This is an unusual case for P&J to report on because the Court’s per curiam order has absolutely no precedential value. All that happened in this case from the Supreme Court’s perspective was that it issued an unsigned order denying a petition for a Writ of Certiorari of a ruling ...

In 2015, the Supreme Court held, in Johnson v. U.S., 576 U.S. ___, 135 S. Ct. 2551, 192 L. Ed. 2d 569, that the language contained in the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984 (“ACCA”) (18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)) was unconstitutionally vague. That clause defined the ...

In this somewhat contentious 5-3 decision, the Supreme Court carved out a racial bias exception into the so-called “no-impeachment” rule - the ago-old rule that a jury verdict cannot be questioned based on testimony by jurors about their deliberations. More specifically, the majority ruled that “where a juror makes a ...

U.S. v. Darby, 190 F.Supp.3d 520 (E.D.Va. June 3, 2016) (District Judge Robert Doumar)
U.S. v. Matish, 193 F.Supp.3d 585 (E.D.Va. June 23, 2016) (District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr.)

On February 20, 2015, the FBI seized a child pornography website known as “Playpen,” which was being operated from a ...

This is an interesting case that arose out of the arrest and prosecution of 37 individuals, all of whom are African American, who were targeted under a San Francisco Police Department (“SFPD”) program known as Operation Safe Schools (“OSS”) and arrested for “relatively low level drug trafficking” in the Tenderloin ...

U.S. v. Darby, 190 F.Supp.3d 520 (E.D.Va. June 3, 2016) (District Judge Robert Doumar)
U.S. v. Matish, 193 F.Supp.3d 585 (E.D.Va. June 23, 2016) (District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr.)

On February 20, 2015, the FBI seized a child pornography website known as “Playpen,” which was being operated from a ...

In March of 2016, Christine Bodouva was indicted on one count of embezzling $126,979.63 from an employee benefit plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 664. Bodouva’s indictment contained a forfeiture allegation directing that Bodouva “shall forfeit to the ...