The petitioner, Dennis Jones, a Wisconsin state prisoner, sought an application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C.S. § 2254, challenging his 1995 convictions of armed robbery, felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a short barreled shotgun, for which he was sentenced to 46 ...

The issue before the Court in this case was whether police officers can legally search an arrestee’s automobile as part of a valid search incident to arrest when the arrestee was not in his automobile when the police officer stopped him. Here, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s refusal ...

In this case, a wildly fractured Supreme Court held that a police interrogation of a gravely wounded suspect in the absence of Miranda warnings does not violate the suspect’s Fifth Amendment self-incrimination rights, so long as any statements obtained are not used against him. However, a different grouping of Justices ...

This case is noted as another example of what appears to be a growing law enforcement tactic: the use of confidential informants as stalking horses to obviate the need to comply with the warrant requirements of the Fourth Amendment or the advance judicial approval requirements of the wiretap laws. (See ...

Here the Court rejected a claim of prejudicial judicial hostility through comments and questioning of witnesses, stating that while some of the district court's interventions may have been "inadvisable," they did not rise to the level of plain error.

In this case the defendant argued that the district court deprived ...

Here a divided court held that the district court had committed plain error in awarding restitution to two debtors with respect to whom defendant's bankruptcy fraud conduct was charged but unconvicted, as neither was a "victim" under the MVRA.

The defendant in this case pled guilty to bankruptcy fraud. The ...

Defendant, who pleaded guilty to violating 21 U.S.C.S §§ 856(a)(1), (922)(g)(1), appealed the use of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual murder cross-reference section by the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to enhance his penalty range, resulting in a sentence of 30 years.

Defendant was found ...

In 1997, Congress enacted a statute designed to provide at least a partial recourse for defendants who have been subjected to a criminal prosecution that proves to be “vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith.” That statute, known as the “Hyde Amendment,” is published as a “legislative note” attached to 18 ...

In 1995, the plaintiff in this case, Shareef Cousin, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. After spending more than a year on death row, the Louisiana Supreme Court vacated Cousin’s conviction on the grounds of flagrant prosecutorial misconduct. The state then dismissed all charges against Cousin. Later, Cousin ...

Defendants were indicted on various drug and firearm charges, murder in connection with drug trafficking, and participation in a racketeering influenced and corrupt organization. Defendants moved the court to (a) declare the death penalty provisions of 21 U.S.C.S. § 848 and 18 U.S.C.S. § 3591 et seq. (collectively the Death ...

Here the Court addressed and remanded a Florida decision dealing with retroactivity, in the context of whether a definition of a common pocketknife was entitled to retroactivity as a "jurisprudential upheaval" or as an "evolutionary refinement" of the law.

Here the Court agreed with the petitioner's contention that the Florida ...

Here the Court granted the Government’s motion to introduce expert testimony on the reliability of latent fingerprint analysis, holding that while the ACE-V methodology is relatively untested, it satisfied the standards set forth in Daubert.

The defendant moved to exclude expert testimony concerning the identification of latent fingerprints; and the ...

Defendant appealed from the decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk, which refused to dismiss charges of perjury and subornation of perjury. Defendant maintained that, because of a favorable jury verdict rendered in the earlier prosecution for being a felon in possession ...

Defendant moved to preclude the government from seeking the death penalty by filing a motion challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Death Penalty Act (FDPA), 18 U.S.C.S. §§ 3591-3598, and to strike the government's notice. Defendant moved to dismiss the prosecutor's request to seek the death penalty alleging racial discrimination. ...