In this Federal Election Law case Judge Friedman agreed to dismiss various counts involving 18 USC § 1001 on the grounds that the indictment was overly broad and vague, supported only by a "quagmire" of inferences.
The Court observed that an "Alice-in-Wonderland-like maze of logical leaps are required in order ...
Case is noted for Judge Green's strong condemnation of the Guideline's "bait and switch" approach to sentencing and its "mandatory" use of aquitted conduct in calculating the proper sentence range.
In this case, Judge Green addressed "one of the most troubling issues presented by the Guidelines Manual" - whether the ...
"It has been argued that the Ninth Amendment authorizes federal courts to recognize, as federal constitutional rights, rights not enumerated in the Bill of Rights or elsewhere in the constitutional text. . . . . These arguments have not won wide acceptance. And what is entirely clear to us . ...
United States v. Harmon, 21 F.Supp.2d 642 (N.D.Tex. 1998) (Judge McBryde)
United States v. Anderson, 160 F.3d 231 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge Garza)
United States v. Avilez-Reyes, 160 F.3d 258 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
United States v. Vadner, 160 F.3d 263 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
This quartet of ...
United States v. Harmon, 21 F.Supp.2d 642 (N.D.Tex. 1998) (Judge McBryde)
United States v. Anderson, 160 F.3d 231 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge Garza)
United States v. Avilez-Reyes, 160 F.3d 258 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
United States v. Vadner, 160 F.3d 263 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
This quartet of ...
United States v. Harmon, 21 F.Supp.2d 642 (N.D.Tex. 1998) (Judge McBryde)
United States v. Anderson, 160 F.3d 231 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge Garza)
United States v. Avilez-Reyes, 160 F.3d 258 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
United States v. Vadner, 160 F.3d 263 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
This quartet of ...
This case is about a Government scam fueled by pomposity and pretense. Here, the sole victim of the defendant's criminal conduct met with a bevy of Government officials before the defendant entered his plea agreement. Those agents asked the victim not to file any civil action against the defendant, and ...
United States v. Harmon, 21 F.Supp.2d 642 (N.D.Tex. 1998) (Judge McBryde)
United States v. Anderson, 160 F.3d 231 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge Garza)
United States v. Avilez-Reyes, 160 F.3d 258 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
United States v. Vadner, 160 F.3d 263 (5th Cir. 1998) (Judge DeMoss)
This quartet of ...
Here the Court held that the district court did not err in considering prior crimes when computing the defendant's criminal history category because those crimes were not "relevant conduct" since they were severable, distinct offenses.
The defendant contended that the district court erred in calculating her criminal history, because her ...
Here the Court rejected a constitutional challenge that the enormous disparity between sentences given to those who plead guilty versus those who go to trial constituted an impermissible "chilling" of the defendant's right to a jury trial.
The Government hates trials. They are expensive and they are uncertain. But most ...
Ten years after the Sentencing Guidelines became binding on all sentences imposed in the Federal system, the courts still struggle with the concept that a person can be convicted of one crime and sentenced for another - even if the defendant has been acquitted for that other crime or even ...
In this case, the Government dismissed with prejudice criminal charges against the defendant that it had illegally imported CB radios into the U.S. in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 545 - after a Government witness made damaging admissions during his testimony at trial. The Court held that the Government had ...
Quote from Sissela Bok's book about lying (especially by those in public life) and its dangers.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Some observations on lying.
"Twenty years ago, in Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (Vantage Books; New York, 1978), Sissela Bok explained the dynamics of personal dishonesty ...
This is an important case in which the Court extended the Supreme Court's ruling in Oregon v. Kennedy, by holding that a defendant who is forced to move for a mistrial due to intentional misconduct may invoke the double jeopardy clause.
Recently we referred our readers to an unusually blunt ...
See subsequent en banc decision reported at 203 F.3d 1122 (9th Cir. 2000).
In this decision, which was subsequently reversed by a divided en banc court, the panel held that the PLRA does not preclude district courts from granting leave to amend a complaint when dismissing an IFP complaint for ...
Case held that alleged gratuities given to Secretary of Agriculture with the intent to alter official acts were "bribery" supplying a sufficient predicate to a Travel Act charge.
The Court decisively rejected a similar attempt by a defendant to read into a written plea agreement an implied constraint on the government. In this case, ther defendant, in the course of appealing the district court's enhancement of his sentence under a guideline provision, argued that a clause in the ...
Here the Court rejected a constitutional challenge that the enormous disparity between sentences given to those who plead guilty versus those who go to trial constituted an impermissible "chilling" of the defendant's right to a jury trial.
The Government hates trials. They are expensive and they are uncertain. But most ...
The Court held that its previous decision, U.S. v. Stearns, 68 F.3d 328 (9th Cir. 1995), did not express a "new rule" of law which barred retroactive application on this appeal, and then held that counsel had been ineffective in not filing an appeal.
The Court observed: "Although one district court has held that restitution is not punishment, see United States v. Marron, No. CRIM.A.93-90, (E.D. Pa. Nov. 22, 1996), restitution under the MVRA is punishment because the MVRA has not only remedial, but also deterrent, rehabilitative, and retributive purposes. . . . The ...
Here the 8th Circuit endorsed the broad use of downward departures almost as a type of prophylatic remedy to deal with prosecutorial misconduct that was not serious enough to justify reversal of the convictions.
This case deals with disproportionate sentences that result from the plea bargaining process; but here the ...
This case deals with disproportionate sentences that result from the plea bargaining process; but here the Eighth Circuit looked at the issues raised in a decidedly different manner than the First Circuit did in U.S. v. Rodriguez, Docket No. 97-2002 (1st Cir. 1998). Not only was the Court openly critical ...
Here a divided en banc court held that no Fourth Amendment violation occurred when the police arrested and booked a mother for driving without a seat belt and failing to fasten her children in seat belts.
The facts of this case are best summed up by some of the dissenting ...
