Criminal law news is seldom cheery. That said, I am particularly saddened to begin the first news roundup of 2024 with a story of a school shooting. School was set to resume yesterday in Perry, Iowa, following the winter break. But before the opening bell rang at Perry High School on Thursday morning, authorities say 17-year-old Dylan Butler, a student at the school, opened fire, killing a sixth-grader and wounding five others. Law enforcement officials reported that Butler was armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small handgun and that he was found dead inside the school with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Associated Press reports that the shooting “occurred in the backdrop of Iowa’s looming first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.” GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had a campaign event that was scheduled to occur yesterday morning less than two miles away from Perry High School. He canceled the event to hold a prayer and discussion with area residents. Continue reading for more criminal law news. Speaking of the 2024 presidential election . . . Criminal law news and the 2024 presidential election could certainly comprise their own Venn diagram, with former president Donald Trump squarely situated in the overlap. Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court held that Trump could not appear on that state’s primary ballot because he had engaged in an insurrection before and during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Maine’s secretary of state announced last week that Trump would be barred from that state’s primary ballot too. [...]
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