Here the Court dismissed the prisoner's self-styled petition for a writ of audita querela, concluding that it was, in substance, a second or successive motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 for which he had not received the court's permission to file. In its review of the limited and ever declining ...
The 57-year old defendant in this case was a relatively small-time crack dealer who was convicted of distributing crack-cocaine; and his Guideline sentencing range was 168-210 months. After carefully computing the defendant's guideline range, Judge Simon then turned to consider the 3553(a) factors. In so doing, Judge Simon concluded that ...
The defendant, who pled guilty to attempting to defraud the Social Security Administration, appealed from the imposition of a special condition of supervised release that barred her from having contact with children under the age of 18 years of age. Citing the defendant’s “lurid history,” the Court rejected her contention ...
U.S. v. Labastida-Segura, 396 F.3d 1140 (10th Cir. 02/04/2005) (Judge Kelly)
U.S. v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291 (11th Cir. 02/04/05) (Judge Carnes)
One of the major Booker disagreements that has developed among the Circuit courts relates to the burden of proof required to obtain a remand for a resentencing based ...
In this case, the Court addressed the constitutionality of a popular sex offender treatment program, known as the Sexual Abuse Behavior Evaluation and Recovery program (“SABER”). The program subjects participants to mandatory “periodic and random polygraph examinations” that require full disclosure of the participant’s sexual history, without any immunity from ...
In this case, Judge Messitte dismissed, as “fatally infirm,” an indictment that charged three Arab defendants with conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1960, as amended in 2001 by the USA PATRIOT Act. While the Court rejected a series of constitutional challenges to breadth ...
This case is noted for its detailed discussion of the admissibility of ballistics evidence and testimony under the standards for reliability established in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). The defendant contended that the district court had abused its discretion by admitting, over his pre-trial and ...
In this Freedom of Information Act ruling, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected an attempt by the C.I.A. to delay indefinitely the processing and release of critical documents pertaining to the torture or abuse of detainees held by the Government. The ruling relates to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request ...
In this case, the Court addressed some important open Booker issues, including: (1) the impact of joint recommendations and stipulations in a pre-Booker plea agreement; (2) the (rare) instances in which a Booker error might not be prejudicial to the defendant; and (3) the elements to be considered in determining ...
