Here the Court ruled that Booker does not apply to any cases that became final before January 12, 2005, the day Booker was decided. The Court reasoned that Booker was a "new" rule (i.e., it was not "dictated by" either Apprendi or Blakely); (2) it was a procedural - rather ...

[Editors' Note: See also subsequent decision on appeal to the 8th Circuit, reported at U.S. v. Johnson, 495 F.3d 951 (8th Cir. July 30, 2007)].

In a blunt assessment of the confused and confusing state of sentencing of defendants who are serving both a federal and a state term of imprisonment, Judge Jacobs called the situation both “worrisome” and “unresolved.” In fact, so concerned was he by the absence of any coherent and rational policy ...

Two appellants challenged the decision entered by the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan that convicted appellants of conspiracy, theft of U.S. mail, and bank fraud.

Appellant one contended that the district court erred in ruling that the Postal Inspector's testimony regarding statements made by him ...

Relying heavily on its decision in U.S. v. Maxwell, 386 F.3d 1042 (11th Cir. 2004) (P&J, 09/13/04), the Eleventh Circuit held that the defendant’s purely intrastate, non-commercial production and possession of child pornography was not subject to Commerce Clause regulation. Accordingly, the Court reversed the defendants convictions for child pornography ...

Here, by a 5-4 vote, the Court held that the one-year statute of limitations under § 2255 begins to run when a petitioner receives notice of the order vacating the prior conviction, provided that he has sought it with due diligence in state court.

In this case, the Supreme Court ...

Here, the D.C. Circuit became the third Circuit Court to adopt the "middle" position of "let's ask when in doubt" plain-error standard when deciding whether to remand a case based on a claimed Booker error. In that brief per curiam decision, the Court succinctly stated:

"This case raises an important ...

Defendant's conviction for conspiring to distribute drugs is reversed where the government failed to submit sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that the amount of cocaine defendant agreed to distribute amounted to five or more grams.

Sara Dunmire was found guilty by a jury on two drug counts: the ...

Here the Court held that it had no authority, under the provisions of the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2001, et seq., to reduce the Government’s 25% garnishment of the defendant’s pension plan, even though it acknowledged that the garnishment would deprive the defendant’s elderly wife of ...

Appellant pleaded guilty to illegal reentry by a deported alien and in determining his sentence, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico did not rely upon judge-found facts, but mandatorily applied the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. Appellant argued for the first time on appeal that this mandatory ...

Petitioner inmate petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C.S. § 2254, challenging his conviction for first-degree murder and burglary and his death sentence. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California denied the petition. The inmate appealed.

The prosecution presented a witness who ...

In this case the Seventh Circuit concluded that the Supreme Court’s seminal Confrontation Clause decision in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) is not retroactive for purposes of collateral review under the standards established in Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989), and its progeny. In Crawford, the Court ...