In Lam v. Kelchner, 394 F.3d 256 (3rd Cir. 2002), the Third Circuit held, in the context of a petition for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), that it was not unreasonable for a state court to conclude that the “fruits of the poisonous tree” doctrine did not apply ...

Here, Judge Gertner presented a textbook analysis of the twin standards that must be used to determine drug quantity under the relevant conduct provision of the Guidelines - i.e., both reasonable foreseeability and jointly undertaken criminal activity.

This decision is a sentencing memorandum written by Judge Gertner, in which she ...

Defendants convicted of drug conspiracy convictions could not show that Apprendi errors affected their substantial rights because their total length of imprisonment would not have been shorter even if they were properly sentenced, due to the mandatory "stacking" requirement of U.S.S.G. § 5G1.2(d).

In this case, by a vote of 8-to-8, the Fifth Circuit declined to grant a rehearing en banc to review an earlier decision reported at 264 F.3d 557 (5th Cir. 2001) (McFarland I), where the panel upheld the use of the Hobbs Act (18 U.S.C. § 1951) to enable prosecutors ...

Here after a thorough review of the applicable standards for a "family circumstances" departure under USSG § 5H1.6, the Court granted a single mother of three sons a four level departure to enable it to impose a sentence of probation.

This is one of those wonderfully well-organized decisions that clarifies, ...