NACDL

05/31/2026

"The Chicago US Attorney’s Office has implemented a 'remediation plan' for its grand jury procedures, the office announced. The move comes less than a week after a case against anti-ICE protesters fell apart in the wake of prosecutors’ alleged misconduct before the grand jury."

The Chicago US Attorney’s Office has implemented a “remediation plan” for its grand jury procedures, the office announced. The move comes less than a week after a case against anti-ICE protesters fell apart in the wake of prosecutors’ alleged misconduct before the grand jury.

05/30/2026

"The Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a Mississippi man’s conviction and death sentence. By a vote of 5-4, the court in Pitchford v. Cain agreed with Terry Pitchford that the judge at his 2006 trial had not properly analyzed whether the prosecutor in Pitchford’s case violated the Constitution’s ban on racial discrimination in jury selection."

05/29/2026

"Ruling against prisoners seeking sentence reductions, the Supreme Court on Thursday barred judges from using discretion to offer sentence reductions to account for trial errors or changes in the law. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Donald Trump appointee, led two majority opinions joined by her conservative colleagues holding that a 2018 criminal justice reform law couldn’t be used to expand circumstances where courts can reduce a prisoner’s sentence under the compassionate release provision. 'Petitioners in both cases contend that the phrase "extraordinary and compelling reasons" vests courts with broad discretion to grant a prisoner compassionate release for virtually any reason whatsoever,' Barrett wrote. 'We reject these arguments. While the terms "extraordinary" and "compelling" leave room for judgment, they are not so flexible as to encompass any consideration.' Under the compassionate release provision, courts can modify criminal sentences in certain cases. Before 2018, the Bureau of Prisons had to file a motion as a prerequisite for such consideration, but Congress expanded a federal sentencing statute in the First Step Act to eliminate that requirement. Courts have since adopted a broader view of compassionate release factors beyond personal circumstances like old age or illness."

https://buff.ly/Mu0BDHn

Justice Amy Coney Barrett penned two majority opinions for the court, holding that a 2018 criminal justice reform law couldn’t be used to expand circumstances where courts can reduce a prisoner’s sentence under the compassionate release provision.

05/29/2026

"BusPatrol, a company that has installed AI-powered cameras in tens of thousands of school buses around the U.S., now plans to turn those cameras into automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), capturing the location of every vehicle the buses drive past, and give that data to law enforcement, 404 Media has learned. The plan will essentially transform school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, taking a technology that was originally designed to issue tickets to people illegally passing stopped buses and using it for much wider and general law enforcement, likely without a warrant."

BusPatrol plans to scan the license plates of all vehicles the buses drive past, and then let law enforcement search that data. The plan would essentially turn school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles.

05/29/2026

Cell Phone Location Data Is Not Nearly As Precise As Prosecutors Want Juries To Believe.

A dot on a map is not proof of a person’s exact location.
But juries often think it is.

In his session on interpreting cell phone location data, Tom Beiser broke down one of the most misunderstood forms of digital evidence used in criminal prosecutions:

🔷 Cell tower data.
🔷 Timing advance records.
🔷 GPS estimates.
🔷 Carrier “point locations.”

One of the most important lessons from the presentation:

Cell phone location data is often an estimate — not a pinpoint location.
That distinction matters enormously at trial.

Because when jurors see:
- a digital dot
- a map pin
- or a plotted device location

…they instinctively assume precision.

But many of these technologies were never designed for exact tracking.
They were designed for communication.

When confronting cell phone location evidence, defense attorneys should immediately ask:

✅ What specific technology generated this data?
✅ Was this GPS, tower data, Wi-Fi, or timing advance?
✅ What was the known error rate?
✅ What was the confidence interval?
✅ Was the data voice communication or data-session based?
✅ What assumptions were built into the carrier’s proprietary algorithm?

Those questions can dramatically change how persuasive — or unreliable — the evidence becomes.

Beiser repeatedly emphasized that:
- “point locations” often represent areas of probability
- not exact physical positions

That’s critical for cross-examination.

Because prosecutors frequently present these visuals with far more certainty than the underlying science supports.

This session is essential for any criminal defense lawyer handling: homicide cases, conspiracy prosecutions, digital evidence, geofence warrants, phone extraction evidence or location-based investigations.

Learn More: https://bit.ly/4tKLFIG

05/28/2026

The Real AI Risk For Lawyers Isn’t Laziness. It’s Overconfidence.

The most dangerous thing about AI is not that it gets things wrong.
It’s that it gets things wrong confidently.

In his session on trustworthy AI and legal prompting, Patrick Barone tackled one of the biggest misconceptions lawyers have about artificial intelligence:

That if AI sounds authoritative… it must be reliable.
It isn’t.

AI predicts language patterns.

That means:
🔷 Fake citations can look real
🔷 Quotations can be fabricated
🔷 Legal analysis can sound persuasive while being completely wrong

One of the most important concepts from the session:
Hallucinations are not a bug.
- They are a feature of large language models.
- That changes how lawyers should use these tools.
- The goal is not blind trust.
- The goal is structured verification.

One of the most practical techniques from the session was using:

- Chain-of-thought prompting
- Combined with fact-check prompting

Instead of simply asking AI for an answer, lawyers can ask it to:
✅ Explain its reasoning step-by-step
✅ Cite every authority it relies on
✅ Flag anything it cannot verify
✅ Separate factual claims from assumptions

That process dramatically improves your ability to audit the output before relying on it.

Patrtick Barone also emphasized a critical ethical principle:
- Only use AI inside your actual area of legal competence.
- AI should expand your efficiency — not create false confidence in unfamiliar practice areas.

This session was a masterclass in how criminal defense lawyers can use AI responsibly, strategically, and safely without compromising professional judgment.

Learn More: https://bit.ly/4tKLFIG

05/28/2026

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05/22/2026

40% OFF NACDL on-demand criminal defense training programs this Memorial Day!

Access practical CLEs, trial strategy programs, DUI defense training, voir dire instruction, cross-examination techniques, motion litigation education, and more — all available on demand.

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☑️ Strengthen your next case.

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05/21/2026

Did you know that NACDL has numerous educational resources and CLE opportunities to help sharpen your skills and stay current in criminal defense law? Education is just one of the many benefits that makes being an NACDL member vital, now more than ever. Join NACDL today with our special promotion, code 'save25' for $25-off membership, and find your defense lawyer network. https://buff.ly/E4lC8N4

05/21/2026

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