Petitioner inmate was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and robbery and was sentenced to death, but the inmate asserted that his counsel was ineffective. The inmate and respondent custodial official cross-appealed the decision of the United States District Court for the Central District of California which granted the inmate's petition ...
This is a rare case in which a Circuit Court granted a new trial based on Brady violations (Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963)). The petitioner in this case, Sidney Scott, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death after a state trial in Oklahoma. After exhausting his ...
The petitioner in this case, Troy Brown, was convicted in state court of attempted aggravated assault on a police officer. He and another man were outside a bar in the Bronx when they were approached by police officers. The police claimed that Brown raised a pistol and started firing. Brown ...
A defendant convicted of bank and mail fraud deemed to have waived the right to appeal imposition of a sex offender treatment program as a special condition of supervised release because his plea agreement contained a broad waiver of appeal.
The defendant in this case pled guilty to bank fraud, ...
Conviction for illegal possession of gun under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) is reversed where evidence suggested that defendant obtained machine gun as an unsolicited gift, thus refuting inference that his possession of the gun at the time of its delivery was designed to promote his drug trafficking.
In this summary reversal, the Court vacated a grant of habeas relief (because the state court decision was contrary to two prior Supreme Court decisions) stating that those decisions were "off the table" since they were not based on constitutional grounds.
In Packer v. Hill, 291 F.32d 569 (2002) (Packer ...
Plaintiff inmate brought suit against defendants, seeking an injunction against his continued and indefinite confinement in the Special Management Unit II (SMU II). The question then before the court was whether the inmate's indefinite detention in near-solitary confinement based on alleged gang membership comported with the Due Process Clause of ...
Where both defendants were convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, defendants' claims, that their sentences violate Apprendi because the quantity of cocaine involved in the conspiracy was neither alleged in the indictment nor submitted to the jury, denied under harmless error doctrine.
Defendants appealed their convictions and sentences, entered in ...
In this case, following the conclusion of evidence at trial, the defendant filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal under Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 on his charge for possession of a firearm, in and affecting interstate commerce, by an unlawful user of controlled substances in violation of 18 ...
The defendant in this case was convicted of multiple felony counts and, as part of his punishment, he was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $217,587.56 to various private parties. Utilizing the post-judgment collection remedies of the Federal Debt Collection Procedure Act (28 U.S.C. § 3001 et seq.) ...
In this summary reversal, the Court vacated the grant of habeas relief (based on ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of a capital case) stating that the 9th Circuit had substituted its own judgment for that of the state court.
In Visciotti v. Woodford, 288 F.3d 1097 (9th ...
Here the Court reversed the grant of habeas relief because, while there was substantial legal support to support the suppression of evidence based on "the fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine, it was not clear that is clearly estabished law under § 2254.
In Hardaway v. Young, 302 F.3d 757 ...
