Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a), any person who knowingly and willfully makes a materially false statement to the federal government is subject to criminal liability. Congress, however, chose to exempt from criminal liability false statements submitted to a judge by a party to a judicial proceeding. (18 U.S.C. § 1001(b)). ...

In case where defendant awaits trial on charges eligible for the death penalty, order excluding evidence of post-mortem dismemberment of the victims is vacated as: 1) to the extent that the district court excluded evidence from the guilt phase solely because it was excluded at the penalty phase, it erred ...

In the 09/10/07 issue of P&J, we noted a decision from the Ninth Circuit, U.S. v. Horvath, 492 F.3d 1075 (9th Cir. July 10, 2007) (“Horvath I”), in which a divided panel held that held that false statements made by a criminal defendant to a “probation officer” are exempt from ...

In this case, a divided Supreme Court held that drunk driving is not a “violent felony,” at least for purposes of imposing a special 15-year prison sentence under the provisions of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1).

The ACCA requires the imposition of a special mandatory ...

In a widely splintered 91-page decision, the Supreme Court upheld the most common method of lethal injection executions in the United States, clearing the way for such executions (which have been on a virtual moratorium for nearly seven months) to resume. The final vote was 7-2, although there was no ...

Here the Court granted a defense motion to exclude some 2,500 recorded phone calls obtained pursuant to a wiretap order because the Government had delayed, without a "satisfactory explanation", to seal the tapes as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2518(8)(a).

This is an interesting wiretapping decision in which District Judge ...

Here Judge Chin of the S.D.N.Y. ruled that amended Rule 35(b)(1) of the Fed.R.Crim.P. now permits a sentencing court to enlarge a sentence reduction based on factors unrelated to the defendant's substantial assistance.

U.S. v. Poland, 533 F.Supp.2d 199 (D.Me. Feb. 4, 2008) (Judge Hornby)
U.S. v. Park, 533 F.Supp.2d ...

In this rare but intriguing ruling, Magistrate Judge Earl Hines granted bail to Priya Ramnath, a physician and citizen of India, who was being held in detention by the U.S. pursuant to a request for extradition from the United Kingdom. In granting bail, Judge Hines observed:

“The federal extradition statute, ...

Here the Court held that efendants have a right to an adversary post-restraint, pretrial hearing for the purpose of establishing whether there was probable cause to support the forfeitability of assets that were seized without any hearing.

The defendants in this case were two corporations and three individuals who were ...

Here the Court upheld the imposition of an enhanced mandatory minimum sentence on a defendant in a drug case after concluding that a prior state crime that was classified as a misdemeanor under state law qualified as a “felony drug offense” under the CSA.

The general issue before the Court ...

This is an interesting decision in which the Court approved a plea agreement that provided for the conviction of the defendant, Sheila Gaither, for a misdemeanor under 18 U.S.C. § 111(a), rather than for a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1513(b), based upon her threats to a Government informant after ...

Petitioner inmate sought federal habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 and asserted that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that the limitations imposed by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), as amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA"). Judge Young of the D.Mass. denied the ...

U.S. v. Poland, 533 F.Supp.2d 199 (D.Me. Feb. 4, 2008) (Judge Hornby)
U.S. v. Park, 533 F.Supp.2d 474 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 11, 2008) (Judge Chin)

On December 1, 2007, Rule 35(b)(1) of the Fed.R.Crim.P. was amended to read as follows:

“Upon the government's motion made within one year of sentencing, the ...