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Barner: Prosecutor misled court on reasons for not giving 5K1.1 reduction

By Tim Cone

In U.S. v. Barner, No. 08-10080 (June 29, 2009), the Court affirmed the conviction of a defendant charged with possession of ecstasy, but reversed the sentence.The Court rejected Barner?s claim that statements were obtained from him in violation of Miranda. The Court found that even though one statement was obtained while Barner was in jail, Barner himself initiated the discussion, and was not compelled to do so.The Court also rejected Barner?s challenge to the use of statements he made during a "drive-around" Atlanta identifying locations of his past home invasions, finding this evidence was not of significance to the ultimate ecstasy distribution conviction.Turning to sentencing, the Court rejected the government?s argument that any error in the sentencing guidelines calculation was harmless...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on July 01, 2009 (boomark / email).