MDefenders | University of Michigan Law School MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MD...

Impact snapshot: 89% of grads from the first PDTI class continue practicing indigent defense. That’s a pipeline. michigan.law.umich.edu/mdefenders

Officer testifies he saw a bulge under suspect's sweatshirt, and that lifting sweatshirt revealed drugs. Iowa Ct App, 2-1: Video shows officer couldn't see the drugs until he lifted the suspect's sweatshirt, so drugs can't be admitted in plain view. iowacourts.gov/courtcases/2...

MDefenders students @umichlaw.bsky.social are spending this week chatting about how to make the most of their summer internships in public defender offices. To our public defender followers: any advice on what to do or not do this summer?

Data for Defenders Bringing Social Science into the Courtroom

For more innovative pleadings check out: datafordefenders.org

Mimms v. Ohio allowed police to remove people from cars during routine stops in the name of officer safety. Use this brief to argue that Mimms should be revisited based on modern traffic stop data, which paints a very different picture. datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...

MDefenders | University of Michigan Law School MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MD...

Public Defense Employers: MDefenders students don’t just “care”—they’re trained. Client-centered advocacy + intensive skills practice (interviewing, investigation, motions, negotiation, trial). They are practice ready. michigan.law.umich.edu/mdefenders

Here is a link to the Illinois Appellate Court's decision: ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net/antilles-res... /end

Defenders should challenge any expansion of a frisk beyond weapons detection. Officers can't use a pat-down as a pretext to search containers or personal items for evidence, and that once an object is known not to be a weapon or obvious contraband, the search must stop. /5

Here, officers admitted they were not concerned about safety and were instead searching for evidence of the suspected retail fraud, rendering the wallet search unconstitutional. /4

Relying on Terry v. Ohio and Minnesota v. Dickerson, the court emphasized that a frisk is limited to locating weapons to ensure officer safety. Once officers determine an item is not a weapon, any further manipulation or search to identify contraband is impermissible. /3

The court assumed the initial stop, and even the pat-down, were lawful, but held that the scope of the search exceeded constitutional limits when officers opened the wallet after determining it was not a weapon. /2

New case limiting Terry frisks: In People v. Molitor, the Illinois Appellate Court reversed a drug conviction after officers removed and searched a defendant’s wallet during a Terry stop conducted during an investigation of a suspected retail theft. 🧵

Filing a motion to exclude evidence of prior convictions? Use this pleading as a model to guide your analysis and prevent prejudicial evidence from being admitted against your client! datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...

MDefenders | University of Michigan Law School MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MD...

Michigan Law graduates 20–30 aspiring public defenders each year, and MDefenders has become a springboard for their careers. michigan.law.umich.edu/mdefenders

This case reinforces that protective sweeps require particularized, contemporaneous facts establishing dangerousness & that proximity, relationships, or generalized officer-safety concerns cannot substitute for that showing: www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f... /end

The passenger was cooperative, calm, and not suspected of any wrongdoing, therefore, nothing suggested she posed a threat. /4

In Williams, the govt relied almost entirely on the passenger’s romantic relationship with the driver, who had a criminal history & alleged gang ties. The court rejected this “criminality-by-association” theory, holding that a relationship alone cannot establish dangerousness. /3

To conduct a protective sweep, officers must have reasonable suspicion that the person who could access the vehicle is both armed and dangerous—not merely associated with someone who is. /2

New case about limits of police protective sweeps: In USnited States v. Williams, the Tenth Circuit held that officers violated the Fourth Amendment by conducting a protective sweep of a vehicle after arresting the driver without reason to believe the passenger was dangerous.🧵

Filing a civil complaint? This class action filing demands relief/damages for citizens stopped by police due to unreliable ShotSpotter tech. The motion highlights constitutional violations and demands police accountability.

MDefenders | University of Michigan Law School MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MD...

Advocacy + sustainability. Michigan Law’s Public Defender Training Institute explicitly builds skills to avoid burnout and sustain yourself in a public defense career. michigan.law.umich.edu/mdefenders

PA court ends mandatory life for 2nd-degree murder The outcome could fundamentally change the lives of more than 1,000 people currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Pa. Supreme Court strikes down mandatory life sentences for felony murder convictions

www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/03/pennsylvani...

Person uses unencrypted wifi (no password) of nearby restaurant to download CSAM. Restaurant notices, alerts cops, logs future downloads. Oregon SCT: Restaurant's monitoring violated the Oregon state constitution, which is broader than federal 4th Am.
storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2026/03/...

A Lab Test That Experts Liken to a Witch Trial Is Helping Send Women to Prison for Murder The “lung float” test claims to help determine if a baby was born alive or dead, but many medical examiners say it’s too unreliable. Yet the test is still being used to bring murder charges — and get ...

According to Physicians for Human Rights, it is “unethical to rely on [a lung float test's] findings as the sole determinant of suspected neonatal death." For more information, check out these links: www.propublica.org/article/is-l... & phr.org/wp-content/u.... /end

Research shows these lung float tests are wholly unreliable as they often produce false-positives where the lungs of babies known to be stillborn float. Resuscitation efforts, decomposition, or handling of the body by police/medical personnel can cause false positives. /2

The fingerprint is an iconic symbol of forensic science. But this perception is far from reality. If your case involves fingerprints, use this brief for a jury instruction on the fallibility of that evidence! datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...

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MDefenders “allegedly” gear is on sale now! If you’d like to grab some gear (or share the link with colleagues), you can order here: www.freshprints.com/group-order?.... Orders accepted until 11:59pm Sunday, March 29. Items shipped directly to you! Thanks for being a part of the MDefenders Community

Moore v. State of Maryland, No. 24-6325 (4th Cir. 2026) Two plainclothes detectives in Baltimore, acting on a tip about drug activity, observed Robert Gary Moore and another individual near a parked vehicle. When approached, Moore dropped a plastic bag and fled but was apprehended. The police recovered the bag, which was later analyzed in a laboratory report stating it contained cocaine. During Moore’s trial for possession and possession with intent to distribute, the State introduced two chain-of-custody reports: one disclosed before trial and another (the ECU report) disclosed only mid-trial. The latter did not mention the chemist who performed the analysis, raising questions about whether the correct bag was tested. Moore’s counsel did not object to the late disclosure or use the discrepancy in his defense. Moore was convicted by a jury.

Defenders should press that delayed disclosure still amounts to suppression when it deprives the defense of a real opportunity to capitalize on the material. Case available here: law.justia.com/cases/federa... /end

The court rejected idea that in-trial disclosure automatically defeats suppression. Instead, suppression turns on whether the timing of disclosure forecloses meaningful use by the defense. The Maryland court’s conclusion that midtrial disclosure necessarily satisfied Brady was unreasonable. /5