This morning, President Biden announced that he will commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses. The commutations are for offenders who received harsher sentences for drug crimes than they would have under current law and practice. Over the past two decades, Congress has passed legislation to rectify sentencing disparities and practices that disproportionately affected Black people and fueled mass incarceration, such as the now-discredited distinction between crack and powder cocaine. In his statement, Biden said “as Congress recognized through the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, it is time we equalize these sentencing disparities.” The commutations are the latest use of clemency power by President Biden, following the full pardon of his son Hunter, commuting the sentences of nearly all federal death row prisoners, and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 individuals moved to home confinement during the pandemic. Read on for more criminal law news.
Final report (half) released. In what appear to be the closing moments of the federal criminal prosecutions of President-Elect Donald Trump, the Justice Department delivered half of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report to Congress early Tuesday morning. Smith completed his report of the election-interference and mishandling-of-classified-documents cases before resigning from his position last Friday. The Justice Department has held off on releasing the half of the report pertaining to the classified-documents case until legal proceedings against two co-defendants are resolved. In the half-report that was released, pertaining to the election-interference case, Smith wrote that the evidence would have been sufficient to convict Trump, but that the prosecutors were compelled to drop the cases due to binding Justice Department policy prohibiting criminal cases from moving forward against sitting presidents.
South Korean President detained. After declaring martial law on December 3rd 2024 and his subsequent impeachment, President Yoon Suk Yeol became the first sitting president in South Korea’s history to be detained in a criminal investigation. After his declaration, President Yoon ordered military commanders to invade the National Assembly (South Korea’s legislature) “by shooting, if necessary” and to “drag out” lawmakers he accused of being “anti-state forces.” The National Assembly rescinded the martial law decree before it could be enforced. Facing insurrection charges, Yoon surrounded his Seoul residence with bodyguards, rolls of razor wire, and a barricade of buses. After Yoon refused to surrender to a warrant for questioning on January 3rd, investigators returned to the residence Wednesday with 1,000 police officers and – after hours of negotiation – were able to serve Yoon with the warrant and take him into custody. The warrant permits questioning for up to 48 hours, after which investigators will have to seek a separate court warrant for a formal arrest.
School board member in trial. Johnson County school board member Ronald Johnson is currently in trial on criminal charges of extortion, obstruction of justice, and willfully failing to discharge his duties. Johnson is accused of attempting to extort DeVan Barbour IV, a former candidate for US House, by threatening to release a recording of Barbour if he did not pressure a woman into recanting her allegation of an affair with Johnson. He is also accused of secretly recording closed-session meetings of the school board and sending texts during school board meetings commenting on the appearance of female school employees. Johnson was first elected to the school board in 2016, and was re-elected in 2020. After an internal investigation in 2022, Johnson was fired from the Smithfield Police Department. He was most recently re-elected to the school board in 2024.
AI accomplice. Authorities investigating the January 1, 2025, explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas have reported that the man responsible used ChatGPT to help plan the attack. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, died in the explosion that also wounded 7 others. Las Vegas police said in a news conference on Tuesday that “this is the first incident that [we’re] aware of on U.S. soil where ChatGPT is utilized to help an individual build a particular device.” According to their report, Livelsberger’s inquiries included looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel, and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona. Las Vegas police and federal law enforcement are sharing information with other law enforcement agencies, calling the use of generative AI a “game-changer.” Kevin McMahill, Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department commented “it’s a concerning moment.”
Woman charged in art bar arson. Around 3 a.m. on Tuesday of last week, the House of Art bar on Hargett Street in Raleigh was destroyed in a fire. No one was hurt in the blaze, which completely destroyed the building, but surveillance video showed a person leaving shortly before the fire began. On Tuesday of this week, Eva Torrellas, 59, was arrested and charged with felony burning of an unoccupied commercial structure. According to court documents, Torrellas has a prior conviction for arson in New York. It turns out House of Art supporters already had a benefit concert planned for Tuesday – DJ Mo Kai Kai commented “justice will be served, but let’s get the House of Art back and better than ever, I think that’s on the forefront.” Law enforcement has not disclosed a motive or any other details at this time.
AWD or 4WD? Be sure you know the difference. A visitor at the Canyonlands National Park in Utah received a warning letter from the National Park Service after traversing the Colorado River Overlook Road, where “high clearance four-wheel-drive is required,” in his all-wheel-drive Subaru Crosstrek. The warning letter noted that the road is restricted to 4WD vehicles only and that driving the Crosstrek, an AWD vehicle, violated 36 CFR 1.5(f) “Closures and public use limits.” It also informed the driver that future violations could subject them to “a collateral forfeiture, a fine of up to $5000, up to six months imprisonment, and/or other penalties.” Although in this case the Crosstrek successfully completed the trail, 4WD vehicles are generally more capable than AWD vehicles, making it more likely they can safely traverse the most difficult terrain even though they both send power to all four wheels.
So what is the difference? Broadly speaking, most vehicles (including AWD vehicles) have “open” or “regular” differentials, which permit each wheel to spin freely – good for normal driving conditions, but they can lead to a wheel spinning uselessly if it loses traction, as “anyone who’s been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows.” 4WD vehicles on the other hand have one or more “locking” differentials, which enable the driver to divert power away from the slipping wheel to the wheels that still have traction with the ground. To remember the difference in off-road capability between the two systems, it can be helpful to remember that “four is more.”