The most significant criminal law story this week was the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia. Tragically, two teachers and two students were killed, and at least nine others were wounded. The people injured are expected to live. The suspect, a 14-year-old student at the school, is in custody facing murder charges. The AP reports that the juvenile was previously interviewed by law enforcement in connection with alleged online threats of a school shooting over a year ago. The juvenile’s father has also been charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shootings. The story notes that this is the 30th mass killing in the United States in 2024. Read on for more of the latest criminal law news.
Juvenile Escapee Back in Custody. According to this story, a seventeen-year-old murder suspect is back in custody after escaping from Dillon Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Butner, North Carolina. The juvenile was on the lam from the medium security facility for around eight hours before a passing driver saw him running from a wooded area and noticed his detention center garb. The juvenile was cooperative when approached by law enforcement and was captured without further incident. This is apparently the second time the juvenile has escaped custody while awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges stemming from a 2023 killing. Back in February, he managed to give guards at the Richmond Correctional Institution the slip. Authorities are investigating the circumstances of the escape.
Trump Sentencing Staying in State Court. The Associated Press reports that former president Donald Trump’s latest attempt to have his criminal case in New York state court moved to federal district court has been rejected once more. This was the second unsuccessful attempt by Trump’s lawyers to have the case removed to federal court. Trump has again appealed that decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (his appeal of the first denial of the motion to remove the proceedings was withdrawn before a decision could be issued). Trump’s motion to vacate his conviction and dismiss the case based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s immunity ruling this summer remains pending, as does a motion to continue sentencing in the case until after the November presidential election.
AI-Generated Argument Insufficient to Warrant New Trial. AP News also reports that the founding member of the Fugees, Pras Michael, was tried and convicted on charges relating to witness tampering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, acting as an unregistered foreign agent of China, and more. He sought a new trial based on alleged ineffective assistance of counsel, arguing in part that his trial lawyer used an artificial intelligence program to craft his closing argument, leading to allegedly serious defects prejudicing his defense. One of the errors noted was the mistaken attribution of a P. Diddy song to the Fugees. Ruling on a motion for a new trial, the district court rejected this argument and others, finding that the defendant could not meet the Strickland standard of prejudice to show a reasonable probability of a different result.
AI-Generated Police Reports. While we’re on the subject, two stories recount the growing trend of police departments utilizing artificial intelligence to generate narrative reports based on officer body camera footage. Axon, the company known for manufacturing tasers and body cameras, has begun offering a program known as “Draft One” to law enforcement agencies, and the first story reports that the product has been extremely well-received among officers who have used it. Some departments have limited its use to minor incidents not resulting in arrest in an effort to protect against potential problems with presenting the information from the report in court, but others have fully embraced the technology in all investigations, including serious crimes. Axon refuses to say how many departments are currently using Draft One, but the stories note its use by departments in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, and Indiana, at least. Axon is also far from the only company offering similar AI-report drafting products. Axon claims its program is less likely to hallucinate than most AI chat systems available to the public, but some experts in the field are reserving judgment. This product adds to a growing list of similar AI-assisted technologies used by law enforcement, such as shot spotter technology, predictive policing models, and facial recognition technology (among others).
Former Aide to NY Governors Arrested for Spying. The BBC details allegations that a top aide to the New York Governor’s office was secretly working as an undercover spy on behalf of the Chinese government. For years, the woman reportedly shared information with Chinese government officials and worked to advance policy objectives for them in exchange for millions of dollars in benefits, including luxury homes, a Ferrari, and “special home deliveries of salted duck.” She and her husband are facing charges of failing to register as foreign agents, visa fraud, money laundering, and more.
MA Switchblade Ban Overturned. ABC News notes that a decades-old Massachusetts prohibition on possession of switchblades was overturned by the state high court this week. After a man was charged with and convicted of possession of the spring-loaded weapon, he appealed, claiming that the prohibition violated the Second Amendment. Applying the historical tradition test from New York Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), the court found that the weapons were “arms” within the meaning of the Second Amendment and that there was no comparable analogous historical regulation that would justify restricting its use for self-defense. The story notes that a similar ban on possession of butterfly knives in Hawaii was also recently struck down on Second Amendment grounds, as was a California ban on “club-like” weapons.
Garden Grenade. WRAL reports that Cary man was doing work in his backyard when he discovered a suspicious device. The man alerted law enforcement, who dispatched the Raleigh police bomb squad and Fort Liberty Ordnance Disposal team members to investigate. The “possible grenade” was seized and removed from the home, and the bomb squads searched the rest of the yard for any other similar objects. It is not clear how the device found its way into the yard, but authorities noted that the home was previously owned by a military veteran. Residents are urged to alert law enforcement any time they come across a potentially dangerous device and to refrain from touching or moving the device.
Judging a Bag by Its Cover. A Florida woman is facing numerous charges following a traffic stop in St. Petersburg, Florida, during which police discovered a bag of drugs conspicuously labeled as “Bag of Drugs.” According to the report, a trooper noticed a straw and some aluminum foil upon approaching the car and believed the items were potentially drug paraphernalia. The woman allegedly had an open container of alcohol in the car and showed signs of impairment. A search of the bag led to the discovery of cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, amphetamine, alprazolam, hydromorphone, and various and sundry items used for storing and ingesting drugs.
I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend. I can always be reached at dixon@sog.unc.edu.