Almost more certain than death and taxes is the inevitably of Congress taking a popular statute and milking it, time and time again, to create an ever expanding mantle of Governmental regulation over our lives. A good example of that type of inexorable legislative expansion is the Federal DNA statutes, …

A year prior to this decisions, the First Circuit issued an en banc decision in U.S. v. Jiménez-Beltre, 440 F.3d 514 (1st Cir. March 9, 2006) (P&J, 02/06/06) “to provide stable guidance in this circuit for the determination and review of post-Booker sentences." The instant decision provides one of the …

John Clay was convicted at trial of possession of pseudoephedrine, with reasonable cause to believe it would be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. He was also acquitted of a more serious charge of conspiracy to manufacture some 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine - although that acquittal made little difference in …

The question whether one can “knowingly” possess drugs without having actual knowledge of it has always vexed defense counsel - and has even confused the courts. More than 30 years ago, the Ninth Circuit attempted to resolve that issue by holding, in U.S. v. Jewell, 532 F.2d 679 (9th Cir. …