This case dealt with an alien who had received a final order of exclusion but was still in detention after four years because his native country would not accept him. Despite the fact that Ngo was an excludable alien rather than a deportable alien, the Third Circuit counseled that "when ...

In its decision, the Court relied heavily on Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346 (1997) where the Supreme Court held that Kansas' involuntary commitment procedure for sexually violent predators did not violate substantive due process, the Ex Post Facto Clause, or the Double Jeopardy Clause. It also concluded that Washington's ...

For some time now the courts have struggled with the concept of whether the normal preponderance of evidence standard that applies to sentencing hearings is sufficient when the application of a particular enhancement results in a dramatic increase in the defendant’s sentence. While the Supreme Court has been silent on ...

In this case Judge Martin held that "street dealers" are not typically the type of repeat offenders that Congress intended to target in the career offender provisions of the Guidelines, which he concluded were reserved for the kingpins.

This is a significant decision dealing with the power of the district ...

Here, although the Second Circuit acknowledged that some of Judge Duffy's comments may have been "intemperate", in context they did not "indicate a bias against any particular party" and thus it declined to recuse him on remand.

United States v. Stevens, 192 F.3d 263 (2nd Cir. 1999) (Judge Pooler)
United ...

Here the Court rejected the Government's contention that a motion for return of property under Rule 41(e) is moot where the Government no longer retains possession of the seized property - i.e., it no longer has anything to return.

The Court set forth the issue as follows: "The government asserts ...

This case is noted for its discussion of another disturbing prison practice - the forcible use of anti-psychotic drugs on inmates. That’s one of those Pandora box issues: the courts always seem to express concern with the practice until they are required to focus on the reality that prisoners have ...

The Court stated: "Given the latitude allowed to police officers to speak with-indeed, interrogate and search-citizens in circumstances which have a distinctly greater potential for coercion, there can be no doubt that the government can send a letter to a subpoenaed witness stating that it "may want to schedule a ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - “Punishing the Country - America’s Fixation on Prisons”

Last week columnist Anthony Lewis of The New York Times noted that, by February 15,2000, the population of America’s prisons and jails will exceed the two million mark. He put the magnitude of that figure in stark ...

In our Quote of the Week below, we note that columnist Anthony Lewis of The New York Times has predicted that, by the time America’s two million inmates have been released from prison, there is a good chance they will have been brutalized by the system. This case is a ...

In this case the Sixth Circuit joined a number of other Circuits in holding that a tax conviction may be overturned if the IRS violates provisions of its own Tax Manual that were designed to protect the constitutional rights of taxpayers.

The issue addressed in this case was whether a ...

In this case, the district court first granted a motion for a judgment of acquittal under Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 to dismiss one count of a multi-count indictment. The court then immediately took the order under reconsideration and denied the motion five days later. The defendant contended that the motion to dismiss ...

Here, the defendant and a co-defendant were tried before the same jury. Associates of the co-defendant bribed and intimidated a juror who became the lone holdout, resulting in a hung jury for him - although the defendant was convicted. When the defendant learned what his co-defendant had done, he filed ...

United States v. Stevens, 192 F.3d 263 (2nd Cir. 1999) (Judge Pooler)
United States v. Gonzalez, 192 F.3d 350 (2nd Cir. 1999) (Per Curiam)

The defendants in these two cases sought the near impossible: they attempted to have their cases reassigned on remands for resentencing to different judges. Although both ...

In this case, the prosecutor the prosecutor repeatedly referred to the police as "we" in her closing argument. The defendant argued that this implied the prosecutor was present with the police as events unfolded, and resulted in improper vouching. The court found that the statements were not "innocuous" and admonished ...

In this case, while the 3rd Circuit agreed that 18 USC § 201(c)(2) does not bar the prosecutors from granting immunity to witnesses in exchange for their testimony, it expressely reserved on the issue where the witness is paid money for his testimony.

While the Third Circuit joined all the ...

In this case a divided Sixth Circuit held that the release of sex offender registry data does not implicate the Due Process Clause and it also rejected a broad range of other constitutional challenges to Tennessee's version of Megan's Law.

Here, the majority held that a person who is subject ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a police officer who made a false arrest may not be assessed punitive damages in a civil rights action brought by the arrestee absent evidence that the officer acted with evil motive or subjective awareness that there was no ...

In this case, the defendant raised for the first time in his motion for a judgment of acquittal a claim that U.S. Attorney Guillermo Gil's judicial appointment as the interim United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico was constitutionally invalid. Specifically, he maintained that 28 U.S.C. § 546(d), ...

Here the Court held that false statements made by a defendant in the hope of convincing the court not to apply an enhancement provision of the Guidelines can amount to obstruction of justice even if the Court ultimately imposes that enhancement.

In this case, the defendant, carrying a briefcase and ...

Here the Court held that granting a defendant a sentence reduction for acceptance of responsibility after he had engaged in acts to obstruct justice was "inconsistent" with the Guidelines and with common sense.

In this case, the defendant, carrying a briefcase and concealing a BB gun in his waistband, gave ...