Cal. Supreme Affirms Dismissal of Hundreds of Criminal Cases: The California Supreme Court yesterday upheld the dismissal of criminal cases in Riverside County due to a shortage of judges and courtrooms. The court held that although criminal cases receive priority over civil matters via a state statute, the Riverside County court was not required to reserve juvenile, probate, and family law courtrooms for the overflow of criminal cases. The court also found that the lack of available judges and courtrooms did not constitute "good cause" justifying delay of certain criminal trials. The LA Times reports the ruling could end prosecutions of as many as 300 defendants.
Massachusetts Serial Killer Admits to More Murders: (This is a complicated one.) Massachusetts serial killer Alfred Gaynor, currently serving a life sentence for raping and strangling to death four women in the 1990s, pleaded guilty today to raping and murdering three other women in 1997. Gaynor also pleaded not guilty to a 1995 murder, though his attorney hinted a guilty plea on that charge may be coming. The four indictments came as part of a plea bargain with Gaynor's nephew, Paul Fickling, who was convicted of killing Amy Smith and leaving Smith's 22-month-old daughter to die of starvation and dehydration in a hot apartment. When Gaynor later admitted to killing Smith, Fickling won a new trial and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Fickling's plea agreement was also contingent on Gaynor's pleas to the four unsolved murders (three of which he pleaded guilty to today). Prosecutors claim charges are possible against Gaynor in the deaths of Smith and her daughter once the current charges are resolved. The AP has this story.
DNA Sample Case in 3rd Circuit: Shannon P. Duffy of The Legal Intelligencer has this piece about a challenge to collection of arrestees' DNA for a national database, currently before the Third Circuit. In November 2009, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that such DNA collection violated the Fourth Amendment because no government interest outweighed the privacy expectations of the arrestees, who are presumed innocent. The DOJ appealed, arguing that the presumption of innocence "has no bearing on an assessment of privacy interests for Fourth Amendment purposes." The case was originally argued to a three-judge panel in April, but the court last week scheduled the case for en banc reargument.
Massachusetts Serial Killer Admits to More Murders: (This is a complicated one.) Massachusetts serial killer Alfred Gaynor, currently serving a life sentence for raping and strangling to death four women in the 1990s, pleaded guilty today to raping and murdering three other women in 1997. Gaynor also pleaded not guilty to a 1995 murder, though his attorney hinted a guilty plea on that charge may be coming. The four indictments came as part of a plea bargain with Gaynor's nephew, Paul Fickling, who was convicted of killing Amy Smith and leaving Smith's 22-month-old daughter to die of starvation and dehydration in a hot apartment. When Gaynor later admitted to killing Smith, Fickling won a new trial and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Fickling's plea agreement was also contingent on Gaynor's pleas to the four unsolved murders (three of which he pleaded guilty to today). Prosecutors claim charges are possible against Gaynor in the deaths of Smith and her daughter once the current charges are resolved. The AP has this story.
DNA Sample Case in 3rd Circuit: Shannon P. Duffy of The Legal Intelligencer has this piece about a challenge to collection of arrestees' DNA for a national database, currently before the Third Circuit. In November 2009, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that such DNA collection violated the Fourth Amendment because no government interest outweighed the privacy expectations of the arrestees, who are presumed innocent. The DOJ appealed, arguing that the presumption of innocence "has no bearing on an assessment of privacy interests for Fourth Amendment purposes." The case was originally argued to a three-judge panel in April, but the court last week scheduled the case for en banc reargument.
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