Amicus brief arguing that Arizona’s lethal injection protocol using pentobarbital is likely to cause excruciating pain, is compounded by dubious drug sourcing and unqualified personnel, and is shielded by secrecy.
This amicus brief urges the Arizona Supreme Court not to issue an execution warrant without first conducting a full and independent review of the state’s lethal injection practices. Drawing on research and autopsy data, the brief explains that Arizona’s one-drug pentobarbital protocol virtually guarantees the onset of acute pulmonary edema—causing the condemned to drown in […]
Amicus Brief in support of extending the ban on mandatory lwop sentences up to age 20 because late adolescents experience significant brain, behavioral, and psychological change similar to adolescents
This brief argues that mandatory life without parole sentences are unconstitutional for people up to age 20 because late adolescents experience significant brain, behavioral, and psychological change similar to adolescents. The brief details brain development occurring from age 18-20 (pp. 3-12), explains how late adolescents are more vulnerable to risk taking and peer influence than […]
Motion to Suppress Arguing that the Court should Discount Police Observations of “Blading” in Reasonable Suspicion Analyses
This draft motion argues that courts should discount officer observations of “blading” when conducting reasonable suspicion analyses, because research shows that blading is a conclusory term that describes amorphous, innocuous, and contradictory behavior. This is particularly true when the term is applied to Black and brown community members who are trained to fear and avoid […]
Draft Motion to Include Revised Jury Instruction on Implicit Racial Bias
This draft motion relies on social science about the effectiveness of mental imagery techniques at combatting implicit biases to argue for a proposed criminal jury instruction that employs a “cloaking” or “perspective-switching” exercise in which jurors are asked to consider if their impressions of the defendant (or a witness) would change if they were a […]
Draft Motion to Exclude a Police-Contaminated Confession
This draft motion should be used to exclude a confession when police officers contaminate the confession by feeding nonpublic facts about the offense to the questioned suspect. Relying on social science research and police interrogation manuals, the motion argues that: (a) police-contaminated confessions are impermissibly coercive and result in involuntary statements (pg. 1-3); and (b) […]
Draft Section of a Motion to Suppress Challenging the Voluntariness of Consent
This draft section of a motion to suppress details how judges’ and jurors’ assessments of the voluntariness of consent are likely to be impaired by a systematic psychosocial bias that makes them underappreciate the degree to which suspects feel pressure to comply with police search requests and overestimate the likelihood of freely-given consent. These tendencies […]
Draft Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained Due to Improper Cueing of Drug-Detection Dog
This draft motion should be used to combat a probable cause finding predicated on a dog sniff if there is any indication that the dog’s handler prompted the dog (intentionally or unintentionally) to alert through a head nod, verbal command, repeated searches, etc. The motion relies on social science research about how readily dogs respond […]
Motion to Exclude Improper Opinion Testimony on Manner of Death
This motion argues for the exclusion of opinion testimony by medical examiners on the manner of death in a homicide trial under both the rules of evidence and the Sixth Amendment jury trial right. It explains that medical examiners speculate as to the “manner” of death based on extraneous information provided to them, notes that […]
Section of a Motion to Suppress Involuntary Statements Related to the Unreliability of Causation Analyses
This draft section of a motion to suppress involuntary statements should be used when the government argues an offensive police interrogation tactic did not “cause” a Black male client’s confession because the client either did not appear outwardly affected/emotional when the tactic was used or responded with aggressive or callous behavior. To support the argument […]
Daubert Motion (a) outlining the history that lead to Abusive Head Trauma/Shaken Baby Syndrome (AHT/SBS) junk science (b) detailing why AHT/SBS is not a scientifically reliable diagnosis (c) applying the Daubert factors to proposed AHT/SBS expert testimony
This motion challenges the scientific reliability of a prosecution expert’s testimony related to AHT/SBS. The motion outlines the history of AHT/SBS (pp. 11-15), details why AHT/SBS is not a scientifically reliable diagnosis, and applies the Daubert and Federal Advisory Committee Notes factors to AHT/SBS (pp. 29-33). The motion details how biomechanics undermine the premise of AHT/SBS […]