This decision is another example of the many appellate sentencing cases that give little or no guidance to the lower courts and the criminal defense bar about what constitutes a “reasonable” sentence in the post-Booker era. Here, the Court vacated, as unreasonable, an 87-month sentence imposed by Judge Larry McKinney ...

This is another case in which an appellate court affirmed a sentence way above the applicable Guideline range - consistent with the now well-established trend for approving such upward “departures.” Apart from that, the noteworthy aspect of this decision is the Court’s explanation of its “approach to reviewing post-Booker sentences” ...

Here the Court held that pre-Booker ex post facto limits on the application of the most recent guidelines are no longer applicable because the Guidelines are now advisory - at least in theory; and that ruling could have a significant impact on sentencing.

The issue before the Court in this ...

Jermaine Hunt was arrested and charged with possession and intent to distribute 22 grams of crack cocaine. He subsequently pled guilty to the facts contained in his indictment, without any plea agreement. Based primarily on statements he made to the authorities after his arrest, Hunt’s presentence report held that he ...

This 141-page decision by Judge Young is probably the most significant sentencing decision since U.S. v. Booker, and it represents an excellent summary of the current state of Federal sentencing and an indictment of the functionally mandatory Guidelines.

One could safely say that this is the most significant Federal sentencing ...

After attorney and CPA John Lence was convicted for his role in a bank fraud, Montana’s Chief Judge Molloy sentenced him to 24 months. The government appealed the sentence, and the Ninth Circuit remanded, concluding that the district court erred in giving Lence a downward departure from the then-mandatory Guidelines. ...

Defendant's conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is vacated pursuant to a claim that the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss his indictment based on a claim that a civil-rights restoration precluded his prior Ohio felony conviction from serving as the ...

Here Judge Gertner ordered the parties to brief a series of issues stemming from the Government’s desire to re-prosecute the defendant on Federal gun possession charges after he was convicted in a state court on the identical charges.

This is an intriguing opinion, with potentially far-reaching consequences, in which the ...

In this decision, the Second Circuit rejected a challenge by the New York Civil Liberties Union to the constitutionality of a program, instituted by the New York City Transit system, which allowed the police to conduct random, suspicionless searches of bags and containers of passengers attempting to enter the subway ...

Defendant appealed a decision of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, which convicted him of violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(c)(2), which prohibited the distribution of listed chemicals, including pseudoephedrine, knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that the pseudoephedrine will be used to manufacture a ...

In this case, the Court established certain standards and procedures that must be followed by district courts before they impose a requirement on sex-offernder defendants that they submit to penile plethysmograph testing.

In this case, the Ninth Circuit held that, before a defendant may be ordered to participate in a ...