Rothgery v. Gillespie County, TX - Right to Counsel at First Appearance
Rothgery was arrested without a warrant and booked into jail on suspicion he was a felon in possession of a gun. Apparently unknown to the arresting officer, there was no underlying felony because that...
View ArticleGreenlaw v. United States - Appellate Court Can't Increase Sentence Sua Sponte
Greenlaw filed a direct appeal of his sentence; the government did not appeal the district court’s failure to make two sentences under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) – a 5-year sentence and a 25-year sentence –...
View ArticleChambers v. United States: Failure to Report to Jail is Not an ACCA Violent...
In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court held that a failure to report to penal confinement does not qualify as a "violent felony" for purposes of triggering the mandatory 15-year sentence for felons...
View ArticleJimenez v. Quarterman: Out-of-Time Appeal Tolls Habeas Time
Where a state court grants a criminal defendant the right to file an out-of-time direct appeal during state collateral review, but before the defendant has first sought federal habeas relief, his...
View ArticleHerring v. United States: No Exclusionary Rule for Negligent Police Error
Officers in one jurisdiction checked with employees of a law enforcement agency in another jurisdiction and were told that there is an outstanding warrant for an individual. Acting in good faith on...
View ArticleOregon v. Ice: Apprendi Does Not Govern Consecutive Sentences
Ice was convicted by a jury of two counts of first-degree burglary and four counts of first-degree sexual abuse. The court sentenced him to a total of 340 months, with three of the sentences running...
View ArticleSpears v. United States: Kimbrough Means What it Says
Spears was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute at least 50 grams of cocaine base and at least 500 grams of powder cocaine. At sentencing, the district court determined that the drug quantities...
View ArticleWaddington v. Sarausad: Ambiguous Jury Instruction Not Clearly Established Wrong
Sarausad drove with fellow gang members to a high school, in order to retaliate against a rival gang. With knowledge that his front-seat passenger was armed and going to shoot, Sarausad drove toward a...
View ArticleArizona v. Johnson: Search of Auto Passenger Just Like Terry
In the context of a vehicular stop for a minor traffic infraction, may an officer conduct a pat-down search of a passenger when the officer has an articulable basis to believe the passenger might be...
View ArticleNelson v. United States: Supreme Court Really Meant it in Kimbrough
The sentencing court clearly applied a presumption of reasonableness to petitioner's Guidelines range, and the circuit court affirmed. The Supreme Court, in a per curiam decision, reversed,...
View ArticleUnited States v. Hayes - Domestic Battery Not an Element Under 922(g)(9)
Following a conditional guilty plea, Hayes was convicted of possession of a firearm after having previously been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C....
View ArticleVermont v. Brillon: Speedy trial delays caused by PDs are not charged to the...
Absent a systemic breakdown in a state public defender system, delays caused by appointed counsel are not attributed to the state for purposes of Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972), speedy trial...
View ArticlePuckett v. United States - Breached Plea Agreement Subject to Harmless Error...
In exchange for Puckett’s guilty plea, the government agreed to request (1) a three-level acceptance-of-responsibility reduction in his offense level; and (2) a sentence at the low end of the...
View ArticleRivera v. Illinois - Improperly Denied Peremptory Challenge Not Structural Error
Provided that all jurors seated in a criminal case are qualified and unbiased, the Due Process Clause does not require automatic reversal of a conviction because of the trial court’s good-faith error...
View ArticleHarbison v. Bell - Right to Federally-Appointed Clemency Counsel
(1) 18 U.S.C. § 3599 authorizes federally appointed counsel to represent their clients in state clemency proceedings and entitles them to compensation for that representation, and (2) A certificate of...
View ArticleCorley v. United States - Presentment Delay Still Subject to McNabb-Mallory,...
Title 18 U.S.C. § 3501 – read together with Fed. R. Crim. P. Rule 5(a), McNabb v. United States, 318 U.S. 332 (1943), and Mallory v. United States, 354 U.S. 449 (1957) – requires that a confession...
View ArticleArizona v. Gant: Restricting searches of recently occupied vehicles
Police officers went to a house suspected of being used for narcotics activity. One officer knocked on the door, and Rodney Gant answered the officer’s knock on the door. The officers asked to speak...
View ArticleCone v. Bell: No defaults in habeas despite state court holdings to contrary
After the State discredited Cone’s defense that he killed two people while suffering from acute psychosis caused by drug addiction, he was convicted and sentenced to death. The Tennessee Supreme Court...
View ArticleKansas v. Ventris: Exclusionary rule unnecessary to protect against Sixth...
Ventris was charged with murder and other crimes. The state planted another defendant in his cell as a "human listening device," even though Ventris’ right to counsel had attached. Predictably, Ventris...
View ArticleDean v. United States: Accidental discharge sufficient for 924(c) sentencing...
Dean’s gun accidentally discharged during a bank robbery, but no one was harmed. Dean was convicted of conspiring to commit a bank robbery and discharging a firearm during an armed robbery. Because the...
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