BLOG BULLETS: In its recent decision in Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243 (2016), the Supreme Court has agreed with the Ninth Circuit that a list of alternatives makes a statute divisible only if the alternatives are elements between which a jury has to unanimously choose. Mathis reiterates the categorical approach’s focus on […]

Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to pay $10.1 million to a man who spent 20 years behind bars before having his murder conviction overturned in 2011. Francisco Carrillo Jr. was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1992 in the fatal drive-by shooting of Donald Sarpy in Lynwood. Carrillo, who was 16 at the time […]

BLOG BULLETS: The Supreme Court’s two Johnson cases – combined with the Leocal case – mean (1) the residual clause can’t be used to categorize a prior conviction as a “violent felony” or “crime of violence” and (2) the force clause can be used only if (a) the force was “violent” force and (b) the […]

BLOG BULLETS: The general rule is that motions and/or objections don’t need to be renewed once a judge has definitively ruled. Motions and/or objections do need to be renewed if the court hasn’t ruled definitively or if you want to rely on new facts or circumstances that come up after the ruling. There are also […]