The California 5th District Court of Appeal held that the defense was entitled to discovery related to racial disparities in plea deals to voluntary manslaughter, finding that defense’s statistical evidence showing that Latine individuals in Kern County were more likely to be charged with murder and receive longer sentences than white individuals satisfied the “plausible…
The 1st District Court of Appeals of Michigan vacated a life without parole sentence following a felony murder conviction, finding that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to raise mitigating evidence on adolescent brain development and childhood trauma and abuse. The court stated in relevant part: Appellate counsel obtained a mitigation expert, Mary Cuddehe, to…
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a murder and armed robbery conviction based on double jeopardy violation. The court stated in relevant part: [H]ere the charging information for murder simply tracks the statutory language, while the robbery charge alleges a threat or the use of force by shooting at Martin. Because of the way the…
