Here the Eleventh Circuit became the second Circuit Court to hold that the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 applies to defendants who committed crack cocaine offenses before August 3, 2010, the effective date of that Act, but who are sentenced thereafter.

U.S. v. Douglas, No. 10-2341 (1st Cir. May 31, ...

As cell phone cameras become more widespread, more and more people are capturing rogue police officers on video engaging in outrageous, if not outright illegal, conduct. Fearful of criminal prosecution or lawsuits that could threaten their financial livelihood, the police are fighting back aggressively. Taking a page from some of ...

U.S. v. Douglas, No. 10-2341 (1st Cir. May 31, 2011) (Judge Michael Boudin)
U.S. v. Rojas, No. 10-14662 (11th Cir. July 6, 2011) (Per Curiam)

There’s lots of big news regarding the retroactivity of the much-criticized Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (“FSA”). The FSA, which became effective on August 3, ...

Here the Court addressed the defendant’s contention that the Government had violated its Brady obligations by failing to turn over to the defense a finding by a judge in an unrelated case that a cop who testified at his trial was not credible.

Marco Jeanpierre was convicted at trial of ...

Here the Court became the first Circuit court to hold that the Supreme Court’s 2010 landmark ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky does not constitute a “new rule” of law and therefore it applies retroactively on collateral review to all defendants.

This decision is an important follow-up to the Supreme Court’s ...

Here a divided panel held that illegal aliens don’t have Second Amendment rights because they’re not part of “the people,” as that phrase is used in the Second Amendment; and suggested that illegal aliens may also lack Fourth Amendment rights.

The Second Amendment states in part that “the right of ...

Over the course of the past few years, Judge Weinstein and the Second Circuit have engaged in a protracted and often bitter battle over the convictions and sentencing of Peter Polouizzi (who is also sometimes referred to as Peter Polizzi); and we have previously reported on some of those battles ...