In Markadonatos v. Village of Woodridge, 739 F.3d 984 (7th Cir. Jan. 8, 2014) (“Markadonatos I”) (P&J, 06/02/14), a divided panel from the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action filed by a person who was arrested within the jurisdiction of the Village of Woodridge and then ...

This is an interesting (but highly fact-specific) decision in which a divided panel from the Second Circuit vacated a conviction for transporting and shipping child pornography on the grounds that the instructions given to the jury regarding the defendant’s defense of entrapment were so confusing that they called into question ...

In a long-awaited decision about the authority of military commissions under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (“MCA”), Pub. L. No. 109-336, 120 Stat. 2600, the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, vacated two guilty verdicts rendered by a military commissions court of a former close aide to Osama bin Laden, ...

This is an interesting decision about a relatively new statute that is becoming increasingly popular with Federal prosecutors. Since 1996, Congress has enacted a number of Federal stalking laws, including the Federal cyberstalking statute - 18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2)(A) (2006) - which, at the times relevant to this case, provided ...

This is a significant sentencing decision in which Judge James Bredar discussed his reasons for imposing sentences that were significantly less than the advisory Sentencing Guideline range for marijuana-related offenses, based on the “new enforcement priorities” of the Department of Justice and the “recent enactments of state voters and legislators” ...

Overruling its decision in U.S. v. Sevilla, 541 F.3d 226 (3d Cir. Sept. 4, 2008), a divided Third Circuit, sitting en banc, held that a procedural error at sentencing is preserved only if a party objects after sentence is imposed or at the time that the procedural error becomes evident. ...