In 1995, Ernesto Cirilo-Munoz ("Cirilo") was convicted of aiding and abetting, during the commission of a drug crime, the murder of an on-duty policeman. His conviction and sentencing have been the subject of numerous prior appeals, including U.S. v. Mangual-Corchado, 139 F.3d 34 (1st Cir. Mar. 18, 1998); Cirilo-Munoz v. ...
By now, there is little dispute that the Guidelines’ suggested sentencing ranges for child pornography offenses have become a major and hotly-contested battleground. The instant decision is another example of a Circuit Court rejecting those Guideline ranges - although in this case it would appear that the principal cause of ...
Conviction for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) there was sufficient evidence to support defendant's conviction; and 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the prior bad acts evidence of defendant's previous firearms sales, as the evidence at issue was relevant and highly probative as to ...
In an unprecedented ruling with potentially huge political and legal consequences, a divided panel from the Ninth Circuit delivered a stinging rebuke to the Bush Administration’s post-9/11 detention policies and ruled that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held liable for damages in a civil rights lawsuit arising out ...
Although defense counsel frequently face “testilying” or false testimony Government law enforcement witnesses, it is rare for a court to bluntly reject such testimony on the grounds that, on its face, it is too “incredible,” too “unfathomable,” and “too absurd to be credible." And yet, that is precisely what Judge ...
In a lengthy opinion written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the Ninth Circuit held that a portion of the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) violates the Ex Post Facto Clause when applied to former juvenile offenders, and therefore is unconstitutional. SORNA was enacted on July 27, 2006 as ...
In a ruling that is long on judicial activism and short on supporting facts and logic, a divided panel from the D.C. Circuit has thrown out a class action lawsuit by a group of Iraqi detainees who were seeking damages for torture and abuse from two military contractors in Iraq. ...
