United States v. Alerta, 96 F.3d 1230 (9th Cir. 1996) (Judge Canby)
United States v. Cecil, 96 F.3d 1344 (10th Cir. 1996) (Judge Baldock)

Here are two cases that focus on the curious notion of what constitutes an "essential element" of a crime! It has become well accepted by the ...

Another Guidelines case - and another reversal for Judge Fuste. Here he gets chastised, among other things, for blindly accepting the Government's position by denying a defendant a sentence reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(a) & (b) based on minor or minimal participation - even though the Probation Office had ...

Another Guidelines case - and another reversal for Judge Fuste. Here he gets chastised, among other things, for blindly accepting the Government's position by denying a defendant a sentence reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(a) & (b) based on minor or minimal participation - even though the Probation Office had ...

In this case the Court touched briefly on the apparent conflict between the language of U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1 which allows for loss calculations based on "intended loss" and the language of 18 U.S.C. §§ 3363 and 3364 which requires a showing of actual losses.

Here the Court affirmed a restitution ...

At the sentencing of a law enforcement officer convicted of perjury and conspiracy in this case, Judge Brinkema ruled that a prison term "makes absolutely no sense." Then, stretching the law to its absolute limits, the Judge granted a significant downward departure to keep the favored son out of jail ...

This is an important case which limited defense of qualified immunity to agents of the DEA for brutality arising out of abduction and torture of Mexican national. Effectively the case tolled the two year limitations period for filing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act where the plaintiff, a foreign ...

In this case the Court touched briefly on the apparent conflict between the language of U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1 which allows for loss calculations based on "intended loss" and the language of 18 U.S.C. §§ 3363 and 3364 which requires a showing of actual losses.

In this case involving the improper ...

United States v. Cordova-Perez, 65 F.3d 1552 (9th Cir. 1995)
United States v. Washman, 66 F.3d 210 (9th Cir. 1995)

These two cases discuss some important (albeit highly technical) issues about acceptance of guilty pleas. The Cordova case it points out a frequently ignored (and generally misunderstood) conflict within the ...

More than 30 years ago, Judge Brown wrote that: "[R]ecognized as is the role of informer in the enforcement of criminal laws, there comes a time when enough is more than enough -- it is just too much. When that occurs, the law must condemn it as offensive whether the ...

This en banc decision reverses a long-standing precedent in the Fourth Circuit which held that, when the Government's case depends wholly on the testimony of law enforcement agents, it is an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to refuse defense counsel's request to inquire, in a voir dire examination ...

This is an important gun case that involves the use of the extraordinary consecutive sentences that flow from the use of machine guns during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. Here one of the defendants was convicted of use of a firearm during and in relation to a ...

Speaking of notable one-liners, in this case Judge Hamilton sums up the prevailing wisdom of the American policy that ignores the problem of preparing hoards of inmates for their release back to society. Faced with a claim that the assignment of an inmate to an "idle unit" violates the Eight ...

In this decision, an en banc Court reconsiders and then reaffirms its long standing principle that automatic reversal of a conviction is required when a trial court erroneously deprives a criminal defendant of the right to a peremptory challenge. Here, the trial judge refused to allow the defendant to exercise ...

After two prior panels disagreed on proper Guideline for criminal contempt under 18 U.S.C. § 401, Court reconciled two decisions by holding that appropriate guideline was for misprision of felony, rather than obstruction of justice.

In this decision, which was subsequently reversed by the Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit held that the new provisions of Chapter 153 applied to non-capital federal habeas corpus actions pending on April 24, 1996, the effective date of the AEDPA.

Case held that a series of remarks and comments by the prosecutor constituted improper vouching for the credibility of a Government witness; and that the improper comments were not harmless error.

This is one of those rare cases in which a conviction was reversed because the prosecutor (a) engaged in ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Some thoughts on the inherent fairness of the obscene payments routinely made to informants:

"The use of informants to investigate and prosecute persons engaged in clandestine criminal activity is fraught with peril. . . . By definition, criminal informants are cut from untrustworthy cloth and ...

Here the en banc Ninth Circuit strongly affirmed its standing rule that a criminal defendant is automatically entitled to have his conviction vacated if the trial court erroneously deprives him of the right to a peremptory challenge.

In this decision, an en banc Court reconsiders and then reaffirms its long ...

Here the Court rejected the Government's assertion that the defendant had not told all to be eleigible for a safety valve reduction - stating the Government "cannot assure success simply by saying "we don't believe the defendant' and nothing more.".

Another Guidelines case - and another reversal for Judge Fuste. ...

Case held that defendant should have been allowed to withdraw his plea without offering any reason because at the time he moved for withdrawal the district court had not yet accepted the plea.

United States v. Cordova-Perez, 65 F.3d 1552 (9th Cir. 1995)
United States v. Washman, 66 F.3d 210 ...

In this decision, an en banc Court reconsiders and then reaffirms its long standing principle that automatic reversal of a conviction is required when a trial court erroneously deprives a criminal defendant of the right to a peremptory challenge. Here, the trial judge refused to allow the defendant to exercise ...

United States v. Alerta, 96 F.3d 1230 (9th Cir. 1996) (Judge Canby)
United States v. Cecil, 96 F.3d 1344 (10th Cir. 1996) (Judge Baldock)

Here are two cases that focus on the curious notion of what constitutes an "essential element" of a crime! It has become well accepted by the ...

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this decision is that it was published at all. Here's what happened in the words of the Court: "In April 1990 the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) orchestrated the adduction and torture of Dr. Alvarez-Machain, a Mexican doctor, and transported him to the ...

Here's one of those telling cases that shows the continuing erosion of the Tenth Amendment through the expansion of Federal crimes into ever new arenas. The defendants in this case, basketball coaches at Baylor University, were convicted of a number of counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud arising ...