U.S. v. Kirby, 418 F.3d 621 (6th Cir. 08/15/05) (Judge Gibbons)
U.S. v. Hall, 419 F.3d 980 (9th Cir. 08/15/05) (Judge Wardlaw)

In these two cases, the Sixth and Ninth Circuits held that the Sixth Amendment right to confront testimonial witnesses, as established in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 ...

U.S. v. Amaya-Portillo, 423 F.3d 427 (4th Cir. 09/06/05) (Judge Cacheris)
Lopez v. Gonzalez, 417 F.3d 934 (8th Cir. 09/09/05) (Judge Gruender)

In Amaya-Portillo, a divided panel from the Fourth Circuit reversed an enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C), imposed in an illegal re-entry case. That provision calls for an eight-level ...

Here the Court held that a broad consent given by a pretrial detainee to searches of his self and his residence as a condition of his release on bail was invalid as a violation of the doctrine of "unconstitutional conditions".

U.S. v. Scott, 424 F.3d 888 (9th Cir. 09/09/05) (Judge ...

Judge Kopf started this opinion, which deals with Type C plea agreements pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(c)(1)(C), with this memorable statement:

“Prosecutors and defense lawyers sometimes enter into binding plea agreements that require a judge to impose a particular sentence or apply a particular sentencing range that is above or below ...

Defendant appealed from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, convicting her of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and transportation of illegal aliens. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court erred in denying her requested jury instructions on her apparent public authority defense. ...

This case presents an interesting question: what to tell the jury when a codefendant (and spouse) dies during jury deliberations. The defendant and her husband were on trial for bankruptcy fraud. After a long and bitterly fought trial, the case was finally sent to the jury. During deliberations, the jury ...

In the minds of the Framers of our Constitution, one of the principal purposes of the Fourth Amendment was to preclude "the petty tyranny of unregulated rummagers." (Amsterdam, “Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment,” (1974) 58 Minn. L.R. 349, 411). Sadly, for far too many judges, that noble purpose is no ...

Here Judge Nixon joined with Judge Gertner in calling for separate twin juries in a capital case under the Federal Death Penalty Act - one for the determination of guilt and the other, if necessary, to determine the punishment.

Here, District Judge John Nixon joined with Judge Gertner of the ...

Here the Second Circuit joined five other circuits in holding that an inoperable firearm falls within the definition of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3). “Firearm” is defined by the statute as a weapon, inter alia, “designed to” expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. The court ...

The Sixth Amendment right to confront testimonial witnesses, established in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), does not apply to the admission of hearsay evidence during revocation of supervised release proceedings.

U.S. v. Kirby, 418 F.3d 621 (6th Cir. 08/15/05) (Judge Gibbons)
U.S. v. Hall, 419 F.3d 980 (9th ...

This case is noted for Judge Bright’s dissent to the imposition of a lengthy drug sentence, which he described with these words:

“Martha Alvarado-Rivera was sentenced to ten years in prison, rather than about four years, because the sentencing judge, looking at a written summary of Alvarado-Rivera's unrecorded, untranscribed statement, ...

U.S. v. Amaya-Portillo, 423 F.3d 427 (4th Cir. 09/06/05) (Judge Cacheris)
Lopez v. Gonzalez, 417 F.3d 934 (8th Cir. 09/09/05) (Judge Gruender)

In Amaya-Portillo, a divided panel from the Fourth Circuit reversed an enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(C), imposed in an illegal re-entry case. That provision calls for an eight-level ...

Rule 32(i)(4)(A)(ii) of the Fed.R.Crim.P. states that, before imposing sentence, the district court must address the defendant personally “in order to permit the defendant to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentence.” Not only will such sentence allocutions rarely - if ever - affect the sentence, this case ...

This decision contains a rare and detailed discussion of the BOP’s “no business” regulation (28 C.F.R. § 540.14(d)(4)), which prohibits prisoners from conducting business from prison. The plaintiff, Anthony King, brought a Bivens action (see, Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)) against the Bureau of ...

Dora Chaudhry appealed from her conditional-plea conviction for importation of marijuana in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 952 and 960 on the grounds that border agents conducted an unreasonable search of her vehicle in violation of the Fourth Amendment when they drilled a 5/16-inch hole in the bed of her ...

U.S. v. Scott, 424 F.3d 888 (9th Cir. 09/09/05) (Judge Kozinski)
U.S. v. Barnett, 415 F.3d 690 (7th Cir. 2005) (Judge Posner)

Both of these cases address an issue that the Supreme Court has so far declined at decide - namely, the validity of a blanket waiver of Fourth Amendment ...