Gordon Thompson
4/6/16 A recent report by the National Registry of Exonerations, project of University of Michigan Law School, reported a record 149 exonerations took place in 2015, which included 5 people on death row. Exoneration is a term of art which means the person is officially cleared of blame, liability or punishment for a criminal charge.…
4/5/16 New guidelines issued by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development yesterday prohibits housing providers from blanket discrimination against people for criminal arrests or convictions. The guidelines prohibit use of mere arrest to justify the exclusion, and describe the requirement of a tailored policy which evaluates such things as the type of crime,…
4/5/16 Prosecutors and defense attorneys filed a joint motion for protective order in the Philip Brailsford case, which was granted on Thursday. The order prohibits the dissemination of the Axon body camera evidence in the 2nd degree murder case against Brailsford, which is ongoing. Laney Sweet, the wife of Daniel Shaver, who was killed by…
4/4/16 Out of court statements are generally considered hearsay, and as such are inadmissible in a trial. An exception to that rule is the Present Sense Exception, which are statements people make of their observations as they are observing an event as it is happening. The idea is that people would not have time to…
4/4/16 Police agencies nationwide have adopted on-body video cameras as a way to improve the documentation of case evidence. While it is easy to assume the camera lens is an infallible and impartial eye, this recent article from the New York Times sheds a very interesting light on what is, and is not, captured by…
4/1/16 Police Cannot Delay Concluded Traffic Stop to Conduct Dog Sniff Search The police may stop a motor vehicle when a suspected traffic violation has been committed. Once the traffic violation investigation has ended the police may not continue to detain the occupants of the vehicle, unless the police have reasonable suspicion to believe the…
3/31/16 In Arizona, the misdemeanor charge of Unlawful Imprisonment is knowingly restraining another person where the victim is released voluntarily by the defendant without physical injury in a safe place before arrest. In a recent case from the Pima County Justice Court, a defendant so charged sought to have a jury trial. In Arizona a…
3/30/16 Following the March 16th release of an opinion by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, several cities around the Valley including Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix have stopped issuing photo radar or red light citations. The opinion stated that third-party contractors in charge of operating the cameras were not properly licensed in Arizona, and companies…
3/30/16 Federal prosecutors withdrew Monday from the California USDC case against Apple, where they had sought to force the company to assist in disabling the security of its own tech products, after reporting success in hacking into the phone of one of the San Bernardino terror attack perpetrators. Officials have not stated whether the method…
3/28/16 The Department of Justice and the Town of Ferguson, Missouri have this month agreed to a plan designed to end local practices which disadvantage the poor, and subject those unable to pay fines and fees to imprisonment or prevent them from receiving a court hearing until fines and fees are paid. The Town’s leadership,…