a burglary. McConnell represented himself, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and presented a case in mitigation at his penalty hearing. The jury returned a sentence of death. Initially, McConnell moved to waive his appeal but eventually reconsidered and authorized counsel to fully brief all issues on appeal. Specifically, McConnell challenged the propriety of his penalty hearing and death sentence on various grounds. The …

Summary Of Means V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. 101, Justin L. Carley

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Clyde Means was charged with one count of open or gross lewdness and three counts of sexual assault upon his nineteen year old son. At trial, the jury was empaneled but the district court conducted a hearing to determine the admissibility of Means’ prior bad acts. Because the district court ruled that the acts were admissible, Means, through his attorneys, negotiated a plea bargain. Means would plead guilty to one count of sexual assault in exchange for dismissal of the other charges. Means was informed that he would face two to twenty years in prison, fines, and be required to …

Summary Of Molina V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 21, Jeff Hall

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This case involves an appeal of a conviction entered on guilty pleas negotiated with the state. The defendant, Molina, alleged that he plead guilty because his lawyer’s inadequate assistance did not allow him to make an informed decision to plead guilty. He also contended that his attorney violated the attorney-client privilege by divulging communications between him and his attorney.

Summary Of Pineda V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep 24, James Davis

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appellant appealed his jury conviction of second-degree murder in the Second Judicial District Court. Appellant raised three issues on appeal. They were: (1) Whether the defendant waived his right to appeal the court’s ruling in limine that his prior felony conviction could be used for impeachment purposes when he introduced his convictions during direct examination. (2) Whether the proper “self-defense” jury instruction was provided to the jury, over the defendants proposed, but rejected, alternative jury instructions. (3) Whether expert testimony is admissible during the penalty phase, when the prospective expert has only generalized knowledge regarding the specifics of the case.

Summary Of Roberts V. State, Christina H. Wang

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a judgment of conviction, pursuant to a guilty plea, of one count of possession of a controlled substance

Summary Of Rudin V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 17, Mike Feliciano

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appellant Margaret Rudin (Rudin) married her husband, Ron, in September of 1987. In January of 1995, Ron’s remains were discovered at Lake Mohave, he apparently had been murdered. Shortly after the discovery of her husband’s body, Rudin boarded a plane to St. Louis, Missouri. On April 17, 1997, Rudin was indicted by the Clark County grand jury on three counts for (1) unauthorized surreptitious intrusion of privacy by listening device, (2) murder with the use of a deadly weapon and (3) accessory to murder. A warrant was then issued for her arrest. Rudin was subsequently apprehended in Massachusetts in November …

Summary Of State V. Catanio, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 103, Christopher Carson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This case was an appeal by the State from a district court order dismissing charges of lewdness with a minor for failure to meet an essential element of the test laid out in NRS 201.230. Catanio worked as a teacher’s aide and volunteer track coach at a middle school in Reno, Nevada. During the fall of 2002, Catanio befriended three young boys and began giving them gifts on a daily basis. The gifts escalated from candy to more elaborate, personal and inappropriate objects including video game systems, air pistols, pornographic material and condoms. In December 2002, Catanio escalated the relationship …

Summary Of State V. Dist. Ct. (Romano), Christina Wang

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Real party in interest Robert Romano is charged in an indictment with four counts of sexual assault of a minor under fourteen years of age and ten counts of lewdness with a child under fourteen years of age. Romano and his girlfriend are the natural parents of the child victim, born May 5, 1997. In November 2002, the child allegedly told her mother that Romano had engaged in inappropriate activities with her. The mother contacted Nevada Child Protective Services and, at that agency’s request, took the child to Sunrise Hospital for evaluation. A pediatric emergency physician at Sunrise testified before …

Summary Of State V. Williams, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 52, Scott Whittemore

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Following her conviction for six counts of driving with prohibited substance in blood or urine, one count of use of controlled substance, and one count of possession of controlled substance, petitioner sought writ of habeas corpus.

Summary Of Sullivan V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 61, Z. Ryan Pahnke

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order denying appellant’s post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus to consider whether the district court’s entry of an amended judgment of conviction provided good cause to extend the one-year limitation set forth in NEV. REV. STAT. 34.726(1) for filing a timely post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Summary Of Vest V. State, 120 Nev. Ad. Op. 75, Amanda Yen

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This case was an appeal from a judgment of conviction, entered pursuant to a jury verdict of one count of burglary, one count of obtaining and using personal identification information of another, one count of fraudulent use of a credit or debit card, and eight counts of possession of a credit card without the cardholder’s consent.

Summary Of Walker V. District Court, 120 Nev. Adv. Op. 88, Angela Morrison

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Petitioner Sam Walker filed a writ of mandamus with the Nevada Supreme Court to challenge a district court order which granted a motion by the State to unseal Walker’s criminal records. The State brought its motion pursuant to Nevada Revised Statute 179.295.

Summary Of Zabeti V. State, 120 Nev. Adv. Rep. 60, Z. Ryan Pahnke

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

After the Eighth Judicial District Court denied defendant’s motion to suppress evidence, he was convicted on a jury’s verdict of possession of a controlled substance. Defendant appealed.

Too Little, Too Late: Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, The Duty To Investigate, And Pretrial Discovery In Criminal Cases, Jenny M. Roberts

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Guilty Without Charge: Assessing The Due Process Rights Of Unindicted Co-Conspirators, Ira Robbins

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The grand jury practice of naming individuals as unindicted co-conspirators routinely results in injury to reputations,lost employment opportunities, and a practical inability to run for public office. Yet, because these individuals are not parties to a criminal trial, they have neither the right to present evidence nor the opportunity to clear their names. Thus, Professor Robbins argues that the practice violates the Fifth Amendment guarantee that “[n]o person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law[.]” While prosecutors may offer many justifications to support the practice of naming unindicted co-conspirators, these reasons …

Justice Still Fails: A Review Of Recent Efforts To Compensate Individuals Who Have Been Unjustly Convicted And Later Exonerated, Adele Bernhard

Articles & Chapters

With this Article, I hope to motivate state legislators to enact responsible, practical compensation statutes and encourage courts to entertain state law and civil rights claims brought by those who have been unjustly convicted and later exonerated. I begin by looking at the reasons for enacting compensation statutes: uniformity, practicality, popular support, and fairness. Next, I dissect the arguments raised by opponents. Finally, I turn to recent judicial decisions hinting that courts may be stepping in where legislatures fear to tread.