Louisiana's New Twelve-Year DWI Minimum Took Effect August 1. It Reaches Far Fewer Drivers Than the Headlines Suggest.
Act 117 added a twelve-year mandatory minimum to Louisiana's DWI statute effective August 1, 2026. It fires only when the driver already has a vehicular homicide, third degree feticide, or first degree vehicular negligent injuring conviction. The baseline penalties for a second, third, or fourth DWI did not change. Here is what actually moved, and why a decades-old conviction can still trigger the new floor.
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South Carolina Just Sent a Man to Prison for 30 Years for Selling the Drug, Not Taking It: The First Conviction Under the Fentanyl-Induced Homicide Act
Federal Judges No Longer Have to Put You on Supervised Release: The November 1 Rewrite That Ended Automatic Post-Prison Supervision
Medical Marijuana Is Schedule III and Recreational Marijuana Is Still Schedule I: The Two-Tier Federal Drug Law Nobody Explained
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Louisiana's New Twelve-Year DWI Minimum Took Effect August 1. It Reaches Far Fewer Drivers Than the Headlines Suggest.
Act 117 added a twelve-year mandatory minimum to Louisiana's DWI statute effective August 1, 2026. It fires only when the driver already has a vehicular homicide, third degree feticide, or first degree vehicular negligent injuring conviction. The baseline penalties for a second, third, or fourth DWI did not change. Here is what actually moved, and why a decades-old conviction can still trigger the new floor.
South Carolina Just Sent a Man to Prison for 30 Years for Selling the Drug, Not Taking It: The First Conviction Under the Fentanyl-Induced Homicide Act
Bradford Wayne Jovanelly pleaded guilty in Lexington County and drew the 30-year maximum, the first conviction under South Carolina's Fentanyl-Induced Homicide Act. Here is what the state actually has to prove, why the decedent's own drug use is off the table as a defense, and why the widely repeated "didn't know it was fentanyl" exemption is not in the enacted law.
Federal Judges No Longer Have to Put You on Supervised Release: The November 1 Rewrite That Ended Automatic Post-Prison Supervision
For nearly forty years the federal guidelines told judges to impose supervised release on almost every prison sentence over a year. Amendment 835 deleted that instruction effective November 1, 2025. Statutes actually required supervision in only 22 percent of the cases where courts imposed it, which means roughly four out of five federal supervision terms now sit inside a discretionary framework that did not exist before. Here is what changed, who it reaches, and what people already on supervision can file today.
Medical Marijuana Is Schedule III and Recreational Marijuana Is Still Schedule I: The Two-Tier Federal Drug Law Nobody Explained
A April 2026 Justice Department order moved FDA-approved marijuana products and state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III while leaving everything else in Schedule I. A separate DEA hearing on broader rescheduling closed July 15, 2026, with post-hearing briefs due August 17. Here is what the split actually changes under 21 U.S.C. 841, and what it does not.
Colorado Expands Its Domestic Violence Definition on August 12: Monitoring, Isolation, and Financial Control Now Count in Custody Cases
Colorado's HB26-1309 takes effect August 12, 2026, broadening what counts as domestic violence in separation and custody cases. Here is what actually changed, and why it lives in family court rather than the criminal code.
The Fine Print That Waives Your Appeal Can Now Be Torn Up: In Hunter v. United States the Supreme Court Says a Plea Deal Can't Lock In a 'Miscarriage of Justice'
On June 18, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that a federal plea deal's appeal waiver cannot be enforced when doing so would leave an egregious, system-discrediting error in place. Here is what the miscarriage-of-justice standard covers, what it still bars, and what it means for anyone who signed away their right to appeal.
'They Catch Everybody': A New National Investigation Says Roadside Sobriety Tests Fail Sober Drivers, and Courts Are Listening
A multi-year, 22-state investigation and a 2023 randomized trial reach the same uncomfortable conclusion: roadside sobriety tests are good enough to justify an arrest but too unreliable to prove impairment in court. Here is what the tests measure, why sober people fail, and how defense lawyers are fighting the results.
In Mississippi, a Gun Doesn't Have to Be Fired, or Even Used, to Send a 13-Year-Old to Adult Court
A new Mississippi law routes children as young as 13 directly into circuit court when a firearm is present during a violent crime. The weapon does not have to be fired or even used. Here is what SB 2710 changes and who it sweeps in.