This case is noted for its holding that where a sentencing is based largely or solely on an intended loss under U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1, a downward departure may be warranted under the "economic reality" principle that the loss may be significantly overstated.

The petitioner in this case, Basim Omar Sabri, a real estate developer, was charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(2) for offering three separate bribes to a Minneapolis councilman to facilitate the construction of a hotel and retail complex in Minneapolis. Section 666(a)(2) proscribes bribery of state and local officials ...

The Court granted the defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea on the grounds that his plea was not knowingly and voluntarily made since he was “clearly misled” into believing that deportation was a mere possibility - not a certainty.

In this decision, Judge Walton may have given some new ...

Plaintiff government charged defendant and co-defendant with conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to government officials. Defendant was also charged with criminal securities fraud in violation of 15 U.S.C. §§ 78b and 78ff. The case went to trial and defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal ...

Here the Court entered “a public and formal judicial admonishment” of Attorney General Ashcroft for "repeatedly" making public statements that violated the terms of a Court-imposed gag order and for exhibiting a "distressing lack of care" in this case.

For a long time, this case was the shining star in ...

Here, on remand from the Supreme Court, the district court again concluded that the defendant was not competent to stand trial and that his involuntary medication was warranted and consistent with th holding in Sell v. U.S., 539 U.S. 939.

After the Second Circuit's decsion in this case, reported at ...

This is one of those must-read decisions that forcefully reaffirms the importance of the presumption of innocence under our Constitution - a doctrine that the John Ashcroft Department of Justice seems of late determined to honor more in the breach than in the observance.

Aaron Jackson was convicted of possession ...