In this decision, the First Circuit reversed Judge Gertner's compelling landmark rulings in U.S. v. Green, 343 F.Supp.2d 23 (D.Mass. Nov. 3, 2004), P&J 10/11/04 (“Green I”) (Order Re: Bifurcation) and 348 F.Supp.2d 1 (D.Mass. Dec. 29, 2004) (“Green II”) (Additional Findings Re: Bifurcation), which directed that two juries be ...

In this highly fact-specific case, Judge Kopf granted a downward departure and imposed a non-prison sentence on a 37 year old father who was convicted of possessing on his computer files containing child pornography.

In granting that departure, Judge Kopf eschewed the use of the so-called “parsimony provision” of the ...

The defendant, Pietro Cosimi, was one of 17 defendants charged with a conspiracy to smuggle the illegal drug “Ecstacy” into the United States. On December 3, 2004, he signed a plea agreement in which he and the Government stipulated to an offense level of 25, which corresponded to a stipulated ...

This much-litigated, capital punishment case, arose out of an armed robbery of a St. Louis bank in which a security guard was killed. In a prior ruling (that was on remand from the Supreme Court in light of its holdings in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) and ...

Like the general conspiracy statutes and the RICO statutes, the money laundering statutes have become a prosecutorial tool that not only allows the creative prosecutor the ability to demand penalties far beyond what is called for by the true nature of the underlying offense, but which also stretches the scope ...

Rosemary Houston was convicted of distributing methadone to her friend, Trina Bradford, which resulted in Bradford’s death. Houston obtained the methadone from her doctor and then sold it to Bradford, who overdosed and died. The methadone found in Bradford’s blood and urine was determined to have come from a prescription ...