After pleading guilty to possessing a firearm silencer under 26 U.S.C. §§ 5841, 5845, 5861(d), 5871, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming sentenced defendant to 37 months in prison under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2K2.1(a)(4)(B), 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), as a "prohibited person." On appeal, ...
Petitioner foreign organization sought review of the decisions of respondent Secretary of State designating the organization as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1189. The organization raised challenges to the constitutionality of the process as violative of the First and Fifth Amendments.
The Secretary of State had ...
After the defendant in this case was charged with federal firearms-related offenses, the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin granted his motion to suppress his confession that he had given to an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Plaintiff government appealed.
Defendant had been ...
Here the court declared a portion of the Feeney Amendment unconstitutional on the grounds that the provisions of that law requiring a report be given to Congress of downward departures granted by a district judge violate the separation of powers clause.
In a decision that bristles with judicial peak, Judge ...
This case is noted for its discussion and reconciliation of the Supreme Court's leading cases on restrictions on prison mail - Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396 (1974), Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987) and Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401 (1989).
Appellant state inmate sued appellee prison officials, ...
Here the Court held that, due to a combination of willful noncompliance, bad faith, and a sufficient inference of retaliation or vindictiveness on the part of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, it would be futile to further remand prisoner's parole application to the Board for a fair disposition. ...
Petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging denial of eligibility for early release, because in issuing a rule and program statements in 1997, the United States Bureau of Prisons (BOP) did not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The United States Court ...
Defendant pleaded guilty to drug offenses but unsuccessfully asserted that his appointed counsel was ineffective through a motion for collateral relief. Counsel moved pursuant to 18 U.S.C.S. § 3006A(d)(1) for compensation for the substantial period during which counsel was required to testify at the evidentiary hearing concerning defendant's motion.
Counsel ...
Defendants, accused criminals of middle eastern dissent, filed motions to close the individual jury voir dire in their case arguing that closure of voir dire was necessary to protect their Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial, and non-parties, two newspapers, filed motions opposing closure.
The defendants requested ...
Plaintiff United States filed for a preliminary injunction against defendants, three individuals and their businesses, pursuant to I.R.C. §§ 7402, 7407, 7408. The complaint alleged that defendants recruited customers to a zero-income tax return scheme by falsely stating that income earned by individuals was not subject to federal income taxes. ...
The United States Supreme Court remanded an appeal by respondent warden to the court for further consideration of its affirmance of the district court's grant of petitioner inmate's 28 U.S.C.S. § 2254 habeas petition in light of the requirements of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), Pub. L. ...
The petitioner in this case, who was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in state court, sought a federal writ of habeas corpus from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. A magistrate judge denied petitioner's request for an evidentiary hearing on certain claims. ...
Since 9/11, the Government has chosen to prosecute a growing (but unknown) number of alleged terrorists under a shroud of total secrecy; and, for that reason, it is impossible even to speculate on the number of cases in which the Government has sought to impose the terrorism enhancement permitted by ...
The defendant in this case was convicted of kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. § 1201(a)(1), and accused of sexually assaulting his 18-year-old victim. On appeal, defendant contested the District Court's decision to exclude expert testimony from a forensic investigator, and its decision to allow the prosecution to rebut the ...
The defendant was convicted for robbing a bank, use of a firearm during that robbery, and conspiracy to commit a burglary and six additional robberies. Defendant was personally involved in only the first robbery. Defendant appealed the judgment of the dstrict court denying his motion to reduce his sentence pursuant ...
This case is noted for Judge Brorby's strong dissent in which he accused the majority of ignoring the language of the commentary to the Guidelines in imposing an enhancement under USSG § 2A3.2(b)(3)(B) to rewrite that provision and impose a harsh sentence.
This child pornography case is noted as an ...
Defendant pled guilty to possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. § 2252A(a)(5)(B). The United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin accepted the recommendation of the presentence report (PSR) and applied the cross-reference from U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2G2.4(c)(2) (1998) to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines ...
One of the issues before the Court in this case was a question of first impression for the D.C. Circuit - namely, whether a sentencing court may properly consider evidence of a defendant's refusal to implicate a co-conspirator a basis for denying him an acceptance of responsibility adjustment under U.S.S.G. ...
Here the Court issued an impassioned “dissent” in which it argued that there was “no just reason” for the sentence it was ordered to impose on remand; and to conplain that the lack of individualized sentencing under the Gudelines violates due process.
Previously, in U.S. v. Dyck, 334 F.3d 736 ...
Defendants were charged with conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists, to engage in document fraud, and document fraud. Defendants moved that their trial be adjourned until hostilities in Iraq had ceased.
Defendants were all of Middle Eastern ethnicity. They argued that the change in national mood, resulting ...
After the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed an order removing petitioner alien because his state burglary conviction was an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(G), he petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California ...
