Mitigation Law
 
The People of the State of California v. Juan Manuel Tello

Modesto, CA - Defendant Found Not Guilty at End of Second Trial for Murder

The States of California charged Juan Manuel Tello with first-degree murder for killing Robert Ruvalcaba, age 38, who was found dead in an alley in west Modesto in 2011. The State claimed that Tello killed Ruvalcaba for asking to be paid an outstanding debt for drugs.

California Penal Code Title 8
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   $0 (09-17-2016 - CA)

STATE OF IOWA vs. LUCAS KYLE DANIELS

Lucas Daniels appeals following his guilty plea to domestic abuse assault,
second offense, an aggravated misdemeanor, in violation of Iowa Code section
708.2A(3)(b) (2015). He claims the sentencing court violated his right to
allocution.
Daniels filed a written guilty plea in which he asked the court to waive the
guilty plea procedures that required the district court ... More...
   $0 (09-16-2016 - IA)

STATE OF IOWA vs. JENNIFER MARY BEADER

Jennifer Beader appeals revocation of her deferred judgment and
imposition of judgment and sentence on her conviction for theft in the third
degree. She claims her admissions that she violated probation by failing to pay
restitution and being out of contact with her probation officer violated her due
process rights because the admissions should have been subject to the same More...
   $0 (09-15-2016 - IA)

Ashley Thomas v. The State of Texas

In early 2010, prior to his deployment to Afghanistan, U.S. Army Sergeant
Zachary MacCalla became intimately involved with Thomas. After he attempted
to end their relationship, Thomas showed him a photograph from an ultrasound
and told him that she was pregnant with his twins. This was an utter falsehood.
Former section 31.03(e)(4)(A) provided that theft is a state jail felo... More...
   $0 (09-11-2016 - TX)

Thomas George Craaybeek v. The State of Texas

On November 28, 2014, at approximately 6 p.m., police received a 9-1-1
call that Appellant had shot his wife in their home. State Trooper James
Lattimore responded to a dispatch issued by the Young County Sheriff’s
Department and drove his marked patrol vehicle to Appellant’s home. Trooper
Lattimore testified that he activated the vehicle’s overhead red and blue lights as More...
   $0 (09-11-2016 - TX)

STATE OF KANSAS v. KEVIN FUNDERBURK

In December 2010, Funderburk convinced a 71-year-old woman to let him sleep at her house out of the cold for a few hours. Once inside, Funderburk took off his pants and underwear and attacked the woman. He told her that he was going to have sex with her and called her a bitch. He punched the woman in the face several times and bit her on both arms, resulting in swelling of the face and visible bit... More...   $0 (09-09-2016 - KS)

STATE OF KANSAS v. MARK LEWIS GLASGOW

Glasgow and Edie Haskell have two daughters: K.J.G., who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, and S.G., who was 13 years old. Following their divorce, Edie was granted primary residential custody of the girls with Glasgow receiving occasional visitation. In the summer of 2013, Edie and her daughters resided with Edie's new husband, Marty Haskell, in Coldwater, Kansas. During this time, K.... More...   $0 (09-08-2016 - KS)

Russell Robinson, Jr. v. The State of Wyoming

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Robinson pled no contest to one count of sexual battery, a misdemeanor, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-313(LexisNexis 2015) and to one count of false imprisonment, also a misdemeanor, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-203(a) (LexisNexis 2015). Because the plea was one of no contest, Robinson was not required to provide a factual basis himself.1
[¶4... More...
   $0 (09-08-2016 - WY)

DONALD HOWARD V. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY

In addition to Howard, the prosecution involved his two sons, Thomas
Howard and Travis Howard, and a fourth person, Lloyd Lee. The four men, in
various levels of involvement for each transaction, sold prescription pain pills
to a confidential informant, Larry Fry. Fry, then on probation himself for
trafficking in a controlled substance, was the only confidential informant used ... More...
   $0 (09-04-2016 - KY)

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. ZACHARY DAVID THOMSEN

On 11 June 2012, Defendant was indicted for statutory rape of a child less than
thirteen years old, statutory sexual offense with a child less than thirteen years old,
two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child, and two counts of sexual battery.
At the time of the crimes for which Defendant was indicted, he was eighteen years
old.
On 3 June 2013, pursuant to a... More...
   $0 (09-03-2016 - NC)

State of Tennessee v. Charles Beaty

On February 12, 2013, the defendant was indicted for one count of rape of a child occurring between May 1, 2006, and September 1, 2006 in case number 13-00596. The defendant apparently filed a motion to dismiss some months after he was indicted, and the trial court held two hearings on the motion in November 2013, close to the time the case was set for trial.
During the hearings, the def... More...
   $0 (08-22-2016 - TN)

State of Tennessee v. Sedrick Clayton

The evidence presented at trial established that on January 19, 2012, the Defendant shot and killed his girlfriend, Pashea Fisher, and Pashea‟s1 parents, Arithio and Patricia Fisher, at the victims‟ home. The Defendant also attempted to kill Pashea‟s brother, A‟Reco Fisher. The Defendant then fled the scene in Pashea‟s vehicle with his and Pashea‟s four-year-ol... More...   $0 (08-22-2016 - TN)

Christopher George Gordon v. State of Indiana

Stephen Davis (“Davis”) and others had taunted Gordon during the weeks
leading up to May 3, 2014. On that day, Gordon, his girlfriend, and another
friend were driving around East Chicago when Gordon spotted Davis walking
along the sidewalk. Davis, in turn, saw Gordon and made a gesture toward
him. The record before us suggests that “the gesture was like a finger gun.” Tr. <... More...
   $0 (08-21-2016 - IN)

RAYMOND J. LUCIA COMPANIES, INC. v. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

In the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Congress determined that transactions in securities conducted over
3
exchanges and over-the-counter markets were “affected with a national public interest which makes it necessary to provide for regulation and control of such transactions and of practices and matters related thereto.” 15 U.S.C. § 78b. To carry out the regulation of the securities m... More...
   $0 (08-17-2016 - DC)

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. TAUREN WILLIAMS-BEY

In recent years, the United States and Connecticut Supreme Courts have made major changes in the jurisprudence relating to juvenile sentencing.The law now requires that juvenile offenders facing life without parole or its functional equivalent are entitled to individual consideration that takes into account the mitigating factors of their youth. This case concerns the important question of where ... More...   $0 (08-15-2016 - CT)

STATE OF KANSAS v. SCOTT D. CHEEVER

This case comes before us after the United States Supreme Court vacated our decision in State v. Cheever, 295 Kan. 229, 284 P.3d 1007 (2012), vacated and remanded 571 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 596, 187 L. Ed. 2d 519 (2013), and remanded for further proceedings.

In our decision, we had held that defendant Scott D. Cheever did not waive his privilege against self-incrimination under the Fi... More...
   $0 (07-29-2016 - KS)

State of Tennessee v. Patrick Wayne Evans

This case involves a car crash resulting in the death of Ralph Calendine, (―the victim‖). A Williamson County grand jury indicted the Defendant for three counts of vehicular homicide, charged alternatively, vehicular assault by impairment, and possession of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. The State and the Defendant entered a plea agreement that provided for the Defen... More...   $0 (07-25-2016 - TN)

Jacoby Sanders v. State of Indiana

During the late evening hours of May 10, 2013, and the early morning hours of
the next day, twenty-two year old Adam Betzner (“Betzner”) was entertaining a
group of friends and acquaintances at his parents’ home while they were out-of
town. Two of the guests were Sanders, and his best friend, D.J. Rose (“Rose”).
Other guests included Mark Watkins (“Watkins”), Miranda Worl (“Wo... More...
   $0 (07-24-2016 - IN)

Troy Stevenson v. State of Indiana

In August 2013, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (“IMPD”)
Detective Nicholas Andrews (“Detective Andrews”) received a tip from a
confidential informant that a man with the nickname of “Run” was selling
heroin on the southside of Indianapolis. (Tr. 124). The confidential informant
gave Run’s phone number to Detective Andrews and told him the
neighborhood where ... More...
   $0 (07-23-2016 - IN)

Cory Devoyse Finn v. The State of Texas

Delma Moss, an employee for the City of Dallas’s street department, testified that he responded to a call of a tree down. While Moss and his coworker, Lawrence Davis, removed the tree from the road, a vehicle approached and struck Moss. Davis and Moss both testified that the driver never stopped. Neither Moss nor Davis saw the driver’s face. However, Davis found a piece of the vehicle that had... More...   $0 (07-22-2016 - TX)

Christopher Caine Donaldson v. The State of Texas

Appellant Christopher Caine Donaldson entered an open plea of guilty to three
counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and one count of credit card abuse.
The trial court found him guilty and assessed his punishment at twenty-five years’
imprisonment for each aggravated-assault-against-a-public-servant conviction and at
two years’ confinement in state jail for the... More...
   $0 (07-21-2016 - TX)

Mauricio Hernandez v. The State of Texas

Appellant was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child under fourteen years of
age after complainant, the daughter of his girlfriend with whom he was living, gave birth to a 36-
or 37-week-old baby in a portable toilet next to a soccer field. Immediately following the birth,
1 The Hon. Michael J. O'Neill, Justice, Assigned <... More...
   $0 (07-19-2016 - TX)

Rochawn Ray Davis v. The State of Texas

Galveston Police Officer G. Parris stopped Rochawn Davis for a routine
traffic violation. The officer noticed an open bottle of beer in the center console of
Davis’s pickup truck. With permission from Davis, Officer Parris poured out the
beer, observing that the bottle was nearly full and still cold. It was just after 8:00
pm on a Friday night, and Davis said that he was return... More...
   $0 (07-18-2016 - TX)

The State of New Hampshire v. Dominick Stanin, Sr.

The relevant facts follow. In April 2014, the defendant was convicted of two counts of reckless conduct, see RSA 631:3 (2007) (amended 2014), and one count of being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, see RSA 159:3
(2014). On one of the reckless conduct charges, he received a time-served sentence. On the two remaining charges, he received consecutive three-andone-half-to-seven-yea... More...
   $0 (07-13-2016 - NH)

State of Tennessee v. Mark Stephen Williams

This case arose after the trial court revoked the defendant’s probation for failing to submit to an alcohol test. The defendant was on probation after pleading guilty to two counts of the sale of a Schedule II controlled substance, Class C felonies, and one count of conspiracy to deliver a Schedule II controlled substance, a Class D felony. He received six-year sentences for each of the sale of ... More...   $0 (07-08-2016 - TN)

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