This decision gave rise to the term "Petite policy" under which the Government follows a general policy that has nothing to do with its rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause, but which allows it to terminate successive prosecutions when it wants.

In this case, the Government moved to dismiss an ...

Judgment of the Fifth Circuit is vacated and remanded where the court erred in treating a prior conviction for simple possession as a "controlled substance offense" for sentencing guideline purposes, since that term requires elements other than mere simple possession.

In this 120-page en banc decision, the majority reversed a prior decision which granted the defendants a new trial based on a "perfect storm" of pretrial publicity, holding that the trial court had "fiercely guarded" against any extrinsic influence.

In many ways, this 120-page decision should be considered a comprehensive ...

Before the court was petitioner alien's petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which reversed an immigration judge's decision to grant petitioner asylum and withholding of removal and ordering petitioner removed to China. Petitioner also sought review of the denial of his Convention Against ...

Defendants, nine accountants charged with defrauding the Internal Revenue Service by tax shelter sales that allegedly generated false tax losses for their firm's clients, moved to preclude the government from using certain statements that they made, or any evidence derived therefrom, on the basis that the statements were coerced in ...

Courts are supposed to be in the business of enforcing the Constitution. But this panel of the Fifth Circuit apparently missed this part of its job description. Defendant Michael Flanders appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress child pornography found on his computer. He argues that the ...

The 65-year-old defendant in this case, John Francis, is a lifelong firearms enthusiast who, according to the Court, is a “world-renowned firearms expert.” In 1984, as a licensed firearms dealer, he sold 178 firearms to a Texas couple, whose firearms dealer’s license had recently lapsed. He was charged with conspiring ...

This is an interesting due process decision from the Eleventh Circuit. The five Guatemalan defendants were arrested after the U.S. Navy seized their fishing vessel in international waters, some 200 miles south of Guatemala and found bales of cocaine on board. The defendants were charged with, and convicted of, a ...

In this case, the petitioner made a Freedom of Information Act request for a large number of BOP documents in electronic format; but the BOP provided them as paper copies only, citing prison regulations that restrict inmates' possession of or access to computers and electronic media. The petitioner appealed, arguing ...

Here the Court flatly held that “the fact of gang membership is not sufficient to generate a particularized, reasonable suspicion of criminal activity” sufficient to justify extending the scope of a lawful traffic stop into a more extended search.

This is another one of Judge Reinhardt’s signature decisions on the ...

After a jury trial, the three defendants in this case were convicted of various drug charges; and they were sentenced, respectively, to life imprisonment, 420 months and 300 months in prison. On appeal, they argued that the district court had erred in allowing the admission into evidence of prejudicial and ...

Because the defendant failed to object to the PSR’s calculation of the amount of drugs attributable to him, the Court held that the proper standard of review was the onerous plain error standard, despite concerns of the district court.

The defendant in this case, Jesus Santiago, pled guilty to one ...