In this decision, the District Court authorized the use of antipsychotic drugs on a pretrial detainee, based on the BOP's finding that the use of such drugs was necessary for safety reasons - but see subsequent D.C. Circuit decisions.

Here the court granted a series of downward departures, including one based on an extraordinary physical condition and one based on the court's disagreement with the Government's estimate of the quantity of drugs involved.

Here, in one of her classic expositions of the Guidelines, Judge Gertner entered sentences for three ...

In a footnote to this case, the Court stated that “With the exception of a Tenth Circuit opinion construing the time period for appeal, see U.S. v. Robbins, 179 F.3d 1268, 1270 (10th Cir.1999) ("Because an appeal under the 'Hyde Amendment' arises out of a criminal case, Fed. R.App. P. ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Some interesting comments by Judge Becker about the Guidelines’ proclivity of emphasizing banal, esoteric and time-wasting issues.

In the Walker case noted above, the Third Circuit was called upon to resolve the issue of whether an assault on a prison cook supervisor constituted an assault ...

Here the Court held that a demand for a speedy trial on a Federal charge underlying a detainer starts the 180 day speedy trial provisions of the IAD when it was delivered to the Marshal's office, even if the prosecutor did not receive it.

The defendant was in a Washington ...

This case is an example of the stark reality that different standards often apply when courts are called upon to sentence those who work for “the Government” and those who don’t. In this case a 72 year-old police officer, who had spent more than 40 years of his life in ...

In this case the Court held that the act of a police officer in shooting a hollow tipped magnum bullet at a car to stop it during a chase constituted a "seizure" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment and was actionable under 18 USC § 242.

This case is ...

Here the Sixth Circuit held that separate crimes were not part of a "single common scheme or plan" simply because they were part of the same crime spree, had the same victim and same goal, and held they must have been jointly planned.

In this case the defendant argued that ...

In this case, the Seventh Circuit rejected the defendant’s claim that the district court had refused to grant him a sentence reduction for acceptance of responsibility, under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, as “punishment” for filing two motions. Judge Rovner, who agreed with the defendant, concluded in her dissent that the refusal ...

Here court vacated a sentencing enhancement under USSG § 2K2.1(b)(5) on the grounds that it constituted impermissible double counting since a firearm possession under 18 USC § 922(g) is an "underlying offense" of a § 924(c) conviction.

In this case the defendant pled guilty to Smith pled guilty to the ...

In this case the defendant was charged with two counts of possessing a firearm in violation of 18 USC § 922(g)(1) on the basis that he possessed multiple firearms at each of two different places. After being convicted on both counts, he argued that possession of each firearm was a ...

Here the Court held that the third sentence of 21 USC § 844(a) creates a separate crime of possession of crack, which is not a lesser included offense of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether the defendant, convicted of ...

Here the Court rejected a series of constitutional challeges by the minor children of their incarcerated mother that her out-of-state prison transfer violated their rights to visit their mother.

In this case the minor children claimed that, while the right to visit a prisoner is not, as such, such a ...

In rejecting the defendant's argument that the Government had violated the provisions of the Federal Anti-Gratuity Statute (18 U.S.C. § 201(c)(2)) by granting a witness immunity in exchange for his testimony, the Court stated: "Because of our general agreement with the reasoning of our sister circuits, we write only to ...

With some caustic words about the tendency of the Guidelines to force the courts to consider hair-splitting issues, the Court reversed an "official victim" enhancement under § 3A1.2(b) where an inmate assaulted a prison-cook supervisor.

The principal issue in this case was whether a prisoner who assaulted a “prison cook ...

Here the Court held that, in a capital sentencing case, a jury’s inquiry about the meaning of an instruction previously given can be answered with a ritualistic and non-responsive direction to simply re-read the questioned instruction.

In this capital punishment case, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether a ...