The petitioner-inmate petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C.S. § 2255, challenging his conviction for distribution of cocaine base. After the District Court denied the petition, the inmate appealed. He argued that his trial counsel had failed to tell him of a plea offer and that ...

Here the Court held that the notification requirement in Hill v. Braxton, 277 F.3d 701 (4th Cir. 2002), requiring a federal habeas court to notify a pro se petitioner that his petition is subject to dismissal under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d) when the state has not yet filed a responsive ...

A sentence that is "imposed independently" under U.S.S.G. § 5G1.2(a) does not count toward the total punishment when stacking consecutive sentences under § 5G1.2(d).

In this case, when imposing its sentence of the defendant for illegal possession and distribution of crack cocaine, the district court denied defendant's motion for a downward departure under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3, relying in part on the defendant's prior arrest record. The defendant appealed his sentence on a number of ...

Here, joining six other Circuits, the Court held that the district court exceeded its statutory authority under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d) by ordering the immediate deportatioon of the defendant as a condition of his term of supervised release.

In this case, the District Court for the District of Guam sentenced ...

In the summer of 2002, the defendant in this case, Amielia Booe, robbed a bank in Tennessee using a threatening note. She was caught within 30 minutes; and she quickly confessed to the crime. Her Guideline offense level was 21, which called for a sentencing range of 37 to 46 ...

In this case a bitterly divided panel from the D.C. Circuit upheld the right of the Government to refuse to disclose to the press and the public any information about the more than 700 persons arrested in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In so doing, the Court reversed an ...

In U.S. v. Correa-Gomez, 169 F.Supp.2d 748 (E.D.Ky. 2001) (P&J, 10/22/01) (Correa-Gomez I), Judge Wilhoit dismissed an indictment with prejudice. The Hispanic defendant in that case was charged with the harboring of illegal aliens. Judge Wilhoit dismissed the indictment after finding that the Government had sought far less penalties against ...

Here, while the Court agreed that the defendant was entitled to challenge his CCE conviction based on a retroactive application of Richardson v. U.S., the error that occurred was harmless based on the Court's "sensitive judgment" of the evidence.

In the annals of crazy drug sentences, few defendants seeking to ...

Defendant was charged with firearms violations. Defendant moved to suppress, pursuant to Miranda, inculpatory statements he made to an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) after his probation officer directed him to appear at her office to meet with the ATF agent to answer questions. The ...

The defendant in this case appealed from his convictions upon a jury verdict on 17 counts of wire fraud and 5 counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1957(a). He alleged principally that the indictment was defective, that evidence of a civil settlement was improperly ...

In this case, the Supreme Court held, by a vote of 5-to-3, that conviction in a foreign court is not the kind of conviction which U.S. law treats as a basis for denying an individual a right to possess a gun. The law at issue (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) makes ...

In Bazzetta v. McGuinnis, 148 F.Supp.2d 813 (E.D.Mich. 2001) (Bazzetta I), Judge Nancy Edmunds addressed a series of new regulations adopted by the Michigan prison system (MDOC) governing the eligibility of visitors at Michigan prisons. The new regulations: (1) banned visits from prisoners' minor brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews; (2) ...