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Document Author: National

Section of Motion to Suppress Arguing Court Should Discount Police Assertion that Stop Took Place in a “High-Crime Area” When Conducting Reasonable Suspicion Analysis

This motion to suppress section argues that courts should discount officer statements that events took place in a “high-crime” area when conducting reasonable suspicion analyses. (The same data and arguments could also be used to discount “high-crime neighborhood” assertions in probable cause analyses.) The cited social science research demonstrates that (a) police are inconsistent about […]

Motion to Exclude Police Testimony About How Drug Deals Happen, the Behavior of Drug Traffickers, Quantities of Drugs that Indicate Distribution, and the Relationship Between Firearms and Drug Trafficking

This motion relies on the Federal Rules of Evidence to argue for exclusion of police testimony about the behavior of drug traffickers. Pages 13-14 rely on social science to argue that users of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine consume large quantities of each of those drugs daily to support their habit such that courts cannot infer […]

Brief Challenging Warrantless Genetic Genealogy Search

This brief argues that law enforcement’s warrantless upload of a suspect’s SNP profile to GEDmatch and subsequent genealogical investigation violated the Alaska and federal constitutions. The brief explains how SNP-based genetic genealogy reveals highly information-rich data—including intimate familial associations and biological characteristics—far beyond traditional STR identity testing. It contends that both the suspect and his […]

Amicus Brief in Support of Excluding Firearm and Toolmark (FA/TM) Identification Evidence

This brief explains why expert testimony on firearm and toolmark (FA/TM) identification should be excluded. FA/TM identification is premised on the unproven assumption that each firearm leaves unique, accidental, and individualized markings on spent ammunition despite evidence from several studies that this analysis lacks sound estimates of error rates, is characterized as subjective pathological science, […]

Motion to Preclude Consideration at Sentencing of Defendant’s Record of Prior Police Contacts that Did not Result in Criminal Convictions

This ten-page sample motion argues that judges should not consider a client’s record of prior police contacts, including arrests, that did not result in criminal convictions for purposes of sentencing because such records are (1) inherently unreliable/ambiguous and (2) likely to exacerbate existing racial disparities in the criminal legal system. The motion draws on national […]

Motion to Exclude Prior Conviction Under Federal Rule of Evidence 609

This sample motion argues for exclusion of the use of a defendant’s prior conviction for impeachment purposes and relies on social science to explain both the extreme unfair prejudice that would result from admission and the lack of probative value for impeachment purposes. Specifically, it argues that jurors will improperly rely on propensity-based reasoning if […]

Motion Opposing Video Conference Hearings

Draft motion to oppose video appearance because video appearances prejudice defendants and lead to worse outcomes (p. 1), video appearances alter the perception of evidence (p. 3), video appearances deprive defendants of effective assistance of counsel (p. 5).

Amicus Brief Arguing that Internet Searches About Abortion and Lack of Prenatal Care Are Not Relevant Evidence of Murderous Intent Toward Newborn

This amicus brief argues that the State and lower courts relied upon irrelevant, unfairly prejudicial evidence (i.e. internet search history regarding abortion, abstention from prenatal care) to “articulate a motive for a murderous act on a newborn child.” The brief discusses the unfair prejudice that flows from admission of this evidence given stereotypes about women […]