manifest injustice. An error in the trial court that is direct, obvious, and observable, such as a defendant’s guilty plea that is involuntary or that is based on a plea agreement that the prosecution rescinds. [Cases: Criminal Law 273.1(2), 274(3.1). C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 365–374.]
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Criminal law. The absence of one or more procedural or legal bases to support the sentence given to a defendant. • In the context of a petition for writ of habeas corpus or other attack on the sentence, legal innocence is often contrasted with actual innocence. Actual innocence, which focuses on the facts underlying the
spillover theory. The principle that a severance must be granted only when a defendant can show that trial with a codefendant would substantially prejudice the defendant’s case, as when the jury might wrongly use evidence against the defendant. See BRUTON ERROR. [Cases: Criminal Law 622.2(8). C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 570–571.] “The spillover theory involves the
record, n. 1. A documentary account of past events, usu. designed to memorialize those events. 2. Information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that, having been stored in an electronic or other medium, is retrievable in perceivable form. UCC § 5-102(14). 3. MINUTES(2). 4. The official report of the proceedings in a case,
A variance that is too slight to mislead or prejudice the defendant and is thus harmless error. [Cases: Indictment and Information 171. C.J.S. Indictments and Informations §§ 206, 211.]
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recapture rule. Patents. The doctrine that a patentee cannot regain, in a reissue patent, a claim that the patentee previously abandoned in order to gain allowance of the patent application. • The rule provides a defense in an infringement action by allowing the defendant to attack the validity of a reissue patent. An attempt to
The principle that a severance must be granted only when a defendant can show that trial with a codefendant would substantially prejudice the defendant’s case, as when the jury might wrongly use evidence against the defendant. See BRUTON ERROR. [Cases: Criminal Law 622.2(8). C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 570–571.]
motion in arrest of judgment. 1. A defendant’s motion claiming that a substantial error appearing on the face of the record vitiates the whole proceeding and the judgment. 2. A postjudgment motion in a criminal case claiming that the indictment is insufficient to sustain a judgment or that the verdict is somehow insufficient. [Cases: Criminal
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writ of restitution. 1. The process of enforcing a civil judgment in a forcible-entry-and-detainer action or enforcing restitution on a verdict in a criminal prosecution for forcible entry and detainer. [Cases: Forcible Entry and Detainer 41.] “In some states, following the British statutes, the prosecutor may have a writ of restitution for the premises immediately
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respondent. 1. The party against whom an appeal is taken; APPELLEE. • In some appellate courts, the parties are designated as petitioner and respondent. In most appellate courts in the United States, the parties are designated as appellant and appellee. Often the designations depend on whether the appeal is taken by writ of certiorari (or