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Sixth Circuit Blog 

Case summaries and commentary by Federal Defenders of the Sixth Circuit.
Post Frequency: 2/day Last Entry: November 02, 2020 at 09:14:00 Recent Entries: 249
Go to Sixth Circuit Blog, find other Federal Judiciary blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Back to the (State) Drawing Board
Posted on December 07, 2006Very interesting opinion issued today in US V. Morris, No. 05-2133 ( Dec. 7, 2006). The Sixth Circuit upheld the district court's dismissal of a federal drug and gun indictment, based on ineffective assistance of counsel at state level during early plea negotiations...
En Banc Review of the Tolling of Supervised Release
Posted on December 04, 2006Blog readers may recall a previous post about the district court practice of tolling the term of supervised release when a defendant will be deported after serving his term of imprisonment. The Sixth Circuit is the only circuit that has endorsed this tolling practice...
Objection to "harsh" sentence = preserved constitutional objection
Posted on November 02, 2006In what is arguably dictum, a panel of the Sixth Circuit has adopted a standard for preserving constitutional objections to a sentence. In United States v. Triana, 06a0409p.06, No. 05-3173 (6th Cir. November 2, 2006), (available here), in an opinion written by District Judge Marbley, (sitting by designation), Judge Marbley and Judge Martin found that defense counsel's objection to the "harshness" of Triana's sentence was sufficient to preserve a constitutional objection to the sentence...
Cross-Referencing to Achieve a Higher Sentence
Posted on August 23, 2006By: Julie Vandegrift, Paralegal for Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Inc., ChattanoogaU.S.S.G. § 2K2.1, the guideline for being a felon in possession of a firearm, contains a section which allows for cross-referencing "if the defendant used or possessed any firearm or ammunition in connection with the commission or attempted commission of another offense" or with the knowledge that it would be so used...
Retreat Toward Mandatory Guidelines - Part II
Posted on August 16, 2006The next round of post-Booker litigation didn?t have to wait long ? a day, in fact. In United States v. Cage, No. 05-5241 (6th Cir. 8/15/06), a panel of the Court finds that a "district court does not err in viewing the Guidelines as a presumptively reasonable starting point and ?considering the Sentencing Guidelines and the Guideline ranges before the court does anything else...
Sixth Circuit Retreats Further Toward Mandatory Guidelines
Posted on August 14, 2006Today a panel of the Sixth Circuit has moved the Court further toward reinstating the old system of mandatory Guidelines in its first opinion reversing a sentence for being substantively unreasonable. United States v. Davis, No. 05-3784 (6th Cir. 8/14/06)...
Reasonableness Review: The "Paradigm" and the "Peacekeeper"
Posted on August 09, 2006Today a panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed a 100% upward "variance" from an advisory Guideline range of 0 - 6 months to 12 months for (1) transporting in interstate commerce a motor vehicle that the defendant knew was stolen, in violation of 18 U.S...
Guidelines Sentence Reversed As Unreasonable
Posted on July 10, 2006The refinement of "reasonableness" review continues with the Sixth Circuit?s decision in United States v. Vonner, __ F.3d __ (6th Cir. 6/29/06), 2006 WL 1770095. Vonner was charged with distributing at least 5 grams of cocaine with a Guidelines range of 108 - 135 months (and a 5-year mandatory minimum)...
REDUX: Tolling of Supervised Release During Deportation
Posted on June 30, 2006Several months ago, this writer posted about the Sixth Circuit's position that the district court has authority to order that a term of supervised release may be tolled while a defendant is out of the United States after being deported. See US v. Isong, 111 F...
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What are the differences in the jurisdictions of State and Federal Courts?
U.S. Supreme Court cases must be followed by all courts nationwide. State Suprem...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...
How can I make my blog more popular?
You have to write and submit articles, with backlinks to your blogsite....
Can I substitue photo of people in blog
no...
Why must the jury see who is on trial in the courtroom. Cannot a more fair trial be given if identities were not made available?
When the jury can seen the person they are able also to judge their demeanour an...

What are the differences in the jurisdictions of State and Federal Courts?
U.S. Supreme Court cases must be followed by all courts nationwide. State Suprem...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...
How can I make my blog more popular?
You have to write and submit articles, with backlinks to your blogsite....
Can I substitue photo of people in blog
no...
Why must the jury see who is on trial in the courtroom. Cannot a more fair trial be given if identities were not made available?
When the jury can seen the person they are able also to judge their demeanour an...








