Background: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the Sex Offender Registry Board, known as SORB, abused its discretion when it refused to fund an expert for an indigent registrant challenging the scientific basis for a factor used to assess his dangerousness. The ruling does not decide whether multiple sexual offenses committed before an arrest or…
Held: Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Kafker concluded that the funding denial was an abuse of discretion. SORB regulations require a request to identify a circumstance particular to the offender, specify the kind of expert needed, and provide supporting documentation. Doe met those requirements. His request was not a generic effort to obtain an expert’s overall risk opinion; it targeted…
Background: A Campbell County jury convicted James Neil Todd of attempted sexual exploitation of a child after an encounter in a Walmart restroom. A five-year-old boy told his mother, a responding officer, and later the jury that Todd entered the restroom with his penis exposed and asked whether the child wanted to touch it. Todd denied…
Held: The Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously affirmed. Justice Fenn explained that Todd and, to a lesser extent, the State had focused on the wrong statutory theory. Wyoming Statute § 6-4-303(b)(ii) prohibits knowingly causing, inducing, enticing, or coercing a child to engage in or be used for explicit sexual conduct. The statutory definition of explicit sexual conduct lists several alternatives, including masturbation…
Background: Craig Keville was convicted after a jury trial of two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of falsifying physical evidence arising from the shooting deaths of his former partner, Holly Banks, and Keith LaBelle. Earlier that evening, witnesses saw Keville behave aggressively toward Banks and LaBelle at a pub. Later, surveillance footage, cell-site data,…
Held: The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State and considering the circumstances cumulatively, the court held that Keville’s proposed innocent explanations were not sufficiently reasonable to prevent a rational jury from finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. His hostility toward Banks and LaBelle, presence at the apartment, empty gun case, apologetic…
Background: An off-duty paramedic found Clifford Wilson unconscious behind the wheel after his car struck a construction fence in Sharpsburg. The paramedic called for help, administered naloxone, and turned Wilson over to responding medical personnel. Police spoke with Wilson, who was then placed in an ambulance for transport. Because the disabled car was illegally parked and…
Held: The Supreme Court affirmed. Justice Mundy’s majority opinion interpreted “independent” through causation principles resembling the independent-source doctrine. Evidence discovered after an emergency call is not automatically protected. The question is whether the call or emergency response caused the evidence to come to light, or whether a sufficiently separate lawful source produced it.
Background: The State sought its first 90-day extension of Rami Abu Shah’s detention under Section 62 of Israel’s Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers—Arrests), beginning August 20, 2026, or until judgment in the underlying prosecution, whichever occurred first. The other three defendants consented to extensions, leaving only Abu Shah’s detention contested.
Held: Justice Khaled Kabub granted the State’s application and extended Abu Shah’s detention for 90 days from August 20, 2026, or until judgment in the District Court case, whichever came first. The Court found the alleged dangerousness exceptionally high because the case involved a sustained, systematic course of importing military-grade weapons from a combat zone, with Abu Shah allegedly acting as…
Background: The Maine Department of Health and Human Services obtained a child-protection order in 2021 after Karen J. was found intoxicated with her child while visiting Maine. The child was briefly returned to New Mexico, where Karen had lived her entire life, but was later brought back to Maine and placed with a resource parent. The…
Held: The Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated the termination judgment. It held that Karen’s practical inability to relocate from New Mexico to Maine could not support the trial court’s finding of parental unfitness, particularly when she had satisfied every other reunification requirement and had gone beyond what the Department requested.
Background: The Tees Valley Islamic and Cultural Association operates Masjid-E-Nomira in Middlesbrough. Following a disputed altercation after prayers in April 2023, the association suspended nine people from entering the mosque. Seven suspensions were later lifted, but the memberships of Mirja Shahriar Ahmed and Sabbir Miah were terminated, permanently excluding them from the mosque.
Held: The High Court refused permission to bring the proposed charity proceedings and dismissed the claim. Although the claimants had standing and could formulate legally sustainable claims supported by evidence, that was not sufficient: the controlling question was whether litigation was in the interests of the charity as a whole. The court found no demonstrated benefit to the charity, as distinct…
Background: Sean O’Hanlon applied under Article 40.4.2° of the Constitution, challenging his detention following District Court bail proceedings. The immediate allegation concerned the theft of two cans of Coca-Cola valued at €3.60. The Garda objection also referred to 46 warrants, alleged noncompliance with existing conditions and risks relating to attendance.
Held: Mr Justice Garrett Simons held that O’Hanlon’s detention was not in accordance with law and directed his immediate release. The District Court proceedings did not constitute a hearing: O’Hanlon lacked an effective opportunity, before the decisions were made, to question the Garda, answer the substantive objections, address possible bail conditions or respond to the revocation application.
Background: Diondra Sharrelle Howard pursued two men after learning that one of them had returned her stolen purse without its contents. Howard confronted them with a handgun and fatally shot one man in the head. A jury could not agree on second-degree murder but convicted her of manslaughter based on sudden quarrel or heat of passion…
Held: The Arizona Supreme Court held that Rule 19.4 did not apply. The rule governs substitution when a judge becomes unavailable during an ongoing proceeding and the successor must decide whether that interrupted proceeding can resume without undue prejudice. Here, the guilt and aggravation phases were complete, the jury had been discharged, and sentencing had not begun when the case was…
Background: Kristen J. King, administrator of Anthony King’s estate, sought records from three criminal cases involving Austin Combs for use in the estate’s wrongful-death action against him. The records concerned a dismissed 2014 misdemeanor domestic-violence charge, 2015 misdemeanor theft and assault convictions, and a 2017 misdemeanor assault conviction. The Butler County Area I Court had sealed…
Held: The Supreme Court of Ohio denied the writ. It held that the Rules of Superintendence procedures for restricting access to case documents did not govern records sealed under the applicable statutes. Once the trial court determined that Combs’s records should be sealed under those statutes, the records were excluded from the rules’ definition of “case documents.” The relevant question was…
Background: A.M.S. lived continuously with her mother, A.M.N.L., since birth. Her father, T.J.S., had parenting time under a 2019 plan, but that time was automatically suspended after he was charged with partner or family member assault in 2022. His request to reinstate parenting time was denied, and he had no further contact with A.M.S. before the…
Held: The Montana Supreme Court affirmed. It held that the District Court erred to the extent it treated the parties’ stipulation that the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply as dispositive: ICWA protects interests belonging to the child, tribe, and federal government, and parents cannot waive or stipulate away its application. The error was harmless, however, because the record gave…
Background: Gabriel A. DiLeonardo, Sr., a Delaware lawyer, faced disciplinary charges arising from his handling of his law firm’s books, records, and attorney trust account. In a conditional admission, he acknowledged that he had repeatedly disbursed money for one client while relying in part on another client’s funds, made client-specific overdisbursements, failed to maintain required books…
Held: The Delaware Supreme Court approved the Board’s report under Rule 9(e), thereby accepting the discipline by consent. The approved sanction suspends DiLeonardo from practice for six months and one day. After completing that period, he may petition for reinstatement under the applicable disciplinary rule.