Sentencing
No error in court's not grouping multiple crimes based on an ongoing relationship.
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0021p-06.pdf
Since 2011. An occasional commonplacing of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Neither an authoritative statement of the law nor legal advice. Quick work.
Sixth Circuit: Ronald Miller v. Comm'r of Social Security
SSA
Insufficient evidence for ALJ finding, given medical facts in evidence.
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0020p-06.pdf
Insufficient evidence for ALJ finding, given medical facts in evidence.
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0020p-06.pdf
Fourth Circuit: Frederick Aikens v. William Ingram, Jr
S1983, Military
S1983 Fourth Amendment claim for monitoring national guardsman's email barred by military abstention, as the harm was incident to military service.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/142419.P.pdf
S1983 Fourth Amendment claim for monitoring national guardsman's email barred by military abstention, as the harm was incident to military service.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/142419.P.pdf
Fourth Circuit: United States ex rel. Steven May v. Purdue Pharma
FCA
FCA claim prevented by prior claim bar where counsel for qui tam plaintiff had knowledge of prior claims.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/142299.P.pdf
FCA claim prevented by prior claim bar where counsel for qui tam plaintiff had knowledge of prior claims.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/142299.P.pdf
Fourth Circuit: Central Radio Company Inc. v. City of Norfolk
First Amendment
Municipal sign ordinance was a content-based restriction on speech as it targeted commercial speech.
Aesthetics and traffic safety considerations don't satisfy strict scrutiny.
Insufficient bad intent for selective enforcement claim.
(Appendix: Sign was a protest against pending eminent domain action.)
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/131996A.P.pdf
Municipal sign ordinance was a content-based restriction on speech as it targeted commercial speech.
Aesthetics and traffic safety considerations don't satisfy strict scrutiny.
Insufficient bad intent for selective enforcement claim.
(Appendix: Sign was a protest against pending eminent domain action.)
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/131996A.P.pdf
Second Circuit: United States v. Allen
Fourth Amendment
Absent exigent circumstance, a warrantless arrest made across the threshold - where the police are outside and arrestee inside after being summoned to the door by the police - violates the Fourth Amendment.
Compelled by earlier circuit precedent.
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/1/doc/13-3333_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/1/hilite/
Absent exigent circumstance, a warrantless arrest made across the threshold - where the police are outside and arrestee inside after being summoned to the door by the police - violates the Fourth Amendment.
Compelled by earlier circuit precedent.
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/1/doc/13-3333_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/1/hilite/
Second Circuit: United States v. Liddon Young
Sentencing
No error in denial of downward departure.
Sentencing court erred in double counting trafficking and subsequent-use-in-felony enhancements, as there was insufficient connection between the trafficking and the eventual offense. Expressio unius.
Error in Obstruction enhancement, as specific intent is necessary for unsworn out of court statements.
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/2/doc/14-2383_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/2/hilite/
No error in denial of downward departure.
Sentencing court erred in double counting trafficking and subsequent-use-in-felony enhancements, as there was insufficient connection between the trafficking and the eventual offense. Expressio unius.
Error in Obstruction enhancement, as specific intent is necessary for unsworn out of court statements.
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/2/doc/14-2383_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/d4b80e2f-29b7-4b35-941f-313aacb7b3f6/2/hilite/
Eleventh Circuit: Brandon Jones v. GDCP Warden
AEDPA, Habeas
Petition for recall of madate resulting from earlier Habeas is a second/successive petition.
No merit in stay pending upcoming en banc holding on whether summary/brief affirmance by highest state court is the final state decision for purposes of federal habeas review, as it would not alter the merits of the underlying Strickland claim.
Insufficient miscarriage of justice to justify recall of mandate sua sponte.
http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201114774.ord.pdf
[CB Editorial: The death penalty is morally unjustifiable.]
Petition for recall of madate resulting from earlier Habeas is a second/successive petition.
No merit in stay pending upcoming en banc holding on whether summary/brief affirmance by highest state court is the final state decision for purposes of federal habeas review, as it would not alter the merits of the underlying Strickland claim.
Insufficient miscarriage of justice to justify recall of mandate sua sponte.
http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201114774.ord.pdf
[CB Editorial: The death penalty is morally unjustifiable.]
Ninth Circuit: David Zachary v. California Bank and Trust
Bankruptcy
Petitioner can cram down plans over the objection of a dissenting class of unsecured creditors while retaining post-petition property but not while retaining pre-petition property .
(From summary)
https://d3bsvxk93brmko.cloudfront.net/datastore/opinions/2016/01/28/13-16402.pdf
Petitioner can cram down plans over the objection of a dissenting class of unsecured creditors while retaining post-petition property but not while retaining pre-petition property .
(From summary)
https://d3bsvxk93brmko.cloudfront.net/datastore/opinions/2016/01/28/13-16402.pdf
Eighth Circuit: United States v. Quincy Jackson
Immigration
Agency Violence Against Women Act finding that underlying marriage was bona fide did not compel the IJ to accept that finding when balancing deportation arguments (including VAWA) when the IJ had already issued an opinion that the marriage was fraudulent.
http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/16/01/143671P.pdf
Agency Violence Against Women Act finding that underlying marriage was bona fide did not compel the IJ to accept that finding when balancing deportation arguments (including VAWA) when the IJ had already issued an opinion that the marriage was fraudulent.
http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/16/01/143671P.pdf
Eighth Circuit: Judith Mutie-Timothy v. Loretta E. Lynch
Fourth Amendment
Probable cause for search of aircraft after drug dog alert.
http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/16/01/143756P.pdf
Probable cause for search of aircraft after drug dog alert.
http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/16/01/143756P.pdf
Seventh Circuit: Charles Donelson v. Randy Pfister
Administrative, Habeas
State denial of claim that witnesses were not provided during prison disciplinary proceeding due to the fact that a form was copied and sent intact as opposed to detached from the receipt portion was not an adequate and independent state ground for denial.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-28/C:14-3395:J:Hamilton:aut:T:fnOp:N:1694237:S:0
State denial of claim that witnesses were not provided during prison disciplinary proceeding due to the fact that a form was copied and sent intact as opposed to detached from the receipt portion was not an adequate and independent state ground for denial.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-28/C:14-3395:J:Hamilton:aut:T:fnOp:N:1694237:S:0
Seventh Circuit: USA v. Terry Smith
Sentencing
Substantial evidence supporting conviction.
Below-guidelines sentence vacated for insufficient explanation of reason for downward departure & conditions on supervised release.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-28/C:14-3744:J:Posner:aut:T:fnOp:N:1693902:S:0
Substantial evidence supporting conviction.
Below-guidelines sentence vacated for insufficient explanation of reason for downward departure & conditions on supervised release.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-28/C:14-3744:J:Posner:aut:T:fnOp:N:1693902:S:0
Seventh Circuit: USA v. Ambrose Clayton
Sentencing
Court did not need to consider deft's postconviction conduct at denial of resentencing, as deft did not raise postconviction behavior at sentencing, and there is no guarantee of effective counsel at that stage of appeal.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-28/C:15-2553:J:PerCuriam:aut:T:fnOp:N:1694235:S:0
Court did not need to consider deft's postconviction conduct at denial of resentencing, as deft did not raise postconviction behavior at sentencing, and there is no guarantee of effective counsel at that stage of appeal.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-28/C:15-2553:J:PerCuriam:aut:T:fnOp:N:1694235:S:0
Seventh Circuit: Hedeen International, LLC v. Zing Toys, Inc.
FRCP
21 Day limit for challenging personal jurisdiction isn't jurisdictional limit on subsequent motions.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-27/C:15-1749:J:Rovner:aut:T:fnOp:N:1693702:S:0
21 Day limit for challenging personal jurisdiction isn't jurisdictional limit on subsequent motions.
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2016/D01-27/C:15-1749:J:Rovner:aut:T:fnOp:N:1693702:S:0
Sixth Circuit: David Eaton v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County
S1983, FRCP
Summary judgment upheld against S1983 challenge to effectiveness of municipality's drug testing program.
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0019p-06.pdf
Summary judgment upheld against S1983 challenge to effectiveness of municipality's drug testing program.
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0019p-06.pdf
Fifth Circuit: Marilyn Garner v. Knoll, Incorporated
Bankruptcy, UCC
Although the first claim on the funds transferred into the deposit account survived any secured interest against the acount, a subsequent commingling created a burden on the Trustee to establish that the funds remained identifiable.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-10274-CV0.pdf
Although the first claim on the funds transferred into the deposit account survived any secured interest against the acount, a subsequent commingling created a burden on the Trustee to establish that the funds remained identifiable.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-10274-CV0.pdf
Fifth Circuit: USA v. Roberth Rojas, et al
Crim
Drug statute constitutional, extraterritorial application valid, extraterritorial application did not violate due process.
Venue was proper in the first judicial district that the defts entered. (Not Cuba.)
Insufficient connection between defts and US at time of foreign wiretap to invoke Fourth Amendment.
Many other challenges, including conspiracy exit instruction, variance from indictment.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/13/13-40998-CR0.pdf
Drug statute constitutional, extraterritorial application valid, extraterritorial application did not violate due process.
Venue was proper in the first judicial district that the defts entered. (Not Cuba.)
Insufficient connection between defts and US at time of foreign wiretap to invoke Fourth Amendment.
Many other challenges, including conspiracy exit instruction, variance from indictment.
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/13/13-40998-CR0.pdf
Fourth Circuit: US v. David Williams, III
Sentencing
No procedural error in sentencing colloquy.
Sentences imposed as a result of plea agreements based on a specific rule of procedure are not appealable on grounds of substantive unreasonableness unless they expressly incorporate an element of the Guidelines. Circuit split flagged.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/144680.P.pdf
No procedural error in sentencing colloquy.
Sentences imposed as a result of plea agreements based on a specific rule of procedure are not appealable on grounds of substantive unreasonableness unless they expressly incorporate an element of the Guidelines. Circuit split flagged.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/144680.P.pdf
Third Circuit: In re: Dr. Lakshmi Arunachalam
FRCP
Action seeking Mandamus for judicial disqualification in patent action transferred to the Federal Circuit, as it would have jurisdiction over the final order in the action.
http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/153569p.pdf
Action seeking Mandamus for judicial disqualification in patent action transferred to the Federal Circuit, as it would have jurisdiction over the final order in the action.
http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/153569p.pdf
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