PROFESSOR MICHAEL MANNHEIMER was cited in United States v. Aquart, an appeal by a federally death-sentenced defendant in Connecticut. The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit engaged in a lengthy discussion of his argument on the unconstitutionality of imposing the federal death penalty in a non-death-penalty state, but a majority ultimately rejected it.
One judge, Judge Guido Calabresi, who concurred in the result – a vacatur for re-sentencing on other grounds – declined to reach the death penalty issue because of the complexity of issues and a paucity of briefing on them, but invited the defendant to further develop the issue at re-sentencing. Judge Calabresi wrote that he is “far from sure that we can treat this challenge as ultimately settled.”
PROFESSOR JENNIFER KINSLEY was quoted by NBC News and The Appeal on her efforts to gain clemency for a woman who was entangled in human trafficking as a minor and was convicted in a murder that occurred while she was in the sex trade as a minor. The NBC story is at https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/celebrities-rallied-around-cyntoia-brown-some-worry-about-kardashian-effect-n956871 and The Appeal story is at https://theappeal.org/if-cyntoia-brown-can-be-released-from-prison-why-not-trafficking-survivor-alexis-martin/
