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Thursday, September 21, 2023

Third Circuit grants habeas relief because defense counsel was ineffective in failing to object to judge threatening perjury charge to witness who changed his testimony

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  In Rogers v. Superintendent Greene SCI , --- F.4th ----, 2023 WL 5763346 (3d Cir. Sept. 7, 2023), available here , the Third Circuit rever...
Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Third Circuit Finds Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Where Defendant Had Lawful Possession of Keys to Girlfriend's Rental Car

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In United States v. Montalvo-Flores , ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 5521062 (3d Cir. Aug. 28, 2023), the Third Circuit found the defendant, Christop...

Third Circuit Clarifies Meaning of "Officer or Employee of the United States" in Federal Assault Statute

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In United States v. Washington , ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 5440527 (Aug. 24, 2023), the Third Circuit clarified the meaning of "officer or ...
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Third Circuit Vacates Sentence Based on Extrapolated Drug Weight

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In United States v. Titus , ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 5356241 (3d Cir. Aug. 22, 2023), the Third Circuit found that a district court erred when ...
Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Third Circuit Deems Pennsylvania Robbery Under 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3701(a)(1)(ii) a "Crime of Violence" for Guidelines Purposes

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In United States v. Henderson , ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 5211335 (3d Cir. Aug. 15, 2023), the Third Circuit found that Pennsylvania robbery und...
Tuesday, August 08, 2023

Third Circuit Finds No Convergence or Personal Benefit Requirement in Federal Wire Fraud Statute

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In United States v. Porat , ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 5009238 (3d Cir. 2023), the Third Circuit clarified what the government has to prove to pr...
Monday, August 07, 2023

Third Circuit Adopts a Two-Factor Test to Determine Whether a Private Party Was Acting as an Agent of the Government for Fourth Amendment Purposes

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In United States v. Kramer , ---F. 4th---, 2023 WL 4875890 (3d Cir. 2023), the Third Circuit joined the Fourth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh C...
Monday, June 26, 2023

The Confrontation Clause was not violated by the admission of a nontestifying codefendant’s confession that did not directly inculpate the defendant and was subject to a proper limiting instruction.

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  In Samia v. United States , No. 22-196 (June 23, 2023) , the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause was not violated by the admi...

18 U.S.C. § 2255 does not allow a prisoner asserting an intervening change in interpretation of a criminal statute to circumvent AEDPA's restrictions on second or successive § 2255 motions by filing a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241

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 In Jones v. Hendrix, Warden , No. 21-857 (June 22, 2023) , the Supreme Court ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 2255 does not allow a prisoner assertin...
Friday, June 16, 2023

Third Circuit holds that Hobbs Act robbery is a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) even when the conviction rests on aiding and abetting or Pinkerton liability

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In United States v. Stevens , Appeal No. 21-2044 (3d Cir. June 12, 2023) , Appellant Stevens challenged his § 924(c) conviction on two groun...

Third Circuit grants as-applied constitutional challenge to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) for individual convicted of welfare fraud nearly 25 years ago

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In Range v. Attorney General , Appeal No. 21-2835 (3d Cir. June 6, 2023) (en banc), Petitioner Bryan Range was prohibited from purchasing a...

Resolving a circuit split, Supreme Court holds that sentence imposed under 18 U.S.C. § 924(j) can run either concurrently or consecutively to another sentence

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In Lora v. United States , Case No. 22-49 (June 16, 2023 ), the United States Supreme Court resolved a circuit split and held that 18 U.S.C....

Supreme Court holds that when a conviction is reversed because the prosecution occurred in the wrong venue, retrial is allowed and does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause

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In Smith v. United States , Case No. 21-1576 (June 15, 2023) , the United States Supreme Court held that the Constitution permits the retria...

Supreme Court defines when a defendant "uses" a means of identification "in relation to" a predicate offense under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A

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  In Dubin v. United States , Case No. 22-10 (June 8, 2023) , the United States Supreme Court considered the limits of when a defendant ...
Monday, June 05, 2023

The sixteen-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. §2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(i) for a "drug trafficking offense" includes both completed and inchoate offenses, even conspiracies without overt acts

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  In United States v. Garcia-Vasquez , Appeal No. 22-2219, the Third Circuit held that the sixteen-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(...

Third Circuit affirms District Court's suppression of evidence where Government forfeited potentially winning argument

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 In United States v. Donte Dowdell , Appeal No. 21-3251 , the Government appealed the District Court's order granting the defendant'...

The subtraction requirement in 18 U.S.C. § 3583(h)'s final clause cannot be followed where a defendant is serving a life term of supervised release

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  In United States v. Simmons , Appeal No. 22-2485 , the Third Circuit resolved an open question regarding 18 U.S.C. § 3583(h)'s subtrac...
Monday, May 29, 2023

Two wins in the Third Circuit interpreting whether PA aggravated assault statute is an ACCA predicate: United States v. Marc Harris and United States v. Samuel Jenkins

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United States v. Marc Harris,  https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/171861p.pdf   United States v. Samuel Jenkins,  https://www2.ca3.uscou...
Monday, May 22, 2023

Third Circuit amends local rules: new 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. deadline for filings (electronic and otherwise) will become effective on July 1, 2023.

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The Third Circuit adopted amendments to its Local Appellate Rules (L.A.R.), creating a new L.A.R. 26.1 and modifying L.A.R. Misc. 113.3(c). ...

Supreme Court win: Percoco v. United States

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Percoco v. United States, 598 U.S. ----, --- S.Ct. ----, S.Ct. No. 21-1158, 2023 WL 3356527 (May 11, 2023) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opin...