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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

In trial for unlawful firearm possession, lack of jury instruction on affirmative defense of justification not plain error.

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In Gov’t of V.I. v. Lewis , No. 09-3245 (3d Cir. Sept. 8, 2010) , the Third Circuit refined its test for when a jury, in an unlawful possess...

Third Circuit holds Fed. R. App. P. 4(b) not jurisdictional, and explicates the rule on questioning a defendant at trial on post-arrest silence.

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In Gov’t of V.I. v. Martinez , No. 08-2694 (3d. Cir. Sept. 8, 2010) the Third Circuit clarified two rules, on procedural, one substantive. ...
Friday, September 24, 2010

Third Circuit Denies Victim Mandamus: district court did not abuse discretion in denying motion to allow victim's attorney to appear at sentencing.

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Professor Berman's post on this interesting Crime Victims' Rights Act case, including a link to the Third Circuit's opinion, is ...
Wednesday, September 08, 2010

New Impeachment Evidence Can Serve as Basis for New Trial When Evidence Suggests Defendant was Wrongly Convicted

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In United States v. Quiles , Nos. 09-1667 and 09-1686 (August 17, 2010) , the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a new t...

Sex Offender Requirement to Admit Guilt as Condition of Parole Does Not Violate First Amendment, Due Process or Ex Post Facto

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In Newman v. Beard , No. 08-2652 (August 16, 2010) , the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of petitioner’s amended compl...

Rehabilitative Needs Can Be Considered to Determine Whether to Revoke Supervised Release and the Duration of Imprisonment Upon Revocation

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In United States v. Doe , No. 09-2615 (August 16, 2010) , the Third Court affirmed revocation of Doe’s supervised release and imposition of ...
Friday, August 27, 2010

Search Incident to Execution of Warrant Upheld

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U.S. v. Allen, 2010 WL 3222107 (Aug 17, 2010) At approximately 8:00 p.m., police accompanied by a SWAT team executed a search warrant at a...
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

In first treatment of Gant, Third Circuit applies limited search-incident-to-arrest rule beyond vehicle searches

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In its first treatment of Arizona v. Gant , 129 S. Ct. 1710 (2009), which overruled the Belton rule allowing police to search a suspect'...
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Fractured Third Circuit panel clarifies government waiver rules and previews looming Fourth Amendment issue

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In a rare, three-opinion panel decision, the Third Circuit has weighed in on -- but, for now, has not resolved -- an important issue concern...
Thursday, July 29, 2010

Upholding § 922(k) Ban on Unmarked Firearms, Court Charts Course for Second Amendment Challenges

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In a ruling upholding 18 U.S.C. § 922(k), which bars possession of firearms with obliterated serial numbers, the Court sets forth an extensi...

Court Construes Meaning of Federal “Official” for Purposes of Threat Statute; Rejects Self-Representation Challenge

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In United States v. Michael Bankoff , Nos. 08-3275 & 08-3688 (July 27, 2010), the Court holds that the federal statute criminalizing cer...

"Career Offender" Designation Not Always Fatal to Sentence Reduction Motion Pursuant to Crack Cocaine Guideline Amendments

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After an extended engagement with some very fine print, the Court holds in United States v. Glenn Flemming , No. 09-2726 (July 27, 2010), th...
Monday, July 12, 2010

Defendant's Repeated Presence at Drug Transactions Coupled With Phone Calls Sufficient to Support Aiding and Abetting Conviction

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In United States v. Mercado, No. 09-2681 (3d Cir., July 7, 2010) , the three defendants were indicted for aiding and abetting the possession...
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Conviction vacated due to prosecutorial misconduct

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In United States v. Liburd, No. 09-3156 (D.VI 06/09/10), the Court of Appeals vacated Mr. Liburd’s conviction in light of repeated prosecuto...

Conviction for Possession of a Weapon in a Prison affirmed

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In United States v. Holmes, No. 09-2846 (W.D.PA 06/07/10) , the Court of Appeals affirmed Mr. Holmes conviction for possession of a weapon i...
Friday, June 25, 2010

Third Circuit Upholds Free Speech Rights of Anti-abortion Protestor Arrested for Demonstrating in Front of Liberty Bell Center.

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In United States v. Michael Marcavage , No. 09-3573 (3d Cir. June 16, 2010), the defendant and some 20 others demonstrated in an anti-abort...

U.S. Supreme Court Severely Restricts Scope of Sentence Reduction Proceedings under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).

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As suggested in this Blog’s May 2009 entry , the Third Circuit’s decision in United States v. Dillon , 572 F.3d 146 (3d Cir. 2009) has, inde...
Wednesday, June 02, 2010

"Clearly Established Federal Law" is Determined as of the Date of the Relevant State-Court Decision Subject to Habeas Review

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Greene v. Palakovich , No. 07-2163 (3d Cir. May 28, 2010). A split panel of the Third Circuit held that for purposes of the standard of revi...

Drug Trafficking Conviciton Affirmed - No Problems with Time Frame of Conspiracy, Sufficiency of Evidence & Chain of Custody

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United States v. Rawlins , No. 08-2948 (3d Cir. May 26, 2010). The Third Circuit affirmed the defendants drug trafficking conviction and rej...
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...