Criminal Law

Conviction Affirmed, Sentence Vacated In Crack Conspiracy Case

Posted on April 29, 2013
US v. Allen: Allen was involved in a large crack distribution operation in North Carolina.  Although he conceded that he had sold drugs to a member of the conspiracy, he denied being part of the conspiracy itself.  He was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine and sentenced to the then applicable mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years...

Unnecessary Cardiac Stents Can Support Health Care Fraud Conviction

Posted on April 29, 2013
US v. McLean: McLean was a heart doctor who performed (among other things) procedures that inserted stents into the arteries of those with blockages.  Following an internal investigation at the hospital where he worked, which led his resignation, McLean was charged with health care fraud and several counts of filing false paperwork as a part of the fraudulent scheme...

Categorical Approach, Not Modified, Applies to Oregon Prior Drug Distribution Charge

Posted on April 29, 2013
US v. Medina-Campo: Medina-Campo, a Mexican national, was deported in 2005 following his conviction in Oregon on several drug counts, including distribution of heroin, for which he was sentenced to 24 months in prison.  After being stopped for DUI in Maryland, Medina-Campo was charged with illegal reentry after having been deported due to an "aggravated felony...

Duplicates are counted as separate images for §2G2.2(b)(7)

Posted on April 20, 2013
US v. Price:  Sean Price uploaded images of child pornography to photobucket.com and West Virginia State Police traced the images to Price?s email account.  The state police obtained a search warrant and seized several computers and hard drives from Price?s home...

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Two trial errors not reversible error in tax fraud case

Posted on April 20, 2013
US v. Woods:  A grand jury charged Michael Woods with multiple counts of preparing and presenting false and fraudulent tax returns, wire fraud, identity theft and aggravated identity theft, in connection with his side business of preparing tax returns for private individuals (Woods worked full-time for the U...

TN statutory rape conviction not ?crime of violence? for sentencing enhancement

Posted on April 20, 2013
US v. Rangel-Castaneda:  Rangel-Castaneda received an indictment for one count of illegal re-entry after his arrest in 2010 for driving while impaired and failing to register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to this offense in June 2011.  Previously, Rangel-Castaneda had received a conviction in Tennessee for having sex with his then-girlfriend, who was 16 years old at the time, for aggravated statutory rape...

Crack sentence reduction permitted when district court made no specific finding of defendant?s drug relevant conduct

Posted on April 20, 2013
US v. Mann: Convicted in 1998 for cocaine and crack offenses, Mann had originally been sentenced according to the Sentencing Guidelines in place at that time.  Then, a defendant responsible for 1.5 kilograms of more of crack received a base offense level of 38, the highest quantity-based base offense level, no matter how much cocaine was also involved in Mann?s convictions...

Officer Lie to Obtain Search Warrant Voids Guilty Plea

Posted on April 02, 2013
US v. Fisher: Fisher was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute crack and being a felon in possession of a firearm after a search of his home, pursuant to a warrant, uncovered drugs and a gun.  Fisher pleaded guilty to the felon in possession count and was sentenced to 10 years in prison...

Only one Orioles fan in Baltimore? Well, it was the off-season

Posted on March 22, 2013
US v. Moore:  Tyrone Moore was charged with carjacking, using a firearm in furtherance of carjacking, and conspiracy.  Police encountered Moore wearing Orioles gear, in the company of another individual, Walton, who had a key to the stolen car in his pocket...

No Requirement That Courts Apply Higher Competency Standard for Self Representation

Posted on March 04, 2013
US v. Bernard: Bernard was charged with gun and drug offenses.  Based on a long history of mental illness, the district court ordered a competency evaluation.  He was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial (due to schizophrenia, paranoid delusions, and disorganized thought processes), but after treatment was determined to have been restored to confidence...

Fake Distress Call That Summons Coast Guard Suffices for Federal Crime

Posted on March 04, 2013
US v. Deffenbaugh: Deffenbaugh was on probation for a Maryland state conviction and was facing revocation.  To avoid that fate, he attempted to fake his own death, jumping off a boat off the Virginia coast and slipping away (with the help of his girlfriend) while the Coast Guard and others tried to locate him...

SORNA Requires Registration of Juvenile Offender

Posted on March 04, 2013
US v. Under Seal: JD (for "juvenile defendant") was judged delinquent based on allegations of sexual assault against his half sisters.  He was sentenced to a term of incarceration and supervision until his 21st birthday.  A special condition of that supervision is that he register as a sex offender under SORNA, over JD's objection...

Waiver Precludes Review of Erroneous Guideline Calculations

Posted on March 04, 2013
US v. Copeland: Copeland pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of more than five grams of crack cocaine.  As part of his guilty plea, Copeland waived his right to appeal any sentence within or below the advisory Guideline range calculated at sentencing (the Government waived nothing)...

Another Strong Affirmation of the Fourth Amendment's Vitality

Posted on February 26, 2013
US v. Black: Two officers in Charlotte saw a car parked at a gas pump in a convenience store parking lot and thought it suspicious, as the driver sat inside for several minutes before driving off.  They followed the car, which parked in a parking lot between two apartment complexes...

No Evacuation, No Exigent Circumstances

Posted on February 20, 2013
US v. Yengel: Officers were called to Yengel's home during a domestic dispute.  He was arrested without incident outside the home, although he was upset and agitated.  Notably, he wasn't armed.  Yengel's wife told officers that there were guns in the house as well as a grenade in a locked closet in an upstairs bedroom...

Recorded Statements By Cellmate Violate Fifth Amendment, But Harmlessly

Posted on February 13, 2013
US v. Holness: Holness and his wife were driving from her home in New York to his in Maryland (it was a "marriage of convenience," according to the court) when they were allegedly set upon by a carjacker.  As a result, Holness wound up dazed, wet, and bloody on the porch of a stranger's house and his wife lay dead in a field, stabbed to death...

No coram nobis for Skilling Error

Posted on February 13, 2013
Bereano v. US: Bereano was charged in 1994 with multiple counts of mail fraud stemming from practices at his law firm and lobbying firm.  At the time, jurors were instructed that he could be convicted under either the "pecuniary fraud" theory or the "honest services fraud" theory...

Recorded Lunch Conversation Poses No Sixth, Fifth Amendment Problems

Posted on February 13, 2013
US v. Williamson: Williamson was charged in an indictment with conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.  Following the indictment, but prior to Williamson's arrest, one of his associates, Alberty, contacted investigators offering to cooperate...

No 1st Amendment or common law right to access documents

Posted on February 12, 2013
In re:  Application of the United States of America for an Order Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sect. 2703(d), US v. Appelbaum, et al.:  In this case, the Fourth Circuit considers orders issued by a magistrate judge under the Stored Communications Act ("SCA"), 18 U...

A favorable gun price?

Posted on February 12, 2013
US v. Abramski:  Bruce Abramski made a straw purchase of a Glock 19 handgun in Virginia for his uncle in Pennsylvania during November 2009. As a former police officer, Abramski believed he could obtain a more "favorable price" from a local firearms dealer than his uncle could likely receive...

Effect of alterations to indictment during trial

Posted on February 06, 2013
US v. Allmendinger:   Christian Allmendinger and a business partner formed a company, "A & O," in late 2004 in order to sell interests in life insurance policies. Over the course of the next few years, A & O added another partner, amassed approximately 800 investors, and earned millions of dollars...

Multiple motives for preventing witness testimony expand the forfeiture-by-wrongdoing exception

Posted on February 05, 2013
US v. Jackson:  After a jury trial, Antwan Jackson received convictions for the murder of Johnell Greene, as well as various firearms and drug offenses related to his role in a drug distribution conspiracy. In March 2006, Mr. Greene had interfered with Jackson?s drug activities, by robbing an associate of Jackson?s, Garian Washington, of drugs and money...

Can reasonable suspicion arise in 5-10 seconds?

Posted on January 18, 2013
US v. Bumpers:   According to his testimony, a police officer in a high crime neighborhood observed two men, standing, for approximately five to ten seconds near some dumpsters at the back of local convenience store before attempting to leave at the sight of the police, when that officer determined that reasonable suspicion for the crime of trespassing had arisen...

Bank teller's questioning held unnecessarily suggestive, should not have been admitted, though did not affect robbery defendant's substantial rights

Posted on January 16, 2013
US v. Greene:  Deshawn Greene received convictions for armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and he appealed his convictions on two grounds: 1) whether the district court erred in admitting a bank teller?s testimony; and 2) whether the district court erred in failing to provide a Holley-Telfaire instruction to the jury...

Second conviction upheld despite Simmons

Posted on January 14, 2013
US v. Ford:   Here, the Fourth Circuit considers the second conviction of Harold Ford for being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Originally convicted for this offense in 2009, Ford?s conviction was reversed and remanded following his trial, due to a change in the law arising from United State v...

Fictional crime leads to real life convictions

Posted on January 14, 2013
US v. Min, et al.: Saraeun Min participated with several others in a conspiracy to steal drugs from the stash house of a drug cartel in Virginia.  Little did the members of the conspiracy realize, the drugs and stash house were fictions developed by the ATF to trap Min?s co-defendant Phun and his crew...

Mandate Rule prevents district court from considering restitution award in case on remand

Posted on January 14, 2013
US v. Pileggi:   In this appeal, the Fourth Circuit considers whether the district court had the authority to reconsider a restitution award in a remanded case.  Previously, in a companion, unpublished opinion, the Fourth Circuit determined that the district court erred in sentencing the defendant, Giuseppe Pileggi, to 50 years of imprisonment for his role in a fraudulent sweepstakes scheme...

Convenience store clerk's arrest held unlawful

Posted on January 11, 2013
US v. Watson:   Prentiss Watson worked at a convenience store in downtown Baltimore, downstairs in the same building where he rented a room. In February 2010, detectives conducting surveillance on the building observed some other individuals engaging in drug transactions near the building on Tivoly Avenue, and arrested them...

$100 Robbery Sufficient to Sustain Hobbs Act Conviction

Posted on December 20, 2012
US v. Tillery: A man with a gun robbed a dry cleaner's in Petersburg, Virginia, taking a small amount of cash and the clerk's laptop.  After he left, the clerk ran to the barbershop next door for help.  Later that month, someone came to the barber shop and sold the owner a laptop, which turned out to be the one taken from the clerk...

Jurisidction Proper In Virginia for Theft Comitted in US Embassy in Iraq

Posted on December 20, 2012
US v. Ayesh: Ayesh, who lived in Jordan, was hired to oversee shipping and customs at the US Embassy in Baghdad.  In that role, he created a scheme that allowed him to funnel funds from vendors to his wife's bank account in Jordan.  He kept the various instruments needed to run the scheme in his apartment in the Embassy...

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