On remand from the decision reported at 133 F.3d 940, the court held that effective compliance with a long-standing consent decree had been achieved, thus effectively concluding this prolonged litigation.

This case is noted for its detailed examination of a very complex Guidelines concept: Can a "prior sentence" be used both to determine a defendant's base offense level under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 and to determine his criminal history category under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a)(1)? In theory, those two sections provide that ...

Since August of 1998, the Indianapolis Police Department engaged in the practice of setting up roadblocks at random checkpoints "to interrupt the flow of illegal drugs throughout the city." In the words of Judge Easterbrook, who dissented in this decision, the program was "spectacularly successful": nearly 10% of all the ...

The First Circuit also noted that it seemd that the rebuke was "amply justified" because counsel appeared to have ignored several warnings to stop arguing after various rulings were made. The Court then continued: "One caveat is in order. Most of the district court's concerns were with unwarranted argument by ...

Case held that there was insufficient evidence to convict defendants of participation in continuing enterprise based solely on similarity of crimes where defendants spent some eight years in prison without contact with each other.

United States v. Morales, 185 F.3d 74 (2nd Cir. 1999) (Judge Straub)
United States v. Frega, ...

Here the Court held that the trial court erred in admitting jailhouse statements made by the defendant to a cooperating witness without the benefit of counsel; and that the error was not harmless.

In this case the Government acknowledged on appeal that it had "deliberately elicited" the incrimination jailhouse statements ...

Here the Court held that testimony about the defendant's prior drug running activities was not prior bad act evidence, but evidence of the charged conspiracy.

Citing cases the Court held that " 'Bad acts that form the factual setting of the crime at issue' or that 'form an integral part ...

Case held that there was insufficient evidence to convict defendants of participation in continuing enterprise based solely on similarity of crimes where defendants spent some eight years in prison without contact with each other.

United States v. Morales, Docket No. 97-1494 (2nd Cir. 7/26/99) (Judge Straub)
United States v. Frega, ...

In this case, the district court held that the testimony of a government's fingerprint expert would be suppressed as a discovery sanction for the Government's failure to turn over to the defense a written summary of his testimony.

In this case the Court noted that the Government had been directed ...

Here the Court held that, since the Government failed to meet its burden of proof at the original sentencing, "resentencing does not invite an open season for the government to make the record that it failed to make in the first instance".

Although the Tenth Circuit has often stated that ...

In this case, following conviction for one count of credit card fraud, the defendant was ordered to pay a total of $19,192.54 in restitution to four victims. The order specified that the restitution was "due and payable immediately", but it also specified that, during the three year term of supervised ...

This is one of those downward departure sentencing cases that proves it never hurts to ask for the moon - because on any given day some Court may agree. In this case, the defendant, who lived on the Sioux Tribal Reservation in South Dakota, pled guilty to assault with a ...

United States v. Morales, 185 F.3d 74 (2nd Cir. 1999) (Judge Straub)
United States v. Frega, 179 F.3d 793 (9th Cir. 1999) (Judge Reinhardt)

It is a rare day when a court vacates a RICO conspiracy conviction; yet that's precisely what happened in both of these cases. Typically, the fact ...

In U.S. v. Restrepo, 946 F.2d 654, 659 (9th Cir. 1991) (en banc), the Ninth Circuit suggested that "there may be an exception to the general rule that the preponderance standard satisfies due process when a sentencing factor has an extremely disproportionate effect on the sentence relative to the offense ...

Here, although the Court agreed that, by subtracting penalties and interest from the amount of the loss, the resulting loss failed to adequately addess the nature of the crime, it held it was confined by the plain language of USSG § 2T1.1.

One of the issues addressed in this case ...

Here the Court rejected the defendants' request for a jury instruction permitting them to argue that the underlying tax levies they were charged with evading were invalid; stating that the alleged invalidity of the levies is not a proper defense.

The Court summarized this argument as follows: "At trial, the ...

Here the Seventh Circuit rejected the defendant's claim that an enhancement for a leadership role under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1 requires proof that he knew of or exercised control over all the participants.

Judge Cudahy started this decision with the following observation: "This case confirms the old saw that fidelity among ...

In this case, following conviction for one count of credit card fraud, the defendant was ordered to pay a total of $19,192.54 in restitution to four victims. The order specified that the restitution was "due and payable immediately", but it also specified that, during the three year term of supervised ...

In this case, after all the testimony was presented, one juror requested that he be excused because he had previously done business with some of the defendants, witnesse and their families, and because he was a recognized figure in his community he feared for his safety if he was part ...

In this case, following conviction for one count of credit card fraud, the defendant was ordered to pay a total of $19,192.54 in restitution to four victims. The order specified that the restitution was "due and payable immediately", but it also specified that, during the three year term of supervised ...

Here the First Circuit vacated the defendant's convictions - after both the Magistrate Judge and the District Court had ruled in favor of the Government - because it found that the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights under Edwards had been violated. The District Court attempted to use the defendant's question, "What ...

The issue presented in this case was whether, as a matter of law, the government is required to allege and prove an overt act in a prosecution for conspiracy to obstruct commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951?

In response to that issue the Court held: " We have ...

This is one of those downward departure sentencing cases that proves it never hurts to ask for the moon - because on any given day some Court may agree. In this case, the defendant, who lived on the Sioux Tribal Reservation in South Dakota, pled guilty to assault with a ...

In this case, following conviction for one count of credit card fraud, the defendant was ordered to pay a total of $19,192.54 in restitution to four victims. The order specified that the restitution was "due and payable immediately", but it also specified that, during the three year term of supervised ...