Although this case started out as a typical, run-of-the-mill drug prosecution against the defendant, Marcellus Elder, it quickly turned into an ugly confrontation between the trial judge, Judge Orrick of the N.D.Cal., and defense counsel, Maureen Kallins, of Larkspur, CA.

What started the brouhaha was an evidentiary ruling that Judge ...

Defendants were convicted for firearms and drug-related crimes. The United States District Court for the Eastern district of Louisiana sentenced defendants to life sentences. A panel of the appellate court vacated defendants' life sentences and remanded the case for re-sentencing because drug quantity had not been included in the indictment. ...

Defendant appealed the United States District Court For the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's denial of his post-judgment motion seeking a sentence reduction on the basis of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2S1.1, amend. 634.

Defendant was convicted of, inter alia, money laundering. He brought an 18 U.S.C.S. § 3582(c)(2) motion ...

Here the Court held that the district court engaged in impermissible double-counting when it enhanced defendant's sentence because of the victim's age - since the age was already factored into the statutes under which he was convicted.

The defendant in this case, Mike John, was convicted of two counts of ...

Here a conviction for sexual contact with a minor was reversed because the district court erroneously failed to instruct the jury that it could consider evidence of defendant's good character - where character evidence was a vital part of the defense.

In this case the defendant was convicted of two ...

Here the Court threw out a Hobbs Act conviction on the grounds that Federal extortion charges cannot be brought where the only connection to interstate commerce is that the victim worked for a company that does business out of state.

In this case the Second Circuit joined a number of ...

Here the Court held that the Government had breached the defendant's plea agreement by recommending against a safety valve departure without an independent finding by the Probation Department that the departure was not applicable.

Here the defendant pled guilty to the crime of possession with intent to distribute marijuana in ...

This is the first case we have seen that offers a detailed analysis of the Fourth Amendment implications of Government searches of seized computers - a topic that is particularly significant in light of the ever-expanding role of the cyberworld in the field of criminal law and the DOJ’s recent ...

This is an interesting case for a number of reasons. It is the first reported case that we have seen dealing with Internet piracy of software under the No Electronic Theft Act (the “NET Act”) which was enacted into law in 1997 and which, the Court explained, “for the first ...

Here the Court dismissed on double jeopardy grounds a superseding indictment in which the Government attempted to reprosecute a defendant for a Hobbs Act violation after an earlier conviction under the Federal Bank Robbery Act was thrown out.

This is an unusual double jeopardy case in which the Court actually ...

This decision is the latest episode in the Government’s long-running battle to outlaw the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Previously, in a decision reported sub nom. Conant v. McCaffrey, 2000 WL 1281174 (N.D.Calif. Sept. 7, 2000) (P&J, 8/28/00), Judge Alsup enjoined the Government from either revoking a physician’s license ...

In this case the defendant was convicted of using a dangerous weapon--to wit, an automobile--to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with three United States Park police officers, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a) and (b). On appeal, the defendant challenged his conviction on the grounds that ...