232 results for 'cat:"Murder" AND cat:"Sentencing"'.
J. Savoie finds that defendant was properly sentenced after pleading guilty to attempted second degree murder relating to the shooting of a victim who was mistaken for the intended target. Defendant argued that the 35-year sentence was excessive based on his youthful age, but he faced a sentence as high as 50 years for the crime and also had other charges dismissed due to his plea agreement. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Savoie, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: KA-23-206, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Kamins finds that the post-conviction court properly denied relief to defendant, who was convicted of murder. “There is not a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s failure to assign error to the denial of the motion on direct appeal, the result of the appeal would have been different.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Kamins, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: A176849, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, sentencing
[Consolidated] J. Engelhardt finds the district court improperly sentenced defendant, a Barrio Azteca member, for the murder of a U.S. consulate employee in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, among others. Although the district court believed a consecutive life sentence for each of the murders was mandatory, while this case was pending, the Supreme Court held the bar on concurrent sentences does not extend to a sentence imposed under the applied code. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Engelhardt , Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-50951, Categories: murder, sentencing, International Law
J. Stewart orders the trial court to strike the multiple-murder special circumstance from defendants' first and second degree murder convictions, and it must revisit their petitions for resentencing on a gang-murder special circumstance because statute does not bar relief even where a jury found a defendant intended to kill. However, the trial court had discretion when it declined to dismiss their prior serious felony enhancements. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stewart, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: A162472, Categories: murder, sentencing, Vehicular Homicide
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[Modified.] J. Buchanan adds a footnote and denies a rehearing with no change in judgment. The trial court properly denied defendant's petition for resentencing on a first degree, lying-in-wait murder conviction. He failed to establish that statutory changes meant that he could not be presently convicted of the crime based on his actions. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Buchanan, Filed On: December 26, 2023, Case #: D081861, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Kamins finds the post-conviction court properly denied relief for defendant, convicted of murder, who claimed his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel. “Even if another lawyer may have relied on a different strategy, that does not mean that counsel performed unreasonably.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Kamins, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: A177921, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, sentencing
J. Powers finds the trial court properly convicted defendant of 8 counts of first-degree murder after a retrial following several lengthy appellate processes. “The procedure followed here by the trial court for submitting enhancement facts to the jury during sentencing and the court’s imposition of an enhanced sentence based on those facts comport with both the statutes…and with the requirements of Apprendi and Blakely.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Powers, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: A173046, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Wiley finds that evidence of a distinct tattoo on the shooter's neck, a license plate and phone records provided ample probable cause for defendant's arrest for first degree murder. Counsel was professional and deliberate in her presentation of an underconfidence defense based on the hesitancy of a witness identification. A 75-year to life sentence was supported by his extensive criminal record and his cold-blooded, unhesitating and remorseless execution of a rival taco stand vendor. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Wiley, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: B319020, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, sentencing
J. Oden Johnson finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murdering a taxi driver, and sentenced him to 39 years in prison for a crime committed at age 17. Defendant's actual innocence claim, based on a new witness affidavit, must be dismissed because the testimony does not align with the video footage of the shooting. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Oden Johnson, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 220123, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Garry finds that the lower court properly sentenced defendant based on his guilty plea to murder in a fatal stabbing. Although defendant's substance abuse and mental health issues constituted mitigating factors, the negotiated sentence fell below the permissible maximum. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Garry, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 112824, Categories: murder, sentencing, Plea
J. Wilson finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to life in prison for first- degree felony murder and aggravated assault on a police officer. The defendant argued that he was not able to stand trial based on his psychiatric ailments. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that an expert found him competent, despite his unpredictable behavior. Affirmed.
Court: Kansas Supreme Court, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 125,254, Categories: Evidence, murder, sentencing
J. Buchanan finds that the trial court erred in concluding that a plea agreement barred it from conducting a full resentencing hearing under new law, and instead conducted a partial hearing that struck a one-year prior prison term enhancement from defendant's sentence. And if the full hearing results in a sentence reduction, the state may not back out of the plea agreement. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Buchanan, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: D082219, Categories: murder, sentencing, Plea
J. Welbaum finds that defendant's murder and assault convictions were supported by sufficient evidence, including his DNA and blood on the car driven during the drive-by shooting. Even if the state failed to establish he was the shooter, he could still have been found guilty under a theory of complicity. However, the trial court erroneously imposed a firearm specification on both the assault and murder convictions because the crimes involved the same course of conduct; therefore, the case will be remanded to remove one of the firearm sentencing enhancements. Affirmed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Welbaum, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4445, Categories: Firearms, murder, sentencing
J. Campbell finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder and especially aggravated burglary for stabbing his estranged wife to death with a butcher knife. The lower court did not abuse its discretion in ordering consecutive sentencing and evidence is sufficient to support his convictions and sentence to life plus twelve years. Affirmed.
Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Campbell, Filed On: December 8, 2023, Case #: M2022-01751-CCA-R3-CD, Categories: Evidence, murder, sentencing
J. Pohlman finds that the trial court properly denied defendant's challenge to the constitutionality of his sentence on convictions for aggravated murder and child abuse. His ineffective assistance and suppression of evidence claims are not cognizable under the resentencing rule he invoked. And the trial court was right to treat his challenge as a motion for resentencing relief due to its title and its contents, and not a petition for post-conviction relief. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Supreme Court, Judge: Pohlman, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 20210293, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Buchanan finds that the trial court properly denied defendant's petition for resentencing on a first degree, lying-in-wait murder conviction. He failed to establish that statutory changes meant that he could not be presently convicted of the crime based on his actions. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Buchanan, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: D081861, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Heavican finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for first-degree murder after he shot his stepmother multiple times. The jdury instructions involving the state's burden of proof of intoxication do not indicate a miscarriage of justice, and the charge of first-degree murder was properly considered. The record is insufficient on other issues, including claims of ineffective assistance. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Heavican , Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: S-22-855, Categories: Evidence, murder, sentencing
Per curiam, the appeals court finds the trial court improperly sentenced defendant upon his conviction of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with a drive-by shooting. Defendant's life sentence for second-degree murder stands, but his 30-year sentences on seven counts of attempted second-degree murder and firearm possession exceed what is allowed by statutes and cannot stand, in part because, though contradictory, the jury concluded defendant did not possess a firearm as to the attempted murder charges, so those counts cannot be reclassified as first-degree felonies. The case is remanded for further proceedings. Affirmed in part.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: 23-1362, Categories: Firearms, murder, sentencing
J. Kamins finds the post-conviction court properly denied relief to petitioner who pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted aggravated murder with a firearm. “Counsel reasonably concluded that the jury would have viewed the footage as supporting a theory that petitioner acted out of revenge, rather than a desire to protect his friend.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Kamins, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: A177937, Categories: Firearms, murder, sentencing
J. Stone finds that defendant was properly sentenced to life on his conviction for second degree murder, 50 years at hard labor for attempted second degree murder, and ten years for aggravated assault with a firearm with the sentences to be served consecutively. In this case, the sentences are proper because, after shaking hands with the victims over a minor disagreement, defendant shot the victims in a parking lot of a hotel that the victims were staying in during a vacation. Defendant did not have any connection with the victims and was only connected to the murder after engaging in a high-speed chase with police, where he crashed a vehicle, fled the scene, and left the murder weapon behind one year after the shooting. Affirmed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Stone, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 55,361-KA, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Mesiwala finds that the trial court erred in allowing a consolidated evidentiary hearing in which defendant shared counsel with a codefendant. He has a constitutional right to his own counsel in a new hearing petition for resentencing on a felony murder conviction. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Mesiwala, Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: C097140, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Jensen finds that the district court properly entered judgment after defendant was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the death
of her boyfriend. Defendant was sentenced to forty years in prison with twenty years suspended but argued that insufficient evidence supported conviction. Affirmed.
Court: South Dakota Supreme Court, Judge: Jensen , Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: 2023SD62, Categories: Evidence, murder, sentencing
J. Perluss finds that the trial court that granted defendant's petition for resentencing on a murder conviction properly denied his petition to have his records sealed on the basis of factual innocence. The trial court finding that he was not the actual shooter does not mean he was factually innocent. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Perluss, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: B321325, Categories: murder, sentencing
J. Guerrero holds that the trial court rightly held that defendant, seeking relief under changes to murder accomplice liability law, was bound by the jury's gang-murder special circumstance finding that he had intended to kill. The trial court properly gave the finding a preclusive effect when assessing defendant's petition, and it correctly required him to state a prima facie case for relief. But the trial court must hold an evidentiary hearing since his intent to kill did not establish his knowledge of the actual shooter's intent to kill as necessary for aider and abettor murder liability.
Court: California Supreme Court, Judge: Guerrero, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: S272238, Categories: murder, sentencing, Gangs
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly denied instead of dismissed the son's motion to reopen judgment on his death penalty sentence for ineffective counsel. The son and his father killed two police officers after engaging in an armed standoff with law enforcement stemming from the family's opposition to the government opening a road through their property. The son used his motion to reopen judgment due to ineffective counsel to circumvent the statutory limits on second or successive sentencing petitions. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 22-4, Categories: Death Penalty, murder, sentencing
[Consolidated.] J. Donohue finds that the superior court improperly reversed a lower court’s denial of defendant’s Post Conviction Relief Act petition for relief alleging that her counsel was ineffective at the trial for her murder of her newborn who she suffocated by placing in plastic bags. The decision ignored the lower court’s credibility determinations. Vacated.
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Judge: Donohue, Filed On: November 24, 2023, Case #: J-35A-2023, Categories: Criminal Procedure, murder, sentencing
J. Gremillion finds that defendant was properly convicted of first degree murder for the shooting deaths of two victims who were found deceased in a car off the side of the road. There was sufficient evidence to connect defendant to the murders, including witness testimony and his own incriminating statements. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Gremillion, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: KA-23-298, Categories: Evidence, murder, sentencing