A little over two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court in Hurst v. Florida ruled 8-1 it was unconstitutional for state judges to overrule jury sentencing recommendations in death penalty cases. The high court ruled a criminal defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury was violated if the jury was not permitted to
New York State Department of Correctional and Community Service (DOCCS) enacted Directive 4911A in December as a pilot project in three New York prisons. Under this Directive, prisoners may only receive packages from six approved vendors (a couple more vendors may be later added), and packages from family members are restricted to non-electrical musical instruments,
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has ruled that an excessive force claim made by the estate of a man killed by police during an arrest can go forward. While conducting a baptismal ritual with his aunt at Honeymoon Island State Park on the west coast of Florida, James Clifton Barnes
A police officer and the city that employed him settled a federal civil rights claim brought by a woman who alleged that the officer sexually abused her. Pursuant to the June 10, 2013 settlement, Bristol Borough agreed to pay the woman $385,000 from a self-insurance pool. On the night of August 29, 2008, Joanne Cipressi
The guardian of a Seattle man who suffered brain damage as a result of a police beating has settled a federal civil rights claim for $1.75 million. On May 29, 2010, Seattle police officers Grant Leavit and Katrina Stuckey contacted Brian Scott Torgerson at his Seattle apartment. The officers were pursuing a municipal warrant for
A Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania police officer has accepted $440,000 to settle a claim that he was harassed and retaliated against for reporting a sexual assault committed by his partner. Ritchie Webb had been working for the Bristol Borough police department for almost a decade when he responded to a domestic dispute on August 29, 2008.
A Williamson County, Texas man has settled a federal lawsuit against two police officers and the county for an undisclosed amount. Will Aguilar was driving his motorcycle home from a paramedic class on April 9, 2009, when Williamson County police officers Daniel Robertson and Michael Baxter stepped into the road and waved at him to
The year-end report for 2017, recently released by the Death Penalty Information Center, shows that the 23 executions carried out in 2017 remain near a record-low level. During the last 25 years, only the 20 executions carried out in 2016 were lower. Similarly, the figure of 39 death-penalty sentences expected to be handed down by
The debate on whether or not teens should be tried as adults and be locked up in adult prisons rages on each side of the issue. Some take a more compassionate stance that young offenders deserve second chances after making big mistakes, especially if their crimes are nonviolent in nature. On the other hand, there
The Death Penalty Information Center has released a report highlighting significant changes in the number of executions in the United States in 2016. According to the report, there were 20 executions in the U.S. during calendar year 2016 – the lowest number in 25 years. Additionally, juries imposed fewer death sentences than in any year
We have profiled every prison within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Learn about each prison’s location, security level, educational and recreational offerings, and much more.
Elizabeth Franklin-Best P.C.
1501 Belle Isle Avenue, Suite 110
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
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