By Christopher Zoukis On October 25, 2016, the Tenth Circuit remanded a case involving a federal probation violation for resentencing due to the improper admission of hearsay testimony from a probation officer. Tremale Henry was on federal supervised release when he was allegedly involved in two assaults involving dangerous weapons. At his probation revocation hearing,…

By Christopher Zoukis The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has taken the unusual step of reversing a prison disciplinary board’s finding that a prisoner was guilty of committing a prohibited act. Timothy W. Austin was a prisoner at an Indiana prison when he was found guilty of attempting to traffic in…

By Christopher Zoukis On September 16, 2016, the Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama reversed an order by the Montgomery Circuit Court granting summary judgment in favor of state prison officials in a lawsuit filed by a state prisoner alleging constitutional violations. Ronald D. Veteto claimed that he was forced to cell with fellow prisoner…

Jeffrey Rothbard was already on probation for a state conviction for felony forgery. He had used check design software to create two checks, together worth under $8,000, supposedly written by his employer and payable to his wife, when he came up with a new scheme. He created “GreenCity Finance,” a bogus financial service firm…

By Christopher Zoukis In a brief, unsigned opinion handed down October 11, the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out the death sentence an Oklahoma jury gave Shaun Michael Bosse after convicting him in 2010 of the first-degree murders of his former girlfriend and her two young children. Bosse fatally stabbed 25-year-old Katrina Griffin and her…

By Prison Legal News On February 14, 2013, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the denial of a habeas corpus petition that sought restoration of good time credits forfeited after a prison disciplinary hearing. The appeal was brought by federal prisoner Oscar Arredondo-Virula (Arredondo) after a California federal district court denied the petition. Arredondo…

It is a clear violation of the Ohio Revised Code and the Code of Ethics for a Judge to represent a criminal defendant in any capacity. The Ohio Revised Code holds: “A person that is a candidate for public office, or nominated, or has filed a petition or petitions SHALL not (A)Authorize, or employ the…

By Mark Wilson The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held in March 2014 that a district court had abused its discretion when it dismissed a prisoner’s suit for failure to pay a filing fee without determining his ability to pay. Indiana prisoner Leonard Thomas filed suit in 2012, alleging inadequate medical care for his epilepsy.…

Reginald “Reggie” Griffin, 53, was sentenced to death for the July 12, 1983 stabbing of James Bausley in a yard at the Moberly Correctional Center (then known as the Missouri Training Center for Men). In August 2011, the Missouri Supreme Court vacated Griffin’s conviction after finding the state had withheld evidence related to another prisoner…

Following a 2011 federal appellate court ruling, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initially tried to delay the release of federal prisoners who were wrongly convicted in North Carolina. The government later announced that it would halt such tactics, but has continued to oppose challenges filed by some offenders who are legally innocent. The DOJ’s…

Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit Remands Two-year Sentence for Probation Violation

Prisoner’s Disciplinary Conviction Reversed

Judgment In Favor Of Alabama Prison Officials Reversed

Can BOP Care for Inmate with Leukemia? Appeals Court Splits

Supreme Court Sets Aside Death Sentence for Triple Murderer

Only BOP, Not Private Contractors, Can Tally Good Time Credits in Disciplinary Hearings

A Judge’s Crime

Seventh Circuit: Dismissal due to Nonpayment of Filing Fee Requires Assessment

Missouri Prisoner Exonerated in 1983 Prison Murder; Brady Violations Cited

North Carolina: Hundreds of Federal Prisoners Legally Innocent, Some Still Incarcerated