Here Judge Sporkin granted a new trial based on newly discovered evidence that a police expert witness had falsified his education and credentials, rejecting a Government claim that the decision would have a precedential effect on other cases.

This case is another example of “testalying” by the police in their ...

In this case the Fifth Circuit held that the Supreme Court's decision in Jones v. U.S., 526 U.S. 227 (1999) was "not sufficiently clear or obvious" to warrant changing its precedent that the quantity of drugs is a sentencing element rather than an essential element of the crime. (Id., at ...

This is a significant decision realating to the meaning of 28 USC § 2244(b)(2)(A) which held that certain cases not specifically made retroactive by the Supreme Court can still be deemed retroactive if they establish new constitutional rules of law.

In this case the petitioner sought habeas relief based on ...

Here, joining a few Circuits, the Fourth Circuit held that the PLRA requires prisoners to exhaust all avaiable administrative remedies before bringing a Federal lawsuit, even if such remdies are incapable of providing the relief sought.

In this case the Third Circuit held that the requirement added to 42 § ...

The Ninth Circuit strikes back! Perhaps tired of its label as the Circuit most reversed by the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit sharply challenged the Supreme Court by holding in this case that it is no longer justifiable to use ethnic appearance as a factor in deciding whether to stop ...

In this case the Court held that it was proper to impose a seven-level enhancement on a defendant under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(A) for the discharge of a gun during a robbery, even though the gun was fired by a police officer and not the defendant.

In this case, the defendant ...

In this case, a pro se prisoner incarcerated in the Parchman Penitentiary in Mississipi accomplished a rare feat - he proved that he had been denied effective assistance of counsel - warranting a presumption of prejudice - when his appellate counsel filed a brief alleging no specific error and argung ...

In this case, Judge Payne ordered the suppression of evidence after the DEA improperly destroyed material, potentially exculpatory evidence. Here, the DEA had been monitoring the defendant and his brother for possible methamphetamine manufacturing. Douglas Elliott, the defendant’s brother, was stopped for committing a traffic violation while driving the defendant’s ...

In this case the defendants were accused of shipping stolen computers in interstate commerce, but the Court concluded that the Government had failed to prove its case. It summarized its conclusion by stating: "We surmise, although the government's brief is not clear, the government's theory in this case is that ...

In this case the en banc Court vacated a panel's previous decision that affirmed the district court's dismissal of a suit for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 without granting the prisoner leave to amend his complaint to name the correct defendants. The Court noted that the Supreme Court has ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Executive Detention - the Hallmark of the Totalitarian State.

"[I]t is well to remember the magnitude of the injury that pretrial detention inflicts and the departure that it marks from ordinary forms of constitutional governance. Executive power to detain an individual is the hallmark of ...

Ma v. Reno, 2000 WL 358445 (9th Cir. 4/10/00) (Judge Reinhardt)
Ho v. Greene, 204 F.3d 1045 (10th Cir. 2000) (Judge Murphy)

Despite growing cries of outrage, the INS continues to hold numerous aliens in American prisons indefinitely when their countries of origin refuse to accept them back, once they ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Executive Detention - the Hallmark of the Totalitarian State.

"[I]t is well to remember the magnitude of the injury that pretrial detention inflicts and the departure that it marks from ordinary forms of constitutional governance. Executive power to detain an individual is the hallmark of ...

In this case, while discussing with counsel the procedural aspects of presenting witnesses, the district court stated: "I take it there is going to be a motion to sequester witnesses" - to which defense counsel answered in the affirmative. When the bailiff was instructed to take the witnesses into custody, ...

Here the Ninth Circuit held that the immigration laws do not give the Attorney General the authority to detain indefinitely aliens whose countries of origin refuse to accept them back, and ordered that they be released after a reasonable period.

Ma v. Reno, 208 F.3d 815 (9th Cir. 2000) (Judge ...

In this decision the Fifth Circuit denied a motion for a rehearing of its previous decision reported at 199 F.3d 193 (over the dissent of Judge Garwood), and affirmed its prior decision, correcting and modifying that decision in one minor respect.

In this case, police officers stopped the defendant Dortch ...