This is another bank fraud case that reviews some of the burdens of proof required for a bank fraud conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1344. In this case, the defendant was convicted of 14 counts of bank fraud and one count of uttering counterfeit securities arising out of a complex ...

In this case the Second Circuit addressed a problem that has been spawned by the “relatively recent phenomenon” of appeal-waiver provisions in plea agreements: what does appointed counsel do for a client who has waived his right of appeal, but now wishes to appeal from his guilty-plea conviction, where counsel ...

Here the Court affirmed its prior rulings that counts dismissed as part of a plea agreement may not be reinstated after the defendant successfully appeals a portion of conviction if those dismissed counts are then barred by the statutes of limitation.

In this case the Government appealed from an order ...

Here the Tenth Circuit rejected the Government's contention that the Guidelines prohibit the sentencing courts from considering a downward departure based on aberrant conduct in cases involving serious violent felonies for which probation is unavailable.

In this case, the defendant, a native-American, pled guilty to sexually assaulting a female child. ...

Following a detailed comparision of this en banc decision and the panel's earlier decision which it reversed, we feel that there are significant questions about the validity of the Court's holding that bank fraud does not require proof of "intent to harm".

United States v. Kenrick, No. 98-1283 (1st Cir. ...

Here the en banc Court held that "intent to harm" is not an element of bank fraud under 18 USC § 1344, concluding that there was no "consensus" among the Circuits on that issue - although that may have been a broad overstatement of the truth.

We always get nervous ...

Among the many issues raised in this appeal from a 20-week trial of 15 defendants were a number of challenges to the trial court's handling of jury selection. Essentially, the trial court used a "struck-jury" system to select jurors. After an initial screening of the jurors for cause, the judge ...

In this case two defendants pled guilty to conduct that included a $30,000 fraudulent transaction with a specifically named victim in the United Arab Emirates; and, at sentencing, they were ordered to make restitution payments directly to the Government - who contended that it would receive the funds in trust ...

One of the issues raised in this case was whether the Government had the authority to file an appeal from the district court's ruling that it was barred by the statute of limitations from reinstating a dismissed indictment after the defendant had been successful in withdrawing his plea that led ...

Section 1226(c) of Title 8 of the U.S. Code (section 236(c) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act) requires the Attorney General to take into custody aliens who have committed certain offenses, without granting the alien a bail review hearing. The petitioner challenged that provision, mainting that his continued detention without ...

Here a divided panel affirmed a district court's ruling that an FBI sniper who killed a woman at Ruby Ridge could not be charged in state court for involuntary manslaughter because he was protected by Supremacy Clause immunity.

See the Ninth Circuit's subsequent en banc decision in this case in ...