FPD Blog
On April 2, 2012, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington in which it examined the constitutional limitations on searches conducted by corrections officers of new inmates at a jail or prison. In Florence, the Court affirmed earlier case law in which it held that corrections officers are permitted to devise reasonable search policies to detect and deter the possession of contraband in correctional facilities. Absent “substantial evidence in the record to indicate that the officials have exaggerated their...
On March 21, 2012, the Supreme Court decided two cases in which it found, by a 5-4 vote, that the standards of ineffective assistance of counsel (set forth earlier in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)) apply to the plea bargaining stage of a case. In so holding, the Court found that counsel was ineffective when in one case (Lafler v. Cooper), the defendant chose to reject a plea offer based on incorrect advice given by counsel about a legal rule in the case, went instead to trial and lost, and then received a significantly greater sentence; and in another...
On February 21, 2012, the Supreme Court Howes v. Fields reversed the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by holding that an interrogation of an inmate that lasted from five to seven hours, took place in a conference room within the confines of the prison, and concerned criminal activity outside of the prison was not in all instances a custodial interrogation requiring Miranda warnings. In its holding, the Supreme Court made clear that it was rejecting a categorical rule that such interrogations are custodial per se. To read the full opinion please see...
On January 9, 2012, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided the case of U.S. v. Bistline. In an opinion written by Judge Raymond Kethledge, the Court reverses a lower court (Judge James L. Graham, S.D. Ohio) for imposing a sentence of one-day in the courthouse lock-up and 10 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography
where the sentencing range under the Sentencing Guidelines was 63 to 78 months. The opinion analyzes U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2 and, more importantly, the relationship between the power of Congress and the power of...