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From CrimeandConsequences blog. For the second time in two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the mandate of the Florida Supreme Court in a criminal case on the application of the state. Last week’s order in Florida v. Rigterink is here. Today’s order in Florida v. Powell is here. The Powell opinion, followed in…

Gray v. Gray, No. 08-3289-RDR (D.C. Kan. April 1, 2009). An ironic twist that the current commandant at the USDB is Colonel Gray. A little history. Private Gray’s convictions and death sentence became final on July 28, 2008, when the President approved his death sentence. On August 14, 2008, the Secretary of the Army signed…

Thanks to CAAFLog for this link to the Air ForceTimes article on Colonel Murphy’s conviction by a members panel. Here’s an ABA article, same theme. Stephanie Francis Ward, Catch Me if You Can, ABA Journal Magazine online, April 2009.

Many accused, with halting eloquence, effectively demonstrate remorse and plead for leniency, while others squander the opportunity by engaging in malevolent recriminations and remorseless refusals to accept responsibility. The wisdom or folly that an accused evinces in deciding what to say in an unsworn statement does not diminish his or her right to say it.…

Courtesy of FederalEvidence blog we have an update on Giles. In Giles v. California [documents at SCOTUSWiki], the Supreme Court [Giles the opinion] considered the application of the forfeiture by wrongdoing exception under the Confrontation Clause and likely Crawford v. Washington, which allows an unconfronted testimonial statement to be admitted where a defendant commits a…

David G. Savage, Who’s Policing the Fourth Amendment? Two cases push the unevenly enforced exclusionary rule closer to repealABA Journal, April 2009. Another writer musing on the potential demise of the Fourth Amendment as we thought we knew it.

Here is an interesting piece from Wired. Bruce Schneier, Security Matters, Wired, 26 March 2009. The piece talks about the challenges of maintaining privacy and a “Katz” level of privacy in an increasingly wired society. In the United States, the concept of “expectation of privacy” matters because it’s the constitutional test, based on the Fourth…

Is there about to be another shift in interrogations law from the Supreme Court. Earlier we mentioned several commentators on the subject of how the “new” court is changing personal rights when faced with investigators. See an earlier post: Exclusionary Rule — To be Dead Letter Law — Possibly? Court questions Michigan v. Jackson from…

United States v. Forney, __ M.J. ___ (C.A.A.F. March 26, 2009). This is a case where the appellant was convicted on charges and evidence for a situation later declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002). This is the issue of actual versus virtual CP —…

United States v. Clayton, __ M.J. ___ (C.A.A.F. March 26, 2009). In this case one police officer testified, and he was allowed to testify about his personal knowledge of drugs found. However, the military judge also allowed the witness to lay a foundation for a redacted translation of a German police report of drugs found…