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Friday, May 21, 2010

Child Pornography / Warrants / Sufficiency / Evidence of Age

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U.S. v. Vosburgh , 2010 WL 1542340, April 20, 2010. Vosburgh appealed his conviction following a jury trial of possession and attempted poss...
Monday, May 17, 2010

Defendant Liable for Co-conspirator’s Loss, Applying Victim Enhancement to One Conspirator Did Not Create Unwarranted Disparity

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U.S. v. Robinson , 2010 WL 1610582, (April 22, 2010). Robinson pled guilty to conspiring to steal and convert United States Treasury checks ...

Sentence Below Career Offender Guideline Found Procedurally Unreasonable

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United States v. Merced , 2010 WL 1542263, April 20, 2010. Merced pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge, his career offender guideline ...
Friday, April 23, 2010

Securities Fraud / Fiduciary Obligations / Omission Liability / Materiality Expert

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In U.S. v. Schiff , --- F.3d ----, 2010 WL 1338141, April 07, 2010, defendants were "high-ranking corporate executives" at a pharm...

Court Finds Inadvertent Out-of-jurisdiction Arrest Reasonable; Declines to Address Sentencing Entrapment and Manipulation Doctrines

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In U.S. v. Sed , --- F.3d ----, 2010 WL 1292152 (Apr. 6, 2010), defendant, convicted of conspiracy to distribute and PWID, challenged (1) th...
Thursday, March 25, 2010

"Seemingly innocent" activity sufficient to support probable cause for search warrant in light of initial tip and subsequent police surveillance

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In United States v. Stearn , 08-3230 (3d Cir. March 9, 2010) , the Third Circuit reversed a district court's suppression order after con...
Monday, March 22, 2010

Sentence vacated and remanded where the district court did not properly apply U.S.S.G. 2C1.1(b)(2) to determine the amount of a "benefit received"

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In United States v. Lianidis , No. 09-1165 (D.NJ 03/19/10) , the Court of Appeals vacated and remanded for re-sentencing where the district ...

No per se rule that a prior conviciton under 4B1.1 must be established by a "certified" record

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In United States v. Howard, No. 08-4748 (E.D.PA 03/19/10), the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s reference to “uncertified docu...
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Owner of Sporting Goods Store Must Forfeit Firearms Following Conviction for Being a Drug User in Possession of Firearms

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United States v. Cheeseman , No. 09-1756, 2010 WL 699550 (3d Cir. Mar 2, 2010). The Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s forfeiture o...

Deficient Seach Warrant in Child Porn Case "Saved" by Good Faith Exception

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United States v. Tracey , No. 08-3290, 2010 WL 681364 (3d Cir. Mar. 1, 2010). The Third Circuit reversed the district court’s suppression or...
Monday, February 15, 2010

Court Upholds Constitutionality of "SORNA"

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In United States v. Shenandoah , No. 09-1205 (Feb. 9, 2010), the Third Circuit confronted one of what it called “hundreds of similar challen...
Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Circuit Reverses Grant of Acquittal in Drug Conspiracy

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United States v. Boria , No. 08-2550, 2009 WL 282088 (Jan. 26, 2010). Following a jury verdict of guilty on charges of aiding and abetting a...

Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment for State Defendants in Delaware Lethal Injection Case

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Jackson v. Danberg , No. 09-1925 and 09-2052 (Feb. 1, 2010). In a § 1983 class action challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection ...
Monday, February 01, 2010

Court Upholds Denial of IA Claim: No Evidentiary Hearing was Necessary and Petitioner Failed to Show Prejudice

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In Palmer v. Hendricks, No. 06-2991 (3rd Cir. Jan. 26, 2010), the Third Circuit affirms the district court’s denial of habeas relief on Palm...
Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pennsylvania Resisting Arrest is Crime of Violence Under Begay

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In United States v. Stinson , No. 08-1717 , the Third Circuit recently ruled that Pennsylvania Resisting Arrest is a crime of violence under...
Friday, January 22, 2010

Proper Unit of Prosecution under § 924(c) Is the Underlying Predicate Offense

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United States v. Diaz , __ F.3d__, 2010 WL 143684 (3d Cir. Jan. 15, 2010). Nelson Diaz was convicted by a jury of two counts of possession o...
Thursday, January 21, 2010

Court Continues to Require Careful Tailoring of Internet Restrictions on Sex Offenders

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In United States v. Heckman, 08-3844 , the Third Circuit extended its line of precedent ( Crandon , Freeman , Voelker , Thielemann ) requiri...
Thursday, January 14, 2010

En Banc Court to Revisit Construction of Federal Conspiracy Statute

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On the government’s request, the Circuit has ordered en banc review of the decision in US v. Rigas , No. 08-3218 (Oct. 21, 2009) (original ...
Monday, December 21, 2009

Intentional 45 month delay in bringing defendant to trial violated defendant's Sixth Amendment speedy trial rights

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In a rare reversal of a district court's speedy trial decision, the Third Circuit in United States v. Battis , 08-2949 (3d Cir. Decembe...
Friday, December 04, 2009

Rehabilitation cannot be used to justify term of imprisonment, even if other factors are cited as well

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The Third Circuit this week, in U.S. v. Hoffa , No. 08-3920 (3d Cir. 12/2/09) , reiterated that 18 U.S.C. 3582(a) prohibits courts from usin...