Here the Court granted a rare post-sentencing, Rule 35 motion and ordered a reduction in the defendant’s sentence based on the unusually severe conditions of his presentence confinement in solitary confinement, known as the hole or SHU.

Dwight Brooks pled guilty to a felon-in-possession of a firearm charge in violation ...

Gus Gardellini was clearly the beneficiary of the softer and more pliable sentencing approach that is gradually beginning to trickle down to the lower courts in the wake of the Supreme Court’s sentencing decisions in U.S. v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005) and its progeny.

In this case, Gardellini pled ...

Conviction for using the Internet to solicit a person defendant believed to be a minor to engage in sexual activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), is vacated and case is remanded for a new trial where the jury was permitted to convict on an invalid legal basis.

[Editor's ...

This decision is principally noted for Judge Marrero’s his extended discussion of some of the “vexing difficulties” that judges confront when attempting to formulate a just sentence for a defendant who cooperates with the Government.

David Losovsky pled guilty to three counts of an indictment charging him and several co-conspirators ...

Here the Court held that once a juror clearly discloses to the district court that she disagrees with the rest of the jury and cannot return a different verdict, it is reversible error for the district court to give even a watered down Allen charge.

Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, ...

In another of his frequent dogmatic musings, Judge Posner has delved into two different aspects of the defense of diminished mental capacity in this decision. First, he virtually dismissed the limitation contained in U.S.S.G. § 5K2.13 that sentence reductions based on a significantly reduced mental capacity are unavailable if the ...

Defendants were indicted for offenses related to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and the evasion of monetary instrument exportation reporting requirements. Defendants moved in limine to exclude evidence of checks made out to payees who were real persons, and ultimately endorsed by or paid to persons other than the ...

In this case, Craig and Wendy Humphries were accused of abuse by a rebellious 15-year-old daughter. They were arrested and charged with felony torture against their daughter and several misdemeanors. As a result of those criminal charges, the Humphries’ other children were taken away from them; and their names were ...