This is one of two related cases that deal with a capital case in New Orleans that involved widely publicized alleged police corruption. In this case, the issue focused on a partial gag order that was imposed on The Times-Picayune. The newspaper argued that the gag order was an improper ...

Here, taking a minority position, Judge Saffels held that successive criminal and civil proceedings do constitute "punishment" under the Double Jeopardy Clause and thus violate the defendant's constitutional rights.

This is an important case from the Tenth Circuit on the emerging issue of the impact of the Double Jeopardy Clause ...

This is one of those extremely rare cases in which a conviction for income tax evasion is reversed due to the refusal of the district court to grant a motion for severance in a case involving a former husband and wife. At the joint trial the husband was convicted and ...

In this case the Government seized 38 guns from the defendant. Because he had previously been convicted of a felony, he was then charged with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He tried to argue that the forfeiture barred the subsequent criminal prosecution. The court rejected that argument, citing ...

This case involved the somewhat novel but certainly ingenious practice of court-appointed counsel by which they "routinely" obtained from the Court Clerk, and then used, subpoenas under Rules 17 and 45 of the Fed.R.Crim.P. to get evidence for their cases - here the personnel files of Puerto Rico police officers. ...

This case involves an important sentencing issue that is still alive in some Circuits - whether the court may consider conduct from a count that has been dismissed pursuant to a plea agreement as the basis for departing upwards from the recommended Guideline range. Here, while the Court acknowledges that ...

In this case, the sentencing judge imposed a sentence of imprisonment on a parole violator with the requirement that the defendant participate in an intensive drug treatment program while in custody. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit rules that a district court may recommend, but not mandate, participation in a drug ...

Case rejected finding of obstruction of justice due to lack of evidence in the record to support such a finding.

Citing the general rule that a defendant's knowing and voluntary waiver of his right to appeal a sentence within an agreed guideline range is enforceable, the Court held that the rule bars even those appeals which claim that the sentencing court illegally sentenced the defendant under the Guidelines and relevant ...

This case raises a subtle, but important, ray of hope to aliens who are charged under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1) (being a deported alien found in the United States). Here the Court reverses a conviction because the INS had failed to follow the procedures outlined in 8 C.F.R. § 243.1 ...

Here the Court reversed a conviction because of a prosecutorial intrusion into the defendant's attorney-client relationship which constituted a per se violation of his Sixth Amendment rights to counsel.

In this case the court explores the proprietary of an obscene tactic practiced by the Office of the Attorney General of ...

While the Eighth Circuit may not have yet issued its ruling on the double jeopardy implications of successive criminal and civil proceedings (see United States v. Clementi, above), the lower courts continue to chip away at the concept. Here, Judge Stohr holds that "the double jeopardy challenge is foreclosed by ...

In this case the defendant was charged with travel in interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity (under 18 U.S.C. § 1952), even though his crime was the distribution of crack. After pleading guilty to two counts of his Indictment, the defendant was sentenced on the basis of his underlying ...

In this case, the Government seized 32 firearms from the home of an individual who was then charged in a criminal prosecution with various violations of the law. After the individual was acquitted at trial, the Government, attempting to cover its backside, filed a motion for the issuance of a ...

Citing the principle that "the whole" can be "greater than the sum of the parts", the court approves the imposition of a three level enhancement under § 3B1.1, even though the trial judge made no finding that the defendant "controlled" one of more of the other participants in the criminal ...

This 40 page decision involves an action brought by a number of inmate/plaintiffs under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in which they sought damages and other remedies based on their claim that they were denied their rights to practice their religion, that of the Nation of Islam, in violation of the ...

The most significant aspect of this decision is the strong dissent by Judge Edith H. Jones in which she states that there is "no meaningful distinction between [18 U.S.C.] Section 922(q) and Section 922(o)". Thus, applying the ruling of the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Lopez, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), ...

Case is noted for its observation that "One of the clearest forms of degradation in Western Society is to strip a person of his clothes. The right to be free from strip searches and degrading body inspections is thus basic to the concept of privacy." ((d., at 1146).

Case held ...

Here the Court found that the defendant had suffered no prejudice from a violation of Rule 32(a)(1), requiring the court to ascertain that the defendant and his counsel had an opportunity to review the PSR before sentencing.

This is one of those inexplicable Rule 32 cases that makes sense only ...

In this case an adjustment of four levels for being a "leader" in a drug conspiracy is set aside, even though the Presentence Report concluded that the defendant was a leader and even though the sentencing court so found. In essence, the Court of Appeals ruled that the mere fact ...

This fairly typical 100-plus page decision by Judge Lechner is a text-book analysis of the full panoply of pre-trial, trial and post trial motions. The case involves a 51 count Indictment against alleged members of the Lucchese Crime Family who are represented by a host of heavyweight lawyers. Judge Lechner ...