The Court stated: "Whatever the pharmacological similarities . . . we find no ambiguity in the terms 'cocaine base' and 'cocaine' and join the other circuits that have rejected rule of lenity challenges to the statute." (Id., at 1369).

Here the Court rejected the defendants claim that because crack and ...

The rather technical sentencing issue raised in this case was whether the district court could impose a sentencing enhancement, under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(4) for unconvicted conduct involving firearms that had obliterated serial numbers. The defendant, a federally licensed firearms dealer, sold some firearms to an undercover agent and he was ...

United States v. Mullanix, 99 F.3d 323 (9th Cir. 1996) (Judge Nelson)
United States v. Torres, 99 F.3d 360 (10th Cir. 1996) (Judge Brorby)

Both of these cases deal with Guideline Amendment No. 516, which became effective on Nov. 1, 1995. That amendment drastically reduced the amount of marijuana attributable ...

Two important sentencing issues are considered in this case. This case started when an IRS employee noticed a Rolls Royce Corniche convertible parked outside a restaurant. His curiosity (or jealousy or dreams of a big bonus) caused him to write down the license number for the purpose of identifying the ...

The defendant claimed that the district court failed to make the necessary finding of relative culpability required by the Court's holding in U.S. v. Caballero, 936 F.3d 1292 (D.C.Cir. 1991). In that case the court held that the proper standard applicable to the minor participant reduction is: "Before it may ...

United States v. Blount, 98 F.3d 1489 (5th Cir. 1996) (Judge Politz)
United States v. Rohrig, 98 F.3d 1506 (6th Cir. 1996) (Judge Rosen)

Speaking about "targets that move opportunistically", both of these cases deal with slippery and elusive concept of "exigent circumstances" - one of the myriad court-created exceptions ...

This case is a continuation of the El Rukn's fiasco, a series of related cases from Chicago that arose out of two massive indictments filed in 1989 against 65 alleged members of a Chicago street gang known as the El Rukn gang. These cases were prosecuted by a team of ...

Another whitewash?!! This is yet another case about an alleged investigation conducted by the Office of Professional Responsibility of the Department of Justice ("OPR"), the watchdog division of that Department of Justice which is supposed to investigate possible misconduct by its fellow members of the Department. In this case, the ...

Case held that Guideline Amendment 516 which changed calculation of marijuana equivalency did not affect mandatory minimum sentence.

United States v. Mullanix, 99 F.3d 323 (9th Cir. 1996) (Judge Nelson)
United States v. Torres, 99 F.3d 360 (10th Cir. 1996) (Judge Brorby)

Both of these cases deal with Guideline Amendment ...

Here the Court reversed the lower court's granting of a motion to enforce a downward departure after the Government refused to make the motion, since the defendant had lied about his own criminal activities which affected his credibility as a witness.

In this case the Court observed that "the government ...

An important and widely-publicized bank fraud conviction was overturned in this case because the Government failed to adhere to some of the Rules of Evidence, particularly Rules 403, 701 and 801. The defendant, a former bank-board chairman, was found guilty on all counts of an indictment that charged bank fraud, ...

One of the arguments raised in this case centered on the consequences to their business and employees should the defendants be imprisoned. They alleged that twelve innocent employees would lose their jobs and suffer sever hardship. Although the District Court found that, as a matter of law, business failure and ...

This case addresses what the Court calls the "thorny, frequently litigated" issue of whether evidence of prior sexual abuse is admissible under Rule 404(b) of the Fed.R.Evid. in a sex abuse prosecution. The Court starts its analysis with the somewhat surprising statement that while "prior sex offenses committed on the ...

This case comes from the dusty archives of the octogenarian Judge Edelstein, who probably holds the record for the most recusal motions ever filed against a Federal Judge. The defendant, appropriately named LaMorte, was a prison inmate serving a 50 year "old law" sentence without the possibility of parole for ...

Here the Court held that a reduction of sentence in an 18 USC § 3582 proceeding is a "different animal" from resentencing after vacating an original sentence per instructions from the court of appeals; thus the defendant's presence was not required.

Here the Court held that there was no due ...

United States v. Blount, 98 F.3d 1489 (5th Cir. 1996) (Judge Politz)
United States v. Rohrig, 98 F.3d 1506 (6th Cir. 1996) (Judge Rosen)

Speaking about "targets that move opportunistically", both of these cases deal with slippery and elusive concept of "exigent circumstances" - one of the myriad court-created exceptions ...

The defendant in this case appealed his sentence, arguing that the district court had erred by not granting him a downward departure, under § 5K2.13, based on diminished capacity. He contended that diminished capacity refers not only to intellectual capacity but also encompasses psychological and behavioral disorders. The Court rejected ...

Case held that Guideline Amendment 516 which changed calculation of marijuana equivalency did not affect mandatory minimum sentence.

United States v. Mullanix, 99 F.3d 323 (9th Cir. 1996) (Judge Nelson)
United States v. Torres, 99 F.3d 360 (10th Cir. 1996) (Judge Brorby)

Both of these cases deal with Guideline Amendment ...

Until a few months ago, one of the raging controversies in the district courts was whether it was proper for a sentencing court to re-open the entire sentencing process following a successful appeal of a gun conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), based on the Supreme Court's ruling in Bailey ...

This case addresses what the Court calls the "thorny, frequently litigated" issue of whether evidence of prior sexual abuse is admissible under Rule 404(b) of the Fed.R.Evid. in a sex abuse prosecution. The Court starts its analysis with the somewhat surprising statement that while "prior sex offenses committed on the ...

Here the Court held that, following the Supreme Court's decision in Bailey v. U.S., a defendant cannot withdraw just the portion of his plea agreement relating to the gun charge; he must withdraw the entire agreement.

In this case the defendant initially pled guilty to a number of counts, including ...

Citing prior decisions, the court held that Congress's and the Commission's actions do not give the district judge any power to depart from the Sentencing Guidelines based on the disparity between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine.

This case started when an IRS employee noticed a Rolls Royce Corniche convertible parked outside a restaurant. His curiosity (or jealousy or dreams of a big bonus) caused him to write down the license number for the purpose of identifying the owner and examining his or her tax returns. That ...

Court held that the Ex Post Facto Clause precludes retroactive application of the N.Y. Sex Offender Law's public notification and disclosure provisions, but not its registration provisions.

Quotes from David Burnham's book "Above the Law" about the hypocricy and impotence of the Office of Professional Responsibility.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Never having to say you're sorry!

Much has been written about the farcical hypocrisy of the "see-no-evil" Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Former prosecutor, now Professor ...

Here the 2nd Circuit summarily dismissed a conviction for Medicare fraud on the grounds that the Government's case was a lot of "grand advocacy but had no basis in the evidence", criticizing the prosecution as an ambush.

This is a remarkable decision in which a conviction for Medicare billing fraud ...