49 results for 'casenum:"17"'.
J. Swan finds the superior court properly entered a judgment and commitment order against defendant after he was found guilty at trial of unauthorized firearm possession and other charges. The evidence was sufficient to convict defendant of all the charges he faced, and his arguments that the search of the residence where he was on house arrest violated the Fourth Amendment fail in part because his uncle who lived with him gave police consent to search the residence, because officers smelled marijuana while they searching, and because the officers were lawfully at the residence in the first place to perform a compliance check related to defendant's house arrest. Affirmed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Swan, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 2024 VI 17, Categories: Firearms, Search
J. Gould vacates defendant's convictions on two counts of encouraging or inducing an alien to come to, enter or reside unlawfully in the United States for private financial gain following remand from the Supreme Court. The matter is vacated because the jury instructions for the two counts omitted certain elements, making the instructions erroneous. Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Gould, Filed On: April 3, 2024, Case #: 17-10548, Categories: Immigration, Jury
J. Samour finds the appeals court erroneously determined the "regular use vehicle" exclusion for uninsured motorist benefits in the classic car owner's policy was unenforceable. Although this court has previously found such benefits cannot be tied to use of a particular type of vehicle, the policy at issue in this case works in tandem with a standard policy that has its own uninsured motorist benefits and, therefore, allows for the exclusion. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Samour, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2024 CO 17, Categories: Insurance, Vehicle, Contract
J. Lohier finds that the district court improperly held on remand that immigration officials had detained defendant in bad faith after he was ordered released under the Bail Reform Act pending criminal trial. A general rule established in the interim permits detention of criminal defendants ordered released under the Act, and the record did not indicate defendant's detention had been pretextual or geared toward prosecution rather than deportation. Reversed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Lohier, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 17-3904-cr, Categories: Immigration, Bail
J. Brennan finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's habeas petition challenging his conviction for sexually assaulting his daughter. Trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to move for the in camera review of the daughter's medical records, as the motion would have been futile. The daughter's mental state was already before the jury as far as her reports of hearing voices, and defendant cannot show the medical records contained material evidence. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Brennan, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: 17-2903, Categories: Habeas
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J. Wilson finds that the appellate division improperly rejected a third request to amend a complaint to cure a shortcoming that led to dismissal in an earlier appeal. Since requests to amend are generally granted, no abuse of discretion occurred in authorizing one, even on appellate division dismissal, because the lower court retained the power to allow amendment to cure the defect found on appeal. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: 17, Categories: Civil Procedure
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of weapons and murder charges after a fatal shooting outside a restaurant. Evidence shows investigators informed defendant he was under arrest related to a murder and that defendant understood his Miranda rights. Further, defendant failed to preserve certain arguments, and the jury gave the evidence presented its proper weight. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: KA 17-00196, Categories: Miranda, Murder, Weapons
J. White finds the Kentucky Supreme Court misapplied U.S. Supreme Court precedent when it determined a criminal defendant's upbringing can only outweigh aggravating circumstances if it provides a rationale for the charged offenses and, therefore, it improperly denied defendant's request for habeas relief on ineffective assistance claims. Defendant's attorney provided almost no mitigation evidence during the penalty phase of his trial despite the "most severe and unimaginable level of physical and mental abuse" he encountered during his childhood, which prejudiced him and requires habeas relief as to the penalty phase that resulted in a death sentence. Reversed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: White, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 17-6032, Categories: Death Penalty, Habeas, Ineffective Assistance
Per curiam, the appeals court finds that the circuit court properly dismissed claims by parents saying their children’s constitutional rights were violated at their high school due to inadequate facilities. The parents’ argument that the government should allocate more funding to the high school is a political question, not a legal one that the court has jurisdiction over due to separation of powers. Affirmed.
Court: Hawai'i Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: CAAP-17-79, Categories: Education, Government
J. Smith finds that the trial court properly granted declaratory judgment in favor of the city and county, which claimed that the closing of a store in a shopping center "extinguished the public purposes" for which they could expend public funds in the form of tax grants. The record supports the finding that the grant of public money was tied to the "continued operation" of the store. Also, the parties' contracts are unconstitutional since they lacked "adequate controls to protect taxpayers." Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 10-17-00316-CV, Categories: Constitution, Real Estate, Contract
[Consolidated] J. Southwick denies Texas and an energy company's petition for review of the EPA's designation of certain Texas counties as having below-national air quality standards. Although the EPA reclassified the counties as "unclassified" due to inconclusive data following its original classification, and then, later, reclassified them again as below standards, it did not originally have the authority to wait for future data before making the designation. The EPA may change designations based only on available data. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 17-60088, Categories: Environment, Due Process, Agency
J. Roumel denies the manufacturer of night vision goggles' motion to strike non-infringing theories in this patent infringement dispute because the manufacturer had ample opportunity to address the factual basis of the theories.
Court: Court of Federal Claims, Judge: Roumel, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: 17-cv-825, Categories: Patent
J. Cabret finds the superior court improperly denied the citizen's post-judgment motion contesting the seizure of his truck by Virgin Islands Marshals in the course of seizing his relative's personal and real property assets after the entry of a $1.3 million judgment in the trust's favor. The superior court erred by allowing the seizure of the citizen's truck to satisfy the judgment, as the underlying judgment did not specifically allow it to be seized. On remand the superior court is ordered to grant the release of the truck. Reversed.
Court: Virgin Islands Supreme Court, Judge: Cabret, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: 2023 VI 17, Categories: Property, Enforcement Of Judgments
J. Easterly reverses the trial court's refusal to suppress GPS data collected from defendant's monitoring device, which placed him at the location of a carjacking. The Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, an officer of which ordered defendant to wear the GPS device for two weeks, does not have the power to impose GPS monitoring without the authorization of the parole commission. Reversed.
Court: DC Court of Appeals, Judge: Easterly, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 17-CF-1376 , Categories: Constitution, Search
J. Leonard finds the lower court properly ruled that two homeowners’ wrongful foreclosure claims against the lenders and the attorneys, who initiated the foreclosure, did not constitute SLAPP actions. The attorneys did commit fraud on the court in submitting materially false or deficient documents, and “the litigation privilege is not an absolute bar against an action by a borrower against a foreclosing lender’s attorney arising out of the attorney’s fraud on the court in a prior foreclosure action.” In this case, however, the litigation privileges does bar the borrowers’ claim for intentional infliction of emotional damages. Affirmed in part.
Court: Hawai'i Court Of Appeals, Judge: Leonard, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: CAAP-17-324, Categories: Anti-slapp, Fraud, Foreclosure
Per curiam, the circuit finds that the district court properly dismissed contract claims brought after an executive was denied coverage under his employer's directors-and-officers liability policy. The executive was not owed a defense when other members of the firm brought claims contending he attempted to defraud company entities because an exclusion barred coverage in lawsuits that pit insureds against each other. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 23-17-cv, Categories: Insurance
J. Collins finds that the district court properly entered convictions and sentences for various offenses arising from four individuals' participation in the January 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. Sufficient evidence existed to support the convictions and sentences. Defendants engaged in the occupation of the wildlife refuge to oppose federal controls of public land. The incident led to the arrests of more than 40 individuals. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Collins, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 17-30242, Categories: Evidence, Sentencing
J. Eddins finds the appeals court improperly decided that a defense attorney did not have authority to represent a driver accused of causing a car crash fatal to his passenger. The attorney should not have been disqualified from representing the driver, as defense was originally in place before a jury trial that ended in favor of the passenger’s family without participation by the driver, who had disappeared, or his defense, who had withdrawn due to inconsistencies over if the driver’s insurance had a duty to defend. The defense attorney was implicitly authorized to act on the missing driver’s behalf and had a duty to do so. Vacated.
Court: Hawai'i Supreme Court, Judge: Eddins, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: SCWC-17-666, Categories: Insurance, Wrongful Death, Attorney Discipline
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that defendant was properly convicted of weapons charges, child endangerment, and drug charges because defendant admitted to police that he left his four-year-old daughter home alone, where two handguns were found. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: KA 17-01665, Categories: Drug Offender, Weapons, Child Victims
J. Murphy finds the Kentucky Supreme Court properly denied a death row inmate's petition for habeas relief on his claim the jury conducted an improper experiment with the knife used during the commission of his break-in and murder. There is no clearly established law or ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that renders such experiments unconstitutional. Defendant makes no claims of jury bias and points to no precedent regarding due process protections that would limit or ban the type of experiments with physical evidence conducted by the jury in this case. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Murphy, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 17-5065, Categories: Habeas, Jury, Murder
Per curiam, the court of appeals finds the circuit court properly affirmed in favor of the planning commission regarding fines imposed on a citizen’s guest house he used as a transient vacation rental. The citizen argues the property’s right to be rented was grandfathered in, but the zoning permit for the house never had a lawful rental use that could have been grandfathered.
Court: Hawai'i Court Of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: CAAP-17-540, Categories: Property, Due Process
J. Wardlaw finds that the district court properly denied defendant's habeas corpus petition challenging her California conviction and death sentence for attempted murder and first-degree murder. Defendant alleges prosecutorial misconduct during penalty-phase closing arguments by referencing Biblical verses to persuade the jury to impose a death sentence. The district court’s denial of that claim was proper because the state court habeas decision was not contrary to “clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Wardlaw, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: 17-99005, Categories: Death Penalty, Habeas, Prosecutorial Misconduct
J. Nguyen finds that the district court properly denied defendant's motion in which he argued that his conviction for using a firearm during a crime of violence and its mandatory consecutive sentence should be vacated because his predicate crime, voluntary manslaughter, does not qualify as a crime of violence. Voluntary manslaughter has the same mental state as murder in that it contains the intent to commit "a violent act against another or recklessness with extreme indifference to human life." Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Nguyen, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: 17-15104, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, Manslaughter
Per curiam, the Ninth Circuit denied a California state prisoner's motion to recall a mandate and reinstate his 2017 appeal and directed the Clerk of the District Court to refund his filing fees for the most recent appeal. The motion to recall the mandate was untimely.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: 17-16907, Categories: Prisoners' Rights
J. Johnson finds that the district court should not have found for a go-kart track owner on a patron's action arising out of injuries sustained in a go-kart collision. There is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the track owner's failure to enforce their safety policy regarding certification of previous karting experience for prospective operators under the age of 15 was an act or omission that constitutes willful disregard. Reversed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: October 4, 2023, Case #: 23-CA-17, Categories: Negligence, Contract