TCDLA

Voice for the Defense Volume 43, No. 2 Edition

Editors: Tim Crooks, Kathleen Nacozy

Supreme Court

When a defense expert who examined the defendant testifies that the defendant lacked the requisite mental state to commit a crime, the prosecution may offer evidence from a court-ordered psychological exam for the limited purpose of rebutting defendant’s evidence. Kansas v. Cheever, 134 S. Ct. 596 (2013).

Voice for the Defense Volume 43, No. 1 Edition

Editors: Tim Crooks, Kathleen Nacozy

Supreme Court

The Sixth Circuit failed to apply the doubly deferential standard of review recognized by Supreme Court case law when it refused to credit the state court’s reasonable fact-finding and assumed counsel was ineffective where the record was silent. Burt v. Titlow, 134 S. Ct. 10 (2013).

Voice for the Defense Volume 42, No. 9 Edition

Editors: Tim Crooks, Kathleen Nacozy

Supreme Court

The circuit court erred in holding that any degree of judicial participation in plea negotiations automatically requires vacatur of a defendant’s plea, irrespective of whether the error prejudiced defendant. United States v. Davila, 133 S. Ct. 2139 (2013).

Ken Wincorn of Richardson scored a major victory for justice in post-Padilla immigration law recently in District Court No. 4. Defendant, a lawful permanent resident since 2002 with a wife and four U.S. citizen children, faced deportation based on a 2007 deferred adjudication of evading arrest that he pled guilty to based on advice from trial counsel.

Voice for the Defense Volume 42, No. 6 Edition

Editors: Tim Crooks, Kathleen Nacozy, Chris Cheatham

Supreme Court

In drunk-driving investigations, the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not constitute an exigency in every case sufficient to justify a blood test without a warrant. Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S. Ct. 1552 (2013).