In this habeas case, a divided Ninth Circuit panel affirms relief for convicted murderer Aaron Reynoso. The facts of the case are unclear: either the prosecutor failed to tell the defense about rewards paid to some of the witnesses, or the defense failed to make use of the information. The ...

Petitioner, an applicant for asylum and withholding of removal, sought review of a ruling of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) summarily affirming the decision of an immigration judge (IJ) denying relief under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA), as amended.

The applicant sought asylum and withholding on ...

In this case, said to be the largest criminal tax case in our nation’s history, the Government has charged 19 defendants, 17 of them former partners or employees of accounting giant KPMG (herein the “KPMG Defendants”), with conspiracy and tax evasion charges arising out of the sale of illegal tax ...

The Government sought review of an order from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, which granted a motion filed by defendant and codefendant to suppress their e-mail communications in their trial on charges of conspiring to commit extortion in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. § 371 ...

In his dissent in this case, Judge Gilman bitterly complained that this decision “marks the first time in a published opinion that [the Sixth Circuit] has sustained as reasonable a district court’s decision to vary downward from the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range.” (Emphasis added).

Apparently, despite paying lip service to ...

Defendant was convicted of conspiracy, armed bank robbery, and using, carrying, or possessing firearm in furtherance of crime of violence. The United States District Court for the Central District of California sentenced defendant to 77 months of imprisonment for the conspiracy and armed bank robbery convictions and a five year ...

This case originated in 1993, when Lummie Sanders was sentenced to 37 months in prison for the crime of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Seven years later, following two direct appeals and one appeal of a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, the Sixth Circuit determined that ...

In significant decision (albeit one which is so factually oriented that it probably has limited precedential value), a divided panel from the Tenth Circuit concluded that the Government breached its plea agreement by making arguments to the district judge in support of a sentencing increase after failing to object to ...

The two defendants in this drug case were convicted at trial of various drug charges arising out of their participation in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. One defendant was sentenced to 97 months in prison and the other to 188 months in prison. A critical element of the evidence against ...

In issuing this amended decision, the Ninth Circuit held fast to its prior ruling in U.S. v. Staten, 450 F.3d 71 (9th Cir. June 7, 2006) that "the clear and convincing standard still pertains post-Booker for an enhancement applied by the district court that has an extremely disproportionate effect on ...

This decision is far more than just another routine appellate decision following the now well-established pattern of rejecting - almost automatically - sentences that fall below the sentencing range recommended by the now-advisory Guidelines; it also represents a recognition by at least one Judge that, in the space of less ...

This is an interesting opinion which vacates the sentence of a prisoner essentially because the Government engaged in seriously egregious misconduct, including the manipulation of material witnesses, which led to a guilty plea, the Court affirmed the vacation of a sentence because the Government didn’t disclose Brady material. As a ...

Petitioner alien, a native and citizen of the People's Republic of China, filed a petition for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which summarily affirmed an immigration judge's (IJ's) denial of her application for political asylum and for withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C.S. § ...