Case held that defendant's misapprehension of the application of the Guidelines is not a fair and just reason to withdraw a plea.

Case held that defendants cannot claim the benefit of § 3553(f) merely because the Government never sought them out for debriefing; and that the disclosure obligations for the safety valve are more extensive than for acceptance of responsibility.

This is another of the many recent cases that attempts to divine …

Case held that defendant's misapprehension of the application of the Guidelines is not a fair and just reason to withdraw a plea.

This case involves one of the great legal fictions about sentencing. The law says that a guilty plea is not valid unless it was made both "knowingly" and …

Here's yet another case which holds that the Child Recovery Support Act (18 U.S.C. § 228) is unconsti tutional. After engaging in a detailed analysis of the Commerce Clause, Judge Bechtle concludes that § 228 does not regulate the movement of goods or persons in interstate commerce. He states that …

Case held that Rule 608(b) does not preclude impeachment evidence that demonstrates the witness's bias.

Case held that Fed.R.Evid. 608(b) --which generally precludes proof by extrinsic evidence of specific instances of the conduct of a witness, for the purpose of attacking or supporting the witness' credibility, other than conviction of …

This is another in the rash of recent cases dealing with the issue of whether a separate civil forfeiture proceeding may be brought based on conduct that is also the basis for a criminal prosecution. In this case the defendant was indicted for some drug crimes, and two days later …

Case held that defendant's misapprehension of the application of the Guidelines is not a fair and just reason to withdraw a plea.

Court rejected a claim that the defendant should receive a downward departure as a battered woman - under both U.S.S.G. §§ 5K2.12 and 5K2.13 - and held that an appellate court has jurisdiction to review a denial of a departure based on a mistake.

One of the issues explored in …

Here the Court rejected the defendant's contention that the term "loss" under USSG § 2F1.1 should not include accrued mortgage loan interest, holding that accrued interest is not the type of "opportunity costs" that are prohibited by the Guidelines.

In this decision, the Court referred to Application Note 7 to …

One of the several restitution issues covered in this bank fraud case was whether a retroactive application of some 1990 amendments to the Victim and Witness Protection Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 3663-3664) constituted the type of "obvious error" that the Supreme Court announced in U.S. v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725 …

Case held that a prosecution of the defendant for failing to register a machine gun when the Government would not accept registration would be fundamentally unfair and was barred by the Due Process Clause.

One of the issues dealt with in this case is the inter-relationship between 18 U.S.C. § …

Court upheld a broad rummaging search under the exclusionary rule, despite the defendant's claims that the warrant effectively authorized a general rummaging of his property.

This is another sparkling decision by Judge Vazquez that took over a year to get published. Here, Judge Vazquez threw out a "confession" because of the following facts: (a) there was an unreasonable delay of 38½ hours between the defendant's arrest and his initial appearance before a magistrate; (b) the …

This is an interesting case because it describes in lurid detail some of the tactics used by the Government following a typical arrest. The defendant first complained that the 16 page warrant, to which was attached a 27 page affidavit and 41 pages of other attachments, was overly broad and …

"Those who make our laws sometimes succumb in desperation and even frustration to the socially appealing temptation to extract swift and remedial justice through what may be the only available means, the federal criminal laws. In our triparte system of government, however, the judiciary must ensure that Congress acts, no …

Here the Court refused to apply the money laundering guideline to a food stamp-for-cash scheme on the grounds that the use of that guideline would grossly exagerate the seriousness of the actual conduct.

This is an important and exceptionally thoughtful decision that deals principally with the Government's practice of attempting …

In this multi-issue case, the court rejects the defendant's request for any sentence reduction based on "acceptance of responsibility" under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 noting that "a defendant who falsely denies or frivolously contests relevant conduct is not entitled to reduction for acceptance of responsibility.".

Court held it was harmless error for the prosecution to introduce new matters during its rebuttal summation because they did not result in substantial prejudice to the defendant.

One of the issues involved in this securities fraud case was whether the Government violated the provisions of Rule 29.1 by introducing …

Here the Court rejected defendant's claims that the prosecutor's improper comments during his opening and closing statements denied the defendant a right to a fair trial, although the Court was highly critical of the prosecutor.

In this habeas corpus case, in which juror misconduct was alleged, the majority holds that the defendant was not seriously prejudiced because one of the venire-members read in a newspaper that the defendant had initially pled guilty but had later withdrawn his plea and gone to trial. But the decision …

Rare case in which a conspiracy conviction was reversed as not supported by the evidence.

This is one of those notable but rare cases in which a conspiracy conviction is reversed because the Court found that it was not supported by the evidence. The indictment alleged that the defendants engaged …

In this case, the Government served notice of its intent to use deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence
taken from semen samples in a rape prosecution. Judge Vazquez ruled that the Restriction Fragment
Length Polymorphism (RFPL) analysis process used in testing samples was sufficiently valid under the
first prong of the Daubert …

Case held that defendants cannot claim the benefit of § 3553(f) merely because the Government never sought them out for debriefing; and that the disclosure obligations for the safety valve are more extensive than for acceptance of responsibility.

This is another of the many recent cases that attempts to divine …

Case held that absence of luggage from passanger compartment and exceptionally clean condition of interior did not constitute "suspicious circumstances" required for detention of motorist.

United States v. Covarrubia, 911 F.Supp. 1409 (D.N.M. 1994) (Judge Vazquez)
United States v. Carrillo-Bernal, 912 F.Supp. 488 (D.N.M. 1994) (Judge Vazquez)

When one reads …

Case held that a prosecution of the defendant for failing to register a machine gun when the Government would not accept registration would be fundamentally unfair and was barred by the Due Process Clause.

Case held that claimant had offered sufficient evidence to allow jury to conclude that owner had taken all reasonable steps to prevent use of his property by narcotics users.

In this forfeiture case under 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(7), the owner of a building asserted the "innocent owner" defense and the …

Here the Court rejected a defendant's contention that his confession was not voluntary due to his susceptability to police pressure based on a childhood experience where a Russian guard shot a person.

Here Judge Cederbaum rejected a motion to suppress a defendant's confession despite his allegations that he suffered from …

Judge Vazquez firmly granted a motion to suppress evidence on the basis of lack of probable cause, even though defendant was driving on a well known drug and alien smuggling route three miles north of the Mexican border.