Reversing its prior precedent following the Supreme Court's decision in Koon v. U.S., 518 U.S. 81, the Tenth Circuit joined a number of other Circuits in holding that post-sentencing rehabilitative efforts are a proper grounds for downward departures.

United States v. Green, 152 F.3d 1202 (9th Cir. 1998) (Per Curiam) …

[Editor's Note: The Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 (CSRA), was originally enacted as Pub. L. No. 102-521, § 2(a), 106 Stat. 340 and was originally codified at 18 U.S.C. § 228 (1994). Congress amended the CSRA in June, 1998 by also enacting the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 …

This case, subsequently reversed by the Supreme Court, held that the defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel by filing a no-merits "Anders" brief that failied to identify any arguable issues, even though it met State standards.

The defendant in this case was convicted in a California state court of second-degree …

Court held that district court violated Rule 11 by failing to advise defendant of his supervised release term and the nature of the supervised release, and error was not harmless; and it granted defendant right to withdraw plea.

But seeU.S. v. Gloster, 969 F.Supp. 92 (D.D.C. 1997) and U.S. v. Singleton, Docket No. 99-3053 (D.C.Cir. 6/25/99) for contrary rulings.

Here the Court held that possession of a firearm by a felon is a "crime of violence" for purposes of the Bail Reform Act, warranting a pretrial detention hearing.

Case held that statements provided to the Government that did not result in a cooperation agreement could be used to determine the defendant's offense level when defendant elected to pursue safety valve sentence.

Ths case dealt with two "safety valve" issues. First, the Court held that a safety valve eligible …

In this case, the Court held that a district court "was not required to grant the defendant's request for a hearing at which to cross-examine his victims in order to show that their psychological injury was less than appeared at trial, nor was it required to order the victims to …

In this case, Judge Gertner referred a lawyer to the State Bar Disciplinary Committee for his on-again, off-again actions in representing a client during his plea negotiations, but claiming he was not competent to handle the sentencing proceedings.

The briefness of the Order issued in this case may tempt many …

Case held that prison's policy of virtually denying an accused's requests for live witnesses at a disciplinary hearing lacked "the refinement required to survive constitutional muster.".

This is a rare case in which the Seventh Circuit ruled that officials at a State prison had violated the rights of prisoners by …

Relying on the business records exception in Rule 803(6), the court rejected the defendant's argument that the admission of certain statistical evidence (here a "physician practicee profile") was improper and warranted relief.

Case held that absent exigent circumstances, the inevitable discovery doctrine was inapplicable to a warrantless search during which the police not only seized the premises, but detained the occupants and conducted a prolonged search.

In addition to the amended decision reported at 200 F.3d 603 (9th Cir. 1999), see also Li v. Eddy, 259 F.3d 1132 (9th Cir. 2001) (which was decided after the Supreme Court's decision in INS v. St. Cyr, 121 S.Ct. 2271 (2001)) and which discussed the holding in the instant …

This case deals with another aspect of the Federal Gun Control laws - namely the prohibitions against the possession of firearms by "ex-felons" (a term which we submit is an oxymoron) who are not employed by the Government. In this case, the defendant was charged with the usual quota of …

Court dismissed a tax indictment obtained by the special counsel's office on the grounds that it was based entirely on evidence supplied by the defendant in exchange for "immunity to the extent allowed by the law.".

This much-publicized case involved a challenge by Walter Hubbell of a tax indictment obtained …

This is a rare case in which the Court granted an exemption to the defense to permit a court-appointed investigator and potential witness to remain in the courtroom throughout trial on the grounds that his presence was essential to the defense.

In this case Judge Bennett has delivered one of …

In this case, a witness offering information on the defendant's relevant conduct first stated in a proffer that he gave the defendant 50 pounds of methamphetamine; he then testified at trial that he gave the defendant 80 to 100 pounds; the witness later signed an affidavit stating that he could …

In its decision the Court did emphasize that a "consensual search is unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment or violative of due process under the Fifth Amendment if the consent was induced by fraud, deceit, trickery or misrepresentation by the revenue agent." (Id., at 451)

The decision is also noted for …

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - The dangers of discriminatory and unreasonable laws.

"I regard it as a salutary doctrine that cities, states and the Federal Government must exercise their powers so as not to discriminate between their inhabitants except upon some reasonable differentiation fairly related to the object of regulation. …

Here the Court held that a provision of the Gun Control Act which prohibited states from providing guns to police officers with misdemeanor convictions - but not felony convictions - was irrational and violated the Equal Protection Clause.

"Keep all guns away from the felons, but make sure that those …

Here the Court affirmed a sentence of 30 days imprisonment and 1500 hours of community service for a defendant in a marijuana case, largely on the grounds that post-sentencing rehabilitation efforts are a proper grounds for departure.

United States v. Green, 152 F.3d 1202 (9th Cir. 1998) (Per Curiam)
United …

Here, based on the Supreme Court's decision in Almendarez-Torres v. U.S., 523 U.S. 224 (1998), the Court vacated a conviction under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b) where the defendant was convicted of separate crimes under both §§ 1326(a) and (b).

In this case the defendant was convicted of violating both 8 …