In this case of first impression, the First Circuit held that a defendant could not be convicted of aiding and abetting her husband’s unlawful possession of a firearm absent proof that she actually knew he previously had been convicted of a felony.

The defendant, Darlene Ford, her husband, James, and ...

In U.S. v. Batamula, 788 F.3d 611 (5th Cir. June 2, 2015) (“Batamula I”) (P&J, 06/15/15), a panel from the Fifth Circuit issued a notable ruling about the survival of claims of ineffective assistance of counsel under the rule laid down in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010). In ...

The Plaintiff in this case, Mannie Garcia, an award-winning photojournalist, was arrested, in June, 2011, by Montgomery County Police Department officers for disorderly conduct solely because he was video recording them as they effected the arrest of two other people. Garcia was later found not guilty of that offense.

In ...

This is an immigration case - a type of case we don’t normally cover; but this one deserves special notice because of its lengthy discussion of the history and development of the term “moral turpitude” in American law - a discussion that is led by Judge Posner’s highly critical use ...

In June 2012, nineteen-year-old D.E. took a wrong turn on his way to summer camp. Instead of arriving at the camp in Michigan, he inadvertently ended up at the international border with Canada. When he told the toll-booth operator of his mistake, the operator provided him with a laminated card, ...

The opening paragraph of Judge Batchelder’s decision in this case fully explains the issue before the Court:

“Like many states, Michigan has amended its Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) on a number of occasions in recent years for the professed purpose of making Michigan communities safer and aiding law enforcement ...