The petitioner inmate sought and was denied a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his murder conviction and death sentence. After reversing a decision of the court vacating the inmate's death sentence, holding that the Ring decision did not apply retroactively to the inmate's case, the ...
Joining a number of other Circuits, the Seventh Circuit held that a defendant need not be convicted of a federal crime of terrorism as defined by § 2332b(g)(5)(B) for the district court to apply the Guidelines terrorism enhancement in U.S.S.G. § 3A1.4.
This decision is noted for two reasons. First, ...
Here the Court held that social security benefits may be suspended only as of the date of a warrant or order issued by a court or other authorized tribunal on the basis of a finding that an individual has fled or was fleeing from justice.
In this case the Second ...
In 1997, Anna Hawkins was convicted of interstate transportation of stolen money; and she was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $328,919.31 to nine separate victims of her crime. The criminal judgment that was entered in the case provided that the restitution amount “shall be due as ...
The Court held that the Supreme Court’s 1995 ruling in Libretti v. U.S., to the effect that a defendant does not have a constitutional right to a jury verdict on criminal forfeiture issues, has not been disturbed by the Court's later ruling in Apprendi.
The defendant in this case was ...
Defendant sought review of a decision of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Spartanburg, which denied defendant's request for relief from her conviction and sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C.S. § 2255. Defendant asserted that her sentence was unconstitutional after the United States Supreme Court ...
In a compelling and important decision by Judge Becker, the Third Circuit held that the recently adopted Bureau of Prison (BOP) regulations limiting a prisoner's placement in community confinement to the last 10% of his sentence are invalid since they are in conflict with the BOP's governing statute and congressional ...
Once again a Circuit Court has delved into the wacky world of what constitutes a “crime of violence” for purposes of determining whether a alien may be removed from the U.S. under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii); and in this case the Ninth Circuit held that the crime of engaging in ...
Citing the “real and substantial” risk of a terrorist bombing of New York City’s subway system, Judge Berman rejected a constitutional challenge to New York’s policy of suspicionless police searches of passengers’ bags and backpacks.
Citing the “real and substantial” risk of a terrorist bombing of New York City’s subway ...
The defendant in this case, Jose Ortiz-Hernandez (“Jose”), was arrested in 2002 by police officers in Portland, OR on suspicion of drug dealing. Those charges were subsequently dropped, however, when fingerprints that were taken showed that Jose had been deported six months earlier after serving 30 months in prison on ...
Defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm. Defendant filed, pro se, a notice of appeal and a motion for extension of time to file a notice of appeal, attaching to his motion an affidavit in which he swore that he had directed his attorney to file a notice ...
