Here the Court upheld the validity of a Terry stop based on its adoption of the broad “collective knowledge doctrine,” under which the knowledge of one law enforcement officer is “imputed” to the officer who actually conducts the seizure.

This decision addresses an important question that arises out of an ...

This is another outstanding Circuit Court decision that synthesizes the escalating and increasingly vocal judicial condemnation of, and frustration with, the sentencing policies envisioned in the Sentencing Commission’s child pornography Guidelines. Both the majority opinion by Judge Fletcher and the concurring opinion by Judge Marsha Berzon constitute a perfect bookend ...

Here the Court held that dual convictions and sentences for receiving child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2), and possessing the same images, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B), violate the Double Jeopardy Clause.

One would assume by now that Federal prosecutors are well aware that convictions ...

This is a rare Speedy Trial Act (“STA”) decision in which a Federal appellate court actually vacated a conviction because the defendant was not brought to trial within the 70-day period stipulated in the STA.

In so ruling, the Court rejected, as inadequate and unproven, the Government’s pro forma assertions ...

This decision is noted for Judge Berzon’s outspoken dissent in which she berated her colleagues for adopting an excessively expansive standard for finding “probable cause” to justify the issuance of a search warrant in a child porn case.

Peter Krupa was staying at the house of a friend at the ...

Of the many issues before the Court in this case, the most interesting one was whether one can be convicted for witness tampering under 18 U.S.C. § 1512 by encouraging a witness (here, the defendant’s wife) to withhold testimony when that witness possesses a legal right or privilege not to ...