Brandon Lowrey

Pa. Justices Vacate New Trial Grant In Child Murder Case

A Florida appellate panel on Wednesday reversed two attempted first-degree murder convictions for a juvenile who shot at an unmarked vehicle containing four police detectives, saying the evidence only supported attempted second-degree murder.

Horror stories abound about lawyers getting punished for filing briefs riddled with artificial-intelligence hallucinations. But in a report released Thursday, the nation's biggest criminal defense association said attorneys should be just as scared about failing make enough use of the new technology.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR EDITORS: Rape and child sex abuse, and a highly disturbing attached document.

Groups representing North Carolina's district attorneys and other law enforcement leaders are urging the North Carolina Supreme Court to uphold a state law barring felons from owning firearms, saying the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that such laws do not violate the Second Amendment.

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed an appellate division court decision that allowed a man convicted of sexually assaulting a child to pursue procedurally barred post-conviction claims, calling the appellate court's opinion "confounding" and based on "multiple levels of speculation."

The U.S. Department of Justice defended a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent facing assault charges for brandishing a gun at another motorist, telling a Minnesota federal judge this week that he should be able to fight the case in federal court — where he can seek immunity — because he "performed the job he is paid to do."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday urged judges to "consider carefully" whether to enforce collateral-review waivers in plea agreements after the high court's recent decision in Hunter v. U.S., but agreed with her fellow justices in declining to review a decision that may have left an "egregious error" in place.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office for making "misleading" concessions of prosecutorial misconduct to favor convicted murderers seeking to overturn their convictions, ordering lower courts to give the state attorney general a chance to intervene in such cases.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Monday dissented from his colleagues' refusal to review the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals' reversal of a capital murder conviction, saying the decision ran afoul of the Supreme Court precedent on when prosecutors can comment on criminal defendants' refusal to testify in their own defense.