Articles
Articles on Federal Criminal Trials
Articles filed under Trial, newest first.
- Kansas Prosecutors Refuse Court Order Over Secretly Recorded Attorney Meetings
In 2020, federal prosecutors in Kansas refused a judge's order to open their files to prisoners whose meetings with their lawyers had been secretly recorded.
- How to Prove Your Lawyer's Mistakes Hurt You in a Guilty Plea Case
What you must prove depends on the mistake: bad advice to plead guilty, bad advice to reject an offer, or never being told about an offer each has its own test.
- When Can a Guilty Plea Be Challenged? The "Knowing and Voluntary" Standard
A guilty plea can be challenged if it was not truly voluntary or knowing, but your sworn answers at the plea hearing make that hard, so specific facts matter.
- Can Prosecutors Strike Jurors Because of Race? How Batson Challenges Work
No: striking a juror because of race violates equal protection, but as Altareb shows, a Batson challenge is hard to win if the prosecutor gives a race-neutral reason.
- How Judges Decide Whether Expert Testimony Can Be Used at Trial
The judge acts as a gatekeeper: under Daubert and Rule 702, expert testimony comes in only if the expert is qualified and the opinion is reliable and relevant.
- Do You Have a Right to a Lawyer Before You Are Indicted?
Generally not: the Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches when formal charges begin, and the Supreme Court declined to extend it to pre-indictment plea offers.
- Can Misusing Your Employer's Confidential Information Be Wire Fraud?
Yes: the Fifth Circuit held in Hager that confidential business information is property, so a scheme to take it can be mail or wire fraud.
- Can You Get a New Trial If a Juror Hid Something During Jury Selection?
Possibly: in United States v. French, the First Circuit ordered a hearing into a juror who left out her son's drug convictions, even two years after trial.
- Police Can't Split One Illegal Stop Into Two: $167,070 Suppressed
The Ninth Circuit held that two coordinated traffic stops count as one, so cash found after an illegally extended first stop had to be suppressed.
- When Is an Online Post an "Advertisement" Under 18 U.S.C. § 2251?
It can be a question for the jury: the Ninth Circuit held a defendant had the right to argue that posts on a small, closed, encrypted board were not advertisements.
- Sex Trafficking Conviction Reversed Because the Jury Instructions Changed the Charge
The Ninth Circuit reversed an attempted sex trafficking conviction because the jury was given a way to convict that the indictment never charged.
- 53 Convictions Set Aside Because the Judge Answered Jury Notes in Secret
The Eleventh Circuit set aside 53 convictions because the trial judge answered two jury notes without telling the defendant or his lawyers.