In this case the Court held that a defendant who pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine was properly denied a "minor partricipant" sentence reduction, based in part on the fact that the defendant was using his own vehicle to transport the drugs and on the amount of ...

The defendant in this case was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. Prior to the commencement of trial, his counsel moved to bar the admission of evidence relating to five sales of cocaine to an undercover police officer - each for $100. The district court (Judge ...

In approving the use of a sophisticated means enhancement under § 2T1.1(b)(2), the court agreed that "there is a certain amount of overlap among various factors as they relate to sophisticated means, obstruction of justice, departure, as well as the guideline for the underlying conspiracy. However, as the Government points ...

United States v. Morey, 120 F.3d 142 (8th Cir. 1997) (Per Curiam)
Benson v. United States, 969 F.Supp. 1129 (N.D.Ill. 1997) (Judge Alesia)

Both of these cases visit an issue that is destined to become more and more significant as growing masses of felons complete the prison portion of their ...

United States v. Morey, 120 F.3d 142 (8th Cir. 1997) (Per Curiam)
Benson v. United States, 969 F.Supp. 1129 (N.D.Ill. 1997) (Judge Alesia)

Both of these cases visit an issue that is destined to become more and more significant as growing masses of felons complete the prison portion of their ...

The defendant in this case was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. Prior to the commencement of trial, his counsel moved to bar the admission of evidence relating to five sales of cocaine to an undercover police officer - each for $100. The district court (Judge ...

Court affirmed a damage award to a prisoner to whom antipsychotic drugs were administered and affirmed that prison doctors were not entitled to the defense of qualified immunity.

Citing Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210 (1990), the Court affirmed a damage award to a prisoner to whom antipsychotic drugs had ...

The prosecutor in this case was really cute. With brazenly insincere coquettishness, he kept reminding the jury of the very things that it should not consider when it retired to reach a verdict. He played with the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights by repeatedly commenting on the defendant's failure to testify ...

E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077 (3rd Cir. 1997) (Judge Stapleton)
Doe v. Pataki, 120 F.3d 1263 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Newman)
Roe v. Office of Adult Probation, 125 F.3d 47 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Newman)

In these three cases the Second and Third Circuits rejected challenges to the so-called ...

As explained by the Court, "this is one of those cases in which the district court struggles against the constraints of the guidelines in order to impose what he feels is a proper sentence, only to be reined in by the court of appeals." (Id., at 228). It is also ...

Here the Court held that the failure of the district court to explicitly discuss the aiding and abetting theory of liability was unnecessary because such a theory is not an essential element of the offense requiring inclusion in the indictment.

A frequent and valid criticism of the criminal justice system ...

In this case the Court affirmed the validity of a border search, even though the Border Patrol officer's testimony was that he was able to ascertain that he had reasonable grounds for a search after just nine/eleventh's of a second to detect the "surprised or scared" facial expressions of the ...

Here the Court held that the failure of the district court to explicitly discuss the aiding and abetting theory of liability was unnecessary because such a theory is not an essential element of the offense requiring inclusion in the indictment.

A frequent and valid criticism of the criminal justice system ...

United States v. Morey, 120 F.3d 142 (8th Cir. 1997) (Per Curiam)
Benson v. United States, 969 F.Supp. 1129 (N.D.Ill. 1997) (Judge Alesia)

Both of these cases visit an issue that is destined to become more and more significant as growing masses of felons complete the prison portion of their ...

In this case, the Court affirmed an upward sentencing departure for sophisticated means, obstruction of justice and role in the offense, even though it acknowledged that the district court had mentioned some of the same factors in connection with the different adjustments and the departure. The Court stated that this ...

The defendant in this case was convicted of a conspiracy to defraud the IRS under 18 U.S.C. § 371, which is commonly referred to as a "Klein-type conspiracy". (See, U.S. v. Klein, 247 F.2d 908 (2nd Cir. 1957). The defendant appealed his conviction, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to ...

Here the Court upheld the validity of New Jersey's Megan's Law in the face of a broad range of constitutional challenges; but see Judge Becker's dissent in which he likened those laws to "the shaming punishments of colonial America.".

E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077 (3rd Cir. 1997) (Judge Stapleton) ...

The Court held: "[I]n Hobbs Act prosecutions based on local activities that affect interstate commerce, the government need not prove that the effect of an individual defendant's conduct was substantial. It suffices to show a slight effect in each case, provided that the defendant's conduct is of a general type ...

In this case a numebr of convicted sex offenders challenged the State of Washington's community notification statute, which required registration by offenders, as well as disclosure of offenders' conviction information to the local community. Two of the offenders challenged the Washington statute on ex post facto grounds, arguing that the ...

As explained by the Court, "this is one of those cases in which the district court struggles against the constraints of the guidelines in order to impose what he feels is a proper sentence, only to be reined in by the court of appeals." (Id., at 228). It is also ...

The defendant in this case was convicted of various crimes, and one of the issues raised on appeal was whether the district court erred by imposing a two level "vulnerable victim" enhancement on the grounds that the Asian-American merchants who were targeted for the crimes were not as "street savvy" ...

Citing decisions from the Eighth and Tenth Circuits, the Court concluded that U.S. v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995) had no effect on the validity of § 922(u) as a legitimate exercise of Conress' power under the Commerce Clause.

Here the Court rejected a claim, based on the Supreme Court's ...

Here the Court held that there was no violation of the defendant's double jeopardy rights by resentencing him, after a successful Bailey appeal, using the gun bump enhancement contained in USSG § 2D1.1(b)(1).

In this case, the Court reversed a conviction on the grounds that the district court had erred when it concluded that the defendant had "abandoned" his backpack by leaving it on a bus after he was "unlawfully" ordered to leave the bus and aubmit to a dog sniff test.

Here the Court affirmed the district court's conclusion that the drugs involved were D-type methamphetamine rather than the less penal L-type, and rejected the defendant's claim that counsel had been ineffective for failing to challenge the issue.

Citing a number of other decisions, the Court observed that the 1946 Amendments to the Fed.R.Civ.P 60(b) expressly abolished several common law writs, including audita querela and coram nobis in civil proceedings; and that in criminal proceedings "if it is available at all, the writ of audita querela can only ...

E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077 (3rd Cir. 1997) (Judge Stapleton)
Doe v. Pataki, 120 F.3d 1263 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Newman)
Roe v. Office of Adult Probation, 125 F.3d 47 (2nd Cir. 1997) (Judge Newman)

In these three cases the Second and Third Circuits rejected challenges to the so-called ...

This is another of the growing number of cases that are addressing the issue of the use of polygraph evidence in criminal trials. Citing the Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) and the Ninth Circuit's decision in U.S. v. Cordoba, 104 F.3d ...

The issue in this case was whether a trial judge violated a defendant's Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial by dismissing a juror when it knew that the juror in question was the sole juror holding out for an acquittal. The juror had become distraught when all the other ...

This is another of the growing number of cases that are addressing the issue of the use of polygraph evidence in criminal trials. Citing the Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) and the Ninth Circuit's decision in U.S. v. Cordoba, 104 F.3d ...