In this case the trial court found that the DEA had failed to comply with the requisite notice requirement for an administrative forfeiture. Though the trial court had the power to correct the deficiency, it instead allowed the defendant-claimant to pursue an administrative remedy over five years from the date ...

After a search causing large damage the Court held that police officers cannot break into a citizen's home, hide behind a search warrant that is concededly flawed and then attempt to deny just compensation to the citizen it has wronged.

A deepening problem for law enforcement officials and the courts ...

Case held that PLRA's exhaustion requirement is not retroactive to cover pending appeals.

Here, the indictment charged the defendant with participation in a drug distribution conspiracy "within the District of Wyoming and elsewhere." The defendant lived in Montana; and at trial "no evidence was offered that he had ever traveled to or committed overt acts in Wyoming in furtherance of the conspiracy." After ...

Here the Court held that an adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, under USSG § 3E1.1, is rarely available to those who assert the defense of entrapment, since that defense by its nature tends to preclude acceptance of responsibility.

Defendant was denied downward departure on basis that he was coerced by a crime family, since he had close connections to that family.

Here the Court held that that hearsay evidence of what three child victims of alleged sexual abuse said during initial interviews with the FBI was admissible under the residual exception of Rule 803(34) - now Rule 807.

The Court stated: ""[T]he adjustment [for acceptance of responsibility] is rarely available to those who assert entrapment, a defense that by its nature tends to preclude the acceptance of responsibility.
Essentially, the problem is that asserting entrapment is a denial rather than an acceptance of responsibility. A defendant asserting such ...

Case held that material included in an indictment that can fairly be described as 'surplus' may only be stricken if it is irrelevant and prejudicial." (Id., at 157).

Over the dissent of Judge Moore, the Court held that a sentence of supervised release was tolled after deportation.

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

This case is noted because of its detailed (albeit non-conclusive) analysis of the purpose and scope of the Insanity Defense Reform Act, 18 U.S.C. § 17 (the "IDRA"). In addition to redefining insanity and making it an affirmative defense to be proved by clear and convincing evidence, that statute also ...

Case held If the guilty plea "is induced by deception, an unfulfillable promise, or misrepresentation to enter a plea of guilty", it is invalid because it is not voluntary.

Justice Lummus of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts once observed: "If all the defendants should combine to refuse to plead ...

Case reversed an enhancement for obstruction of justice because lower court failed to make required findings with respect to materiality, and instead relied on defendant's motivation, which the court said did not equate to materiality.

Out of the cacophony of the inventive list of multiple charges filed in this environmental ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - One judicial view of the senseless cruelties inflicted on prisoners.

"There are different ways to look upon the inmates of prisons and jails in the United States in 1995. One way is to look upon them as members of a different species, indeed as a ...

Prior to trial, the government filed a motion to permit all child witnesses to testify by closed circuit TV. Although the district court denied that motion on a preliminary basis, at trial when the wttnesses were called the court reconsidered. In the words of the 8th Circuit: "Five-year- old J. ...

It was just a normal night for the convicts; and one of those memorable decisions from the courts. At 11:30 p.m., 129 California inmates were roused from their beds so the guards could practice one of their shake-downs. "A prison guard videotaped the removal of some of the inmates from ...

While the court acknowledged that a departure based on § 5K1.1 requires the prosecution's consent, the Court held that "Section 5K1.1 does not, however, prevent a sentencing court from departing from the Guidelines due to other forms of assistance that a defendant may give. For example, . . . If ...

In this case of first impression, the Court acknowledged that its decision was at variance with what it called dictum in U.S. v. Nadi, 996 F.2d 548 (2nd Cir. 1993) where that court stated that for purposes of the jurisdictional requirements of § 1031(a) "the value of the contract is ...

Court held that defendant was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether his waiver of right to appeal was knowing and voluntary.

Justice Lummus of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts once observed: "If all the defendants should combine to refuse to plead guilty, and should dare to hold out, they could break down the administration of criminal justice in any state in the Union. . . . The truth is, that ...

The issue in this case was whether the district court had erred by imposing a two-level sentence enhancement, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1). The Eleventh Circuit ruled that the district court had erred; and it vacated the sentence enhancement.

The defendant was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and with ...

Court ruled that enhancement for "conscious or reckless risk of serious bodily injury" contained in USSG § 2F1.1(b)(4) could not be applied to crimes committed prior to enactment of Guideline Amendment 156.

This is another of the growing number of cases that addresses the thorny issue of the constitutionality of one of the more controversial provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA") - the provision that allows the 244 U.S. prison institutions in 34 jurisdictions in this country to seek early ...

Here, citing Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590 (1975), the Seventh Circuit noted that the Supreme Court had set forth three factors for determining whether the cauusl chain had been sufficiently attenuated to disspiate the taint of the illegal conduct: (1) the time elapsed between the illegality and the acquisition ...

The defendant in this case was a mere 21 years old at the time of his sentencing; and he received a sentence of life imprisonment for an assortment of drug charges. After his sentencing, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) which empowered the court to reduce a sentence if the ...

Here the Court granted a downward departure to an alien who consented to deportation, even though the Government objected due to the defendant's failure to plead guilty. The Court held that the principal basis for the reduction was not the defendant's acceptance of responsibility, but the substantial reduction in amount ...