Here the Court vacated a sentence after finding that the Government fell "woefully short" of satisfying the "meticulous standards" expected by ignoring its agreement to recomment 5-to-50 grams of crack and recommending instead 480 grams.
It seems as if everyone was asleep on this case. The defendant pled guilty to ...
Here the Court vacated a sentence after concluding that defense counsel's failure to move for a mitigating role sentence reduction under USSG § 3B1.2 constituted a "drastic misstep" that fell below the required level of professional competence.
This is an interesting case in which the Court held that the failure ...
At issue in this case was a 2-level ehnancement for obstruction of justice imposed on the defendant for attempting to thwart a forfeiture order by transferring certain properties out of her name. On review, the issue became whether the Court of Appeals should review the imposition of that enhancement de ...
The great Judge Jerome Frank once wrote: "If we continue to do nothing practical to prevent [prosecutorial misconduct], we should cease to disapprove it. For otherwise it will be as if we had declared in effect 'Government attorneys, without fear of reversal, may say just about what they please in ...
In this case the Court found that the Government had breached an essential provision of the defendant’s plea agreement by recommending a sentence enhancement for a leadership role in the offense where it was “eminently reasonable” for the defendant to believe that such an enhancement was foreclosed; and that the ...
On July 15th, 1998, Las Vegas police officers executed a warrant to search the apartment of suspected drug dealer Lashawn Banks. The officers followed knock and announce procedure, and after waiting 15 to 20 seconds, the officers broke down the door with a battering ram. When the police entered the ...
This 88-page decision in a case of first impression is noted for its detailed (albeit highly technical) analysis of whether the three standard field sobriety tests (SFSTs), that are commonly administered to determine whether a person was driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), are ...
In this case, a police officer approached and questioned a bank robbery suspect who was waiting for a bus in suburban Virginia. The man, Otis L. Weaver Jr., gave the officer his driver's license as asked. He then agreed to accompany the officer to the bank. There, another officer recognized ...
Sometimes, the win-at-any-cost attitude of prosecutors is not only astonishing, it is downright appalling. The ADA in this case, Therese Lendino, had special reason to be particularly careful about the rights of petitioner Eric Jenkins. His first trial for murder had ended in a mistrial after New York State Supreme ...
