U.S. Courts News Reporter
Share
The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.
It has been more than a month (and two conferences) since the Supreme Court has relisted a case for the first time; I’ve been doing this column for more than a decade and I can’t remember another dry spell of that length. As we head into this week’s conference, at which the court … Read the rest
“In my head there was a possibility that it could happen, but I wasn’t looking forward to—it wasn’t my intention to do so … but I knew I had the potential [to kill],” Keith Jesperson, also dubbed the Happy Face Killer, explained over the phone from Oregon State Penitentiary. Reflecting on the sixth murder he committed, he described the narrative in such a detached manner, like he was reciting a work of fiction rather than a real event.
Starting from … Read the rest
Duane Keith Davis, or “Keffe D,” who has claimed publicly for years to have played a role in the murder of Tupac Shakur, pleaded not guilty to a murder charge for the killing in court on Thursday, Pashtana Usufzy and Julia Jacobs report for the New York Times. Davis was represented by a public defender in court this week. Shakur was killed in 1996 in a retaliatory attack after the beating of Davis’ nephew Orlando Anderson had been beaten by … Read the rest
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle A. Henry has taken over the investigation into the escape of Michael Burham, a homicide suspect and kidnapping defendant in Pennsylvania. Burham was on the run for 9 days after breaking out of a jail in Pennsylvania’s Warren County last month. A preliminary hearing on the case is slated for August 21.
Burham was captured after local and state law enforcement primarily led by the Pennsylvania State Police responded to an afternoon report of a suspicious … Read the rest
In 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court abolished key aspects of its “felony murder rule,” the common law doctrine that made everyone involved in a felony that resulted in death guilty of first-degree murder—guilty even if they personally inflicted no violence and never intended to hurt anyone.
The penalty for first degree felony murder is life in prison, without possibility of parole.
The Massachusetts justices ruled that felony murder will no longer serve as an independent ground for a first-degree … Read the rest
Capital murder is one of the most serious crimes that can be committed in the state of Texas. Understanding the laws can help with your defense.
According to Texas law, all types and degrees of murder are classified as a criminal homicide. Any crime of murder is serious, and if issued a conviction, it can carry the most severe of consequences for criminal acts. While first-degree murder is viewed as the highest level charged, capital murder is a type of … Read the rest
Many State Laws Tend to Support Vigilante Justice: How the Law Helped Kyle Rittenhouse and Travis McMichael
In the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse there were few facts in dispute. Rittenhouse, who has demonstrated some white supremacist inclinations, traveled from Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin. He brought an assault rifle with the ostensible purpose of defending business property from looting and destruction related to ongoing protests stemming from the previous shooting of an unarmed black man by police in Kenosha.
Wisconsin … Read the rest