This expansive bank fraud case should throw a tremor of fear in the hearts of directors of all financial institutions who can now be charged criminally, on the basis of hindsight, for acts that are deemed to constitute reckless disregard of their fiduciary duties. The defendants in this case were ...

Citing U.S. v. Valente, 961 F.2d 133, 135 (9th Cir. 1992), the Court noted that §§ 5K2.0-5K2.15 address departures from the Guideline ranges and not from statutory mandatory minimum sentences.

Case held that a downward departure from a mandatory minimum sentence is not permitted where defendant committed crime because of ...

Here, defense counsel suggested that he would be eligible for parole if he accepted a plea agreement, when in fact parole was only possible if the Governor, upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardons, first commuted the life sentence to a term of imprisonment for a period of years. ...

Case held that for purposes of Rule 609(a)(2), shoplifting was not automatically a crime involving "dishonesty or false statement" within meaning of rule governing admission of evidence of prior misdemeanor convictions.

Here, the Court affirmed the district court's decision to bar evidence of an informant's prior shoplifting conviction, which the ...

They give and they take away. In April, 1997, the 11th Circuit ruled, in Thompson v. U.S., 111 F.3d 109 (11th Cir. 1997), that the sentencing court's failure to advise a defendant of his right to appeal his sentence, as required under Rule 32(c)(5) of the Fed.R.CrimP., consittutes error per ...

Case held that a municipality could not be held liable in a § 1983 action for damages under a "code of silence" theory.

Case vacated a conviction due to trial error in not giving an entrapment instruction to the jury when there was clear overreaching by an overzealous IRS agent.

If nothing else, this case proves that when issues are in vogue almost any defense is worth pursuing, even if it would not ...

This is an important Guidelines case on the meaning of the word "victims", holding that the term, as used in USSG § 5K2.3 applies only to the victims of the offense and not the families of the victims killed.

This is a most unusual Guidelines case that shows how judges ...

The one issue of note in this case was whether the law requires advance notice to a defendant of only the factual basis for an upward departure. Here, both the Presentence Report and the Government's sentencing brief recommended an upward departure on the grounds of the defendant's extensive history of ...

Case held that the law requires that a defendant be given both the legal and factual basis for an upward departure prior to sentencing.

The one issue of note in this case was whether the law requires advance notice to a defendant of only the factual basis for an upward ...

Here the Court vacated an enhancement under USSG § 5K2.1 based upon a death that was never charged, noting among other things, that the departure exceeded that which could have been imposed had the defendant been convicted for the death.

This is a most unusual Guidelines case that shows how ...

Here the Court vacated an upward departure based on USSG § 5K2.14 (endangering the public welfare) based on the district court's analysis that the reckless driving endangered every driver in a eight mile stretch of the road.

This is a most unusual Guidelines case that shows how judges can get ...

One of the issues addressed in this case was whether the enhancements permitted under U.S.S.G. § 5K2.3 (Extreme Psychological Injury) could be applied to take into account the psychological impact on the families of the victims. The Court noted that neither § 5K2.3 nor § 1B1.1 defines the term "victim" ...

Quote from Judge Trott in which he stated that the use of informers, accessories, accomplices, false friends, or any of the other betrayals which are "dirty business" may raise serious questions of credibility.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - The "dirty business" of buying testimony.

"The use of informants to investigate ...

Case firmly held that post-sentence rehabilitative efforts "clearly" do not provide a legal basis for a sentencing departure.

Case held that an agent with a contractually established commision rate is not, without further indicia, a fiduciary to an employee benefits plan for purposes of a § 2E5.1(b)(1) enhancement.

The Court held that, despite the absence of any definition of the term "victim" in § 5K2.3, and the use of various definitions of that term in other sections of the Guidelines, the term as used in § 5K2.3 applies only to the victims of the offense.

This is a ...

Case held that evidence did not support finding that drug sales made by defendant's friend to Government agent were jointly undertaken by defendant so as to justify attribution to the defendant.

Case held that the burden of proof is on the defendant to show inability to pay a fine.

Here the Court rejected a defendant's claim that it was "manifestly unfair" that he received a ten-year sentence, while a co-defendant, who pled guilty and cooperated, was sentenced to 37-months. The Court simply stated that "Disparity in sentences between co-defendants is not a sufficient ground to attack a proper guideline ...

Case held that a prosecutor's presentation of an incriminating piece of evidence, which he himself had unearthed, violated both the advocate witness rule and the rule against prosecutorial vouching.

In this case the Ninth Circuit ruled that a prosecutor's presentation of an incriminating piece of evidence, which he himself had ...

Case held that the knowing and deliberate suppression of the evidence of benefits received by an informant violated the Brady rule and constituted severe prejudice that warranted granting a writ of habeas corpus.

This is one of those classic Brady-rule violation cases which shows the extremes to which some prosecutors ...

For other cases in accord with this decision, see U.S. v. Shrestha, 86 F.3d 935 (9th Cir. 1996); U.S. v. Tournier, 171 F.3d 645 (8th Cir. 1999); and U.S. v. Schreiber (Bianco), Docket No. 98-1462 (2nd Cir. 9/2/99).

Case held that the defendant was not rendered inelligible for relief under ...

Case held that in a conspiracy to distribute case with two different drugs that produce two different mandatory minimum sentences, but the jury returns only a general verdict, the district court must stay below the lower statutory maximum.

In rendering its decision, the Court joined with the majority of Circuits, ...

Case held that the knowing and deliberate suppression of the evidence of benefits received by an informant violated the Brady rule and constituted severe prejudice that warranted granting a writ of habeas corpus.

This is one of those classic Brady-rule violation cases which shows the extremes to which some prosecutors ...

Citing U.S. v. Valente, 961 F.2d 133, 135 (9th Cir. 1992), the Court noted that §§ 5K2.0-5K2.15 address departures from the Guideline ranges and not from statutory mandatory minimum sentences.

Case held that a downward departure from a mandatory minimum sentence is not permitted where defendant committed crime because of ...