Background: The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed a family court order finding that Gerardo Pimienta sexually abused his then-stepdaughter, identified as AP, and directing that his name be placed on the Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect. The decision also upheld the constitutionality of using a preponderance of the evidence—the ordinary civil standard requiring the…
Held: The majority first observed that Pimienta had challenged statutory provisions that did not precisely govern the family court's decision. Section 63-7-1650(A) controls DSS's determination to petition, and section 63-7-1660(E) concerns removal cases. The operative provision here was section 63-7-1650(E), governing intervention and protective services. The Central Registry statute, section 63-7-1940(A)(1)(b), separately mandates registration when the court finds by a preponderance…
Background: Adam Hall was convicted in 2014 of three counts of murder in the first degree, four counts of kidnapping, and other offenses. On direct review in 2020, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed one kidnapping conviction but affirmed the remaining convictions. Four years later, acting without counsel, Hall filed a petition in the SJC's county…
Held: The SJC affirmed, concluding that the single justice neither made a clear error of law nor abused his discretion. The decisive distinction was between a true habeas claim and a collateral challenge to the criminal case itself. Massachusetts habeas relief generally must rest on grounds distinct from issues arising at indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing. Hall's allegations of suppressed evidence…
Background: The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a judgment validating an elderly settlor’s amendment to a family trust that largely disinherited one of her two sons. George and Helen Meeker created a revocable trust in 2014 for an estate worth about $4.2 million. The plan generally divided the residuary estate equally between their sons, Larry and Douglas,…
Held: The supreme court held that the superior court’s findings were not clearly erroneous. A person has testamentary capacity when she generally understands the nature and extent of her property, the natural objects of her bounty, and the nature of the testamentary act. A dementia diagnosis or imperfect memory does not by itself establish incapacity. The trial court could credit the…
Background: Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership sought approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission to replace the portion of its Line 5 pipeline crossing the Straits of Mackinac. The project would decommission the existing dual pipelines and place a new 30-inch pipeline inside a concrete-lined tunnel beneath the lakebed. Environmental organizations and Indian Tribes intervened in opposition,…
Held: The Michigan Supreme Court held that courts must review an agency’s application of MEPA de novo, independently examining the legal issues and record rather than deferring to the agency’s MEPA determination. It further held that MEPA requires consideration of environmental harms factually and proximately caused by the conduct at issue, a fair comparison between those harms and the environmental effects…
Background: Purdue professor Kenneth Sandhage struck Hannah Janowiak with his personal car in an IUPUI campus crosswalk after spending the day in Indianapolis. The police report identified him as a visitor, and he provided personal auto-insurance information. Janowiak retained counsel and communicated with that insurer, but she did not investigate Sandhage's employment activities before the Indiana…
Held: The Court of Appeals affirmed. Judge Kenworthy first held that Janowiak's own amended allegation foreclosed a personal-capacity claim. Indiana Code section 34-13-3-5 generally bars a personal action against a government employee when the complaint alleges the conduct occurred within the scope of employment, unless the pleading alleges criminal, clearly outside-scope, malicious, willful and wanton, or personally beneficial conduct. The amended…
Background: Jerry Crosby’s wife called 911 and requested a welfare check after he threatened to harm himself. Officer Jacob Scott went to Crosby’s isolated riverfront home, where Crosby’s truck was parked, but received no response despite repeatedly knocking and announcing himself. Scott made several limited warrantless entries while searching for Crosby and eventually found an apparent…
Held: The Fourth Circuit affirmed. The majority held that the emergency-aid exception justified Scott’s warrantless entries because the totality of the circumstances gave him an objectively reasonable basis to believe Crosby faced serious or imminent harm. Scott knew Crosby had threatened self-harm, had gone to the isolated house, and was likely inside, yet Crosby did not respond to repeated knocking or…
Background: Waleem Felder was convicted after a police encounter that began with dangerous driving and ended when he left the vehicle and ran into the Shamrock Cafe. The Lancaster County court found him guilty of several offenses, including risking a catastrophe under 18 Pa.C.S. § 3302(b) and the comparatively new offense of evading arrest on foot…
Held: In a precedential opinion, President Judge Emeritus Bender held that the evidence did not support risking a catastrophe. Reckless driving can cause grave injury, but it does not inherently create the widespread injury or damage associated with the forces enumerated in Section 3302. Felder's conduct did not show conscious disregard of a substantial risk that he would cause an extraordinary…
Background: Wesly Dalmas appealed his convictions and sentences from the Circuit Court for Polk County. He also filed a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2) motion seeking correction of sentencing errors apparent on the face of the judgment and probation order.
Held: The Sixth District affirmed Dalmas's convictions and sentences. It did not identify any reversible error affecting the convictions or sentences.
Background: The Alaska Court of Appeals affirmed a two-year Department of Family and Community Services commitment authorizing institutional detention for a minor adjudicated delinquent for manslaughter. Fourteen-year-old R.M. brought a folding knife to a movie theater, became involved in a confrontation between groups of teenagers, and fatally stabbed another teenager during a fistfight. He admitted manslaughter,…
Held: The Court of Appeals held that Alaska’s juvenile-disposition framework permits a court to consider more than rehabilitation and immediate public-safety risk. Under AS 47.12.140, a disposition may be no more restrictive than the court judges most conducive to rehabilitation while taking into account “the interests of the public.” After examining the statute and its legislative history, the court concluded that…
Background: Steven Watters pleaded guilty without counsel to misdemeanor domestic battery and received a suspended sentence with probation. Less than two months later, officers found methamphetamine, marijuana, and paraphernalia at his home. The State filed new charges, and probation officials sought revocation. At a combined video initial hearing, the trial judge asked Watters whether he intended…
Held: A divided Court of Appeals reversed and remanded. Chief Judge Tavitas wrote that a probationer has a statutory right to counsel and may waive it only knowingly, intelligently, unequivocally, and voluntarily. Courts assess the totality of the circumstances, including the depth of the trial court's inquiry, other evidence that the defendant understood the dangers of self-representation, the defendant's background, and…
Background: Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, a Mexican national, entered the United States without inspection in 2018. DHS arrested him in June 2025 under 8 U.S.C. § 1226. An immigration judge found that he was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community and ordered his release on bond pending removal proceedings.
Held: The Seventh Circuit held that the appeal was not moot. Rojas’s release was only a temporary reprieve because DHS had promised to re-detain him and, after the BIA vacated his second bond order, nothing prevented it from doing so. A favorable habeas judgment therefore could still provide effective relief.
Background: Isaiah Luwynn Mitchell entered a nolo contendere plea to simple assault and received probation. The York County Probation Department later petitioned for early termination. The trial court denied that departmental petition, and Mitchell appealed, arguing that even if he did not qualify for relief under Pennsylvania's newer automatic-review framework, the court retained discretion to terminate…
Held: President Judge Emeritus Bender wrote for a precedential panel affirming the order. Section 9774.1 does not displace the court's independent power under Section 9771. The newer statute expressly preserves other remedies and says nothing prevents a defendant from petitioning for early termination or modification as otherwise allowed by law. Thus, failure to qualify through one route does not foreclose a…