The respondent in this case, Carlos Dominguez Benitez, pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, as a result of which he faced a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years. The Government stipulated in his plea agreement that Benitez would receive a “safety-valve” sentence reduction of two-levels, pursuant to U.S.S.G. §§ ...

Sitting by designation, District Judge Dever dissents from the portion of the opinion upholding a defendant’s life sentence based on the quantity of drugs involved in the crime. As the quantity of drugs involved was determined by the judge, not the jury, the sentence runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s ...

The lone dissenter in this 10-to-1 en banc decision was Judge Reinhardt, and one need only read a few passages from his decision to understand why he was so “disturbed” by the “judicial shell game” played by the prosecution in this case:

“The government indicted Ogles, a gun dealer federally ...

Here, joining with the Second and Tenth Circuits, the Seventh Circuit concluded that the Feeney Amendment violates the principles established in U.S. v. Booker, stating in part:

"In reviewing § 3553(b)(2) in light of Booker, we conclude that it violates the Sixth Amendment by mandating a sentence within the range ...

Here the D.C. Circuit joined with all the other Circuits that have ruled on the issue and held that the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. §§ 14135-14135e) is not unconstitutional on its face or as applied to the plaintiff (who was on probation when ordered to ...

The defendant appealed from a sentence imposed by the District Court for the District of New Jersey, which sentenced appellant to a 27-month term of punishment after appellant pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. § 371. At issue was ...

After pleading guilty to possessing false document-making implements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(5), defendant appealed his sentence, arguing the United States District Court for the District of Columbia adopted the presentence investigative report (PSI) without making any factual findings on disputed matters as required by Fed. R. Crim. ...

Here the Court held that "[c]ontrary to popular belief, the Fourth Amendment does not require that a search be based on probable cause to believe that the search will yield contraband or evidence of a crime”.

Here the Seventh Circuit addressed a basic and elemental issue under the Fourth Amendment ...

The Court held that anticipatory warrants are not categorically unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment; and that the "particularity requirement" of the 4th Amendment does not require showing the occupants the triggering conditions of the warrant.

In this decision the Supreme Court addressed two challenges to the constitutionality of “anticipatory” warrants ...

A jury found that defendant violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 924(c) and (j), 1951(a), and 1623 when he participated in a robbery that resulted in a death, and the U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts convicted defendant of violating those statutes and ordered him to serve 352 months' ...

This is another one of a number of recent Circuit Court decisions which have clamped down hard on the stream of wacky and sometimes senseless decisions coming from the immigration courts. The case also highlights the not-unexpected consequence of appointing judges to our courts who swear a greater allegiance to ...

Here the Court held that the terrorism sentencing enhancement contained in U.S.S.G. § 3A1.4(a), which applies if the crime of conviction "involved, or was intended to promote, a federal crime of terrorism," is not limited to cases involving the United States "government." The commentary to that Guideline states that the ...

A claim of prosecutorial misconduct based on two separate prosecutions of a single shooting based on inconsistent and mutually exclusive theories of prosecution is rejected on the grounds that the petitioner failed under the AEDPA to prove due diligence.

The State of Texas charged two different men with a single ...

Here Judge Presnell added another powerful and articulate voice to the ongoing debate about what he called the “radical” sentencing disparity that exists under the Guidelines for crimes involving crack cocaine versus crimes involving powder cocaine. In concluding that a 36-month sentence was appropriate for the defendant in this case ...