In United States v. Cometa , 966 F.3d 1285 (11th Cir. 2020), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered an appellant's claim that a federal district court had erred in not holding additional trial competency hearings. The appellant also asserted that the district court had not sufficiently

In United States v. Washington , 968 F.3d 860 (8th Cir. 2020), a Minnesota defendant claimed the burden of proof to prove incompetency to stand trial was placed inappropriately on the defendant due to the conflicting opinions of the expert witnesses. Further, he argued the district court had erred

In Janakievski v. Executive Director , 955 F.3d 314 (2d Cir. 2020), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether a person acquitted by by reason of insanity can challenge the outpatient conditions of release. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York had ruled that Mr.

In People v. Frahs , 466 P.3d 844 (Cal. 2020), the Supreme Court of California considered whether a statute creating a mental health pretrial diversion program could be applied retroactively. The court ruled the statute can be applied retroactively because it could have an ameliorative effect, there

In State v. Glenn , 468 P.3d 126 (Haw. 2020), the Supreme Court of Hawaii reviewed the ruling of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) to affirm the conviction of Michael Glenn, charged with terroristic threatening in the first degree. Initially found incompetent to stand trial, Mr. Glenn was

In Commonwealth v. Bredhold , 599 SW.3d 409 (Ky. 2020), the Supreme Court of Kentucky vacated and remanded a trial court order that raised the age for death-penalty eligibility to 21. The appellees successfully persuaded the lower court that the evolving standards of decency in decisions on the

In Rodriguez v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr. , 818 F. App'x 945 (11th Cir. 2020), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida properly denied Mr. Rodriguez's petition for a writ of habeas corpus , in which he claimed

Directed by Eric Goode, Rebecca Chaiklin. Original Release Date: March 20, 2020. Directed by Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin and released March 20, 2020, on Netflix, the seven-part series Tiger King details the niche community of big cat collectors and conservationists by focusing on four

On October 22, 1998, a landmark presidential address was given at the opening of the 29th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Renee Binder, MD, the second woman to serve as AAPL President, stood well-prepared behind the lectern on the

By James E. Alcock. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2018. James E. Alcock, PhD is no stranger to the power of belief. In the opening pages of the aptly titled Belief: What It Means to Believe and Why Our Convictions Are So Compelling , Alcock describes how belief shapes everything we do: how we