Here the Court affirmed an exploitation of minor enhancement under USSG § 2G2.2(b)(4) based on acts that occurred 11 years before the crime of conviction, holding there was no requirement of any temporal proximity between two different events of abuse.

In this case, the Court affirmed an exploitation of minor ...

Here the Court held that a district court does not have the authority to grant a downward departure based on the use of the INS of forms that erroneously advised the defendant that he faced two years in prison if he returned to the US after deportation.

The defendant in ...

Back in 1980, some 125,000 Cuban aliens without visas arrived in Florida aboard a flotilla of small boats that left from the port city of Mariel - and the event quickly became known as the Mariel boatlift. Cuban officials quickly took advantage of that exodus by giving vast numbers of ...

This case is noted for its rare - but refreshing - departure from what is rapidly becoming the standard judicial refrain to almost every claim of error under Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b) - namely that while there was error, and while it was plain, and while it did affect the defendant’s substantial ...

U.S. v. Cordero, 313 F.3d 161 (3rd Cir. 2002) (Judge McKee)
U.S. v. Shaw, 313 F.3d 219 (4th Cir. 2002) (Judge Traxler)

Both of these cases address an interesting question: when a defendant qualifies for a downward departure based on substantial cooperation to the Government (pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1), ...

In this case the Government sought to recover from the girl friend of a convicted drug trafficker certain assets that were allegedly given to her as gifts by her boyfriend. Included among the assets that the Government was seeking to forfeit pursuant to the provisions of 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(6), ...

Petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 seeking his release from custody arising from a state court judgment in which a jury found petitioner guilty of a variety of charges stemming from his involvement in a private carting (i.e., waste disposal) cartel.

Petitioner argued ...

Here, with unusually sharp words that impugned the motives of the prosecutor, the Court vacated a drug conviction on the grounds that the district court had abused its discretion in failing to sever a felon-in-possession count from two drug counts.

This is a most unusual - and an important - ...

U.S. v. Cordero, 313 F.3d 161 (3rd Cir. 2002) (Judge McKee)
U.S. v. Shaw, 313 F.3d 219 (4th Cir. 2002) (Judge Traxler)

Both of these cases address an interesting question: when a defendant qualifies for a downward departure based on substantial cooperation to the Government (pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1), ...

The defendant in this case argued that the district court had erred by imposing a four level enhancement, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5), for using a firearm in connection with "another felony offense" when his only conduct was stealing firearms from a sporting goods store. He argued that the use ...

The defendant in this case had previously been deported from the United States after a prior, unspecified felony conviction. Later, he learned that his mother was about to have an operation for the removal of a cancerous brain tumor. He attempted to return to visit her for week, but he ...

This case is noted for its comprehensive analysis of the law and the INS procedures governing removal proceedings in the context of granting a bond hearing to a lawful permanent resident, who has been subjected to removal proceedings by the INS.

This alien detention case specifically addressed the issue of ...