Among the several issues raised on this appeal, one provocative Guidelines' issue is noted. The defendant was convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun. He was sentenced to 97 months imprisonment. He argued that he should have been granted a downward departure to allow him to participate ...

Case held that Government's improper use of 53 subpoenas to compel witnesses to attend ex parte interviews did not warrant ordering new trial absent a showing of clear prejudice which it found did not exist in this case.

Case held it was reversible error for the trial court to have excluded psychiatric testimony regarding witness' testimony to exaggerate, where witness was incompetent to testify.

Case held that its is well established that a witness' mental state can be relevant to the issue of the witness' credibility.

Citing U.S. v. Kopp, 951 F.2d 521 (3rd Cir. 1991) the court noted that some courts have held that it is inappropriate to determine loss under § 2F1.1 in accordance with the gain to the defendants.

Case held that district court erred by equating "loss" solely with the profits gained ...

Case held that corroboration requirement for admission of statement against interest is not concerned with the veracity of the in-court witness but the trustworthiness of the out-of-court statement (Id., at 1300).

Case affirmed the use of drug dealer profile evidence to establish a modus operandi.

The principal issue in this case dealt with the growing use of the made-to-measure “drug dealer profile” - a
concept that Judge Pratt once characterized as “laughable, because it can be used to justify designating
anyone ...

United States v. Dennis, 115 F.3d 524 (7th Cir. 1997) (Judge Wood)
United States v. Webb, 115 F.3d 711 (9th Cir. 1997) (Judge Trott)

Both of these cases deal with the growing use of the made-to-measure "drug dealer profile" - a concept that Judge Pratt once characterized as "laughable, because ...

In this case the defendant claimed that the DEA agents' promises that cooperation would be helpful to him amounted to an agreement under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8 that his statements would not be used against him. The Court held that the defendant's "attempt to use § 1B1.8 as a shield" fails ...

Ever since Congress adopted the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) (the "ADA") in 1990, prison officials and courts have struggled to find some palatable way in which to exclude prisons and prisoners from the ambit of that Act. Some of the judicial ruminations on this ...

Here, without deciding whether a court can award a downward departure based on drug addiction (an issue on which the Circuits are in disagreement), it simply affirmed the district court's discretionary authority to deny such a reduction.

Among the several issues raised on this appeal, one provocative Guidelines' issue is ...

Here the Court held that the trial court had violated the defendant's right of allocution at sentencing (as set forth in Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(C), and for that reason it remanded the case back for setentencing.

While it may be more of academic than practical value, this decision contains a detailed discussion ...

This case contains a good review of an important principle that flows from the Double Jeopardy Clause: When and under what circumstances does a declaration of a mistrial bar further prosecution?

In this case, time and time again, Judge Bilby warned the prosecutor that if she failed to disclose exculpatory ...

The defendant in this case argued that the district court had impermissibly double counted when it sentenced her based on her single act of embezzling while out on bond, because the district court both imposed a U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0 upward departure and denied her request for a U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 ...

Case held that Bailey decision does not provide basis for relief from valid guilty plea entered prior to Bailey, but may affect validity of guilty plea.

Case held that a probationer who voluntarily appeared for questioning by probation officer and customs officials was not involved in a "custodial interrogation" that would trigger her Miranda rights.

Here the Court held that the district court did not err in calculating the "intended loss" through thre use of fake credit cards, because the intended loss need not be "realistically possible".

The Court stated: "It is not required that an intended loss be realistically possible. U.S. v. Egemonye, 62 ...

Here the Court held that the district court can resentence a defendant on one part of a sentencing package after the original term has been served so long as the defendant has not yet finished serving the entire sentence on all parts of package.

Here the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a revised sentence imposed after a Bailey-type appeal, even though the new sentence was longer than the sentence that was vacated, holding that the new sentence did not violate the double jeopardy clause.

The Court held that "based on the broad language of § 2255 ...

Case explored at length the history and purposes of Rule 804(b)(3) and held that there is no per se bar to admission of any and all statements against interest that implicate another.

United States v. Dennis, 115 F.3d 524 (7th Cir. 1997) (Judge Wood)
United States v. Webb, 115 F.3d 711 (9th Cir. 1997) (Judge Trott)

Both of these cases deal with the growing use of the made-to-measure "drug dealer profile" - a concept that Judge Pratt once characterized as "laughable, because ...

Court held that forfeiture order which required defendant, who reaped no benefit from crime, to pay same restitution as a co-defendant who reaped substantial benefits violated the Excess Fines Clause.

This case reviews an important factor that must be considered by the courts when a defendant makes a motion for a sentence reduction after the Sentencing Commission has subsequently lowered the penalties applicable to his crime. Here, the defendant was originally sentenced on the basis of possessing 960 marijuana plants. ...

United States v. Barresse, 115 F.3d 610 (8th Cir. 1997) (Judge Loken)
United States v. Alvarez, 115 F.3d 839 (11th Cir. 1997) (Judge Dubina)

Both of these cases deal with that treacherous "Judas' Kiss" provision of the Guidelines - § 5K1.1 - which allows the Government to lure defendants into ...

United States v. Barresse, 115 F.3d 610 (8th Cir. 1997) (Judge Loken)
United States v. Alvarez, 115 F.3d 839 (11th Cir. 1997) (Judge Dubina)

Both of these cases deal with that treacherous "Judas' Kiss" provision of the Guidelines - § 5K1.1 - which allows the Government to lure defendants into ...

Case held that a probationer who voluntarily appeared for questioning by probation officer and customs officials was not involved in a "custodial interrogation" that would trigger her Miranda rights.

Case held that the Daubert standards do not apply to expert law enforcement testimony concerning a defendant's drug dealer profile.

One of the issues raised in this case was whether the trial court had improperly admitted expert drug-
profile evidence to prove the defendant’s modus operandi, without following the procedures ...

Here, majority holds that AEDPA cannot be applied retroactively to actions filed prior to Act's enactment date.

Jeffries v. Wood, 114 F.3d 1484 (9th Cir. 1997) (En Banc) (Judge Thomas)
In Re Vial, 115 F.3d 1192 (4th Cir. 1997) (En Banc) (Judge Wilkins)

When Congress hastily passed the Antiterrorism and ...

This is another Guidelines case that raises an issue we haven't seen in a while - namely, whether a defendant is properly sentenced when the court uses the weight of the entire mixture in which drugs were contained to determine the appropriate sentence. Here, the defendant was arrested with a ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - The myth of sentencing uniformity under the Guidelines.

"One of the guidelines' selling points was that they would eliminate disparity in sentencing. But if you blindfolded a judge, spun her around three times, and gave her a stick to point at a penalty chart - ...

The rumblings of discontentment from the courts! Just as the Attorney General and her minions have finally concluded that the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine might be a tad unfair, Chief Judge Sharp of Indiana and Circuit Judge Evans of the Seventh Circuit have issued ...

This decision is noted for Judge Evans's dissent in which he forcefully argued that, despite the goal of the Guidelines to eliminate sentencing disparities, we could not have more diaparities than we have today.

Have the Sentencing Guidelines achieved uniformity in sentencing as promised? This case presents a revealing look ...