The state's highest court affirmed Joseph A. Meyers's murder and arson convictions, rejecting his argument that a mangled trial transcript made a reconstruction hearing inadequate to protect his right to appeal.
A Tenth Circuit panel upheld the dismissal of a filmmaker’s First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim, ruling that officers had arguable probable cause to arrest him for interfering with an active-shooter standoff.
The Georgia Supreme Court vacated a trial court’s dismissal of a defendant’s motion for leave to file an out-of-time appeal, ruling that a 2025 statute restored the right for those whose prior motions were dismissed under Cook v. State.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed a court of appeals decision that refused to address the State’s consensual-encounter argument because the State failed to also challenge the trial court’s community-caretaking ruling, clarifying that independent...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a federal district court’s grant of habeas relief that had vacated Mark Alan Bradford’s 1988 murder conviction and death sentence, holding that the California Supreme Court’s rejection of his claims was not objectively unreasonable.
The Supreme Court unanimously held that a federal court retains jurisdiction to confirm or vacate an arbitral award if it previously stayed the underlying claims under the Federal Arbitration Act, even if the confirmation motion lacks an independent...
The First District Appellate Court reversed summary judgment in a legal malpractice suit against former workers’ compensation attorney Francine Fishel and her firm, Brill & Fishel, P.C., holding that factual disputes and differing inferences regarding...
A federal appeals court reversed a jury verdict for a jail nurse and reinstated a lawsuit against Orange County, ruling the nurse lacked qualified immunity and the county failed to train staff on stroke symptoms.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment to the City of Eugene, ruling that plaintiffs lacked Article III standing for a pre-enforcement First Amendment challenge to park rules, but reversed the denial of leave to amend...
The Third Circuit vacated Tarik Chambers' guilty plea and reassigned his case to a different district judge, ruling that the original judge violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1) by improperly participating in plea discussions and pressuring...
The Georgia Supreme Court suspended an assistant district attorney for six months for using AI to generate fictitious case citations, vacating the trial court’s order and remanding the case.
A Chesterfield County officer deployed his police dog on a one-legged man who was in a fetal-like position on a storage room floor, then took a considerable amount of time to separate the animal as it attacked the man's buttocks, scrotum, and amputated...
The Fourth Circuit vacated the dismissal of a pro se excessive force complaint against two Montgomery County police officers, holding that the district court erred by ignoring an officer identified in the body of the complaint and by dismissing a claim that...
A divided Eleventh Circuit panel held that a seaman injured aboard a 288-foot yacht must arbitrate his maintenance, cure, and failure-to-treat claims against both his contractual employer and the yacht's non-signatory record owner and alleged beneficial...
The Hawaii Supreme Court held that a sentencing court must articulate its reasons for imposing a consecutive sentence on the record at the time of sentencing — not in a written order filed after the defendant has already appealed.
The Utah Supreme Court reversed a district court ruling that shielded a construction company from liability after a fatal underride trailer crash, holding unanimously that a broad statutory duty to operate safe equipment on roadways already applied and that...
The Delaware Supreme Court reversed five of Daryl Baldwin’s felony sex-crime convictions, including two counts of rape, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding DNA evidence showing that spermatozoa found in a 13-year-old victim’s...
The California Court of Appeal ordered Riverside County Superior Court Judge Samah Shouka removed from presiding over a Racial Justice Act evidentiary hearing in a capital murder case, holding that her prior role as a homicide prosecutor in the same...
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that a defendant who completes a mental health court program but fails to pay restitution due to financial hardship is not entitled to have her felony conviction set aside, distinguishing between excusing a probation...
A per curiam panel of the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the drug-trafficking convictions and sentences of three men caught aboard a stateless vessel carrying nearly 375 kilograms of cocaine in the Dominican Republic's exclusive economic zone. The court held...