Our question is whether the Constitution permits the Arizona legislature to prohibit abortion beginning at twenty weeks gestation, before the fetus is viable. We hold that it does not.

Arizona House Bill 2036 (“H.B. 2036â€� or “the Actâ€�), enacted in April 2012, forbids, except in a medical emergency, abortion of a fetus determined to be of a gestational age of at least twenty weeks.... More...   $0 (05-22-2013 - AZ)

Michael Joseph Griffin appeals an order of the circuit court denying his motion to vacate his conviction for first-degree murder and sentence of death filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. Griffin also petitions this Court

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for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the tr... More...   $0 (05-16-2013 - FL)

The United States of American charged Bobby Ray Harris, age 26, of willfully making a threat in violation of 18 U.S.C. 844 and attempting to extort bank money in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2113 as a result of threatening to bomb the high school in Miami, Oklahoma on September 11, 2012. It claimed that Harris called the school and said that a bomb had been placed in the school. As a result of the cal... More...   $0 (05-15-2013 - OK)

We consider in this case whether a district attorney acts as a local or a state official when establishing policy and training related to the use of jailhouse informants. We find that, as to the policies at issue here, the district attorney was acting as a final policymaker for the County of Los Angeles.

We thus reverse the district court’s grant of the motion for judgment on the pleading... More...   $0 (05-13-2013 - CA)

Based upon a DNA match in 2008, the state prosecuted appellant for an armed sexual battery and armed burglary which occurred in 1996. The statute of limitations barred the burglary conviction, but appellant was convicted of armed sexual battery. Appellant claims that the trial court erred in refusing to allow him to waive his statute of limitations defense as to the lesser-included offenses for ar... More...   $0 (05-08-2013 - FL)

Stephen Graham-Wright challenges the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his sentence, complaining in particular about the district court’s consideration of statements he made to a psychiatrist during a pretrial competency examination and of the psychiatrist’s diagnosis that he was a pedophile. We must affirm.

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No. 12-1660 United States v. Graham-Wright Page 2

I.... More...   $0 (05-07-2013 - MI)

Before this Court on appeal is the dismissal of Petitioner Joseph DeLong's 28 U.S.C. § 2254 federal habeas corpus petition. After careful review, we remand to the district court. We begin by outlining the procedural posture of DeLong's case.

DeLong was convicted by a jury in Massachusetts state court on two indictments charging him with unarmed robbery, and sentenced to concurrent... More...   $0 (05-07-2013 - MA)

Ray Charles Miller (“Millerâ€�) appeals the district court’s denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2554 application challenging his guilty-plea conviction for intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. We granted a certificate of appealability (“COAâ€�) on three issues: (1) whether Miller’s trial counsel provided ineffective assistance regarding a lapsed plea offer from the State; (2) whether the trial... More...   $0 (05-01-2013 - TX)

The People of California charged Richard Morris, Jr., age 59, with first-degree murder in conjunction with the death of James Stockwell, who owned the Mustang Topless Theater in Santa Ana, in 1987. Stockwell, also known as Jimmy Casino, was killed and his 22-year-old girlfriend was raped in Casino's condo. Investigation into who committed the crimes was thwarted until DNA evidence led to Morris' ... More...   $0 (05-01-2013 - CA)

The People of the State of California charged Shajia Ayobi, age 46, with first-degree murder in conjunction with the death of Ghulam Rabani Ayobi, age 53.

Defendant claimed that she killed her husband to defend herself from continued chronic domestic abuse and that she was in "imminent" threat to her when she killed him or had him killed.

California Penal Code Sections 187-199 pr... More...   $0 (05-01-2013 - CA)

Like other circuits, the panel adopted a two-step approach to interpretation of the Second Amendment. The first consideration is whether “the conduct at issue falls within the scope of the Second Amendment right� as shown by “historical traditions.� NRA v. ATF, 700 F.3d 185, 194 (5th Cir. 2012).

The second level of consideration is to apply a type of intermediate scrutiny based on... More...   $0 (04-30-2013 - TX)

This case is before the Court on appeal from two judgments of conviction of first-degree murder and two sentences of death. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. Richard Robards was convicted in Pinellas County of the 2006 murders of Clearwater residents Linda and Frank Deluca and he now pursues the direct appeal of his convictions and sentences which are subject to automatic r... More...   $0 (04-25-2013 - FL)

¶1 A jury found Eric Boyston guilty of three first degree murders and one count each of attempted first and second degree murder. He was sentenced to death for the murders and to prison terms on the attempt convictions. We have jurisdiction over this automatic appeal under Article 6, Section 5(3) of the

2

Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 13-4031.1

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL ... More...   $0 (04-15-2013 - AZ)

Defendant was charged with sexually molesting two victims. A jury convicted defendant of some counts involving one victim while deadlocking on all counts involving the other victim. Nevertheless, the jury returned a true finding on a ―One Strike‖ allegation that defendant had committed offenses against multiple victims. (Pen. Code, § 667.61, subds. (b), (e)(4); all further statutory reference... More...   $0 (04-08-2013 - CA)

The jury convicted Johnny Lee Wells, Appellant, of the offense of capital murder. The State waived the death penalty, and the trial court assessed Appellant’s punishment at confinement for life. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 12.31(a) (West 2011) (setting the mandatory punishment at imprisonment for life without parole). We affirm. On August 24, 1990, the 66-year-old victim was discovered lying dea... More...   $0 (04-04-2013 - TX)

Larry Eugene Mann, a prisoner under sentence of death and under an active death warrant, appeals the circuit court’s orders denying his motion to vacate

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sentence and public records requests filed pursuant to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and 3.852 and petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. For t... More...   $0 (04-02-2013 - FL)

Isaiah Brady was convicted in Illinois state court of first-degree murder for the shooting death of Andrea McDaniel, his girlfriend and the mother of his eighteen-month-old daughter. Brady no longer disputes that he shot McDaniel, though he claims it was an accident and has proffered four wit

2 No. 11-3365

nesses to corroborate his story. None of them testified at trial, because ... More...   $0 (04-01-2013 - IL)

It is axiomatic that, "to be constitutionally valid, a plea of guilty must be knowingly and voluntarily made." United States v. Brown, 117 F.3d 471, 473 (11th Cir. 1997). And "a guilty plea is not knowingly and voluntarily made when the defendant has been misinformed" as to a crucial aspect of his case. Id.

In this extraordinary case, the law enforcement officer responsible for the investig... More...   $0 (04-01-2013 - MD)

In August 2000, an Oklahoma state court jury convicted Clayton Lockett of 19 counts, including burglary, assault, rape, and first degree murder. He was sentenced to 2,285 years and 90 days of imprisonment for his non-capital crimes and sentenced to death for his murder conviction. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (“OCCAâ€�) affirmed Mr. Lockett’s convictions and sentence and later denied... More...   $0 (04-01-2013 - OK)

The United States of America charged Homer Helter, age 68, and James Kassel, age 61, with illegally selling guns with a license and conspiring to deal firearms without a license. Helter owns and operated Homer Helter's Antique & Military Mall in Naples, Florida.

The Defendant claimed that they were selling guns from their personal collections and did so infrequently, which is legal withou... More...   $0 (03-30-2013 - FL)

Defendant Roy Seward appeals his sentences following his guilty pleas to one count of rape and one count of aggravated criminal sodomy for acts committed against his stepdaughter. The district court judge sentenced Seward to concurrent hard 25 life sentences under Jessica's Law, K.S.A. 21-4643(a)(1)(B) and (D) (now K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 21-6627), and to lifetime postrelease supervision.

Seward ... More...   $0 (03-29-2013 - KS)

After a Tennessee state court jury convicted
petitioner Derry Lovins of second-degree murder, the state trial court judge made
additional factual findings and enhanced Lovins’s sentence from twenty to twenty-three

1

No. 11-5545 Lovins v. Parker Page 2

years based on those findings. In this petition for a writ of habeas corpus under
28 U.S.C. § 2254, Lovins... More...   $0 (03-28-2013 - TN)

In 1992, a Tennessee jury convicted Petitioner-Appellant Henry Hodges of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death.

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No. 09-5021 Hodges v. Colson Page 2

The state courts upheld the conviction and sentence on appeal and denied Hodges’s petition for post-conviction relief. Hodges then petitioned for federal habeas relief, which the district court denied. Hodges now appea... More...   $0 (03-26-2013 - TN)

Over a decade ago, defendant Guy Westmoreland was convicted in two trials, in the first for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, and in the second for five additional counts stemming from the murder of the wife of his partner in drugdealing: causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime; using interstate commerce facilities to commit murder ... More...   $0 (03-25-2013 - IL)

This case arises from the denial of a motion for reimbursement of investigative fees in a capital postconviction proceeding, where the investigative fees exceeded the statutory cap for investigative expenses by an additional $1,844.1

1. Because the order concerns the payment of certain fees that were incurred during a postconviction death penalty proceeding filed under Florida Rule of Cri... More...   $0 (03-21-2013 - FL)