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Criminal Law

Kansas Federal Defender

Coverage of the 10th Circuit, sentencing rulings and content relevant to public defenders.
By Melody Evans and Kirk Redmond

Post Frequency: 0.3/day

Last Entry: September 11, 2017 at 21:39:00

RDAP: Shorting Our Clients

Posted on January 20, 2010
For a long time, we advised clients who were eligible for RDAP (BOP's drug treatment program) that they could win up to one year reduction in their sentence if successfully completed. It was one of the few breaks available for our folks. This is a reminder that the RDAP rules changed last year for those with shorter sentences...

The Sotomayor Difference

Posted on January 13, 2010
Do authors of reports, such as drug lab results, have to testify in person, and may the burden rest on the defense to make such a demand for confrontation? Yesterday, SCOTUS heard arguments in Briscoe v. Virginia, a case that followed on the heels of last term's Melendez-Diaz v...

Broader Discovery in 2010?

Posted on January 05, 2010
Yesterday, the DOJ issued several documents that suggest broader and more timely discovery in criminal cases. With thanks to Prof. Berman, who noted the issue here, we know that three memoranda instruct each district to review and establish policies regarding: [T]he timing of disclosures; disclosure of reports of interview for testifying or non-testifying witnesses; providing disclosure

Poll Results - Public Access v. Protecting Cooperators

Posted on December 23, 2009
We recently asked those of you who visited our site for input on how much information about cooperators "snitches" should be accessible to the public through PACER and other court-sponsored sites. The results are as follows: -- All court documents should be public and fully accessible, even when it reveals cooperation; 9 votes -- Documents should be sealed on a case-by-case basis, and only if a

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The Ring of Gyges

Posted on December 14, 2009
Technological advances revive the snitch debate: How much information about cooperation should be be accessible to the public through PACER and other court-sponsored access sites? Do we seal all plea agreements, transcripts, and otherwise public documents that reveal agreements for snitchery? Do we create additional documents to hide such cooperation? This brings to mind the short-lived

Judge Henry Resigning

Posted on December 11, 2009
Looks like the Chief Judge of our Tenth Circuit has resigned to accept the presidency of Oklahoma City University. Judge Robert Henry's resignation letter was submitted to President Obama yesterday, effective June 30th.Judge Henry always made oral argument more challenging and entertaining, and he will be missed for that...

Deconstructing the Myth of Careful Study: A Primer on the Flawed Progression of the Child Pornography Guidelines

Posted on December 09, 2009
By: Troy Stabenow, AFPD, Western District of MissouriI. IntroductionFrom 1994 to 1995, child pornography offenders received a mean sentence of 36 months confinement. See United States Sentencing Commission Report to the Congress, ?Sex Offenses Against Children,? 1996, at Page 3, and Table 1...

Facebook Fans

Posted on December 04, 2009
Join the ever growing group on Facebook and become a fan today. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kansas-Federal-Public-Defender-Blog/192014086654?ref=ts&v=wall#.

Already Plagerizing

Posted on December 04, 2009
Back online for a day, and I am already stealing material. From the Third Circuit blog, a sentencing Court cannot use the excuse of rehabilitation to imprison a defendant, or to determine the length of imprisonment:Rehabilitation cannot be used to justify term of imprisonment, even if other factors are cited as wellby Brett Sweitzer The Third Circuit this week, in U...

Combat PTSD

Posted on December 03, 2009
We probably have all represented, by now, veterans of the Iraq or Afghan [Bush] wars. Undoubtedly there will be more to come. Some judges ? notably war veterans ? have been reluctant to grant any leniency to our clients who suffer from the ravaging effects of recent combat...

We're Back

Posted on December 03, 2009
After a hiatus which surely disappointed tens of people, we will resume posting over the next few days. Melody and I will continue to offload as much of the work as possible, relying on Tom Bartee and Sandy Schnack from the Federal Defender's Office to provide assistance and substantive comment...

The End

Posted on December 01, 2008
We are suspending our little blawg, at least for the time being.To our three regular readers, have a great holiday season.Kirk and Melody

Not Just a Technical Requirement

Posted on November 20, 2008
In keeping with my recent trend of stealing from other blogs, here is an excellent but really eggheaded blog from Prof. Friedman at http://confrontationright.blogspot.com/ on chain-of-custody and confrontation. Here's the teaser:Here I will write about the chain of custody, products of a machine, who must testify, and other related topics...

924(c) Cert Grant

Posted on November 17, 2008
From our ever erudite and vigilant Sentencing Resource Counsel's office:The Supreme Court granted cert today in Dean v. United States (08-5274) to decide whether under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii), the mere discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking, even if accidental, unintentional or involuntary, is subject to a ten-year sentencing enhancement...

Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act

Posted on November 10, 2008
With much gratitude to our smart colleague down south in Wichita, David Freund offers this post:On November 5th, the Tenth Circuit held that 18 USC § 2250(a)(2)(B), of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act ( SORNA) applies only to persons who traveled in interstate commerce after July 27, 2006, the effective date of SORNA...

DNA at the Supreme Court

Posted on November 03, 2008
The Washington Post reports that the US Supreme Court is considering review of a critical DNA issue -- whether one has a constitutional right to have DNA tested.Osborne was convicted, spent more than a decade in prison and gave a detailed confession to a parole board...

Twice in One day

Posted on October 20, 2008
All right, we don't post anything for a week, then twice in one day. But this really caught my attention: the Supreme Court granted cert on the circuit split regarding identity theft. From SCOTUSBlog:The issue is whether the law enhancing the sentence for identity theft requires proof that an individual knew that the identity card or number he had used belonged to another, actual person ? that is, a knowledge requirement...

Postville Update

Posted on October 20, 2008
For those of you who attended the Postville immigration conference last month or who are just keeping track of ICE's shenanigans, here is an update on the town of Postville. From CNN, the Postville mayor reports that "Feds Turned My Town 'Topsy Turvey'":"It makes a person feel kind of angry," Penrod says...

Kansas Case Granted Cert by SCOTUS

Posted on October 01, 2008
In today's Order List from the US Supreme Court, one Kansas case made the cut:07-1356 KANSAS V. VENTRIS, DONNIE R.The motion of respondent for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. Under reviw is the Kansas Supreme Court in State v...

Cost of Sex Offender Registration

Posted on September 30, 2008
Also known as SORNA, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act greatly expanded the requirements for sex offender registration, and there has been a great deal of successful litigation around the country challenging some of these prosecutions for failure to register...

Bad Labs

Posted on September 26, 2008
This is the reason that we can never become complacent about lab reports, never just take them at face value -- because labs get it wrong, make mistakes, and sometimes just outright cheat. Here's yet another example, following OKC and the FBI, of a lab gone bad...

New Defender Blog

Posted on September 26, 2008
Please direct your attention to a new Federal Defender blog, authored by Rebecca Parnell of the Eastern Washington and Idaho district. Rebecca is trying an approach much different than ours- she drafts incisive, regular, and intelligent posts.Give Rebecca's blog a spin...

More Free CLE

Posted on September 25, 2008
Just a notice about a really good, day-long CLE program hosted by the WDMO FPD. It is slated for October 17th at the Arrowhead Club in KCMO. This is an annual event, and I usually attend, so I can tell you it is a quality program and very well executed...

Plagarize!

Posted on September 15, 2008
Well, not entirely. But now that the structure and empirical validity of a guideline itself is fodder for a sentencing memo, make sure that you have checked the Sentencing Resource Page before you decide on a guideline attack. The National Federal Defender Sentencing Resource Counsel has drafted papers assessing the background and rationale of a number of guidelines, and their work has been used to obtain favorable sentencing results all over the country...

Climbing the Hill

Posted on September 08, 2008
Always mighty grateful to guest bloggers, here is Charles Dedmon describing the courts' flip-flopping in US v. Jay Hill:The January 15 decision of the Tenth Circuit in United States v. Jay Hill 512 F.3d. 1277 has been vacated. The decision was reheard by the original panel and the Judgment in Mr...

Chambers: Out for a Stroll

Posted on August 28, 2008
Your client has a prior conviction for felony escape. In reality, he just walked away from work release, or didn't go back to the half-way house. But he is still tagged with an escape conviction.Later on, that conviction can trigger (with two other qualifying convictions) a 15 year-mandatory minimum for possession of a weapon, or otherwise increase penalties, such as under the career offender provision...

Something Other than Prison

Posted on August 22, 2008
Something other than prison, or also know as Alternatives to Incarceration. The Sentencing Commission hosted a symposium on this topic last month, finally recognizing publicly that long prison sentences often do more damage than good -- higher recidivism rates, broken families, and ruined lives...

"Remember, remember always, that all of us ... are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

Posted on August 19, 2008
That quote is from Franklin D. Roosevelt, brought to our attention recently as we register participants for an immigration seminar we are putting together with the NACDL, ACLU and two national immigration lawyer groups. Details: September 18th, 8 to 5, Hyatt at Crown Center, KCMO, lunch provided...

Burning Junk Science

Posted on August 18, 2008
Grits for Breakfast has this excellent post on the unreliability of arson investigation. The fallacy and inconsistency of this 'science' in increasingly apparent. Too often we assume that expert testimony or forensic science is solid, but it does not take much digging to unearth the 'flawed science' of arson investigation...

Defiance, Texas-size

Posted on August 04, 2008
I am a Texan, know the state well, even worked at the death penalty resource center there representing Texas death row habeas appeals. It is a vicious state. Still, you'd think at some point, Texas would blink. But not today, at least not so far.Texas is slated to execute Jose Medellin tomorrow "in defiance of the United Nations, the Organization of American States and national leaders ...

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