This is a significant decision in which the Ninth Circuit unanimously held that statements to the authorities may be suppressed, and criminal convictions overturned, if foreigners arrested in the United States are not advised of their rights to contact their consulate before making any statements.

Article 36(1)(b) of the Vienna ...

In this case a criminal complaint charged that defendant Xiong and his girlfriend of seven weeks, N.L.G., engaged in sexual intercourse. N.L.G. was fifteen years old at the time. The complaint also stated that both Xiong and N.L.G. told the police that they undressed themselves and that Xiong wore a ...

Here the Court held that the border patrol lacked any reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop of the defendant's truck some 130 miles from the border in an area where there had recently been an increase in smuggling.

The Court explained its rationale as follows: "Reasonable suspicion cannot be ...

Quote from Jodge Jon Newman of the Second Circuit in which he complained about the growing federalization of criminal laws.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Another vote against the Federalization of Criminal Law.

"The Court's opinion, which I reluctantly join, obscures what I consider the most troubling aspect of this ...

This is one of those cases that shows the silly extremes to which Federal prosecutors will go in their attempt to "make a Federal case" out of gossamer. In fairness, it wasn't really gossamer that was at issue in this case: it was a carton of orange juice, the ingredients ...

The defendant in this case was convicted of an assault on a Federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b) - and the nature of that crime may explain why the Government appealed from a three-level downward departure granted by the district court based on exceptional family circumstances (U.S.S.G. ...

In addition to setting forth in full the jury instructions that were approved in this case, the Court also noted that: "This is nearly a perfect example of a case where a jury could find defendant refused to believe what he had every reason to know--that he was filing false ...

This case is noted because Judge Motz concluded that trial counsel's failure to move for a downward departure in sentencing for over-representation of the defendant's criminal history was ineffective assistance of counsel. The defendant pled guilty to one count of distribution of crack cocaine. Because he had two prior drug ...

This high-profile case arose out of defendant Autumn Jackson's attempts to extort up to $40 million from actor Bill Cosby, Jr., by threatening to cause tabloid newspapers to publish her claim to be Cosby's out-of-wedlock daughter. Jackson and another defendant were convicted of threatening to injure another person's reputation with ...

Here the Court affirmed a death sentence, despite numerous and blatant Brady violations, because the petitioner failed to prove that the verdict and sentencing would have been different had those materials been disclosed.

This case involved a series of blatant and acknowledged Brady violations that were dismissed because the Supreme ...

The government and the defendant argued that the 20-year maximum in § 1326(b)(2) could not be applied here because the defendant was only charged in the information with violating § 1326(a). Thus, according to the parties, only the two-year statutory maximum in § 1326(a) can be applied. The Court rersponded: ...

Here the Court held held that disparities in sentences imposed on immigration-crime defendants as a result of divergent plea-bargaining practices in different Federal district courts is not a proper grounds for a downward departure.

In this case District Judge Kaplan held that disparities in sentences imposed on immigration-crime defendants as ...

This is the first case in which the Supreme Court upheld the expanded Federal Death Penalty Law (18 U.S.C. § 3591-3598), despite the vote of four Justices who claimed that the jury instructions were so confusing that the verdict was inherently unreliable.

In this case the Court narrowly upheld the ...