Here the Court held that the burden of proof to recover legal fees under the Hyde Amendment is greater than the "substantially justified" burden under the Equal Access to Justice Act (28 USC § 2412) - a standard the defendant did not meet in this case.

In this case the ...

Here the Third Circuit held that since there was no express waiver of sovereign immunity in Rule 41(e) of the Fed.R.Crim.P., an aggrieved party could not obtain damages for the destruction of property that the Government improperly failed to return.

United States v. Bein, 214 F.3d 408 (3rd Cir. 2000) ...

United States v. Bein, No. 99-3822 (3rd Cir. 6/5/00) (Judge Greenberg)
United States v. Mohammad, 95 F.Supp. 236 (D.N.J. 2000) (Judge Bassler)

Both of these cases involved a common problem. A defendant is arrested and law enforcement agents seize everything is sight - certainly cash, but also personal items and ...

Some random thoughts of the validity of warrantless searches by means of a thermal imager, from a Tenth Circuit case on that topic.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - Some thoughts on the use of thermal imagers to conduct searches.

“The science of investigation has progressed to the point where the ...

Here the Court granted a downward departure from a Guideline sentencing range of 18-24 months to a term of five years probabtion to a defendant who found a loaded gun in a playground on the grounds of aberrant conduct, but not extraordinary rehabilitation.

In this case the defendant was arrested ...

In this case the Court rejected a Government motion to compel the release of drug treatment records, pursuant to the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 290dd-2, of a defendant charged with a gun crime. In the process, the Court gave a detailed analysis of the provisions of that statute and ...

Here the Court affirmed the authority of the judge - rather than the jury - to determine the quantity of drugs in a drug case and to rule on the credibility of witnesses - a decision that was subsequently affirmed by summary order of the Supreme Court.

The defendant in ...

In this case the plaintiff worked as an inmate legal assistant in the Disciplinary Segregation Unit of his prison from October 10, 1998 February 9, 1999, when he was removed from his job. The Court noted that an inmate legal assistant was authorized to "assist other inmates with their legal ...

This is an interesting (albeit highly technical) decision about the rights of victims to enforce, through separate civil proceedings, restitution orders that have been ordered in criminal proceedings. Here, the Second Circuit held that the Federal restitution statutes do not create a Federal civil cause of action which victims can ...

Here a divided en banc Court held that an unsupported tip is sufficient to support a warrant application - over the strong dissent of Judge Clay who accused the majority of driving a stake through the heart of the Fourth Amendment.

In 1995, the police in Chattanooga, TN, received a ...

Here Judge Donald held that the warrantless use of a thermal imager violated the defendants’ Fourth Amendment rights, and concluded that prior cases that have addressed the same issue have “misframed” the proper issue to be resolved.

In this decision, District Judge Donald set forth a detailed review of the ...

The plaintiff in this case was an 18-year old high school student who was arrested at a vehicle checkpoint after consuming three beers. She was arrested and taken to the police station where she was instructed to remove all of her clothing including her bra and panties. She brought a ...

Here the Court declined to grant a departure based on extraordinary rehabilitation, because although the defendant's conduct in working with the disadvantaged was noteworthy, it was part of his chosen profession and not a change in behavior.

In this case the defendant was arrested and convicted for illegal possession of ...