In this case the court held that the provisions of the PLRA, which provide for termination of prospective relief in civil actions regarding prison conditions, violate the Separation of Powers principles by retroactively instructing federal courts to reopen final judgments. Citing Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., 131 L.Ed.2d 328 (1995), ...

The Ninth Circuit become the second Circuit to approve the admissibility of DNA testing by the PCR method.

This case is noted because of the Court's ruling that a district court may not order the parties to exchange witness lists and summaries of anticipated witness testimony in advance of trial. In its analysis of this issue, the Court carefully reviewed the history of Rule 16 of the Fed.R.Crim.P., ...

The defendant in this case was a former federally licensed taxidermist who had been convicted of unlawfully selling migratory birds. As part of his sentence, the district court imposed a special condition of probation that he was not to participate in any hunting activities while he was on probation. While ...

But for Judge Motz' outstanding dissenting decision, one would be tempted to view this case as just another routine example of how the courts stretch to affirm convictions on the grounds that any error that occurred at trial was merely harmless-error. From the start of her exegesis Judge Motz alerts ...

This decision considered the so-called "in the business of receiving and selling stolen property" ("ITB") enhancement contained in § 2B1.1(b)(4)(B). The defendant argued that it was error for the district court to have imposed that four-level enhancement on him because, although he stole property, he was not in the fencing ...

Here the Court held that a lack of financial capacity to purchase drugs in question is irrelevant for sentencing purposes, since the defense only applies where the defendant is accused of selling - not purchasing - drugs.

One of the issues raised in this case was whether a person's lack ...

Here the Court reversed a conviction of intentional killing in furtherance of CCE on grounds that district court improperly admitted questionable evidence of a prior uncharged murder.

While the theme of this case is the ugly subject of murder, the principal issue raised transcends that heinous crime and explores an ...

An oft-cited principle of criminal law is that, to avoid implicating double jeopardy concerns, a defendant has a right to expect finality with regard to his sentence once it has been imposed. Notwithstanding that principle, it has become apparent that most courts now agree that if a defendant successfully appeals ...

While the theme of this case is the ugly subject of murder, the principal issue raised transcends that heinous crime and explores an important facet of the use of so-called "bad character" evidence. In this case the defendant was convicted of an intentional killing in furtherance of a continuing criminal ...

Here the Eleventh Circuit held that the defendant would not have been barred as a matter of law from receiving an adjustment for acceptance of responsibility merely because he asserted an entrapment defense at trial.

The Court stated: "Reviewing the merits of the wrongful denial of adjustment for acceptance of ...

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, ...

The defendant in this case was a former federally licensed taxidermist who had been convicted of unlawfully selling migratory birds. As part of his sentence, the district court imposed a special condition of probation that he was not to participate in any hunting activities while he was on probation. While ...

In this case the Ninth Circuit becomes the second Federal Court of Appeals to approve the admissibility of evidence obtained by the so-called PCR method of DNA testing. (The Eighth Circuit previously approved the PCR method in U.S. v. Beasley, 102 F.3d 1440 (8th Cir. 1996)). In its opinion, the ...

Although this case is discussed in greater detail above under “bad character evidence” is is also noted
here for its discussion of “modus operandi evidence.” One of the issues raised in this murder case was
whether an uncharged murder was admissible to prove “identity” because both murders bore the same ...

Conviction reversed based on violations of Federal Rules of Evidence including failure to qualify bank examiner as an expert.

Here the Court dismissed an indictment based on a number of factors including vindictive prosecution and long pre-indictment delay and rejected the Government's attempt to use relevant conduct as the basis for sentencing the defendant for murder.

For some twenty years Judge Harrington worked for the Department of Justice, and ...

Conviction reversed based on violations of Federal Rules of Evidence including admission of highly prejudicial reports of bank examinations that were irrelevant to issues.

Court dismissed new indictment on gun charges after State court acquitted defendant on murder charge.

Judge Harrington from Massachusetts wrote a scorching opinion in the Stokes case, as he emphatically dismissed an indictment brought by the Federal government one day prior to the expiration of the applicable five year statute ...

The defendant in this case was a former federally licensed taxidermist who had been convicted of unlawfully selling migratory birds. As part of his sentence, the district court imposed a special condition of probation that he was not to participate in any hunting activities while he was on probation. While ...

Court approved reimposition of a new sentence following a Bailey-type appeal even though BOP admitted defendant had completed prior sentence.

Quote from Judge Harrington on the practice of using Federal charges to convict defendants of what should be state crimes in order to assure longer sentences.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - The use of the Federal courts as a forum to correct jury verdicts and enhance state sentences for the ...

Case vacated an obstruction of administration of Internal Revenue Code on grounds that defendant's prefiling actions did not constitute intentional obstruction of administration of Internal Revenue Code.

This tax case reviews one of the favorite instruments of the Internal Revenue Service - the provisions of 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a) - ...

The defendant in this case, a federally licensed firearms dealer, entered a conditional guilty plea to the crimes of unlawful possession of a machine gun in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o)(1) and unlawful transfer of an unregistered firearm in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(e). However, he preserved the ...

While the theme of this case is the ugly subject of murder, the principal issue raised transcends that heinous crime and explores an important facet of the use of so-called "bad character" evidence. In this case the defendant was convicted of an intentional killing in furtherance of a continuing criminal ...