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Friday, December 23, 2005

Third Circuit Finds Government Made Prima Facie Case That Crime-Fraud Exception To Attorney-Client Privilege Applied, Reverses Order Quashing Subpoena

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In United States v. John Doe , 429 F.3d 450 (3d Cir. 2005), the Third Circuit reversed the district court’s order granting an attorney’s mot...
Monday, December 19, 2005

Third Circuit Offers Split Decision on Miranda Challenge Involving a Confidential Informant

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In United States v. Jacobs , No. 04-2214 (3d Cir. Dec. 14, 2005) , the Third Circuit considered whether statements made on two separate occa...

BOP Regulations Categorically Limiting Amount of Time Inmate May be Placed in CCC Declared Invalid

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The Third Circuit has ruled that newly enacted Bureau of Prisons (BOP) regulations categorically limiting the amount of time an inmate may b...
Friday, December 02, 2005

Cert petition filed in Sczubelek case

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Earlier this year, the Third Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the DNA Backlog Elimination Act. The aforementioned DNA Act allows for...

Appeal waiver in guilty plea upheld on appeal of unsuccessful motion to withdraw plea

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The Third Circuit, in US v. Wilson , upheld an appeal waiver in a guilty plea agreement, where the defendant had filed an unsuccessful motio...

Government, by not considering downward departure, breached plea agreement

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The Third Circuit, in US v. Floyd , held that the government, under a plea agreement, was required to consider whether defendant’s assistanc...

2254 exhaustion requirement not excused when claim likely futile in state courts

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In Parker v. Kelchner , the Third Circuit ruled that the 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A) exhaustion requirement is not excused merely because peti...
Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Capital Habeas Case: Counsel's "Agreement" to Non-Adversarial Sentencing Proceedings A Result of Failure to Prepare

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In Marshall v. Cathel, No. 04-9007 (3d Cir. Nov. 2, 2005), a capital habeas appeal, the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of...

Section 2254: Counsel Ineffective For Failing to Suppress In-Court Identification

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Thomas v. Varner, No. 04-2856 (3d Cir. Nov. 4, 2005). In this § 2254 proceeding, the Third Circuit affirmed the district court decision that...
Friday, October 14, 2005

Batson, habeas, and the “McMahon videotape.”

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The Circuit Court, in Wilson v. Beard , No. 04-2461 (3d Cir. Oct. 13, 2005) , affirmed a lower court’s grant of habeas relief to a petitione...
Friday, September 30, 2005

2254 relief granted for Sixth Amendment violation -- trial court denied counsel's request for continuance and defendant proceeded to trial pro se

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Defendant was charged in New Jersey state court on multiple counts of theft by deception involving prospective buyers whose investments in a...
Thursday, September 29, 2005

Third Circuit Remands to Decide if Officer Deliberately Violated Miranda Before Getting Mirandized Statement

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In United States v. Naranjo , http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/034759p.pdf , the Third Circuit held that if officers deliberately used a...
Monday, September 19, 2005

3rd Cir. expounds on definition of “testimonial” in ruling that admission of out-of-court statement was harmless error

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United States v. Hinton , No. 03-3803 (3d Cir. Sept. 14, 2005), deals with a challenge to out-of court testimony under the Confrontation Cla...

District court’s failure to include final forfeiture order was clerical error

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In United States v. Bennett , No. 04-3650 (3d Cir. Sept. 12, 2005), the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s amended judgment to incl...
Friday, September 16, 2005

3rd Cir to consider en banc whether Booker applies to restitution and forfeiture

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The 3rd Cir has sua sponte voted to rehear en banc three appeals previously argued before two different panels in which the issue is whether...
Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Federal courts lack authority to review state court retroactivity decisions

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In Warren v. Kyler , No. 03-2190 (Sept. 7, 2005), the Third Circuit concluded that it lacked the authority to apply a new state court decisi...
Thursday, September 08, 2005

Pro se litigant's fourth collateral motion not considered "second or successive"

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In In Re Wagner , No. 03-4254 (3d Cir. Sept. 6, 2005), the Third Circuit ruled that a pro se petitioner's fourth collateral motion coul...
Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Counsel Not Ineffective for Advising Against Appeal.

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In Fountain v. Kyler , No. 03-4777 (August 25, 2005), the Circuit held that counsel was not ineffective, when, out of fear the client might ...

Upholding Random Car Searches at Prisons

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The Third Circuit has upheld the Pa Department of Correction's policy of subjecting prison visitors' cars to random searches against...

Convention Against Torture -- Standard to Apply

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In Kamara v. Attorney General of the United States , No. 04-2647 (August 29, 2005), the Third Circuit set out the standard to be applied whe...