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Defendant’s murder conviction is affirmed in part where: 1) defendant’s Brady claim failed because he did not show that the allegedly undisclosed information was material; and 2) the trial court’s instructions did not misinform the jury about the application of the intoxication defense to aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder. However, the conviction is reversed in part where, for double jeopardy reasons, the government conceded that either the felony-murder or kidnapping conviction should be vacated on remand....

In the wake of three mass shootings in one week that killed 36 and injured another 63, the gun control debate has been revived at the Congressional level. One of the ideas that appear to be gaining bipartisan momentum this time around are so-called red flag laws, aimed at taking guns away from people who may pose a danger to themselves or others. Currently, 17 states (and the District of Columbia) have some type of red flag law in place....

Starting and running a business is ripe with risks, both to the individual and the business. However, when an individual elects to run their business as a sole proprietorship, they are personally taking on the business’s legal risks. The most frequently raised concern of sole proprietors involves their personal liability for business debts. For example, if a customer is injured, a sole proprietor could be personally sued, and his personal assets seized in a judgment, whereas if the business were structured as a separate entity, the business owner could potentially avoid personal liability....

If you’ve attended or seen photos of the protests across the country in recent days following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, you may have noticed people in the crowd with neon green hats. These people are likely Legal Observers. And here’s what they do: The National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer Program The most prominent source of Legal Observers in the U.S. is the National Lawyers Guild....

The culture wars are alive and well in the Supreme Court these days, as SCOTUS reviews everything from gay marriage, to affirmative action in higher education and abortion restrictions. It almost feels like it’s the 90s again. Perhaps the Court could review the Clinton impeachment when they have a spare moment. Having released only a single opinion this week – the important separation of powers and Jerusalem passport case of Zivotofsky – the Court shouldn’t have too much time on its hands....

Whitson v. Stone County Jail, No. 08-1468, involved an action claiming that defendant-officers failed to protect plaintiff from an assault by a fellow prisoner, and others failed to properly train and supervise the officers responsible for her safety. The court of appeals reversed summary judgment for defendants, holding that a factfinder could conclude that the situation in which plaintiff was placed demonstrated deliberate indifference to a substantial risk to her safety....

When a loved one passes, one of the practical questions that comes up is who pays for the funeral. The process can be daunting, but there are ways to figure out who should be covering the costs. First, note that there aren’t any laws that specifically state who’s supposed to pay for a funeral. Instead, to determine who is responsible for paying funeral costs, look to the following: The deceased’s estate....

For plaintiff lawyers, it’s a common and annoying refrain, every civil defendant thinks and feels like every demand letter is basically extortion. Yes, whenever a person or business has to pay up or face litigation and associated public condemnation, it can seem like a damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation, but that’s just the legal system. And let’s face it, it’s better than the lack of a legal system....

District court judgment denying plaintiff’s petition for habeas corpus relief is reversed and remanded where: 1) the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act’s deferential standard of review for a claim resolved on the merits by a state court is not displaced when a district court conducts additional fact finding in habeas proceedings; and 2) the court unreasonably applied clearly established federal law in concluding that that plaintiff received the effective assistance of counsel at his trial, as trial counsel’s performance was objectively unreasonable and there is a reasonable probability that but for counsel’s unprofessional errors the result of the proceeding would have been different....

The Third Circuit took steps in a recent case to close an incongruous loophole in immigration law that leads to certain K-4 visa holders being removed wrongly. It reversed a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decision that earlier found that a young Chinese woman could not change her status to become a permanent United States resident. The law as it has been generally applied, said the court, “contravenes congressional intent.”...

Kentucky law prohibits electioneering signs within 300 feet of a polling place – or, at least, it did until October, when a federal judge held the law unconstitutional, finding that the 300-foot restriction was much larger than necessary to combat the evils of voter coercion and intimidation. Today, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling, finding the statute facially invalid under the First Amendment for prohibiting way more speech than was necessary....

The NFL Players Association has submitted its briefs to the Eight Circuit regarding the overturned suspension of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. Peterson was suspended by the NFL after he was accused of physically abusing his son. A district court reversed that suspension, finding that the NFL’s domestic abuse policy was new and couldn’t be retroactively applied to actions Peterson took in the past. The NFL’s appeal of that ruling is now currently pending in the Eight Circuit....

Like most legal questions, whether your state government considers an offensive bumper sticker illegal depends on the details. Generally though, as long as the bumper sticker isn’t obscene, pornographic, or blocking your view, then it’s likely covered under the First Amendment’s free speech protections. Unfortunately, figuring out what is obscene isn’t as easy as figuring out what’s offensive (typically left to individual preference). As a result, unbelievable news stories pop up about people (okay maybe just one guy from Florida) with their cars adorned with the phrase “I EAT A–” getting arrested for refusing to remove it....

Jeff Jagodzinski, the coach of Boston College’s football team, was fired for interviewing with the New York Jets. The Boston Herald reported that at a press conference on Wednesday, BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo announced the termination and stated it was based on a “difference of vision for the future.” Apparently, Jagodzinski had advance warning from De Filippo of the consequences of his interviewing for the NFL job after the AD got wind of the interview over the weekend....

Trump has more reasons than simply “punishing” China for the coronavirus when he discusses banning TikTok in the United States. Countries around the world are concerned that the mega-popular app may be aiding the Chinese government in surveilling and collecting information on users across the globe. But can the government really ban the app? What would that even look like? Big Tech v. Trump The Trump administration has gone head to head with large tech companies like Facebook and Twitter over disagreements about fact-checking, user liability, and more....

An algorithm is not just a computer thing. “It’s a set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations,” the dictionary says. In other words, it’s like logic. But some lawyers and judges get all wound up in the cross-over from human logic to computer algorithms. Some say you can’t you win an argument with just an algorithm. Computer Process The debate came up in State v. Loomis, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the use of an algorithm to weigh predictive risk at sentencing because the defendant could have challenged the accuracy of data fed into the algorithm....

Costa v. Holder, No. 09-2380, concerned a petition for review of an order of the BIA affirming the decision of an Immigration Judge that denied petitioner’s motion to terminate and ordered him removed as an alien who had been convicted of an aggravated felony pursuant to section 101(a)(43)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The court of appeals denied the petition, on the ground that, under the court’s decision in Chery v....

Few judges will offer an opinion about religious issues with abortion or contraception before being appointed to the federal bench, but it is another matter after confirmation. In Real Alternatives, Inc. v. Secretary Department of Health and Human Services, Judge Kent A. Jordan had no problem expressing his opinion. In the 115-page decision, he stretched his dissent over 55 pages to say that employees should not be compelled to pay for insurance coverage that offends their religious beliefs....

If at first you don’t succeed, act like it never happened in the first place. That’s my personal takeaway from a case about whether Tea Party representatives could sue election officials for making them remove political insignia from their clothing at polling places. But you have to dig through the opinion to find that nugget to take away. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals said the Tea Party could not state a claim because polling places are not public forums and the “no political insignia” rule was a reasonable content-neutral regulation....

The D.C. Court of Appeals has overruled District Judge Emmet Sullivan in the case against former national security advisor Michael Flynn, ordering the case to be dismissed. District Judge Brings In Outside Counsel In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Then, he moved to withdraw the plea before sentencing, arguing that the government had breached their plea agreement and failed to produce enough evidence against him....