The big decision out of Washington last week, of course, was the Court’s fourth smackdown of the Bush administration’s policy on detainees.  In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Rasul v. Bush back in 2004, the Court held that US citizens detained on American soil had to be given a “meaningful opportunity” to challenge their detention, and that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay were entitled to some sort of due process in American courts.  Two years later, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Court threw out the military tribunals that the administration had set up, holding that the president was required to consult with Congress on that.  Last week, in Boumediene v. Bush, the Court held that Congress couldn’t strip the Guantanamo detainees of habeas corpus rights.  SCOTUSBlog provides links to all the coverage and analysis you could want on the decision. 

Nothing out of Columbus save for a couple of disciplinary decisions, so we’ll move right into the court of appeals cases, although there’s not a whole lot there, either…

Criminal.  10th District says that police officer’s expert testimony on defendant’s gang affiliations need not meet Daubert standard; decision follows Supreme Court’s 2006 determination in State v. Drummond… 12 District upholds denial of motion to suppress where police, after searching defendant’s apartment while he wasn’t there, used his girlfriend to lure him back to the apartment and then searched him incident to his arrest… Ultimate good news/bad news joke?  8th District vacates $4,354 restitution order, but affirms 26-year sentence…

Civil.  8th District affirms grant of new trial because of defendant’s introduction of photographs at trial in violation of discovery order… 12th District affirms grant of summary judgment on liability to plaintiff, says that although most states allow brake failure as a defense in auto accidents, Ohio doesn’t, based on 1965 Ohio Supreme Court decision… Being yelled at by boss isn’t sufficiently extreme and outrageous” to constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress, says 8th District…

You are so not my girlfriend any more.  After conducting a controlled buy, the police in State v. Wilkins searched an apartment and found crack, powder cocaine, heroin, and a bunch of drug paraphernalia, but no people.  Some employment documents indicated a Rebecca Workman lived there, so the cops picked her up and hauled her back to the apartment, where she promptly ratted out her boyfriend, telling them that all the stuff belonged to him.  They asked her to get him back to the apartment so they could search him, so she obligingly called him up and told him that the apartment had just been broken into and that he should come home. 

The cops found guns, too, which they hung on the defendant, despite this:

Workman indicated that the firearms did not belong to her, and that she was unaware of their presence in her apartment, though they were discovered in a box packed by Workman of clothing belonging to Workman’s prior boyfriend.

The kicker was that the state tacked on a juvenile spec.  Why?  Because the girlfriend’s children lived in the apartment.

The defendant was sentenced to 15 years.  I don’t think Workman will be waiting for him.  Just a guess.