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A facially valid governor's warrant creates a presumption that the person in custody is the person named in the demand. The person held must overcome it, and most courts demand a showing that leaves no reasonable doubt. Fingerprint comparison is the strongest evidence available in either direction, and the statutes permit inquiry into guilt only so far as it bears on identifying the person as the one charged.
A conviction exists for federal immigration purposes when a court enters a formal judgment of guilt, or when a plea, a verdict or an admission of sufficient facts is followed by any punishment, penalty or restraint on liberty. Both parts of the second branch must be present. A pre-plea diversion in which nothing is admitted, a dismissal, an acquittal and an infraction resolved without a plea therefore remain outside the definition regardless of what the file is later called.
A state order undoing a conviction is respected federally only when it rests on a legal or constitutional defect in the underlying proceeding. Orders granted for rehabilitation, good conduct or hardship leave the conviction intact federally, whatever the state calls them. Choosing among a motion to withdraw, a statutory vacatur, coram nobis, a post-conviction petition, a sentence modification and a set-aside is a choice about which finding the order will contain.
Federal law commits a person found not guilty only by reason of insanity to a suitable facility and requires a hearing within forty days. The acquittee bears the burden of showing that release would not create a substantial risk, by clear and convincing evidence where the offense involved bodily injury or serious property damage and by a preponderance otherwise. States cap the commitment differently and provide for extension on a dangerousness finding.
The capacity standard for pleading guilty and for waiving the right to counsel is the same standard that governs standing trial. A separate inquiry asks whether the particular waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary, and that inquiry can fail even where capacity is established. A later decision permits, but does not require, a higher standard before a defendant may conduct trial proceedings without a lawyer.
Consent is valid when it is voluntary, judged on the totality of the circumstances, and the government carries the burden of proving it. No warning of a right to refuse is required, though the absence of one is a factor. A person with common authority over a space may consent for a co-occupant, and an officer's reasonable belief in such authority suffices even when the belief is wrong. A physically present occupant who objects defeats consent as to that occupant.
Federal cooperation is structured around a motion the government alone may file. Guideline section 5K1.1 permits a departure on a government motion stating that the defendant provided substantial assistance, and a separate statute permits a sentence below a mandatory minimum on a similar motion. Rule 35(b) allows a reduction after sentencing for assistance rendered later. Courts review a refusal to move only for unconstitutional motive or, where the agreement so provides, for bad faith.
State codes require a detention hearing within a fixed period, commonly the next judicial day or seventy-two hours, and permit continued custody only on specific findings about flight, danger or the absence of supervision. Federal funding conditions restrict holding juveniles in adult facilities and bar secure detention for status offenders outside a narrow exception. Detention also starts a speedy adjudication clock in some systems.
Evidence of a mental condition offered to show that the defendant did not form a required mental state operates as a failure of proof rather than as an excuse. It reaches offenses requiring premeditation, purpose, knowledge or a specific intent, and does nothing against general intent or strict liability offenses. Federal practice requires notice, and an expert may not state an opinion on whether the mental state existed.
Direct appeal is confined to the trial record, reaches preserved error and reviews the rest for plain error, and begins with a notice of appeal filed within fourteen days. Collateral attack under section 2255 or section 2254 comes after finality, permits affidavits, an expanded record and a hearing, and reaches constitutional error, want of jurisdiction and a sentence above the statutory maximum. Claims resting on facts outside the record are saved for it.
A juvenile court chooses among community control, placement and commitment, guided by the code's purposes clause and by a requirement that the least restrictive available alternative be selected. Commitment is usually indeterminate and administered by a state agency, which shifts control of release away from the judge. Federal law caps official detention by reference to age and the guideline range for an adult.
Deferred prosecution suspends the case before any plea, so completion leaves nothing for the federal definition of conviction to attach to. Deferred adjudication takes a plea or a signed admission first and withholds judgment, which satisfies the definition the moment the court imposes conditions. The dismissal entered on completion does not undo it. In a controlled substance case the difference is decisive, because that ground carries no exception for a short sentence.
