On Point

This NACDL article just made the top 10 downloads in the criminal procedure e-journal: “Please Tweet Responsibly: The Social and Professional Ethics of Public Defenders Using Client Information in Social Media Advocacy.” Read it here. 

Listen up, appellate lawyers! Late on April 2nd, SCOW issued another order adjusting appellate court operations due to the pandemic. The first order, issued March 17th, modified working hours for the court of appeals/supreme court clerk’s office and extended many appellate deadlines by 21 days.

Here is the meat of the April 2nd order:

Two national papers are reporting an upside to “stay at home” orders. Read more about their investigations here. 

On March 22, 2020, the supreme court issued an order temporarily suspending or continuing all jury trials scheduled to commence between March 22 and May 22, 2020. As a follow-up, on March 31 the supreme court issued a new order adopting an interim rule that suspends until further notice the following statutory deadlines for the conduct of non-criminal jury trials:

Kahler v. Kansas, USSC No. 18-6135, 2020 WL 1325817, 3/23/20, affirming State v. Kahler, 410 P.3d 105 (Kan. 2018); Scotusblog page (including links to briefs and commentary)

Kansas amended its insanity defense to limit to defendants whose mental illness prevents them from forming the required intent to commit a crime. A majority of the Supreme Court holds that does not violate due process.

Many thanks to Mike Tobin, retired Deputy State Public Defender and co-author of Wisconsin Criminal Practice and Procedure for today’s thoughtful and timely guest post:

Two main resources are available to assist attorneys in preparing for hearings conducted by video or telephone:

On March 25th, SCOW issued two new orders. One postponed the April and May bar admission ceremonies and authorized the admission of qualified applicants in absentia. The other authorized court reporters transcribing depositions to administer oaths via remote audio visual equipment.

S.L.H. v. J.J.D., 2019AP1554, District 2, 3/25/20 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity

The lawyer representing J.J.D. (“John”) in his TPR proceeding failed to mount a sufficient defense to the summary judgment motion brought by S.L.H. (“Sarah”). But that deficient performance didn’t prejudice John. The evidence the lawyer failed to present wasn’t enough to raise a genuine issue of material fact, so summary judgment would have been granted anyway.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is looking for volunteers to work on motions for compassionate release under the federal First Step Act. Interested folks can find more information and a sign-up form here.

Many are calling for the release of prisoners due to the pandemic.  That makes the Prison Policy Initiative’s new graphics showing who is being held in our jails and prisons and why very timely. Take a look at them here.