In this shocking case, the Court vacated an incompetant's defendant's murder conviction (after the defendant spent five years in prison) because his blind lawyer had totally failed to investigate the case or ask for a competency hearing.

Carter v. Johnson, 110 F.3d 1098 (5th Cir. 1997) (Judge Smith)
Williamson v. ...

Here the Eleventh Circuit held that the failure of the sentencing court to advise the defendant of his right to appeal, pursuant to Rule 32(c)(5), constitutes error per se; but see U.S. v. Chang, 142 F.3d 1251 (11th Cir. 1998).

In this case the Eleventh Circuit acknowledged that the Circuits ...

Here, the Court affirmed that "[u]pon a proper request, a defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on any defense theory for which there is a foundation in the evidence . . ., even if the trial court determines that the evidentiary foundation of the defense theory is only tenuous." ...

While this case does not directly refer to Rule 33, one of the issues raised was the claim made after trial that the defendants were entitled to a new trial because the Government, in violation of its obligations under the Jencks Act and the Brady case, had failed to disclose ...

Case held that a defendant's term of supervised release could be tolled while she is out of the country after deportation.

For a contrary view, see U.S. v. Balogun, 140 F.3d 141 (2nd Cir. 1998).

Case contains a long and technical analysis of the PCR method of DNA testing, and generally upholds such evidence as sufficiently scientifically reliable and probative to be admissible under the Daubert standards.

Miller v. Selsky, 111 F.3d 7 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Leval)
Carty v. Farrelly, 957 F.Supp. 727 (D.Virgin Islands) (Judge Brotman)

Both of these prison cases are noted for their holdings on the realities of prison life. In the Selsky case, the Second Circuit considered a claim for damages that ...

One of the concomitant parts of making arrests in America has become the sick tradition that arrests afford law enforcement agents a unique opportunity to exhibit their uncommon valor before cameras for replay on T.V. news shows. In one noted case, Judge Weinstein bluntly called such shameful acts of bravado ...

Here the Court criticized the practice of allowing the probation office to petition the Court for revocation of probation since it makes those officers advocates not for their probationers but for ‘the People".

If this decision is affirmed on appeal, it could have a dramatic impact on at least one ...

Miller v. Selsky, 111 F.3d 7 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Leval)
Carty v. Farrelly, 957 F.Supp. 727 (D.Virgin Islands) (Judge Brotman)

Both of these prison cases are noted for their holdings on the realities of prison life. In the Selsky case, the Second Circuit considered a claim for damages that ...

Carter v. Johnson, 110 F.3d 1098 (5th Cir. 1997) (Judge Smith)
Williamson v. Ward, 110 F.3d 1508 (10th Cir. 1997) (Judge Seymour)

Both of these cases deal with the issue of competency to stand trial - albeit from very different perspectives.

One of the many issues raised in the Carter ...

Court held that while district courts have broad discretion to tailor conditions of supervised release to goals and purposes of sentencing, the Guidelines do not provide sentencing courts with untrammeled discretion in that regard.

In this case the court upheld a special condition of supervised release requiring the defendant convicted of violating the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act to effect the return of his children to their mother. It concluded the special condition was closely related to the nature and circumstances of the offense, ...

Miller v. Selsky, 111 F.3d 7 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Leval)
Carty v. Farrelly, 957 F.Supp. 727 (D.Virgin Islands) (Judge Brotman)

Both of these prison cases are noted for their holdings on the realities of prison life. In the Miller case, the Second Circuit considered a claim for damages that ...

Here the Court rejected the Government's argument that an obscure portion of the legislative history of the Criminal Fine Improvements Act of 1987 permitted the court to delegate to the Bureau of Prisons the right to set schedules for fines.

Collecting fines has become an increasingly important role for the ...

Here the Court rejected a claim that irrelevant evidence had been admitted, holding that to be relevant the evidence needs only to "tend" to prove the Government's case and evidence that adds "context and dimension" so qualifies.

In this case, after their conviction, the defendants appealed their drug convictions arguing, ...

The defendant is this case was playing poker in a bar one night when he was approached by a stranger who asked to borrow $100. When the defendant refused, the stranger pulled a gun out of his pocket and fired two shots at the defendant's legs. Both shots missed. Ultimately ...

This is an important decision about the rights of jailhouse lawyers as well as a source of much of the current law on the rights of prisoners generally; and for those reasons it will probably be banned from most prison law libraries. Plaintiffs Thaddeus-X, a jailhouse lawyer ("X") and another ...

This case is noted principally for Judge Fernandez' dissent in which he argues that the defendant should have received the third level of the acceptance of responsibility sentence reduction. The district court denied the third level on the grounds that it concluded that the defendant had not completely accepted responsibility ...

In this case the Court held that in order to be guilty of aiding and abetting under § 924(c) "the defendant must have 'directly facilitated or encouraged the use' of the firearm and not simply be aware of its use." (Id., at 1429-30).

Case held that mere foreknowledge that a ...