Background: Yosefa Tamir Barak, who operates a public-relations business, was convicted in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Magistrates’ Court of ten offenses involving failure to file periodic VAT returns on time. She did not dispute the indictment’s facts but sought dismissal on abuse-of-process grounds, arguing that a Tax Authority employee had initiated the criminal investigation without established guidelines…
Held: Deputy President Noam Sohlberg denied the retrial application. Assuming without deciding that selective enforcement could, in an appropriate case, support a retrial based on new evidence, the Court held that Tamir Barak had not met the demanding statutory standard. She did not submit the complete guidelines, quoting only one provision, which prevented the Court from evaluating the document as a…
Background: Donyelle Michael Black was convicted after a 1988 bench trial of first-degree felony murder, armed robbery, and felony-firearm for crimes committed when he was 15. The trial court sentenced him to life without parole for felony murder. After the U.S. Supreme Court barred mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles and made that rule retroactive, prosecutors sought…
Held: In a unanimous opinion, the Michigan Supreme Court held that when a defendant indicates an intent to offer expert psychological evidence based on an examination at a Miller hearing, the trial court may require the defendant to undergo a similar examination by a prosecution expert. Conditioning the defense evidence on such an examination does not violate the federal or Michigan…
Background: The appellants were children of migrants without legal status, including asylum seekers, living in southern Tel Aviv. Most attended the Gvanim and Bialik elementary schools. As Israeli families left those schools, the concentration of children from this disadvantaged population created what the Supreme Court described as de facto racial segregation, although it was not intentionally…
Held: The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal because the materially changed circumstances had caused the proceeding to exhaust itself. With the 2026–2027 school year imminent, the Court found no practical relief available beyond directing the respondents to continue vigorously implementing the integration policy they were already pursuing. It rejected the request to close Gvanim and Bialik immediately as a drastic…
Background: Police arrested Alexander James Haupt in 2017 on a misdemeanor stalking charge involving 17-year-old AM. A warranted search of Haupt’s cellphone for stalking evidence revealed nude photographs of AM, prompting a second warrant for child sexually abusive material. Police found sexual images, communications indicating that Haupt had sold images to a third party, and an…
Held: The Michigan Supreme Court held that Haupt did not validly waive his right to counsel after appointed counsel withdrew. Haupt never unequivocally requested self-representation, and the trial court did not advise him of the charges, the risks of self-representation, or the opportunity to consult another attorney, as required by Michigan law. Assuming without deciding that Michigan recognizes forfeiture of counsel…
Background: Three consolidated civil appeals arose from a March 29, 2022 judgment of the Haifa District Court in four related actions concerning compensation for expropriated land. The appeals involved several groups of claimants, including the Tarif and Amar expropriation claimants, and the State of Israel—Israel Land Authority.
Held: The Supreme Court did not finally decide the merits of the appeals. It issued a procedural decision establishing a timetable for their possible consensual resolution and for adjudicating any disputes that remained. The State and the Tarif claimants were directed to seek a partial judgment for claimants whose entitlement was undisputed by August 16, 2026. They were also directed to…
Background: In 1976, a jury convicted Edwin Lamar Langston of first-degree felony murder for aiding and abetting an armed robbery in which Ronald Wilson fatally shot grocery-store owner Arretta Ingraham. Langston had entered the store before the robbery and told Wilson how many people were inside, but he was not present during the robbery or shooting.…
Held: The Michigan Supreme Court held that mandatory life without parole for a pre-Aaron felony-murder conviction constitutes cruel or unusual punishment under Article 1, § 16 of the Michigan Constitution when two conditions are satisfied. The defendant must first show that the jury was not instructed on malice as Aaron later defined it. The burden then shifts to the prosecution to…
Background: The first respondent was charged with arson, extortion by threats, and conspiracy to commit a felony. Prosecutors alleged that he arranged two attacks in which a person was sent to set fire to the home and office of an attorney who represented the respondent’s nephew in proceedings against the respondent and his brother, and that…
Held: Justice Daphne Barak-Erez granted the application and extended the first respondent’s detention for 90 days beginning August 3, 2026, or until judgment in the District Court proceeding, whichever occurs first. The Court held that continued detention behind bars remained necessary because the underlying family conflict had not been resolved and the respondent continued to pose a risk to those around…
Background: The Michigan Attorney General obtained circuit-court authorization to issue investigative subpoenas concerning possible violations of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act arising from Eli Lilly and Company’s insulin-pricing and marketing practices. The Attorney General alleged probable cause to investigate whether price disparities involving Humalog, its generic version Lispro, and insulin sold in other countries reflected grossly…
Held: In a 4–3 decision, the majority held that the case presented an actual, justiciable controversy even though the Attorney General had not yet pleaded a substantive MCPA violation. The circuit court had already found probable cause and authorized subpoenas, and the parties disputed whether the statutory exemption barred the investigation. The majority concluded that the investigative petition was not itself…
Background: Jayneel Ravindra Jade responded to an online escort advertisement posted by officers conducting a child-sex-trafficking reverse sting. The advertisement identified the woman as 20 years old. During subsequent messages, the police decoy asked whether Jade was comfortable with younger women and said she was 15. Jade replied, “Got to be 16,” later suggested role-playing if…
Held: The Michigan Supreme Court held that factual findings made after an entrapment hearing are reviewed for clear error, but the ultimate determination whether entrapment occurred—and any underlying legal questions—are reviewed de novo. The Court clarified that Michigan’s modified objective test permits dismissal if police either unlawfully induced the offense or engaged in conduct so reprehensible that it cannot be tolerated.…
Background: James Gregory Eads was 16 in 1992 when he shot and killed 17-year-old Eric Kincaid in an apparently gang-related incident. A jury convicted Eads of second-degree murder and felony-firearm. Although the advisory guidelines recommended a minimum sentence of 12 to 25 years or parolable life, the trial court sentenced him as an adult to 50…
Held: The Michigan Supreme Court held that a sentence of 50 to 75 years for second-degree murder committed by a youthful offender—defined in the opinion as a person under 21 at the time of the offense—violates Michigan’s constitutional prohibition on cruel or unusual punishment. Applying the Bullock factors, the Court concluded that every factor supported finding the sentence unconstitutionally excessive: it…
Background: John Harold Sanders was arrested without a warrant in January 2013 after bringing his three-month-old daughter to a hospital with suspected inflicted injuries. His daughter died that evening, and an autopsy attributed her death to a traumatic brain injury and classified it as a homicide. Approximately 64 hours after his arrest—and before any judicial determination…
Held: The Michigan Supreme Court held that statements made while an arrestee is detained in violation of McLaughlin must be excluded unless the prosecution proves that the statements were sufficiently attenuated from the unlawful detention. Courts must consider whether Miranda warnings were given, the temporal relationship between the constitutional violation and the statements, any intervening circumstances, and the purpose and flagrancy…
Background: Cinecca Daquan Madison was charged with open murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and two counts of felony-firearm after allegedly shooting two companions in June 2022, killing one and seriously injuring the other. Madison, who was 19 at the time, underwent competency and criminal-responsibility evaluations. Although evaluators concluded that he was competent and not…
Held: In lieu of granting leave to appeal, the Michigan Supreme Court overruled Carpenter. The Court held that Michigan’s legal-insanity statute, MCL 768.21a, governs the affirmative defense of insanity but does not bar a defendant from offering diminished-capacity evidence to contest whether the prosecution proved the mens rea element of a specific-intent offense. Insanity admits the offense and seeks an excuse,…