Defendant had been ordered to pay restitution as part of his sentence for violating 18 U.S.C.S. § 1920. Following a dispute with the restitution schedule, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island denied his motion disputing restitution payments and ordered that defendant's pension payments be used ...

Here, joining with the Fourth and Tenth Circuits, the Fifth Circuit held that the six year statute of limitations for filing a motion to return seized property under Fed.R.Crim.P. 41(e) [now Rule 41(g)] does not begin to run until the date on which the claimant was on reasonable inquiry notice ...

The defendant in this case pled guilty to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, but asserted that a solution used in producing methamphetamine was improperly included in drug quantity under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b). Defendant appealed his sentence imposed in the United States ...

Following her guilty plea to possessing a listed chemical, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, the District Court sentenced defendant. Defendant sought review, claiming that the government breached the plea agreement by introducing evidence of an additional quantity of the chemical ...

Here, over the dissent of Judge Chertoff, a majority of the active judges denied en banc review of a panel's prior decision reported at 357 F.3d 290 (3rd Cir. 2004).

This case is a classic and disturbingly graphic example of the extremes to which law enforcement officers will sometimes go to secure a conviction - here based on theories that the Court found were “legally preposterous" and evidence that was not credible.

Having been buffeted by a series of high-profile ...

For the second time in the past few weeks, the Ninth Circuit has rejected an attempt to impose criminal sanctions on a defendant who has fabricated facts in order to qualify for the appointment of indigent legal services. (See U.S. v. McNeil, 362 F.3d 570 (9th Cir. 2004) (P&J, 03/08/04), ...

Defendant pled guilty to defrauding an elderly person. Defendant was before the court for sentencing.

Defendant and his mother, who died prior to sentencing, defrauded an elderly neighbor. In an opinion expressing moral indignation, the court departed from the sentencing guidelines and sentenced defendant to a term of imprisonment of ...

Petitioner prisoner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 against respondents, the Secretary of Defense and a Naval commander. The United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois dismissed the petition because the proper jurisdiction for the petition was South ...

In this Sentencing Memorandum, Judge Gertner set forth a current and comprehensive guide to downward departure for good works under U.S.S.G. § 5H1.11 - a discouraged ground - but one which she forcefully argued still exists even after the Feeney Amendment.

The defendant in this case, Mukund Mehta, pled guilty ...

Defendant, who pled guilty to bank robbery, was before the court for sentencing.

Defendant admitted to acting as a lookout during a violent robbery of a bank. Under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual, she faced a prison term of 57 to 71 months. Defendant moved for a downward departure below ...

Here, by a 6 to 3 vote, in a case where the defendant was incorrectly sentenced as a habitual offender, the Court declined to correct the forfeited error because to do so might violate its “respect” for the orderly administration of justice.

In 1997, Michael Haley stole a calculator from ...

In 1997, Joseph Francolino was convicted the New York Supreme Court for New York County of a number of crimes arising out of his participation in the cartel that allegedly controls the private waste disposal or “carting” industry in New York City. Since that industry was privatized in 1956, it ...