Butler v. Apfel, 144 F.3d 622 (9th Cir. 1998) (Per Curiam)
Mujahid v. Crabtree, 999 F.Supp. 1398 (D.Or. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)
United States v. Lopez-Bustamante, 998 F.Supp. 1404 (D.Colo. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)

This trio of cases is noted because they emphasize the prevalence of a common philosophy of our criminal ...

Case held that even in the absence of hardship from imminent prosecution or threat of prosecution, a "claim might still be ripe under First Amendment jurisprudence if . . . First Amendment rights have been restricted or 'chilled'." (Id., at 715). The Court also quoted from Bates v. State Bar ...

Butler v. Apfel, 144 F.3d 622 (9th Cir. 1998) (Per Curiam)
Mujahid v. Crabtree, 999 F.Supp. 1398 (D.Or. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)
United States v. Lopez-Bustamante, 998 F.Supp. 1404 (D.Colo. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)

This trio of cases is noted because they emphasize the prevalence of a common philosophy of our criminal ...

This is one of those inscrutable decisions that's kind of hard to figure out. Here, the defendant was convicted of bank fraud after depositing two counterfeit checks in a savings bank and then withdrawing those funds the next day. At sentencing, Judge Lisi concluded that the facts justified a sentencing ...

Here the Court held that because crack cocaine is chemically indistinguishable from other forms of cocaine base, lay testimony could be used for sentencing purposes to establish the nature of the substance.

The defendant in this case complained that the Government had failed to present adequate proof that the drugs ...

Here the Court confirmed that the Federal Rules of Evidence do not apply at sentencing and that the court may consider evidence that would be inadmissible at trial so long as it had "sufficient indicia of reliability to support its probable accuracy".

Court denied the defendants' motions for qualified immunity based on a palpably false sting operation in which prison officials attempted to punish an employee and his wife for filing a complaint against the prison.

This is one of those really sick and outlandish cases that shows how easily corruption of ...

Case held that the Government had adduced sufficient competent evidence through testimony of chemist that substance was crack cocaine, and not another form of cocaine base, even though they are chemically indistinguishable.

This case is a prime example of how dicta can often be overly broad. The defendant in this case was convicted of multiple counts of bankruptcy fraud, mail and wire fraud, and money structuring crimes. After he was convicted and sentenced to 92 months in prison. After his direct appeal ...

Case is noted for its holding that the BOP's reliance on sentencing enhancements conflicts with the plain language of the statute - which "does not permit resport to sentencing factors or sentencing enhancements attached to the nonviolent offense." (Id., at 631)

[Editor's Note: For another decision from the 10th Circuit ...

Case held that a sentencing court's power to reduce a sentence based on a Guideline Amendment is discretionary.

After the defendant filed to motion to have his sentence reduced on the basis of Guideline Amendment 516, the court held that such a reduction is discretionary. "Reading § 3582(c)(2) and the ...

Butler v. Apfel, 144 F.3d 622 (9th Cir. 1998) (Per Curiam)
Mujahid v. Crabtree, 999 F.Supp. 1398 (D.Or. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)
United States v. Lopez-Bustamante, 998 F.Supp. 1404 (D.Colo. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)

This trio of cases is noted because they emphasize the prevalence of a common philosophy of our criminal ...

Excellent case that summarizes the law dealing with the authority of the courts to impose new terms of supervised release after an earlier term has been revoked.

This case is noted because it contains an important, detailed and lucid review of at least three of the inter- Circuit donnybrooks that ...

Rare case in which a conviction was overturned due to police search of an overhead luggage rack in which the police manipulated the luggage to determine whether is contained contraband.

In this case the Court held that a law enforcement officer's manipulation of luggage becomes a search when it grows ...

Here the Court rejected a constitutional challenge to 42 U.S.C. § 402(x) which denies social security benefits to incarcerated felons.

Butler v. Apfel, 144 F.3d 622 (9th Cir. 1998) (Per Curiam)
Mujahid v. Crabtree, 999 F.Supp. 1398 (D.Or. 1998) (Magistrate Judge)
United States v. Lopez-Bustamante, 998 F.Supp. 1404 (D.Colo. 1998) ...

Case held that the Government's evidence was too attenuated to sustain one defendant's RICO conviction both because he joined conspiracy too late and because evidence did not tie him to the predicate acts.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - The incoherency of the Guidelines.

[T]he fundamental problem with the guidelines is not their attempt to guide judicial discretion or their severity, but their utopian premise that 'unwarranted disparity' can and should be eliminated by rigid, detailed, mandatory sentencing formulas. . . . Disparity is ...