In this lengthy (66-page) decision, a divided panel from the Third Circuit vacated a probation-only sentence for tax evasion as substantively unreasonable. The majority and dissenting opinions represent the most detailed analysis we have seen to date of the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Rita, 127 S.Ct. 2456 (2007), ...

Here the Court rejected as unreasonable a below Guidelines sentence imposed in a child pornography case because the district court failed to comport with the mandates of the so-called parsimony provision of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).

This lengthy and intriguing child pornography sentencing decision appears to be the first reported ...

The petitioner, Mathew Musladin, was convicted of first degree murder and, after pursuing his state court remedies without success, he appealed to the Federal courts for habeas relief. After his petition was denied by the district court, the Ninth Circuit reversed in a prior decision on the ground that buttons ...

This case is noted for its holding that there is no right to counsel at crack-cocaine sentence modification proceedings pursuant to Guidelines Amendment 706 and 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). Amendment 706 (which became effective Nov. 1, 2008; and which was further amended by Guidelines Amendment 713, which became effective on ...

In this decision, Judge Gold blasted Federal prosecutors for their mean-spirited and vindictive conduct that constituted “unethical behavior” and for acting “vexatiously and in bad faith” in its prosecution of Dr. Ali Shaygan, a Miami Beach physician, who was acquitted of 141 counts of illegally prescribing painkillers. Judge Gold also ...

This ruling, and Judge Sullivan's similar ruling in Batarfi v. Bush, No. 05-0409 (EGS) (D.D.C. Mar. 13, 2009) (which is available at https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2005cv0409-170), are noted as evidence of the fact that Judge Sullivan has grown weary of repeated acts of prosecutorial misconduct by Federal prosecutors in cases before his Court ...

The issue before the en banc Third Circuit in this case was whether a sentence of probation and house arrest imposed on a wealthy confessed tax cheat was reasonable under the standards established by Gall v. U.S., 128 S.Ct. 587 (2007), and its progeny. In response to that question, Judge ...

This is the first reported decision to discuss the factors that differentiate two related but separate Guidelines provisions - namely U.S.S.G. §§ 2M3.2 and 2M3.3 which relate to the illegal gathering of national defense information.

This is the first reported decision to discuss an issue that has not previously been ...

The defendant was convicted at trial of multiple counts of insider trading. During the trial, the district court granted the Government's motion to exclude defendant's expert-testimony evidence. On appeal, in a decision reported at 519 F.3d 1140, a divided reversed and remanded for a new trial. The Tenth Circuit granted ...

In conviction for one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute an unspecified quantity of cocaine, denial of petition to reduce imprisonment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) is affirmed where: 1) petitioner's appeal challenged only the calculation of the base offense level, and not ...

In an earlier, unpublished decision reported at U.S. v. Paul, 239 Fed. Appx. 353 (9th Cir. Aug. 17, 2007) (P&J, 07/16/07) (“Paul !”), a panel from the Ninth Circuit reversed a within-Guidelines sentence of 16 months as substantively unreasonable. That ruling evoked a lot of attention because it was (and, ...

In an important Fourth Amendment decision, the Supreme Court held that the police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested if the person is locked up in a patrol cruiser and poses no safety threat to officers.

In theory, the decision attaches new limits on ...