On the state SCt dockets: LWOP for teens in California and guns for pot users in Oregon

I sure wish an enterprising criminal law academic and/or practitioners would follow closely via a blog or other on-line resource all the interesting and ground-breaking criminal justice issues that regularly come before state supreme courts.  There are  lots of really good blogs that cover various specific criminal justice issues and some that give special attention to important criminal law rulings coming from certain federal circuits or a particular state's courts.  But to my knowledge, nobody keeps a focused blogsphere eye on many cutting-edge criminal law issues as they come before state supreme courts generally.

This moment of longing comes to mind not only because I know I no longer am able to keep up with all significant state Blakely and death penalty developments, but also  because of two new pieces at How Appealing reporting on two notable new cases before state supreme courts in California and Oregon:

• In the California Supreme Court as reported here, "State court to review long sentences for teens": "The [California] Supreme Court has agreed to review a 16-year-old's 110-year prison sentence for three attempted murders and decide whether juveniles convicted of crimes other than homicide are constitutionally entitled to a realistic chance at parole."

• In the Oregon Supreme Court as reported here, "In Oregon, medical pot and guns go hand in hand": Cynthia Townsley Willis, a retired school bus driver and grandmother of four, carries a spray bottle of marijuana-infused skin oil in her purse to treat her frequent, painful muscle spasms.  Her Walther P22 pistol most often gets slipped into a shoulder holster under her jacket — driving the lonely roads that traverse the hills and dense woodlands of the Rogue Valley, who knows when she might need it? ... Willis, a diminutive 54-year-old California native, is now one of four plaintiffs in a case before the Oregon Supreme Court to determine whether medical marijuana users are entitled to the same gun-carrying privileges as everyone else."